Easter Sunday- Christ the Lord is Risen Today! Alleluia!

 

Read John 20:1-18

 

“I’ve seen the Lord.” –Mary Magdalene (John 20:18)

There Mary was.  In the early morning darkness, walking to Jesus’ tomb.  Grieving that her hope was murdered.  Mourning that she would never see him again.  In one horrible nightmare of a day he was gone forever.  Or so she thought.

When Mary arrived at the cave that was Jesus’ tomb, to her great surprise the stone sealing the tomb was rolled away.  Immediately she ran to get Peter and another disciple, saying “they’ve taken the Lord and I don’t know where they’ve put him!”  They ran to see for themselves, and sure enough Mary’s shocking, devastating news appeared to be true.  Jesus was gone.  Perplexed, not yet understanding what had happened, Peter and the disciple went back to where they were staying.

But not Mary.  She stayed back, weeping by the tomb.  Finally getting the courage to peer in, she was again greatly surprised for she saw two angels.  “Why are you crying?” they asked her.  Repeating the devastating news she shared with the disciples, she cried that someone had taken Jesus and she didn’t know where they’d put him.  She turned around, and - again to her surprise - she saw someone standing there.  It was Jesus.  Mistaking him for a gardener she asked him if he knew where Jesus was. 

Jesus said, “Mary.”  That was it – Mary now knew where Jesus was.  He was standing before her.  Alive.  When Mary returned to Peter and the disciples she shared the most surprising news of all: “I’ve seen the Lord.”  This news meant that Jesus – who was dead – was no longer dead.  Jesus faced death and defeated it.

Today we celebrate the greatest mystery of God’s deep love: Jesus died, was buried, and rose again.  In rising from the dead, Jesus made new life possible for all humanity.

As Charles Wesley wrote in his great Easter hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”:

  Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

            Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

            Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!

            Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

            Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

            Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

            Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!

            Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

~ Laura Johnson

Holy Saturday- Wait

Read: Lamentations 3:37-41

"We must search and examine our ways: we must return to the Lord."
                                                                                                 -Lamentations 3:40

Imagine the heaviness of the disciples' hearts the day after Jesus' crucifixion. Their leader, their hope for the future, their best friend had been executed in the most brutal way imaginable. And they deserted him in his greatest moment of need.





I wonder if there was heaviness in the hearts of the ordinary people in Jerusalem on that holy Saturday after Jesus' death. I wonder if those who had witnessed Jesus' miracles were mourning his death in secret. I wonder if the bystanders to the crucifixion had an inclination that they had just participated in a great act of evil. I wonder if Jesus' scoffers regretted their painful words. I wonder if the soldiers who beat and crucified him cried out to God in sorrow. I wonder if something was stirring in the hearts of the people that was calling them to "search and examine" their ways, to "return to the Lord." 

Or, I wonder if people went about their business as usual, completely oblivious to what God was up to on their behalf.

Holy Saturday is a strange day for us modern day Christians.  The rest of the world is going on with business as usual.  We, too, are often occupied with normal life – sporting events, housework, preparing for tomorrow’s Easter dinner with friends or family.  After Good Friday it is so tempting to just jump ahead to Easter.  But, I invite you to wait. Wait in the heaviness of Good Friday. Wait with the disciples in their shame and grief.  Wait with regret. Wait with repentant hearts. 

Today, let the words of Lamentations 3:37-41 be your prayer.  In the midst of normal life, of friends and family and Easter preparations, stop and examine yourself.  How are you turning your back on God?  How are you like the disciples, the religious leaders, the bystanders who killed Jesus?  Examine yourself before God, and return to the Lord.  Wait in eager anticipation for tomorrow, for the glory of resurrection and the promise of a new life.

~ Laura Johnson

Good Friday-The Cement of Divine Love

 

Read: John 19:16-30

 

“Remember the overflowing blood of God’s Son. Christ bathed us in it when He opened His body up and drained Himself with holy fire and blazing love on the wood of the cross. Love held Jesus there fast. As the saints say, neither cross nor nails could have held God, had it not been for the cement of divine love. That’s why you should always be looking on that wood. Let the eye of your understanding rest on the Cross always. Here you’ll discover true virtue and fall in love with it.”

                                                       –Catherine of Siena (d. 1380)

 

Today I will ponder the hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”.  How deep is the Father’s love for us?  So deep that God sent Jesus to take on our humanity and live as one of us.  So deep that Jesus would live for us, show us God’s ways, invite us into God’s Kingdom.  So deep that Jesus would cry for us, bleed for us, die a painful death for our welfare. 

How deep is the Father’s love for us?  I am inspired by the image from Catherine of Siena (above) of God’s love as cement.  The cement of divine love was the strength that held Jesus through his suffering and death.  The cement of divine love is so strong that nothing  – nothing you can do or think or say, no powers on earth or in heaven, no heights or depths – nothing can separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).  The cross is proof of that. 

Today we mourn.  We mourn that our beloved Lord, who loves us more than we can imagine, suffered so greatly because we couldn’t love him as he loved us.  We mourn that scoffers mocked Jesus as he bled and died for them.  We mourn that the disciples fled and left Jesus to die alone.  We mourn that – despite God’s calling to live a holy life – we submit to the temptations to sin and hurt one another.  We, too, are guilty for the cross.

But today we also give thanks.  We give thanks because Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.  Jesus suffered the cross so that we could be reconciled to God, so that we could know the true depths of God’s love for us.

Today, I invite you to remember the overflowing blood of Jesus with heavy, grateful hearts.  Jesus died for you.  Today, I invite you to let these words sink in, let them speak deep into your heart so you can know the power and goodness of God’s divine cement-like love for you – yes, even you.

~ Laura Johnson

Maundy Thursday-Living the New Commandment

Read:

Mark 14:22-26
John 13:3-15, 34-35

²²While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. ²⁴He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
                                                                                               - Mark 14:22-24

We began Lent anticipating a great journey – a journey deeper into God’s heart, God’s will, God’s ways.  Today, on Maundy Thursday, we are near the end of our Lenten journey.  On the first Maundy Thursday Jesus’ journey of ministry was coming to a close.  Later that evening Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested by Jewish authorities.  So here, at the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus had one last chance to prepare them for the journey ahead – their mission to spread the news of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and promise of God’s Kingdom coming to earth as it is in heaven.

Each of the four gospels gives us snapshots of what happened during that Last Supper.  Jesus and the disciples were celebrating Passover, the festival that remembers God’s saving the Israelites from the angel of death’s “passover" the night before their escape from Egypt.  At this holy meal, Jesus took bread and a cup of wine, gave it to his disciples, and told them that they were sharing in his broken body and his poured out blood.  He was giving them a framework to make sense of his death in the days to come.  He was training them to look for his divine love in his sacrificial death.  And then – if this wasn’t shocking enough – he tied an apron around his waist and washed his disciples’ feet in one last action of humble love.  This was a task reserved for servants, but Jesus did it to show them how they ought to live in his absence.  He told them “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.” (John 14:34)

The church calls today “Maundy Thursday.”  Maundy is a word that comes from the latin mandatum novum, or “new commandment.”  Today we remember that Jesus’ final lesson was to show his disciples how to live into his new commandment of sacrificial, life-giving love.  To love as Jesus loved.

Today I invite you to follow Christ’s example.  Let his “new commandment” direct your actions today.  Whose feet can you wash?  Who can you put before yourself in humble service?  How can you share Christ’s unconditional love?

~ Laura Johnson

Wednesday of Holy Week-Anointing

Mark 14:1-9

It was only two days before Passover was to begin and Jesus was at Bethany, in the home of Simon the Leper. While Jesus was there eating a woman came in carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. She opened the bottle and poured it on Jesus’ head.

I know. That seems a little strange, especially in Jesus’ day, that a women would come in from the streets and pour something on a man’s head.

And several of the guests were furious. “What an amazingly wasteful thing to do! Don’t you know the value of that perfume? It could have been sold for the equivalent of a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” They were angry, annoyed and up in arms against her.

 “Let her alone,” Jesus says. She has just done something incredibly gracious and loving for me. You will have the poor with you everyday of your lives. You can do something for them every day, whenever you choose. That is not true for me. She has pre-anointed my body for burial.

 “You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.” It is interesting that while she was giving her all, Judas was looking for a way to betray, for a few pieces of silver. 

At the end of the time of reflection at our Sunday evening service, we often invite folks to ask ‘I wonder…’ questions. As I read this story, I can’t help but wonder how she knew? How did she know when no one else, at least not any of the disciples, was able to see what was about to happen? How did she know? Why is it that Judas couldn’t see? Did she know or was there just something driving her to reach out to Jesus? Why is it that we don’t see?

Lord of life, we too, are often blind and insensitive, not able to see or sense those things going on all around us, that require our presence and attention.  You ask that we be your Church, that we be your Love, that we be your hands and feet—that all would know and be immersed in the baptism that is your love, grace and mercy. Forgive us when we fall short and help us not only to see but to act. For it is in your name that we pray. Amen.

~ Rich Greenway

I Will Give What I Have  (Stages on the Way, Iona Community)

From a high, secret shelf, I take what I hid myself-

Perfume, precious and rare, never meant to spill or spare.
This I’ll carefully break, this I’ll empty for his sake:
I will give what I have to my Lord.

 

Though the action is crude, it will show my gratitude

for the truth that I’ve learned from the one who’s heaven-sent;
for the life once a mess which his beauty can express,
I will give what I have to my Lord.

 

With his critics around, common gossip will abound.

They’ll note all they see to discredit him and me.
Let them smirk, let them jeer, say what people want to hear;
I will give what I have to my Lord.

 

It’s because he’ll receive, that I believe

God has time for the poor. He has shown us heaven’s door.

Be it perfume and care, be it anger or despair,

I will give what I have to my Lord.

Tuesday of Holy Week-Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

Mark 11:12-14, 20-25

I know, what a strange story, that Jesus would find the need, the desire to stop and curse a tree…

The details are simple and rather matter-of-factly shared in Scripture. Jesus is hungry. He sees a fig tree in full leaf and comes to it expecting to find something for breakfast. He finds however, nothing but fig leaves (It wasn’t yet the season for figs!) Then Jesus says to the tree: “No one is going to eat fruit from you again—ever!”

He said this right in front of the disciples and they heard him.

The next morning Jesus and the disciples pass by the fig tree again. It had shriveled to a dry stick. (They are departing from Jerusalem where Jesus has just “cleansed” the Temple.)

Peter, remembering Jesus’ words and actions from the previous day, said to Jesus, “Look Rabbi—the fig tree you cursed has shriveled up!”

Jesus’ response is simple and straight forward, “Embrace this life centered in God that has been given to you. Really embrace it and nothing will be too much for you. Immerse everything you do in prayer and nothing will be impossible. And remember, always remember, when you are praying, it’s not just about ‘asking.’ If you have anything against someone, offer forgiveness—only then will you be ready to receive the forgiveness that God has waiting for you.

But what about the poor tree? Could it be that Jesus expects we followers, disciples, believers to be fruitful every day—in and out of season? What is keeping you, what is keeping us from being ‘in season’ for God’s kingdom, today?

Lord of this world, Lord of this Holy Week, help us to look deep inside. Often we don’t see or recognize the very things that are keep us from you and each other. Cleanse us. Help us to be fruitful for you kingdom. Amen.

~ Rich Greenway

Cleansing the Temple

Mark 11:15-19

Jesus enters the Temple and begins to drive out all those who were “selling and buying.” Tables and seats were overturned, animals were driven away. Jesus wouldn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. Then it was time for a teaching lesson—recalling the words of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Jesus says, “Is it not written, “My house shall be a called a house of prayer for all the nations?” Jesus’ reflection on what was actually going on in the Temple?  “You have made it a den of robbers.” 

Upon hearing Jesus’ words, the leaders of the church—the chief priests and scribes began to look for a way to kill him. Why? Was he wrong in what he had done? Could they justify the commerce that was being carried on in the Temple as holy and necessary unto the central mission of the Temple? No. They were afraid of Jesus because the people who heard him preach and teach were spellbound by him.

As we begin Holy Week, it is a wonderful time for us to take a look at our Temples. Are we, our bodies and our lives, instruments of prayer, praise, joy and peace or have others things crept in and taken up residence? Commerce, unhealthy relationships, material things, have they tiptoed into places that should be reserved only for the holy and sacred? It is so easy just not to notice as subtly ‘other things’ slither in and fester.

What better way to begin this week than by cleansing the Temple? What do we need to remove from our lives and our lives together to allow this week to be “Holy,” indeed?

Let us pray: (From: Stages on the Way-Iona Community)

If we have used your house for our purposes as if you did not mind or it did not matter,

LORD, FORGIVE US.

If we have cosseted your house in tradition, rather than hollowed it by prayer,

LORD, FORGIVE US.

If we have made it a house for one nation, or part of a nation, or for part of the Church,

LORD, FORGIVE US.

And if we can see clearly the misuse others make of your house and are blind to our own malpractices, LORD, FORGIVE US.

Kindle in us and in all your people

the desire to make

all your

sanctuaries

places of prayer, praise and worship.

We ask this for your own name’s sake.

Amen.

~  Rich Greenway