THIS IS THE DAY

A Meditation for Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010

Scripture: John 20:1-18

“This is the day that God has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

These words of rejoicing come down to us from Psalm 118, which was traditionally sung at the Passover meal. Jesus and his disciples likely sang it at their last meal together in the Upper Room.

“This is the day,” they sang, “O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.” It must have been good to have this time alone together, to rest and recuperate. You can imagine the dimly lit scene, smells of good cooking blending with smoke from the oil lamps, the songs and prayers of the ancient ritual to celebrate God's victory over slavery, the day when God's mighty hand brought them out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

But when the Passover meal was over, the disciples didn't feel much like singing anymore. Jesus' betrayal, arrest and trial followed in swift succession. Most of the disciples fled, to hide behind locked doors. Only Peter and another disciple followed a distance. Even Peter, Jesus' right hand man, denied him three times. Where was the mighty rescue now? Why didn't the strong arm of the Lord sweep down as it did on the day the Jews escaped from Egypt ?

Instead, Jesus died on the cross alone, as we all die. There were witnesses, of course; the Centurion who was there, on the job; the two other condemned men; and the jeering crowd who had come out for the spectacle of a triple crucifixion.

There were also some of Jesus' friends and acquaintances, who watched from a distance.

Mary Magdalene was one of these—a mystery woman—assumed by patriarchal traditions to be a prostitute—but really just someone whom Jesus had healed—

Since most women in the Bible are not named, and she not only has a place of origin, Magdala but a name, we can know that she was important to John's community of Christians, and no doubt to Jesus himself.

While it was still dark, Mary came out to the tomb all by herself—a dangerous thing for a woman to do at any time, but especially in Jerusalem during Passover when the city was on high alert.

And Mary wept to discover Jesus' body was gone—she must have been crying nonstop that weekend—and now she was unable to give him that last gift, the familiar, intimate ritual of anointing for burial.

Out of the darkness, Mary receives an unimaginable gift! Two angels ask why she is crying...and through her tears she sees Jesus himself!

Imagine the joy and the fear and I don't know what all emotions that surged through Mary, to see her beloved Teacher again. She can't hold on to him, though, because he has to return to heaven. Although the circumstances are extraordinary, the situation should be familiar to everyone—we all want to hold on to our loved ones—letting go is perhaps the hardest part of being human! We have to do it all through life—when we make a life change like going to school, and then again when children that we love go to school. And on and on until the final letting go of life…

It's so difficult! We love and so we want to continue enjoying the object of our love. We become accustomed to ordinary habits and situations, and we are comfortable with that…Any change can make us distinctly ­ un comfortable, if not fearful and full of anxiety.

But we have to let go, don't we—it is part and parcel of human existence. I have a banner in my office, a going away gift from my last job: “In the end what matters most is, “How well did you live; How well did you love; How well did you learn to let go!”

Note the “learn”—it's so hard to let go; we have to work at it! The good news, however, is that we worship a God who has “been there done that!” My God, and your God, loved us enough to leave heaven and be born as one of us. Jesus enjoyed an earthly existence and then gave that up, too, in a painful death on a cross.

But on that first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene discovered that it does not end there. Jesus is alive! The meaning of this day is not that death is wrong—death is a natural part of life. Creatures are born, and creatures die. No—the meaning of this day is that death does not have the last word. This is God's answer to Mary's tears and to ours. Death is not final!

Because of this day that God has made, we know that human cruelty and terror may exist, but they will never prevail. The powers of evil and darkness cannot win; Love Incarnate is the victor here. In this new day, everyone and everything is challenged to live into a new and changed reality. On this day, the Risen Christ is no longer confined to the ancient Near East; or to the grave. Because of this day, we can see God everywhere. We know that God is at work in the world, and we can be a part of it.

Where did you see the Risen Christ this week? I've felt him in the hot sun and seen him in the gorgeous flowers, and in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside our windows. I've seen him in the loving, trusting eyes of children and their parents. I saw God at work in photos of Haiti , not the usual images of victims helped by Americans, but Haitian people going back to work, a woman with a huge bundle of herbs balanced on her head, for her healing business; men and women at the market, selling. I saw the Risen Christ just yesterday, in the tender greeting and broad smile of an older African American woman at the West Main bus stop.

This is a day of new beginnings—of letting go of sadness, of releasing our regret for what was or what might have been. This is the day the Lord has descended into the places of death in our lives, and he has set us free. This is the day he has sent us to proclaim, “I have seen the Lord.”

“This is the day that God has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

Rev. Patricia Barth

April 4, 2010

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