Corinthians
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.....
Mark
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”When they looked, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were frightened. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. Go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Then they quickly reported all these instructions to those around Peter. After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.
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This morning we are singing two pieces of music that we normally associate with Christmas. I knew there were going to be some funny looks, wondering what on earth the minister was doing. Well, yes, the minister does know - once in awhile that happens....
First, we’ve sung the last verse of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”.....”Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation, sing all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God in the highest! O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”
We sang it as a response to “The Exultet”. The Exultet is the Easter proclamation, the proclamation of the resurrection. - and in the Exultet are the words “Sing, choirs of angels!”. What better piece of music to go with that???
As the closing hymn, we are singing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.” Interestingly, this was actually written as a hymn proclaiming the Easter message, and only became popular as a Christmas hymn in the 20th century. Isaac Watts, who wrote the words, was thinking specifically in terms of traditional theology, which said that Jesus would come again at the end of time. In traditional theological terms, Jesus was the Eschaton, the one who brought about the end-times. In his birth Jesus broke into the continuum of history, and pointed both forward and back in time. In tradition theology, history itself was suspended with the coming of Jesus. So Watts wrote “Joy to the World” as a hymn for Easter. It was literally the Easter Proclamation, and the proclaiming of the end of this reality and the coming of God’s Realm with the resurrection and expected “second coming” of Jesus..
There is a reality we forget, I think. Without Christmas, we would not have Easter; if Jesus had not been born, then there would have been no resurrection story; and if there had been no resurrection, there would have been no Christmas to celebrate either.
This is a story of birth, death and rebirth - a story of new creation - a parallel to the story of creation in Genesis. Jesus is buried in a cave in a garden, and suddenly he is not there any longer. Echoing in the background are the words of Jesus: A seed, unless it is planted, remains just a seed. But when it is planted and grows, it will bear much fruit.”
This morning we go to a cave in a garden, with three women who still believe traditional Jewish theology - that the dead will be raised when the last trumpet sounds. So they go, grieving, weeping, lost, the whole fabric of their lives ripped in half. They go expecting to have to struggle with a heavy stone. Who will roll away the stone? They don’t even seem aware that the body has already been properly prepared for burial, and they go with spices to dress the body of Jesus appropriately. They arrive in the garden to find that the stone is rolled back, the body is gone, and there is a messenger from God saying “He is risen, he is not here. Go and tell.” The angel provides them with the Exultet, the Easter proclamation.
This morning the words of Jesus are just as potent. Nothing rises to life unless it first dies. A seed remains just a seed, unless it is first planted.
At Christmas, the seed was planted. As it grew, it became the vine, and the followers became the branches. The “seeds” then had to be planted again, in order for new life to grow. So, to me, it makes all kinds of sense to sing the Exultet, to sing the song of new life, the song of the realm of God coming on earth. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king! Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing!”
...and all heaven and all nature sing. We run away from the empty tomb, not afraid, but full of joy - in his rising into new life, we also rise to new life. Alleluia! Jesus is risen. Jesus is risen indeed.
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