Easter: #GodFriendedMe

Easter, Year C

Luke 24:1-12

April 21, 2019

St. Matthias

           Each year when I read the Easter story – there is always something new.  Some part of whichever Gospel we read from - that I have never realized before.  The women go to the tomb at dawn.  The stone has been rolled away.  An angel appears and tells the women that he is not there – that Christ has risen.  And I don’t know that I had ever noticed this next part.  The women run to tell the disciples who make the mistake – as we men tend to do – of thinking this was just an idle tale.  Even after the disciples actually see the Resurrected Christ – some still do not believe.  It was impossible.

My brother once told me that the sun never actually rises.  Now I have never claimed much scientific knowledge – I was not a member of the science club and have never ever received any ribbon of any kind at a science fair.  The one year I tried to help my daughter with her science project was the year she did the worst of her entire academic career.  But I was older than my brother – but HE was smarter and actually read National Geographic and had a telescope.  He said that the sun actually stays right where it is in the Milky Way and the earth rotates so that our side of the planet turns into the path of the Sun and the Sun more slides into view each morning.  I didn’t understand what he was talking about.

Neither did the disciples.  Jesus was dead.  They had seen him crucified on a cross, pierced in his side with a sword, and his legs broken.  When the soldiers took Jesus down from the cross, he was not breathing anymore.  Joseph of Arimathea had given his tomb for the burial and the stone rolled over the entrance.  You don’t get any more dead.  So how could Jesus now be alive?  But He was!  And something new had happened.  Jesus was not just resuscitated.  CPR doesn’t work after 3 days in a tomb.  Jesus was not recreated, reborn, or reanimated.  This was RESURRECTION and it only happens when life overcomes death and the light of Easter shines!  It was brand new and had never been seen before and the disciples just could not believe.  Surely this was just an idle tale.

Today, thousands of years later, millions of people will wish one another Happy Easter around the world.  In a tiny village in southwest France, rather than an Easter Egg hunt, the whole town makes an Easter omelet with over 15,000 eggs.  The tradition in Poland on Easter if for boys to throw buckets and balloons of water on the girls.  I don’t see that starting in the U.S.  And on the island of Corfu in Greece, the citizens gather on their balconies and throw clay pots into the streets while the church bells ring.  Here in Tuscaloosa we gather and worship and celebrate.  There is no empty tomb here at St. Matthias.  I do not expect angels to appear.  We have not touched the nail prints in his hands or put our hand where the sword pierced his side.  We will not see with our eyes the Resurrected Christ.  Yet we will proclaim that WE BELIEVE.  Easter is about believing that God raised Christ from the dead and that through faith we share in the Resurrection.   Christ has DIED.  Christ is RISEN.  Christ will COME AGAIN.

So, what does it mean?  Well, it’s a mystery of the faith and I could talk about it for hours on end.  But you don’t want that and neither do I - so let me tell you about a new TV show that Phyllis and I have found - and now watch every week.  “God Friended Me” is about a young man who is an atheist, and who one day receives a Facebook friend request from – you guessed it – God!  And now – each week on CBS – Miles receives a Facebook friend suggestion from the Almighty directing him to someone in need of help.  Now some of the great things about the show include the fact that the main character – Miles – is played by Brandon Michael Hall – who I like very much even though I don’t think we are related.  The show is set in New York City and his father in the show – is a minister – actually a priest at – you guessed it – Harlem Episcopal Church.  With every friend request Miles and his friends receive – they help someone who is facing eviction or has a son with Autism or is lonely or afraid or just needs – well – a friend.  And somehow in all this - love and new life are shared.  And if it works on TV - then surely it can work in real life.

With every box of food and bag of beans and rice – there is resurrection.  Each time we love the person who is lonely or afraid – there is resurrection.  Resurrection is found with a smile and a hug and a prayer chain for women in prison.  It’s new life – like nothing else you will see in this world – instead, you just have to BELIEVE.  And it’s so much more than an idle tale.  So Happy Easter!  Oh and God Friended me is on – you guessed it – Sunday nights!  AMEN.