Easter Sunday
Luke 24:1-12
There's a new book out in the business section at Barnes and Noble--From Hire to Liar. The book by an anthropology/ sociology professor argues that honesty in the workplace may not always be the best policy--that, what we used to call fibbing, really greases the skids of most companies. A classic example he says, would be "I'm walking down the hall with somebody, they see a co worker, they're like, "Hey, it's wonderful to see you, how are the kids? We walk a few more feet, and then the person says, "I hate that such and such." I ask the people if that's deceptive and they say "No, that's etiquette." And another example, I talked to somebody about their resume and they explained to me that they had barely any experience at all doing a particular kind of software programming, but they implied on their résumé that they did have experience. I asked the guy if that was deceptive and the guy said, "No that's just telling the most optimistic version of the truth."
These kinds of optimistic truths, etiquette deceptions put me in mind of a phrase from our lesson today. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women go to the tomb with oils and spices to prepare Jesus body after death. When they get there they find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Two men in dazzling clothes ask the question, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? They declare, "He is not here, but has risen. Don't you remember what he said? That he would be crucified and after three days rise again."
So the women return to the other disciples and tell them just what had happened. And the disciples and all the rest, rather than being overjoyed or relieved, think their words are "an idle tale." An idle tale! That ranks a little lower than "an optimistic version of the truth" in my book. The phrase is very lyrical--an idle tale, It has a kind of ring to it--an idle tale. I was a little worried that the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible that we're now using as our lectionary might have translated this phrase differently--the New International and the Good News say the disciples discounted the women's story as "nonsense". "Nonsense", it seems to me, has a more negative sound to it, that's more cutting and harsh. "An idle tale" makes it sound like the disciples just felt the women were caught up in the emotions of the moment and were sharing their most optimistic version of the truth.
Whatever words you use however, the disciples reaction offends my feminist sense. The women with the good news were ignored and discounted. They were made to feel insignificant, unworthy irrational and unimportant. The disciples reaction frosts me most especially because it was the women who stood at the cross internalizing the pain and suffering of Jesus. The only disciple recorded in any of the gospels who was present at the cross was John. It was the women who had the nerve to go to the tomb. The disciples were probably rightly afraid--having killed Jesus the authorities probably were looking for his compatriots as well. But the women might just as likely have been harassed and they were brave enough to go to the graveyard. They were willing to get their hands dirty. A mauled body lying in a tomb for three days would not have been pretty. Who would have thought less of them if they just used a little internal deception and went on with their other daily tasks? But no, the women, the women picked their way through the death and debris of life and became the first witnesses of the empty tomb.
Let's look a little deeper at what those disciples might have been thinking three days after Jesus death. On a personal level they had lost a friend and no doubt they were grieving for that. Understandably they were probably a little worried about their own safety. But far more than all of that they were suffering because all their hopes, dreams and expectations had been shattered. They had thrown their lives into following Jesus for three years. They had seen him heal all manner of people. They had heard him teach to the multitudes and then had the opportunity to privately ask questions. They had ridden with Jesus to the crest of popularity. The lasts days didn't make sense. Surely Jesus had something more planned--an eleventh hour miracle. But those last hours--no miracle, no messiah like behavior, just a poor man mocked and brutalized. Two disciples on the road to Emmaus, probably headed back to life as normal, tell a stranger. "We had hoped, we had hoped that he was the one to save Israel." All their expectations, hopes and dreams shattered. Yes Jesus was a good teacher, a compassionate human being, a nice man--we can't take that away from him but messiah? We'll have to wait a little longer.
And so this stuff about an empty tomb--it's just an idle tale, an idle tale.
Luther Seminary is undergoing a strategic planning process. As part of that they conducted a survey of 8000 constituents. 1800 responded ranking ten critical factors affecting congregations today. The #1 over whelming response, the most critical factor facing congregations today, was "The Relevance of the Christian message". That is A shrinking percentage of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Church leaders and congregations are challenged to witness to the Gospel and understand and participate in God's mission in a world that does not necessarily recognize our truth claims.
Our message to the world is an idle tale. We're doing our thing, being charitable, advocating for justice, teaching, being warm and fuzzy but in our society it's an idle tale, a harmless deception.
So is there anywhere in the world where people are really being surprised by the empty tomb? In the last century, even with the rapid population growth of Africa, Christianity has grown at twice the rate of the population Currently there are more practicing Christians in Africa than on any other continent. A pastor friend of mine went to a conference where delegations of African pastors were meeting with pastors from the United States to share insights and to learn from one another. In a little one on one discussion they were sharing their everyday problems. They both agreed that having enough time was a problem. The African pastor confessed that he couldn't seem to get around to all of his preaching sites regularly. That was a concern because he'd only been able to baptize 200 adults last year. He was sure his American counterpart must do much better.
I kind of think those of us in the American church are a little like the disciples. We've been following Jesus. We buy into that message of healing, justice and compassion; we have our own expectations of what a Messiah should be. Smugly and a little dejected we sit back scared and safe considering the message of the empty tomb an idle tale.
Those women, doing the messy work, entering the place of death--they, they get to be the first to see that God can do a new and surprising thing--that God has the power to burst the very bonds of death and destruction.
The good news today, the really good news--especially for us. Jesus didn't leave those disciples in their ignorance forever. Like the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son--Jesus comes out to find them. Jesus intrudes on their little gatherings, Jesus invades their private conversations, Jesus confronts their doubts, challenges their assumptions until for them what they thought was an idle tale just wasn't an idle tale anymore.
They too came to know that "CHRIST HAS RISEN. Christ has risen indeed!
Amen