April 20, 2025 Easter Sunday "God Brings Light and Life"

Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

John 20:1-18

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

It all begins in darkness.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2)

Darkness and chaos reign,

and “Then God said, ‘let there be light:

and there was light.

And God saw that the light was good…”

And as the newly formed light shines

 God makes order out of the chaos,

 separating and creating the world,

 sea and sky, plants and animals,

 and finally out of the dust of the earth,

humans

to whom God entrusts the care of the new creation

placing them in a beautiful garden for their home

with everything they could ever need.

But it wasn’t enough,

the humans wanted to be more than human,

they wanted to be like God,

 and in acting on that desire

 they broke their intimate relationship with God

as a punishment, consequences for their actions

 God exiled them from that beautiful garden,

and though God was still with the humans,

it was never the same

this made God sad,

 because God loved the good creation,

the world that God had made,

and God longed to recover the intimacy of the garden.

So God tried all manner of ways

 to draw the humans back into that relationship,

but the humans never fully responded

 so finally, God went to the humans.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people…And the Word became flesh and lived among us…” (John 1)

Jesus, the Word made flesh,

came and lived among the people,

 people who were like sheep without a shepherd,

and Jesus began to gather them together,

 to teach them God’s way of life

 and just as hope for the future is dawning,

in the hearts of the disciples

Jesus is crucified

 and the world plunges back into darkness.

Jesus is taken down from the cross

 and buried in a tomb in a garden

 and that seems to be that.

But Mary can’t stay away,

and “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark”

Mary goes to the tomb.

It all begins in darkness, in chaos.

As she arrives at the tomb in the garden,

 in the dark,

 she discovers that the stone

 that had been placed in front of the tomb is gone.

This can’t be good.

 So she runs to get help,

Simon Peter and the beloved disciple

 race to the tomb

 and confirm that it is indeed empty

and then they leave,

what else is there to be done?

But Mary does not give up.

I imagine her following behind the two running disciples,

 the sun starting to rise

as she makes her way back to the garden

 with the now empty tomb

and as the light becomes stronger

 Mary, alone again,

weeping outside the tomb

 bends down to take a look for herself

 and she sees two angels

sitting where Jesus’ body had been laid,

but such is her grief

 that their angelic presence doesn’t register,

she’s got to find Jesus’ body,

the two in the tomb don’t seem to be helping

so she turns around,

now that it’s fully light out,

 perhaps she can find someone else to help her,

 a gardener maybe,

she sees someone behind her

he must be a gardener

 and says “if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.

 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary’.”

 and like a sheep who recognizes their shepherd’s voice

 Mary realizes that it is Jesus before her,

 speaking her name in that way that says

 he knows everything about her and he loves her.

There in the light,

in the garden,

new intimacy with God

 is made possible by Jesus the Word made flesh

who lived among us,

who got to know us,

who revealed God to us,

and who as all humans do, died,

but because he was God,

he overcame death

 and brought about new life,

 a new creation,

one that he shares with us

 when we are joined to him in the waters of baptism.

It all begins in darkness and chaos,

and God brings light and life and it is good.

And this is what God continues to do,

come into the places where all hope seems lost

 and brings order to the chaos,

light and life where we know there is none to be found.

The promise of Easter is that and death will never have the last say,

 there may be days when it seems like God is missing,

 and our grief is such

that even messengers from God do not register

but then God speaks our name

 and we find that God has been at work the whole time

creating new life.

“Mary”

Jesus speaks her name

Creating new life and faith within her

And it’s only the beginning

 go and tell the disciples he says

 go and tell my family

 and she goes and announces to the disciples “I have seen the Lord.”

 and the light and new life begins to spread outside of the garden

light and life that continues to spread

each time the risen Christ is proclaimed.

The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness has not overcome it.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen,

Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia!