Jesus Meets Us on the Journey
Easter Sunday – April 8, 2012
Many of you know that when I lived in Rhode Island, I used to go camping and hiking quite a bit in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was something I had really never done before I moved there; my family didn't camp, and neither did my friends, so neither had I. But lots of my friends in Rhode Island liked to camp, and one Memorial Day weekend the invited me along. And so began a love of camping and hiking, and I was going as often as I could. I had one main friend, my hiking buddy Vaughn who usually organized these things – big group hikes with lots of people from work and other times smaller groups or just the 2 of us.
Now Vaughn was always in much better shape than I was, not to mention being a much more experienced hiker, and so when it was just the two of us, he pretty much always left me in the dust. That was okay; we agreed on it ahead of time, and that way, we could each go at our own pace. But as I huffed and puffed and trudged along up the 4000+ footers we were usually seeking to conquer, even when he was long out of sight up the mountain, I never worried. I always knew that he would be waiting for me up ahead, that he wouldn't leave me to navigate the trail alone, that I would find him sooner or later, just around the next bend or after a particularly steep climb, there to check in with me, encourage me about what was to come further on, and then to walk with me as we set out again, before taking the lead and speeding up the trail. And so the pattern would repeat throughout that trip, and on each mountain we hiked together.
Today's gospel gives us sense of just this type of relationship - this going ahead and expecting others to follow, this trust that has developed between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome, and all of the other disciples. Of course, the women come to the tomb on this morning weighed down, not just with the burial spices they carried, but with the grief and sorrow of the past three days. It was like a bad dream they just couldn't wake up from, one that just went on and on, from Judas betraying Jesus on Thursday night, through the shocking brutality of Jesus' death on the cross on Friday, and through the long sabbath Saturday, a day when they could do nothing, nothing but pray and wait and plan for Sunday morning to go and anoint Jesus' body, giving him a loving farewell there in the tomb. They go not even knowing how they will get into the tomb, past the stone they had seen Joseph of Arimathea place there Friday afternoon. They go into a place of death, expecting to find death.
But when they get there, one surprise after another meets them. When they get to the entrance to the tomb and look up, they see it standing wide open, the stone, which was very large, has been mysteriously rolled away. And when they dare to step inside to see what's going on, they don't find the body of Jesus wrapped in a linen cloth like they were expecting. Instead, a young man dressed in white is sitting there – and they are alarmed! Well, duh! “Don't be alarmed” he says to them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised, he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
This is great news – but the way Mark ends the story leaves a little to be desired. It's a safe bet that his first readers were expecting a little more, and that we are too. Wonderful to hear that Jesus has been raised, but it'd be nice if he made an appearance to the women to back up what the young man, perhaps an angel, told them. We too, are looking for this; it's Easter morning – we expect to hear this of dramatic resurrection appearance of Jesus, our risen Lord who died and yet lives... and all of the other gospels all have Jesus showing up to meet with his disciples – with Mary Magdalene, alone, or with the other women, in the garden; on the road to Emmaus; in the Upper Room where the disciples are hiding out in fear on Sunday night. But not Mark's gospel. Mark's gospel ends here, with the women given a message to take to the other disciples, and then immediately fleeing – “and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
We want more; we expect more – not just in the story, but often in our own lives. We'd like Jesus to make a personal appearance, to come into our lives in some powerful, unmistakable way, to remove all doubt – that he is real, that he exists, that this story is true!! But most of the time, what we get is the word of someone else, someone who reminds us that Jesus is not in the grave, that he has been raised – and that he is going ahead, back into the world, calling us into new life, resurrection life, where he will meet us! And in our disbelief, in our shock and amazement and terror – we are given a message to take to the rest of the world. To do what so many before us have done – to share the story that we have received, to tell the truth that we have experienced: that Jesus lives, and that he goes on ahead of us – that he'll meet us further along the road, just as he promised.
It's not easy to go just on the say so of another witness. We see that from the way the women react initially. They say nothing. This story is too fantastic, too good to be true, too bizarre to be believed. But the thing about following Jesus is that we learn to trust him, and in that trust, we go when we hear him say go. Even when we can't see him on the path ahead of us, we keep hiking the trail he has marked out for us, because we know he doesn't break his promises, we know that we will come around a bend on the path or reach the top of a steep hill and find him there waiting for us, and there we rest in his presence. Maybe he gives us a hint of what the trail is like just ahead; we are encouraged to keep on going, always following into the future, his future – one that has conquered death so that we need not fear death, one that isn't always easy but is always filled with hope and promise for what we will see when we reach the summit and join with Jesus there.
On this day, wherever you are on this journey with Jesus, whether you are a novice hiker or an old seasoned veteran, know that Jesus is going on ahead of you, always beckoning you to come, promising to meet you along the way. Go in confident amazement and awe or maybe with alarm and trembling but go. Go and as you go, invite someone else to go with you. Tell them of this incredible good news Jesus has been raised. Share the stories of resurrection life, of light and hope and freedom bursting out of tombs, new life that cannot be contained with someone who can't quite believe it is true. It's the only way they can know that Jesus is waiting for them, just ahead. If we don't tell them, who will?
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