Have
you noticed we’re never told in the Bible exactly how the resurrection
happened? No human witness was there at the actual moment, as far as we know.
Nor do we ever know exactly what it was about the resurrected Jesus that was
different. The part we do get is that
neither the disciples nor Mary Magdalene really
expected the resurrection to happen. They’d been with Jesus all that time. He’d
spoken about his death and resurrection time after time, yet they were not
prepared for the empty tomb. And, they certainly were not prepared for the
risen Christ.
They
were astonished and amazed, but they were amazed Jesus’ body was missing.
John’s gospel says when Mary Magdalene found the stone rolled away she ran for
Simon Peter and another disciple. She ran, not because she thought Jesus had
been resurrected, but because she did not know where his body had been taken.
And when Peter and the other disciple got to the tomb, the other disciple saw
and believed, yet he still did not understand that Jesus must rise from the
dead.
What
was going on? Faulty memories? Forgetfulness caused by stress from the many
events of the previous week? Forgetting what Jesus said about his own death and
resurrection? Maybe. But maybe it’s more than that. Maybe it’s that we don’t
quite believe the resurrection either because it’s too big for us, or too
foreign, or too far outside our experience. Maybe it’s easier to believe in
something if it’s related to what we’ve known before, and the resurrection is
unrelated to anything we’ve known before. Instead, the resurrection means God
has created an entirely new reality. Because if people don’t stay dead, what
can you count on? The idea that it’s possible to escape death changes everything.
Resurrection breaks all the rules of what we know.
What
happened to Mary Magdalene on that glorious morning of the Resurrection was
hearing Jesus call her by name. Jesus calls each of us by name and it is in
hearing our name that we see the presence of the resurrected Christ. It is in
hearing our name that we know the presence of Jesus and we remember he is risen.
Just as Mary did, we respond with our lips, our hearts, and our hands. Mary
recognized Jesus when he called her by name. She responded with her lips and
her response awakened her heart to Jesus. And then she responded with her body,
with her hands, her heart, and her lips, by announcing to the other disciples,
“I have seen the Lord.” Mary responded to the presence of the risen Christ with
lips and heart and hands.
I’d
like to tell you a story about the presence of the resurrected Christ. Some
years ago, a family I knew was vacationing at their cabin in the woods. Sunday
morning, the family piled into the car and drove to town to the Episcopal
Church. The whole family knelt at the communion rail, including the
four-year-old granddaughter of the family patriarch.
This little girl
had been receiving communion since she was able to put her little hands up. But
the priest was a stranger and didn’t know that about her. He gave a wafer to
the little girl’s father, saying, “The Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven.” He
skipped over the little girl and gave a wafer to her mother, saying the same
words. Then he came back to the little girl and reached out his hand to give her
a blessing rather than Communion. The little girl looked up at him, tapped her
finger in her palm, and said loudly, “Hey! Body of Christ, right here!”
Now
there is a child who gets it. The real presence of Christ, in all his
resurrected glory, is available to her every week and every day, no matter
whether she is struggling to believe in the resurrection or not.
So
I wonder if we could do something this morning for all of us who struggle from
time to time with the power of the resurrection. Because, as scientists and behaviorists
will tell you, when we engage more of ourselves than just the mind, we invite
belief to enter. And, when we do things together we support one another in our
belief.
So I invite you this
morning to do this with me. Hold out one hand, and as you tap the other hand,
repeat with me, “Body of Christ, right here.”
Now
take your hand and tap your heart, and repeat with me, “Body of Christ, right
here.”
And finally, tap
your lips, and repeat with me, “Body of Christ, right here.”
Hands, hearts,
and lips. This is the way our belief in the resurrection grows. Belief can be
thought about with the head, and knowledge is a powerful thing, but belief in
Christ uses three other things as well: the hands, the heart, and the lips.
Through knowing
the real presence of Christ we are given the power to be the hands of Christ in
the world. Through receiving the real presence of Christ we are given the strength
to use our hearts to reach others with the heart of Christ. And through
receiving the real presence of Christ our lips are given the words to speak
Christ to the world.
Hands, heart and
lips. What we do with our hands, who we reach with our hearts, and what we say
with our lips, all say, “Body of Christ. Right here.” This is the resurrected
Christ made real. ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS
RISEN!
The Rev Nicolette
Papanek
©2016
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