Passport to Life

When was the last time you looked at your driver's license or your passport? Or if you don't have one of these, ask to look at a friend's or parent's. The last time I got my photo taken, it was taken with strict instructions.  Don't smile. Look up. No glasses. Get your hair off your face. Then the bright flash seems to suck all the color our of your face and the results are ghastly. Pale, dull, emotionless blank look that in all honesty looks way older than you actually are. Boring and lifeless.

I imagine that's how Mary Magdalene and the other women looked when they hurried to the tomb that first Easter Sunday. Shocked and maybe even traumatized by the experiences of Good Friday, they would have been going through the motions, numb and empty. Their faces blank, putting one foot in front of the other, doing the traditional mourning rituals that were a part of their culture and religion. Trying to organize the details of what to do next. The community was in turmoil, and rather than a cohesive group looking to a leader to guide all their decisions, they had no one to fall back on. Did James and John make plans to rejoin their dad's fishing business? Did Matthew think about going back to his job of despised tax collector? Would Mary and Martha have felt trapped back into a life where they would only be allowed to cook and clean and never sit with the men as equals? Would Lazarus have thought about going back into his tomb and never dream of coming out again? Would the Samaritan woman plan to go back to her well and her village, doomed to go from one man to the next as she used to, or the man born blind wish he could close his eyes to the pain he saw in the faces of his new friends?

At times of terrible pain, we can go into such a state of numbness, and many of us can relate. Our days feel meaningless and empty. We slip into states of apathy where even getting out of bed seems too onerous. Now in the days of Jesus, life was far shorter and folks might have been more prosaic than we are with our modern medicine and hygiene, we don't know for sure. But even though Jesus tried to prepare his followers, they hadn't listened, they rejected what they heard as gloom and doom nonsense. So Good Friday would have been a real shock to them all.

It also would have been a time of great guilt and shame for the men who had all either run away or denied their connection to Jesus. The women didn't run, but witnessing the ordeal must have been dreadful.  The United Church’s Song of Faith describes it this way, “Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus. He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and execution. He was crucified.” It could have become the stuff of nightmares.

The historian Josephus, writing his book for the Roman Empire of the history of his Jewish country wrote that Jesus was executed. This we know is fact. Jesus was real and he was killed in the most public and shameful way possible, on a hill that could be seen for miles, nearly naked in a culture that treasured modesty, and slowly as a traitor, to remind other potential rebels never to question authority.

That should have been the end of the story. This Roman execution should have snuffed out their small movement before it had a chance. End of story. Except it wasn't. The morning when the women came to the tomb, the one thing they weren't expecting was that it would be empty.

Death was not the last word. Now, there are a lot of theories and explanations trying to debunk the resurrection.  Those theories started from day one, trying to discredit Christianity.  Over and over, the detractors attacked, mocked, belittled and even tortured people believing in a Risen Christ.  The Roman Empire and modern Communists alike made it illegal.  Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan wrote book after book ridiculing the Easter Story, and they expected their scientific debunking to end Christianity and all other faiths.  Their motives were sound, they wanted to end violence and religious wars.  But often religious wars are using people’s faith to manipulate and convince people that war is necessary, it isn’t because religion itself is warlike.  Interestingly enough, even with atheists and countries declaring faith illegal, a research project found that the only faith shrinking in 2026 was Buddhism.  Christianity grew by 5%.  Rather like the Monty Python knight, Christians can claim that “I’m not dead yet!”

The truth is that a stolen body can’t inspire a spiritual revolution, a lie can’t inspire people to come together and risk their lives to talk about teachings of respect, compassion and faith.  A scam doesn’t inspire quiet resistance to tyrants, a plot doesn’t embolden people to protest against discrimination.  The Resurrection story has inspired people for centuries.  Without it, William Wilberforce wouldn’t have worked to end the Slave Trade, Charles Dickons wouldn’t have written about the oppression of impoverished children which inspired the establishment of public schools as a human right, monks and nuns wouldn’t have built hospitals and hospices, and people like Martin Luther King would not have preached equal rights even at the risk of their own lives. 

Easter, like God, is Holy Mystery, beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.  It inspires us to love our neighbors, love ourselves and love that holy mystery whatever we name it.  Easter helps us work in hope for a better world.  Easter brings people to life, giving them purpose and a vision.  We become more than our passport or driver’s licence photos; we come to life.  Easter inspires us to deeper spirituality, both in our daily lives and in community here.  Easter inspires us to engage in learning more about our faith and our world so that we can practice bold discipleship.  Easter inspires us to also work daringly for justice, whether it’s joining in protest rallies, voting in elections or sending e-mails and phone calls to people who need to hear that we believe in human rights and equality for all.  Easter empowers us to speak against racism, homophobia or discrimination.  Easter is the ultimate “No Tyrants” event, not started by Jesus, or the disciples, but started by Holy Mystery itself. Our Song of Faith says, “in love, the one eternal God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope.  We sing of Jesus raised from the dead. We sing hallelujah.  

Today, let us choose to have the mystery of Easter, however we understand it, inspire us to continue the work for justice and human dignity that Jesus started so long ago.  Because the empty tomb didn’t stop the followers of Jesus back when they knew what Herod and Pilate did, and they followed Jesus anyway.  Not because he was a passport to power or wealth, but because he was a passport to community, love and abundant life.  Thank God for this passport we have that is the Risen Christ.  Christ has risen, Halleluiah!

The amazement continues!

When I was a teenager, I stumbled upon a book in my dad’s collection with the provocative title, “The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross.”  A lot that was in it became the inspiration for the book that inspired the Da Vinci Code, and was excellent fodder for a budding young atheist like me.  John Allegro, the author, wrote that the Jewish faith was based on an ancient fertility cult that worshipped hallucinogenic mushrooms.  These mushrooms were talked about in codes that supposedly became stories of the risen Christ.  The mysteries of the empty tomb were caused by the disciples eating the mushrooms in a sacred meal before Jesus died.  And there was no Jesus.  Just mushrooms.

Jesus did not exist, wahoo, I could stop wondering about the Easter experience and get on with my life.  Except that there were inconsistencies with his logic and renowned biblical scholars thoroughly discredited his conclusions, rather like Eric von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods which claimed humans were too stupid to design pyramids.  Jesus was back in the picture.

And I’m suspecting that I’m not the only one who has lived through the yoyo of theories of who Jesus was, how real he was, and how real the resurrection was.  Theories go in and out of fashion, debates rage in the media one moment then are forgotten the next. Albert Schweitzer wrote about the fashion trends in thinking of how we interpret Jesus.  We also yoyo between seeing Jesus as a mortal, flawed human walking the earth during a tumultuous time and Christ, the word of God made flesh, somehow more than just human.  But Jesus is more complex than the latest trends.  And if we believe Jesus was special, how do we relate to other spiritual traditions and paths that don’t see Jesus the way we do?  Colonialism and racism can seem like a natural offshoot of Christianity if we assume Jesus is the only way to God.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  We can have a healthy understanding of Christianity beyond colonialism, beyond racism, and even beyond literalist understandings of who Jesus was.  Paul, I think hit it on the nose when he said that we Christians are most to be pitied if we only think our faith in Christ is about getting the best in the here and now for ourselves.

It’s that bold statement that all will come alive in Christ Jesus that I have seen happen in so many people.  When we remember the core teachings of serving, loving, and respecting our neighbors, when we care about others as much as we care about ourselves, when we do our best to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and the disciples, we do find our lives full of meaning, vibrancy, community, and love.  We find healing for our tough times, and courage for the scary times.  We find strength for the times when we feel uncertain, and support when we feel unsure.  We find inspiration and wonder when we come face to face with the mystery that is the Easter story.  We find that we can still be amazed when we discover the surprises that God has in store for us.

It’s easy to become cynical and dismiss much of what we see and hear as nonsense.  It’s easy to give up on hope.  Especially when we see so much tragedy in the news, so much selfishness, so many people solving their problems by taking a gun out into a subway or invading a non-aggressive country.  The arrogance of billionaires who think they know everything about free speech and can use their money to influence culture in the way that they think best. But Christianity challenges that cynicism and despair.  It's not for the faint of hearted.  It’s not for those people who want easy answers or quick fixes to the immediate problems they face.  But it is a grand adventure that heals the broken hearted, inspires bravery and courage, reaches out to those who need compassion and healing and grows community. 

We have a crazy hope.  One rooted in ridiculous claims that seem like nonsense.  And yet, and yet, more than the discovery of chocolate eggs, more than the emptiness of living from paycheck to paycheck, following in the footsteps of Jesus, being open to the possibility that there was more to Jesus than just a storyteller with a few tricks up his sleeve, gives hope and meaning to our lives if we so choose. 

Easter is an invitation to a grand experiment that is still going on.  An experiment in living as if death has been defeated, living as if nothing can ever stop the compassion and love that our loving creator wants to gift us with.  Easter is a surprise waiting to burst open our hearts just as Jesus burst out of the empty tomb.  This Easter, what will you experiment with?  Who will you serve with compassion?  Who will you forgive with love, who will you inspire with hope?  Who will you reach out to with good news?  Who will you ask forgiveness for?  Who will you hold in prayer?

All will be made alive in Christ.  Not just you, not just me, but all in God’s world.  Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, all are on a journey of discovery.  Together we are invited to discover that:

We are not alone, we live in God's world.

 We believe in God:  who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

 We are called to be the Church:  to celebrate God's presence, to live with respect in Creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.