Today we come together with singing, the sound of the drum, the guitar, the keyboard and heard once more the Easter story. We do not do these things every Sunday. But we do it early this morning to remind us that today is a special day. It is the day of resurrection. It is a day that gives that mystic, inner and everlasting joy in which all nature sings. It gives us a sense of excitement. It makes us aware of all the possibilities of new life.
That is the reason Mary Magdalene was overjoyed as she declared to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” (vs.18)
First of all, the joy that we feel today is rooted in rightness. Whenever we find things right, there is joy. The Greeks had a word for it: “euphoria.” This means a wonderful sense of well-being, the exuberance that comes when all is well within and without. It is the kind of feeling the star of the musical “Oklahoma” expresses when he sings: “Oh, what a beautiful morning, Oh, what a beautiful day; I have a wonderful feeling Everything’s going my way.”
We started the week with hosannas. But then, we entered Good Friday with a sense of wrongness and disharmony. The disciples of Jesus were terrified and bewildered because there seemed to be no rightness in God’s world as some watched Jesus die on the cross. They felt that what they were taught was just an illusion. There was nothing to believe in, count on, depend upon. And so, in fear, they locked themselves in a room.
Perhaps you can identify with the pain of Jesus’ followers. You may have experienced the death of a dream. You may have stood at some time or other by the grave of your hopes and you are faced with that fearsome valley of the uncertain future. You may be living in the dry valley of dead and broken relationships–children and parents are estranged and cannot find the way back to lively rapport and harmony, husbands and wives could not work out a better relationship, friendships lie shattered upon the dry beaches of misunderstandings and betrayals.
There are some who might be afflicted with sickness, disease, for which the doctor has a difficult time treating it. Some young couples wanting to have children, but so far they rock an empty cradle. Others are struggling with inappropriate lifestyles, morals, and addictions. There are people wanting to work, but having no job. There are people struggling to hold onto retirement. There are people struggling against the power of failure, disappointment, roadblocks, detours, dead-end streets. No matter where they turn, it seems to be the wrong way and a poor choice.
One of the moving and insightful stories that came out of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe concerned a musician by the name of Gustaf Moeller and his niece. When the young Jewish girl arrived at the camp it was decided she was too valuable to be killed like the others. Instead, she was ordered to gather together an orchestra to play for the Nazi officers and top brass. Some of the performers were the most talented in all of Europe.
She described the bizarre experience of playing beautiful music for some of the most ugly people who have ever tried to run the world. They had to practice and play when trainloads of Jewish families came in for what they thought was a new homeland, but was in reality the horrors of the gas chambers. She shared how they wished to smash to pieces the valuable instruments they held in their hands, “For how can you sing and play when there is no music in your soul?” (Newscope Inspiration Tape series, The United Methodist Publishing House, February, 1992)
That really is the question on the hearts of many of us as we gather today. Some ask in the private and deepest place of your heart, “Is there any good word from the Lord today?”
Early that Sunday morning, something happened that transformed the feeling of deep gloom of the disciples into exuberant gladness, restoring their confidence in the rulership of God. They felt that there was rightness in the world. And the power of God was behind that rightness. This is the good word for us this morning. As what Mary Magdalene said, “I have seen the Lord…”(vs. 18a)
Today, we feel the rightness and our hearts swell with the sound of joy. We celebrate the God who took the cruel cross and made it the means of triumph. God took the worst what humanity could do, all our death-dealing doings, and led them out toward life. A new world is thereby offered to us.
Secondly, our joy today is also rooted in redemption. When we read through the New Testament, we find that the people did not confine the resurrection to a cemetery where it happened once. To them it was a symbol of a new aliveness in their own experiences. “We have passed from death to life,” they said. “We have come alive. We who were dead in our wrong ways of thinking have been raised to walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)
Christ has changed our lives too, a change that is so deep and so joyful that it is like a new birth. Like what happened to the disciples, we too believe that the resurrection is a continuing force which would keep on happening until the whole world would be reborn. We as the people of God continue to do our ministry because of our belief in the resurrection that brings redemption to all those who feel bound by the shackles of sin.
As we look around, our world is filled with incredible cruelty, injustice, hatred, pain and greed. It is a world where God seems to be absent many times! If we read the headlines of our newspapers or listen to the evening news, we read and hear about people dying in the Middle East because people want power; we see the innocent eyes of children grieving and the crying of a wife for a father and husband who was shot dead in an encounter between the rebels and the army in Mindanao; of family members crying their hearts out because of the deaths of young people in a ferry accident in South Korea; the abuse of innocent children and the killings here in Dumaguete; or of corruption in our government. It seems that ours is a bad news world.
However in the midst of our despair, the risen Christ comes, not like a Superman to right all the wrongs, but rather as a strengthening presence who opens our eyes, and let us glimpse life from a different perspective. The Living Christ lets us see the possibilities in the midst of our problems, and reminds us, “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” Easter is God’s reminder to the world that it is not the forces of evil, but rather the Lord God omnipotent who reigns supreme.
But, you may say, I have never met the risen Lord on my way to work or in any other place, for that matter. Neither have I. If you mean a person walking up the street with pierced hands and feet, I’ve never met him. Some have, but I never have. But if you mean the Christ that takes hold of a person and changes him from a self-centered person into a companionable, loving human being, I’ve seen him. Or, if you mean the life that gradually developed an overgrown, spoiled teenager into one of the most sensitive, competent professionals in his field, I’ve seen him. Or, if you mean a middle-aged person whose life had gone down the drain either in alcohol or something worse, and suddenly he begins to live and stand up, throw back his head, have a job, be glad to be alive, I’ve seen him. Or if you mean a church that continues to worship together in spite of their building having been destroyed by the typhoon, I’ve seen the Christ in their midst. Or if you mean those men and women who helped contribute and put together those relief goods for the survivors of typhoons and earthquakes, I have met the risen Christ. I have met him also through a businessman who had gone through bankruptcy because his partner absconded with their money, but then when his partner got sick he was there to visit and to help with medical expenses. I have seen the risen Christ in a woman who was in a wheelchair who continues to minister to others in spite of the pain.
Through them, I have come to meet the risen Christ. In fact, if it were not for these men and women, I’d have given up in my ministry. There were times when the darkness of life was so deep and powerful and I felt like giving up. But I continue to be a pastor because my faith in the risen Christ had been strengthened through them.
This can happen to any of you today. Feel the risen Christ. Listen to the music of the resurrection. Sing: Joy to the world … the Savior reigns in rightness. He comes to make his blessings flow and prove in our lives that God rules. Hear the sound of everlasting joy: Hallelujah! The kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord.
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Author’s email: sillimanuniversitychurch@gmail.com
