Against All Expectations

Easter was a disaster, at least according to the Gospel of Mark.  Three women came to a gloomy tomb to do a distasteful task by themselves.  There were no undertakers, no funeral homes, or no caskets.  If anyone was to take care of a corpse, especially one who was the product of a shameful torturous execution, it was family members who loved the deceased.  So the ladies, in this oldest of Gospels, made their way in the dark of the early morning, grieving and stumbling on the rough road to the outskirts of town where they expected to cry and hold their beloved rabbi one more time.  They knew what would happen next.  They knew that it was going to be stinky, stomach-churning business.  They knew they were alone in this distasteful task.

It's easy to gloss over this when we think of Easter.  Chocolate, colorful pysanka, flowers, fancy hats, it’s a bright colorful celebration of the return of spring.  And most people prefer the sugar rush of sweet chocolate to the heavy perfumes and ointments that the two Marys and Salome were carrying.  Let’s have fun after a long winter!

It's good to celebrate, but what are we celebrating?  The resurrection, of course, in all its illogical, implausible and unscientific glory.  Despite the Da Vinci Code and other conspiracy theories, some that are even debunked by Peter in our scriptures, something surprising and shocking happened that Easter Sunday.  It was such a news item that even a Jewish Historian named Josephus wrote about him some 50 years afterwards, saying:

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and many of Greek origin. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

A Roman historian also mentioned Jesus in his records as well, Tacitus, as did several other writers.  What’s interesting is that they didn’t think Christianity would last, but it persevered despite all odds.  When Peter was executed in Rome, people must have thought it was the end.  Peter’s story had spread too far to let his death stop the message of Easter.  Peter spoke so often about the life and death and life after death of Jesus, his beloved rabbi that it spread everywhere.  Today’s scripture showed that at first he preached to people who only spoke his language.  Then he was summoned to another town to visit a powerful Roman commander and he didn’t know what to think. 

Roman army leaders didn’t ask people to show up for a visit without a very good reason.  I can imagine that Peter was nervous about the invitation.  Would the trip be a trap or a test?  Would he be arrested, thrown in jail, executed?  Instead, much to his surprise, he found himself welcomed, with the whole large household of Cornelius, soldiers, slaves and all, waiting on every word.  It was the last thing he expected.

Peter still thought that Jesus was the Messiah for his own people, for those who were faithful to the Torah, who went to the Temple, who prayed to the God of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah and Rachel, Moses and Miriam and Aaron.  But Jesus had never turned down a conversation with Samaritans or Phoenicians or Romans.  And Peter had forgotten that.  Peter needed to relearn a lesson of hospitality and welcome, a lesson of courage and boldness, a lesson of inclusion and daring.  The experience of the first Easter shattered his understanding of who God was and how the world worked.

This shattering experience continued to have ripple effects to everyone who knew Jesus.  The women at the tomb broke their silence and shared their news to Peter.   He found the courage to spread his experiences of Jesus and that first Easter.  “Now I understand that this message is for everyone, the amazing message that Jesus lived and died and still lives.” This shattering experience that defied all logic would inspire new understandings and new courage.  Christianity continues to be impacted by the ripples of that first Easter.  It continues to inspire new bold and daring and deep acts of justice and compassion.

Josephus must have thought this tribe of Christians would soon be relegated to the history books as a small footnote.  In his four-volume history of the Jewish people, Josephus only writes a few sentences about Jesus, the doer of startling deeds.  But Jesus wasn’t stopped by even death, and his followers continued to do startling deeds.  They opened schools and hospitals for everyone regardless of any age, race, ethnicity, or ability.  They took care of the dead with tenderness and love regardless of whether they were rich or poor, jew or gentile, slave or free, something that was anathema to cultured Romans of the day. We as followers are to continue to recognize that God knows no partiality, and that we too are called to join this courageous tribe of Christians.  Easter is more than chocolates, it is an invitation to join Peter, Mary, Paul and the others in deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice that the world so desperately needs right here and right now. 

They had Courage because they discovered that God transformed even the ugliness of death into life.  The deepest grief and fear can be transformed by God.  Nothing we can do can stop God.  We too can find ourselves doing startling deeds of inclusion, love and acceptance.  We can still inspire others by our loving example.  We can also do acts of daring courage.  We can chose to include others that seem as distasteful as Peter saw the centurion. May we be as bold, as deep and as daring as the tribe of Christians that the world has always seen as insignificant but that has through the centuries changed the course of history.  May it be so for us all!