where everything else goes

That's right. I'm official!

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comin' up.

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Bishop Allen Drive -- Bishop Allen  /

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Not a genius playlist, but....

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Why did you come here today? What are you looking for?

Mary and the other women who came to the tomb were looking for something.

They showed up while it was still dark. Not only dark in the literal sense. Dark. Bleak. Empty. They showed up in the darkness and silence that can only mean one thing: death. For the last couple of days they had lived in death’s shadow. As the Psalmist writes, tears had been their food night and day.

Who knows what kind of thoughts had run through their minds. Might they have prevented the catastrophe? Was there something they could have done? An appeal they could have made on his behalf? Did they somehow share in the responsibility for the death of not only their master, but their hope!

As they walked slowly through the gloom, asking each other repeatedly how they were going to move that blasted stone, they were seeking something. In fact, they had been seeking something for a long time, and for a while they had dared to believe they had found that which their hearts had hoped for. In Jesus, so they thought, their hopes for an Israel that took its place at the center of the world socio-political stage would actually be realized! And it was so close… nearly there!

But… So now they were back where they started. Back to seeking…

Their brothers, the disciples were looking for something too.

On that early Easter morning they were undoubtedly looking for some answers. Laying awake the past two nights, they had thought of nothing but their last image of Jesus, which for most of them was an image of him being bound and taken away by a troop of soldiers and religious leaders; perhaps worst of all, that mob had been led by one of their own. Jesus had been betrayed, arrested, and taken from them, as it turned out, forever.

Now there remained for them a life of grief, shame and uncertainty. Grief because, like the women, they had dared to hope in Jesus, and like the women, they had seen their hopes crushed. Worse than crushed. They had been turned to ash by the heat of the Pharisees’ hatred. Shame because, to a man, they had fled at the moment when their friend needed them. Jesus was strong, but the Romans and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Priests had proved, in the end, stronger. The disciples now had to face the embarrassment of admitting that they had been utter fools; their folly now exposed for all to see. And finally there was uncertainty… because, well, which one of them would be next? Certainly one execution wasn’t going to satisfy the bloodthirsty Romans. Surely the Priests would round up Jesus’ followers, perhaps not all at once, but subtly, one at a time.

So the disciples were seeking answers, and maybe a decent hiding place.

Peter was looking for something too. He had once been a disciple but now… well, the word disciple, which means learner, was too good for him. He had obviously learned nothing from the Master. By now he was probably looking for a quiet way to disappear. Maybe permanently. The others may have fled as he did, but Peter did worse. Much worse. His public denials might have caused suspicious eyes to cast their glare in other directions, but his conscience was not as forgiving. “I will never deny you!” He remembered saying it. It’s all he could think about. “I will never deny you!” “I will never deny you” “I will never deny you!”

“I will die with you but I will never deny you!”

Peter may have been seeking a way to halt that guilty voice, the one in his head, the one that was saying he was no longer a disciple, no longer worthy even to live.

Invisible to all of these seeking eyes and hearts, but real nonetheless, the spiritual enemy of God was not seeking anything. He had what he sought. In the end, victory had been easy; a darn sight easier than he ever imagined! The devil had succeeded in using the sin-soaked hearts of human beings to do his dirty work. The devil had put his bitterest enemy in a place from which no one returns. He shut the Son of God up in a prison from which no one could escape. The battle was won.

Meanwhile, at the tomb…

An angel is speaking with the terrified women. “What are you looking for?”

And the truth that they cannot bring themselves to admit is that they are looking for a dead man.

Later, Peter and ‘the other disciple’ will race to the tomb and discover grave clothes, neatly folded. But they will not find what they seek because they are seeking a dead man.

And the great enemy, Satan, will also gaze into the tomb with shock and surprise and fury and he will clench his fists like an angry child and gnash his teeth because in that grave he will not see what he knows should be there: a dead man.

“He is not here,” the angel says.

“He is not here!” 

He’s loose!

What joyous words. What wonderful news!

… So then why is everyone so afraid? Why do the women, seeing the empty tomb and hearing the assurance of the angel, run away trembling with fear?

Why is everyone so sad? Why do we see Mary lingering at the tomb with the bag of spices lying unopened at her side, weeping?

Why is everyone so confused? Why do the disciples after seeing this amazingly empty grave simply return to their homes and the bitter isolation of their own worst fears?

Why? Because they were still seeking a dead man. Listen to Mary as she speaks to the gardener in front of the empty tomb. “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take him away.”

Mary as well as the other disciples sought a body. They were not prepared for what awaited them. The idea that Jesus might not be dead anymore was simply too preposterous, too far fetched to even be considered, especially in the midst of all the grief and despair, which was all too real and all too present.

They were unprepared for a Jesus who was no longer dead.

So let me ask you again, why did you come here today? What are you looking for?

Are you looking for a Jesus who was laid to rest, or one who is let loose in the world? Did you come for a funeral service, or a party?

Before you give your answer, let me warn you. A dead Jesus, you don’t have to worry about him turning up unexpected at the worst moment! A dead Jesus doesn’t provide you with inconvenient reminders about the things you said you were going to do for him and with him. A dead Jesus doesn’t take you anywhere or give you the urge to do utterly ridiculous things for the sake of other people! A dead Jesus is 100% safe and you always know where to find him.

But a living Jesus… well that’s a horse of a different hue! A living Jesus goes on ahead of you and then asks you to follow him. And what’s worse, he almost never tells you were you’re going; not until you’ve already been there for a few years. Trust me on this one.

A living Jesus, well like he said to Mary, you can’t hold on to him. You can’t keep him in a tomb, you can’t box him in, you can’t get him to do what you want! Instead, he does crazy, wacky stuff that you don’t want like cares for the poor and preaches the good news, only he does it using your hands and your mouth! Not to mention your money, your car, your house…

Worst of all, a living Jesus is apt to answer your prayers! He may even give you exactly what you ask for!

A living Jesus is can be a royal pain in the neck!

That’s the trouble with a living Jesus… if he’s alive that means he’s been set loose upon the world. That old Satan, he hates that! And if he’s loose, then he can show up wherever he wants and do whatever he wants. And it can be great and fun and awful and frustrating and wild and completely, utterly alive.

And even though he frustrates expectations and leads you where you don’t want to go and says uncomfortable things to you about what you should do with what belongs to you, a living Jesus can do something that a dead Jesus could never do.

A living Jesus can also save you from that guilt that you're still carrying around, guilt about the things you did, and the things you didn’t do. A living Jesus can save you from the eternal consequences of the even the most vile thoughts and actions that you’ve taken against the last, the lost and the least of this world, despite the fact that in the end, you did those things to Jesus himself. A Jesus who is alive and loose in the world can save even those who drove the nails, even those who chanted ‘crucify’, even those who profited and still profit from his death.

So, why are you here today? What are you looking for?

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Sunshine -- Keane  /

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My sermon at church this morning wasn't written by me. It was a poem by F. W. Pitt that Phil Keaggy turned into a song. It's called Maker of the Universe. I've posted it here in honor of Holy Week.

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inGeniously brought to you by Citizen Cope (Clarence Greenwood) and his lovely ode, "Sideways" : 

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Pure genius... seeded by The Judybats' masterpiece, "Saturday"

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There comes a time in everyone's life when the realization hits that you aren't going to get anymore work done, not matter how much you keep insisting to yourself that you are going to get down to it any second now.

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