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| Community in Lexington, KY. |
It is tempting to look down upon the male apostles who did
not believe the women. We are tempted to say “they just didn't believe them
because women were spreading this news.”. Even though there are many
times in history and in the present when women are treated unjustly by men, I
do not think this is an example of sexism. If you really think about it the
story the women were telling was pretty far fetched. They probably said “We
went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body and the tomb was empty and then these
two men who were glowing asked us why we were looking for the living among the
dead.”
When was the last time you saw two glowing men? And how
could Jesus be alive when they all saw his horrible crucifixion? The day became
dark and there was an earthquake when he died just two days before. How could
he be alive?
What else happened to the women at the empty tomb? The two
men in dazzling clothes asked the women to remember what Jesus told them before
he died. The oddly dressed men wanted them to remember what Jesus said about
what was going to happen to him in his last days. This very well written story in the Gospel of
Luke asks the women to remember and invites the reader of the story to remember
things that happened before this account in the gospel of Luke.
What other story comes to mind when we read these words in
this story: “suddenly two men in dazzling
clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the
ground”
How about the story of the
transfiguration? What is similar in the two accounts? Listen to this part of
the transfiguration story: 9 And while he(Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his face
changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly
they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They
appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem.
Both stories have an appearance of two men. Both stories
refer to dazzling clothes. A key word mentioned in the transfiguration story is
the word glory. It says “they appeared in glory.”
Peter witnesses this glory and has two responses to what he
is seeing in the transfiguration account. He first wants to erect booths to
contain this sacred moment on the mountain with Jesus and these prophets of the
Old Testament. But just as he is expressing this idea a cloud of God’s presence
envelops them and the passage says “ and they (Peter, James and John) were
terrified.” Both of these scripture passages in Luke of the transfiguration and
of the women at the empty tomb are describing human experiences with God’s glory
(Greek word doxa). They are encountering mystery. They are in the presence of the
Holy One. The women and the male disciples experienced a moment of fear or
terror when they were in God’s glorified presence. Their human brains did not
understand the experience so at first they were afraid.
Going back to the women at the empty tomb we see that their
fears were transformed into belief. The two men in dazzling clothes jogged
their memory of what Jesus told them about being raised on the third day.
Notice the two men did not say “ you need to go back and tell the others that
Jesus was raised from the dead.” All they did was ask the women to remember.
This became a personal experience for the women when they were seeing the empty
tomb and were asked by these angelic men to remember what Jesus told them. What
do the women do next? They go back and tell the others that Jesus is alive. Do
the others believe them? No. Does the response that they receive from the
others change what they say? I don't think so. They experienced God’s glory at
the empty tomb. They don't have a very believable story but they have
experienced an amazing encounter that there really are not appropriate words
for. Do they stop talking about. To the contrary they can't stop talking about
it. And even more amazing when we fast-forward to the present time, a little
over 2000 years later, this is why we are still talking about it.
This gospel story points to the powerful use of remembering
as a method for helping the women in the story and the readers of the story to
come to a deeper understanding of Jesus as the son of God.
I love the stories in scripture because of all the powerful
ways that God’s glory is revealed. These very old stories that were first
passed on orally and then were written down resonate with my own experiences in
living life. I can look back over my life and see how God prepared me for what came
next. I can read scripture stories of Jesus’ life on earth and see how he prepared
his friends for what came next. Then well after the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus the stories were written down. The writers of the stories
prepared readers for what came next.
What comes next can often be unbelievable and it can bring fear
into our human hearts but when we remember what Jesus taught through his life,
death and resurrection we are able to move past fear to a place of believing
the unbelievable and then we will stop looking for the living among the dead.
We will live our life in a way that shows our belief in the Holy One, the One
who makes all things new, the One who is present in our suffering and leads us
to life.
Sharing our beliefs and personal encounters of the sacred is
often received by others as unbelievable stories. When our beliefs lead us to
unbelievable actions like offering unconditional love to those who are
homeless, sick, disabled or marginalized we will be questioned and not
understood by many people. It can get discouraging when we are met with
coolness and inhuman rules and laws that become hurdles and roadblocks for us
to continue. But we must persevere and we must hold on to our empty tomb
transformations that motivate us to share unbelievable stories that lead to
unbelievable ways of living our lives. When we do this we
will not look for the living among the dead we will be part of bringing the
dead back to life.
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