Even in the Midst of These Challenging Days, Peace and Joy Can Come. Here's How

Ok I know.  I know.   No one expected this.   No one imagined six weeks ago that not only would thousands of churches be empty on Easter.  No one imagined that those same churches would be telling you not to come.   Ok, well not exactly that.   Churches are still telling you to come, just not in person.   But still, who’d have thunk that?

Yet here we are, an Easter of empty pews, of empty stores, empty theatres, empty restaurants.  And yes, let’s be honest.  It’s been a little scary, more than a bit sobering.  So much seems uncertain.  You can’t help but wonder.  When will this end?  How many will we lose?  And when it does, what then?   But what better time than this to hear this story, in these days of empty pews and empty streets to hear this story of an empty tomb. 

When Jesus died, for his disciples, their world came crashing down.  His death shattered the future they had hoped for.  It stopped the future they thought Jesus was going to bring.   But in this story, a story that has changed everything, they see the truth.   And the truth they see changes everything.  And that truth has continued to do that, even in crisis after crisis, for two thousand years.  That same truth if you see it, if you trust it, will bring you through these days.   So, listen and hear on this day of empty pews, the story of the empty tomb.  See how that story still changes everything.          

John20:1-18

How does this story change everything?  It shows you that the end of the story has never been about a grave.   The end of the story has always been about a garden.   And when you see that, it changes everything. 

At first, no-one gets that.   All they can see is the grave.  But when Mary gets there, the grave doesn’t have the very thing every grave needs to have.  It doesn’t have a body.  Jesus has left the tomb.   But of course, no one leaves a tomb.  Someone must have taken Jesus’ body. Imagine it.  Someone you love is brutally killed.  You bury him.  You return to the grave. Why? You simply want to be with this person you love, this person now lost to you.  And you discover.  Someone has taken your loved one.  Someone has desecrated their final resting place.  Can you imagine the pain, the horror Mary felt? 

She reaches out to two of Jesus’ closest friends, Peter and John, to tell them the news.   They come.  They see it too.   They see the empty tomb.  And they believe the only thing they can believe.  The enemies of Jesus have not been satisfied with simply killing him. They’ve taken his body too.    In that empty tomb, they don’t see a victory.   They see an overwhelming loss, a grievous, even crushing one.   And defeated, they go home.

But Mary stays.   We don’t know why she stays.  But something inside of her seems to be saying. This can’t be the end of the story.  It can’t end like this.   And indeed, as we know, it doesn’t end like this. 

But when did Mary get this? When did she know?  Strangely, it doesn’t happen when the two angels show up.   Here Mary is crying at the grave.  And two angels just all of a sudden show up?  Sheesh, you’d think she’d have a clue.   And honestly, it seems the angels think that too.  They ask her.  “Why are you weeping?”  Don’t you get it?    

But even before she can answer, she realizes.  Someone is standing behind her.  And she turns around.  And that’s when things begin to change.  

The empty tomb doesn’t do it.  The left behind graveclothes don’t do it.  The angels don’t even do it.   Why?   Mary is looking in the wrong direction.   She’s looking at the grave.  But the grave is the one place where Jesus isn’t.   So where is Jesus?  It seems he’s walking in the garden, the garden that surrounded his tomb. 

Every day I find it such a disjunction.  I listen to the news, the death toll, the struggles to find equipment and ventilators, to get enough people tested and all of that is frighteningly real.  But then I walk outside, and well, it’s beautiful.   The sun is shining.  Trees are blooming.  And I think.  Wow, it looks so normal, heck, even better than normal. We’ve had some awesome weather.     And at first, I thought.   Well, all this beauty it’s not real.  What’s real is the crisis.  But now I get it.   Both are real.  But one is far bigger than the other. 

You see, when Mary saw that tomb, she was seeing something real.  Jesus had died.  That suffering, that injustice, all that ugliness had happened.    But that’s not where she found Jesus.  She found Jesus in the garden.   In fact, at first, Mary even thinks Jesus IS the gardener.

But is she so mistaken in thinking that?  After all, what do gardeners do?       They take what looks like nothing, barren soil, and bring life out of it.   They bring beauty and abundance.  After all, where does God place the first human beings?  God places them in the garden that God created.  And when God brings about a new beginning, what better place to do it than in a garden? 

And in that garden, that garden where Mary finds Jesus, God is showing you something.  Yes, the grave exists.  It is real, far too real in these days, full of far too much death.   But the garden is far bigger.   And in the garden, God can and will bring life out of even the greatest griefs and losses.

And because Jesus’ followers saw that, Jesus led them to change everything.  And they did.  When epidemics ravaged the Roman empire, killing millions, all that many could see was the grave.   And so, they fled, leaving their friends, even their family behind to die.  But one group of people stayed, those who followed Jesus.  They knew too that the grave was real.  But they knew the garden was bigger, that the one that they had saved them could bring life out of death.  And so, they stayed and cared for the sick.  Christians even established places to care for the sick, places of hospitality.   And soon, these places simply became known as hospitals.  And because Christians looked beyond the grave, they saved thousands of lives, at times at the sacrifice of their own.  But their sacrifice became seeds.  For in those epidemics thousands upon thousands began to follow Jesus.   They wanted to know this God who could conquer the grave, who could place them in a garden even in the darkest of days.

And Christians have been doing that still.  These days, we celebrate doctors and nurses, their skills, their learning.  But did you know that up until the 20^th Century, a doctor was more likely to kill you than to cure you?    In fact, you didn’t even need a college degree to become a doctor.  All you needed was the money to pay the tuition.  You didn’t even need to know how to write.   In fact, when someone suggested that the students enrolled at the top medical school in New York City should have a final written exam, the lead professor protested.   He said.  “Half of these students can’t even write.  How could they take a written exam?”  

So, when did that change?  It changed when a wealthy Christian, a Quaker decided to leave behind his wealth when he died to start a school that would do things differently.   And his fellow Quakers who oversaw that gift made that happen.   They recruited a devout young doctor named William Welch to help them start a medical school.   And William Welch went on to recruit the greatest set of medical minds that had possibly ever assembled in one place.   And together with Johns Hopkins wealth, and their passion to bring life out of death, to turn doctors from butchers to healers, Webster and his fellow doctors changed medicine forever in this country.  

And twenty-five years later in 1918, when a horrific pandemic that killed millions hit the world, Welch joined with others to stand on the front lines, and save thousands, maybe millions of lives. In fact, Webster went on to direct the first school of public health in this country to stop such loss of life from ever happening again.  And is it any wonder that Welch and many who stood with him did it because they followed a God who they knew had conquered the grave?  They knew that the grave wasn’t the end, that their God wanted them to bring healing and life into this world.   That God created not a grave but a garden, a place where life could grow and blossom. 

And that garden can appear anywhere even in a war zone.  This past week, I was listening to an interview with David Nott, a surgeon, who for years volunteered to as a doctor in some of the most terrifying war zones on the planet.   And in the interview, the person interviewing him ended with a question about his belief in God.   And Nott said this. 

And it's quite funny that there is no doubt in my mind that there is a higher being there. There's no doubt because on occasions where my life has been almost on the line, where I've felt that within, you know, split second, I'm going to die here, that I do turn - something happens in my head. And I start to pray. And I feel like I have a frequency band on the radio in my head that I turn onto. And I do go onto that frequency and I feel that I am able to talk to God. And I do feel that he is listening to me. And he's listening to my severe anxieties that I'm discussing with him. And it gives me enormous comfort to realize that I am talking to him and that he is giving me some strength back.

Even as David Nott faced death, felt it coming for him, he turned to God.  And God brought him from the grave into the garden, even in the midst of a war.   And in these days, if you but have eyes to see, you can see that garden too.  You can see it in the folks here who shared palm crosses with their neighbors or fed Hollywood’s hungry last weekend.  You can see it in those who have reached out to Marlene, one of our church family who has gone through unspeakable loss and who provided her food and friendship and a safe place to live in this crisis.   You can see it in the countless stories of everyday sacrifice and heroism that have blossomed forth in these challenging days.   But most of all, you can see it in a God who has conquered the grave, who is walking in a garden, who even when in our moments of despair, we can’t see him, he sees us.    And he reminds us that he is the resurrection and the life.  He is the beginning and the end.  And he, Jesus has the final word.   And that word isn’t a grave it’s a garden.  It’s life not death.   It’s hope not despair. 

For Easter reminds us always what time it truly is.  It’s resurrection time.  And that means.  It’s not death time.  It’s new life time.  It’s not virus has the last word time.  It’s Jesus has the last word time.   It’s not crying at the grave time.  It’s get up and help your neighbor time.   It’s not despair time.  It’s hope time.  Because it’s resurrection time.   In resurrection time, you don’t find Jesus in the grave.  You find Jesus in the garden, bringing new life, new hope, a new beginning even in these days.   So, don’t get stuck in the grave.  Because Jesus isn’t there.  Jesus is in the garden bringing new life.   So, join him there.   After all, what is it?   You know.  You can say it right where you’re sitting right now.  It’s resurrection time.   And even in a Sunday of empty pews, that is true.   So go forth and share the new life that Jesus brings, and join him in making this world a garden, a place of life and joy and beauty, even in these challenging days.