The Scripture Readings we will hear this Easter Day are:
- Isaiah 25:6-9
- Mark 16:1-8
The Sermon title is Fearful Joy
Early Thoughts: A great surprise! A wondrous terror! Run and hide! Share the news!
Or maybe we could sing:
Refrain:
This is the day that God has made!
Rejoice! Rejoice, and be exceeding glad!
This is the day that God has made!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Hallelujah!
Christ has conquered death at last,
left the tomb that held him fast!
Gone the sorrow, gone the night,
dawns the morning clear and bright!
(beginning of This is the Day that God Has Made, #175 in Voices United)
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes where Thy body lay.
(beginning of Thine is the Glory, #173 in Voices United)
On Easter Sunday we announce boldly that they powers of death and destruction do not have the last word. Life and love will win. Who could help but sing and dance and share the news where ever they go?
Well, according to Mark, the first witnesses to this surprising victory had a very different reaction. In what is commonly believed to be the earliest, original, ending to Mark's Gospel we read "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.".
To be honest, I get that. When your whole understanding of how the world works has been challenged, when you expect to weep at a graveside only to find an empty tomb and news of resurrection, when the world has been turned upside down terror and amazement seem natural. Maybe later you might tell someone else about it (which obviously Mary, Mary and Salome did) but first you might need some time to process what has happened.
Easter is a surprise. Easter is a shock. Easter is, to someone who is not really expecting it, terrifying. Easter disrupts life (with life itself ironically). This is not a comfortable experience. It may be wonderful news but that does not make it comfortable. In some ways this original ending of Mark's Gospel is my favorite Easter story. It captures that mixture of joy and disruption, wonder and fear so incredibly well.
For the Easter season our worship question about finding God is going to be "where did God surprise you?". AS we celebrate the Good News of an empty tomb this year I invite all of us to consider what times we feel that mix of fearful joy. Where is God surprising, elating, and terrifying you all at the same time?
--Gord
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