EASTER SURPISES, 2008
by Rev. Bob Hughes
March 23, 2008
For many years, as a Lutheran pastor, on Easter Sunday, the first words I would say were, “Christ has risen!” The congregation would answer in reply, “he is risen, indeed!” After nearly 25 years of Lutheran ministry I discovered Unitarian Universalism and eventually transferred my ordination. Now, as a UU minister, I wonder what I can say on Easter Sunday!
I know that, if I were to say, “Christ has risen!” you wouldn’t know what to say in reply! Not only would you not know the proper response, you would probably be rather taken aback that, in a UU Congregation I would say “Christ has risen!” Those of you who grew up UU and haven’t visited many Christian congregations on Easter Sunday haven’t heard those words year after year.
I wonder what words Unitarian Universalists might use! About the best I can come up with is, “Spring is here!” and your reply would be, “Spring is here, indeed!” But, compared with “Christ has risen!” sayings about the return of spring and the blooming of daffodils just doesn’t seem all that powerful.
At the same time, I’m aware that the words “Christ has risen!” present some major challenges to the UU belief system which most of us have! Even in my Lutheran days I was convinced that Easter is not just about a resuscitated corpse. Easter Sunday was a challenge for me then too! So, as has been the case for many years, I’m still having difficulty finding the appropriate words for Easter Sunday!
The folks who invited me to be here this morning are aware of the difficulties which Easter Sunday presents to Unitarian Universalists, so they offered me the challenge of being here today, and, being one to take up a challenge,　I’ve been searching for words. This caveat is my way of saying that my words today will be inadequate, and may present a bit of a challenge to us all. So, the challenge of Easter Sunday isn’t just to me it’s to everybody here!
With that said, let’s see where we go.
It seems to me that Easter Sunday demands a look at the Easter story the story of the Resurrection. I’m convinced that there are some surprises about that story a problem is that we’ve heard it frequently and others have used the stories in problematic ways, so that we have trouble with Easter. But, being up to a challenge, let’s look again!
Now, whenever I look at the Christian scriptures, I have some basic understandings as a starting place. I believe that the Christian scriptures evolved.
These are accounts which:
- were at first passed on by word of mouth the oral tradition;
- were written by several different people;
- were written over a period of about 100 years;
- were written by people who were not eye witnesses of Jesus of Nazareth;
- and were not intended to be anything like a modern news report.
In addition, in the case of the Gospels, the writers of Matthew and Luke had the earlier Gospel of Mark in front of them when they wrote their own Gospels. There isn’t time to get into all that many scholars, after deep study, have come to such conclusions. This poster is a visual depiction of the relationships among the synoptic Gospels Mark, Matthew and Luke. This depiction helps me appreciate some of the complexities of the Gospels.
My starting point in approaching the Gospels is that Mark was written first, and that when the writers of Matthew and Luke wrote, they had “Mark” in front of them. They had other sources as well, and, Mark was the common element. The obvious question then becomes, “why would Matthew & Luke use other words to tell their story?” Using these approaches of the Christian scriptures I’d like to look at the Easter
story with you.
Use your imagination with me and imagine that we have arrived at Jesus’ tomb. Only in our imagining, let’s arrive about 20 years after Jesus’ death. We, as early believers, or as the merely curious, gather at a place where we think Jesus of Nazareth was buried. There we hear someone tell a story that goes something like this:
“After Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified on Friday, Very early on the first day of the week Mary Magdalen (and some other women) went to the tomb when the sun had risen. They saw that the stone was rolled back.
And entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them: “Do not be amazed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised. He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” (16:5-6)
And the women went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them. And they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.”
If you can imagine that scene, of being with this band of pilgrims who had gathered at this holy shrine, what would be your reaction? My guess is that first you would be surprised at what you didn’t hear. Where is the mention of the two angels, and the earthquake, and the Roman guards and the Risen Christ meeting the disciples? Well, those aren’t part of the story yet. We have imagined ourselves to have gathered before those were added. This is all　 the story we have heard. What is our reaction?
What we in our imaginations have tried to do is go behind Mark’s written narrative and get at the oral story which preceded it. Modern scholarship has worked at that, partly by subtracting elements that Mark seems to have added to the earlier oral tradition. What we have imagined hearing is what scholars hypothesize to be the earliest oral tradition.
We modern inquirers must remember that this “earliest oral tradition” still doesn’t claim to be an historical, newspaper-type account. What we have heard is a story of faith, … and our time at the tomb continues.
We hear the story teller proclaim “He has been raised,” then point to the tomb, and say “He is not here, see the place where they laid him.”
What is the impact of the message we have heard? “He isn’t here….”　 In other words, this pilgrimage to the tomb was meant to end with the awareness that our pilgrimage isn’t the point. In many ways the pilgrimage is fruitless – you can’t find the living among the dead!
In our imaginative trip we’ve taken a step behind Mark, but we still aren’t at an historical record – and we can’t get to that yet (if we ever can at all). What we can do is explore what the story is saying to those gathered at the tomb.
When we focus on the story and its impact we find that there are two levels; that the story has a double focus. The more obvious level, the explicit focus is on certain events – namely, the visit of some women to Jesus’ tomb on the Sunday after he was killed. The second level, the implicit focus is on us – we who have heard the story. Now the spotlight is on us, the listeners. If we are among the merely curious, we may ask what effect this story was meant to have on the people listening.
What would it be like to hear that the women who went to the tomb were told that Jesus had been raised and have it pointed out that the tomb was empty and then be so frightened and confused that they flee, saying nothing? We could reflect on what wasn’t said, but, let’s use our imaginations a bit more and return to the time when Mark took this earlier oral account and retold it in written form. What did he keep? What did he add? Why? What of the traditional accounts is still missing?
So we come to “Easter According to Mark: the written tradition.”
As it appears in Mark 16, the Easter story is succinct, fleeting, and troubling. For one thing most of what Christian traditional piety associates with Easter isn’t there! There is no mention of guards at the tomb, no emergence of Jesus, no burial shroud. Mark does not describe Jesus’ resurrection. It would be 100 years later before there was an attempt to describe Jesus’ emergence from the tomb – and that account did not make it into scripture!
There are some surprises in Mark!
Is it surprising to you that there is no text in the New Testament which describes Jesus’ resurrection or claims that there were any witnesses to it? Is it surprising that the story ends without the disciples believing that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead?
Notice Mark’s ending. Mark concludes with the confusion of the three women who had gone to visit Jesus’ grave. The original ending of Mark was with verse 8, with the women running out, beside themselves with terror and not saying anything to anybody. That ending was so surprising, so troubling to somebody in the early church that eleven more verses were added – the “second ending.” (Even back then people preferred a “happy ending.”!)
It is this second ending which brings Mark into closer harmony with the more elaborate stories in the later Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John.
But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s revisit the story as Mark’s gospel originally had it.
Mark 16:1-8
1. (Saturday night)
And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. (16:1)
II. (Sunday morning)
And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. (16:2)
III. (The stone)
And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back, for it was very large.” (16:3-4)
IV. (The Two-fold Message)
A. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them: “Do not be amazed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised. He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” (16:5-6)
B. “But go, tell his disciples, and especially Peter, that he goes before you to the Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.” (16:7)
V. (The Reaction)
And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them. And they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. ((16:8)
That’s the original ending – rather abrupt. Instead of joy and proclamation there is confusion, fear, and silence.
Compare Mark’s written story with what you’ve heard during most of your life time. What isn’t in Mark? Any surprises yet?
One surprise in the original Mark is that the risen Jesus does not appear at all! According to the original Gospel of Mark, after Jesus was sealed in the tomb he was never seen again. There is that statement from the young man that they would see Jesus in the Galilee, but when? Was that to be in a few days, a few weeks, or at the end of time? We aren’t told. 　In any case, Mark doesn’t mention it any more. The women aren’t told to tell the disciples to go to the Galilee, and judging from the women’s reaction, they didn’t tell anyone, so no one went. It some ways that prediction of a future appearance seems to be sort of “tacked on.” Mark’s focus and emphasis is on the announcement that Jesus has been raised, he is absent and he is unavailable.
So, what do we have? We have some surprises!
If some women did discover an empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning, that discovery led to confusion rather than faith. Mark is clearly saying that the empty tomb isn’t the origin of the Christian faith. It isn’t an empty tomb which creates faith.
Mark’s story raises as many questions as it answers.
In fact, it puts Easter in the interrogative mode that’s something that we UUs can appreciate! That’s one of the reasons I resonate with the story as it is in Mark it’s much more evocative – perhaps it can be a bit provocative for us.
What this approach to the Easter story does for me is provide me with an invitation. The writer of Mark surprises me and leaves me with the question, “what will you decide?”
Basically, “what will you decide about the way Jesus of Nazareth talked of God?”
What Jesus had said was that the basic Power of the universe, the Kingdom of Heaven, God, is inclusive, caring, and is to lead to hope, co-operation among people and tender care of the earth. (I know, that is a simplified version, I’ll have to save more for another time.)
A summarized way of saying this is that Mark is inviting us to come to what could be called “Christ consciousness.”
Now, knowing something about Unitarian Universalists, I suspect that many of you will find the words “Christ consciousness” somewhat “suspect.”! I also suspect that I could talk about Buddha consciousness” without any problems! So, would you at least temporarily suspend your disbelief and hang in there with me?
What I mean by “Christ consciousness” is the awareness that, when you consider the teachings of the historical Jesus of Nazareth, when you are open to being touched and transformed by their power, a “Word-Event happens” 　you come to a particular understanding of the universe, of the nature of reality, of the way things are to be among people and how we live on the earth.
We come to understand that “there is that of the divine in each person.”
My “Christ consciousness” is my recognition of that divinity within myself andvevery other human being. (I know, I also have “Buddha consciousness” and “Shiva consciousness” but this is Easter Sunday, so I’m talking about Christ consciousness today!)
Remember that there is the historical Jesus of Nazareth and there is the Risen Christ of faith.
Easter marks the transition point, the move from simply appreciating the remarkable life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, to being willing to live your life based on those teachings.
“Christ consciousness” describes the inner awareness of those who are willing to be thus transformed.
I am aware that my words are again inadequate. We are at a mystical level here seeking to put words onto an experience of the divine.
With the understanding that the words are not adequate, for me “Christ consciousness” is an awareness of our unity with God.
There is a sense of “Oneness” with all that is, with all of reality.
I don’t have that sense of Oneness all the time, and, sometimes, I do have glimpses of it. Those are good times! That sense of Oneness assures me that things are going to be all right, The universe is a friendly, hospitable place, There is a basic purpose and meaning to life. There is an end point omega point toward which we are evolving. (I know, there are many sad, difficult, hurtful, painful, tragic, unnecessary things which happen and, most of those are what people do to each other and themselves.)
There are lessons to learn along the way,
And, at the heart of the universe, there is “justice, equity and (gracious) compassion in human relations.” There is acceptance of one another, There is the “goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.” There is the “direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder which moves us to a renewal of spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life.” There are the virtues of gentleness, patience.
You may recognize that some of those words are quotes are from the UU Principles & Purposes.
What I’m suggesting is that, one way to describe a part of what our Principles and Purposes talk about is the phrase “Christ consciousness.”
That “direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder” that’s one way, for some people, to talk about Christ Consciousness.
Because I am conscious of the divinity within me (my Christ consciousness), I am simultaneously aware of the divinity within you.
I don’t always have that Christ consciousness when I lose that consciousness and then return to it that is “resurrection”! It feels like coming to life,　 again”! It seems to me that that return is what Easter is about!
Whatever you tell yourself about the original Easter story, the fact is, some pretty cowardly people folks who deserted their dear teacher when he was arrested some pretty cowardly people came to be full of courage. They came to base theirlives on the way Jesus of Nazareth had taught them. They came to Christ Consciousness.
Then, rather than just telling stories about the historical Jesus of Nazareth, they became aware of an ongoing presence the “direct experience of the transcendent,” they came to Christ consciousness. That change is what Easter is about.
Well, that’s about as far as I can go this morning. For me, Easter is still a challenge a challenge to return, again and again, to Christ consciousness – to living my life based on what is Real and True rather than on　 the simple “facts” of the “ordinary world.”
The writer of the Gospel of Mark takes us, on a Sunday morning, to an empty tomb and surprises us. We are confronted with the question as to how we will decide about Jesus of Nazareth’s view of reality. There isn’t time to consider all of Jesus’ teachings.
We have to be satisfied with some basic questions – questions such as:
- Is the universe based on cut-throat competition or extensive co-operation?
- Is creation to be exploited or extended?
- Must we have all the answers beforehand, or will we venture forth even in some uncertainty?
- Is gracious compassion at the heart of the universe?
- No matter what you decide about the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, you still have to decide about those basic questions.
- Will we respect and honor the transcending mystery and wonder of the cosmos?
- Will we take the responsibility for diligently working out our own salvation with all due reverence?
No matter what you decide about Jesus’ tomb, you’ve still got some basic questions to answer. Looking back to a tomb – empty or not -　 doesn’t have much to do withfaith. The way you wrestle with those questions does. And that’s an Easter surprise! May that surprise be our invitation, and encouragement, to let ourselves be renewed, and to renew our commitment to what is Ultimate.
When we do, no matter when or what day it is, or what the day is like, we will be observing a glorious Easter Sunday.