“Death Has No Victory”
by Bruce J. Johnson
Easter Sunday
Today is the church’s big
day—Easter Sunday. It is a day on which we celebrate the culmination of all
that has preceded it and the commencement of all that God intends to have
follow. Our journey has been from
On this day I’m suppose to
work things into a crescendo, so I ask for all of us---how far we have actually
come… have we made it all the way from curiosity to commitment through despair
and death to the joy of resurrection and the birth of true and living faith?
I picked up the ‘Life’
section of the Hartford Courant on Friday and chuckled over the headline:
“Caution: Moose Ahead.” It was an article warning the people of
This reminded me of the story
of the two old codgers who went hunting for moose in the forests surrounding
“Like I said, I’ll be back in three days. But remember
this is a small plane. There is room for the two of you and one moose!
When, three days later, the
pilot returned and taxied to the shore, he was irritated to see between the two
boys, standing proudly with their rifles, not one but two moose, huge ones at
that! (The article on Friday said that Moose could be 6 feet tall and weigh
1400 pounds!)
“Look,” he said, I told you--- the two of you and one
moose.”
The two old timers looked at
each other in surprise and answered:
“Funny, the guy who flew us in last year
didn’t complain.”
The fear of his competition
proving greater than all other fears, the pilot relented. Grumbling, he helped
them pile both moose into the little plane, and the two old codgers crawled up
and lay down on top of their trophies. The plane took forever to get off the
lake, barely cleared the trees on the far shore, and about a quarter of a mile
further on clipped a high pine and crashed, sending pieces of its wings and
moose antlers in all directions.
Finally and fortunately, one
of the old codgers came to, pulled his head out of the moss, spied his
companion a short way off and asked, “Where are we?”
His companion replied:
“Oh, about a hundred yards further than last year.”
I guess that it would be okay
to ask this morning “Where are we?” Any further along than last year in what
the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth means to us?
What’s so interesting about
Easter when the gospel according to Mark is read, is that in some ways it
brings us backward rather than forward. What I mean by that is that in this
account there are more questions than answers. It is not clear that these women
believe that love has won and fear and death have lost. It is not clear from
the account that these women actually believe that Jesus is risen. We hear
early morning secrets, cries and whispers. We read of terrified, terrorized
women running away from an empty tomb! Worse yet, they are so afraid they are
not telling anyone about the empty stone hewn cave they had just seen!
Astonishment, fear and trembling--- rather than resurrection, recognition and
rescue—characterize this first Easter story. Mark tells it plainly without much
dressing up.
On that first Easter, at
first light, with the first thin streaks of color in the sky, Mary Magdalene
and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, came to the tomb expecting to anoint
Jesus’ body with their spices. It was not customary to bury the bodies of
common criminals; usually they were left to the vultures and wild dogs. But a
member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, at odds with the conclusions of
his colleagues on the Council, had saved Jesus’ body from this indignity. With
Pilate’s permission, he had buried Jesus in a tomb; a great circular stone,
which, like a cartwheel, ran a groove across the opening, then closed the tomb.
Arriving at the tomb, the
women are startled to see the stone rolled away and a youth sitting on the
right side, dressed in a white robe. They are all shocked when he speaks to
them, “Do not be amazed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. Jesus
has risen and is not here; see the place where they laid the body. But go, tell
the disciples and Peter that Jesus goes before you to
In this first Gospel
narrative, no one sees Jesus; there are no tearful recognition or reunion
scenes. There are no powerful earthquakes, no trembling guards—and no answers.
My heart goes out to this
company of women, who on Good Friday had watched it all from a distance, in
agony of mind and spirit. Now is their first chance to anoint the body of their
friend, and they are pushed out again into the darkness of fear and trembling.
No wonder they fled the tomb and withheld the story from others!
Try to imagine this moment---
standing in the dark and empty cave in which the body of Jesus had been placed
only days before. Try to imagine the emptiness in the hearts of the women as
they stood there in that empty tomb. It was a moment when everything in their
lives must have seemed like it came to a screeching halt.
Of the four Gospel
resurrection stories, Mark is the only one who dares to leave us in such a
state of apprehension and suspense. As the women flee the tomb, we are left to
wonder:
“How
did anyone find out about Jesus’ resurrection if they were so dumbfounded and
filled fear—so much so that their first response was to say “nothing to
anyone!”
Obviously, at some point,
they moved beyond their grief and confusion, their fear and their immobility
but we are not told that. The gospel does end, however, with a footnote,
indicating that some accounts include post-resurrection appearances. I, for
one, prefer the shorter version because I think that that’s the beauty of the
Markan account of that First Easter—that in some ways it leaves the resolution
of the narrative up to each us. We write the ending with what we do with the
fact that the tomb was empty and the reason is that “He is risen.”
Do you all remember that
wonderful movie that starred Richard Dryfuss, “Mr. Holland’s Opus?” There is
that wonderful scene at the end when all his former students return for a
reunion to honor him on his last day of employment and his first day of
retirement. The governor, a former student, gives a speech, claiming that all
those who are now gathered to honor him are his symphony!
Well, the truth of the
resurrection stands on its own but its transforming effect on people’s lives-
our lives--what we feel, what we think and whether we live and how we live and
why we choose to love is placed in our hands. We are the ending to Mark’s
Gospel and living testimonies to the power of the news of Christ’s
resurrection.
There was wonderful article
in yesterday’s New York Times about the religious pilgrimage that Shiites are
now free to take--- from every city or town in
“Shiites
can journey freely across
(New York Times, B1)
Arthur Gordon, in his book, A Touch of Wonder, tells the
following story:
“One
raw, cold day last winter, I found myself having lunch at the seaside cottage
of some friends, an attractive young couple in their twenties. The only other
guest was a retired college professor, a marvelous older gentleman, still
straight as a lance after seven decades of living. We had planned a walk on the
beach after lunch. But as gusts of wind shook the house and occasional pellets
of sleet hissed against the windows, our host’s enthusiasm dwindled visibly.
“Sorry”
said the wife, “but nobody’s going to get me out of this house in this weather.
“That’s right” her husband agreed comfortably.
…
So
we left them, finally, the professor and me, preparing to do just that. But
when we went to our cars, parked some distance away, I was astonished to see
the professor open the trunk of his ancient sedan and take out an ax. “Lots of
lovely driftwood out there,” he said, gesturing toward the windswept beach.
“Think that I’ll get a load for my fireplace.”
I
stared at him. “You’re going out there to chop wood? On this sort of afternoon?
He
gave me a quizzical look. “Why not?’ he said. It’s better than practicing the
deadly art of nonliving, isn’t it?” And with ax slanted across one shoulder, he
set off through the dunes.
I
watched him go with the sudden odd feeling that something was wrong here,
something curiously inverted in this scene and I was left with a choice and
little time to make it.
“Wait,”
I heard myself calling to him, “Wait, I’m coming!”
I think that’s the big choice
Easter presents and especially the Gospel according to Mark. Will we give into
our fear and our confusion and a paralytic state of unknowing and in the
process practice the deadly art of nonliving or will we go forth as we have
been told with a song of joy? For indeed, “Death has no victory” and the risen
Christ has gone on before us. And all that is required of us to shout out:
“Wait,
we’re coming!”
Amen