Luke 24:1-12
Living Presence
James Sledge April
17, 2022
Early on a Sunday morning, several women
return from the empty tomb and tell the others what they had just experienced,
how they had found the tomb empty and encountered two men in dazzling clothes.
Presumably these were angels, and they had told the women that Jesus was risen.
When they tell the others, however, the women do not find the most receptive
audience for their account. Says the reading, But these words seemed to
them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
Easter Morning,
Cara B. Hochhalter
Over the years, many have commented on the role gender may have played in this. After all, it was a patriarchal society where women’s voices did not carry that much weight, and the women’s words perhaps seemed an idle tale because men didn’t trust women as reliable witnesses. I’ve no doubt commented on this dynamic in some of my past Easter sermons.
But it turns out that Luke’s gospel does not report some women bringing a report back to male disciples. Instead, it tells of female disciples who bring back a report to the eleven and to all the rest. And no doubt all the rest included more female disciples.
Now if these women are disciples, and if some of those hearing their report are also female disciples, then judging the report an idle tale isn’t about not believing female witnesses. Rather, it seemed an idle tale because it was too difficult to believe. Dead people stay dead. No one goes to a cemetery expecting to meet anyone once buried there, and most of us would think anyone who said they had needed to see a psychiatrist.
The disciples were in mourning. The forces of hate and evil had killed Jesus. To say that love had still somehow triumphed was too audacious a claim, and it is still an audacious claim. Who would stand on the streets of Bucha, Ukraine, amidst the destroyed homes and mass graves and proclaim that love has triumphed over hate and evil? Who would claim that love has triumphed as missiles and shells continue to rain down on civilians?
The disciples knew the brutal power of Rome, and many of them had witnessed the agony of Jesus’ horrible death on a cross. How could they possibly believe love had triumphed? Still, Peter goes to see for himself, and he finds the empty tomb. He is amazed at what has happened. He marvels at it all. But does he believe that love has triumphed? I doubt it.
In Luke’s gospel, that is how the story of Easter morning ends. There is an empty tomb and a report from what look like angels that no one believes, perhaps not even the women who were there. In Luke’s gospel, Easter morning includes the news, He is risen! But no one responds, He is risen indeed!
Not so many minutes ago, we joined in the shouts of “Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!” It felt good, even exhilarating to join in that chorus, but I wonder if I’m not a little like Peter on Easter morning. I’m amazed, I marvel at it all, but is the news true, or is it an idle tale? Perhaps that’s a question we all wrestle with at times, especially as we watch the horrors of an evil war and an unending, worldwide pandemic.
Now clearly those first disciples eventually decided that the report of the women was much more than an idle tale. It was gospel truth that they would share with the world. But they didn’t come to that conclusion because the women stuck to their story. They could finally join the shouts of Christ is risen indeed because they met the risen Jesus.
Author and Presbyterian pastor Frederick Buechner once wrote, “It hardly matters how the body of Jesus came to be missing because in the last analysis what convinced the people that he had risen from the dead was not the absence of his corpse but his living presence. And so it has been ever since.”[1]
And so it has been ever since. In ways big and small, in ways fantastic and mundane, in ways obvious and subtle, the presence of the risen Jesus comes to us. Perhaps Jesus comes to you in the soaring music of Easter or perhaps he comes in a still small voice that speaks of God’s love for you. Perhaps you have felt his presence in a dramatic epiphany or perhaps in a stirring in your heart when you see someone in need. Perhaps, in some moment of spiritual vulnerability, you have heard Jesus speak directly to you, or perhaps you have sensed his presence as you shared in the bread of life and cup of salvation.
Whatever way the risen Lord becomes present to you, when by faith we feel that presence, a new, Easter reality breaks into our lives. Whenever, by the power of the Spirit, the living presence of Jesus touches us, light shines in the darkness. We can still see the pain and the darkness of the world, but by faith we know that they do not have the final word.
We can look upon the evil being done in Ukraine and by faith proclaim that God in Jesus has experienced the worst evil has to offer, has been tortured and killed, dying a horrible, agonizing death. But when we experience the presence of the living Jesus, we know that the power of evil did not finally prevail. And so, even in the face of the worst evil has to offer, we have hope, for we know that evil could not snuff out God’s love in Christ Jesus. We know that evil’s seeming triumph is temporary.
Because we know the living presence of Jesus, we can look upon the darkness and evil of the world and with hope and joy, boldly proclaim,
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed?
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed?
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed?
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
Thanks be to God!
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