Easter Sunrise C

Easter Sunrise, Year C

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I can’t help but imagine that for the rest of the time they were together, Peter had to hear all the time “Yeah, but I beat you to the tomb.” And it’s been written down in the Gospel narrative for all of time.

I certainly understand the urgency - their first thought was probably that someone had stolen the body, or that Pilate or Caiaphas had taken it to do something despicable with Jesus’ corpse. They did, after all, want to make an example out of him…at least the Pharisees did.

When John and Peter arrived at the tomb, the scene they discover tells a great deal that might not be readily apparent to our 21st-century brains. The biggest clue is the face cloth. The fact that it was “folded up in a place by itself” tells them that his body was not stolen. “Someone” (and we know who) had very carefully and thoughtfully folded this cloth and laid it neatly on the slab. Thieves or someone with evil intent would not have taken the time to fold this cloth.

The next clue is the linen cloths themselves. The Greek word here is also translated as “linen bands” - strips of cloth that are wound around and around the body, similar to a mummy. But these strips of cloth are not cut off, and they have not been unwound. They are merely lying there, undisturbed, but missing the body they once held. Layer upon layer, now empty, lying on the slab with the spices. Again, thieves would not have gone to the trouble to leave these cloths so neat. They would have simply cut them off and left them in a pile on the floor of the tomb.

John here is the author of this version of the story. Notice what he says about his own witness: “Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.” [John 20:8, ESV] My favorite scholar describes it this way: “[John] writes this word with no joy at all; he writes it with bowed head as a confession. John has to say, ‘he saw and believed,’ he could not say simply, ‘he believed.’” [Lenski, 1344]

“Yes, John ‘believed.’ And in this context the word must mean that he believed in the resurrection of Jesus. The effort to make it mean only that John believed in Jesus in a general way would say nothing. ‘He saw and believed’ means that he believed in consequence of what he saw. The evidence before his eyes he read [correctly]. And yet how weak this faith was! John never opened his mouth even to Peter, and he said nothing to anyone after he reached home. None of the eleven believed the testimony of the women and that of Mary Magdalene. Even now John failed to speak and to confess. He had only littleness of faith; his faith could not rise above his doubts; he was only one step removed from unbelief. Those who represent the disciples as a credulous [bunch] sadly misrepresent them. They were the reverse. They finally believed only after they could not do otherwise.”

Even those closest to Jesus during his earthly ministry had a hard time believing that he had risen from the dead…even when he TOLD them he was going to do exactly that. They almost didn’t believe it when the evidence was staring them in the face. The next verse is also telling: “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” (vs 9) Even though Jesus had told them that his death and resurrection was to fulfill the Scriptures, they didn’t know the Scriptures well enough to understand it.

Let’s just stop and think about that: after everything they had seen in Jesus’ presence…after the signs and wonders that he had performed…after all of his teaching and preaching and preparing them… they didn’t quite get it. And part of that is because they didn’t know their Scriptures well enough. “The real basis of faith is ‘the Scripture,’ the revealed and inspired Word of God. On this basis faith is to rest.” (Ibid)

This is a good reminder to all of us - that although we were not alive to see the incarnate Christ heal the sick and diseased and cast out demons and perform miracles… those things are not intended to be the basis of our faith. Those were signs that were needed at the time. For us, we have the whole of Scripture - the inspired Word of God - which we can study and work to understand. We can use it to build our faith and shape and guide our lives.

The death and resurrection of Christ is the reason we are Christians. This is the central event of our faith. His sacrifice had won for us eternal life with God. This fundamental truth is the lens through which we read all of Scripture. Everything God had planned for His people hinged on this event. Our firm belief in this day and all that it entails is key to our lives of faith. “If Christ is not risen from the dead, we have no Christianity, no Christian faith and hope, and no Christian Church in any sense of the word; for then we have no Christ, no Redeemer, no Savior, and no Lord.” [Lenski, 1332]

But we *do* have a a risen Savior. We *do* have a Christian Church. We *do* have faith and hope in him, our Christ, Redeemer, and Lord...thanks be to God!

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.