Mark 16: 1-8 1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" 4But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6"Don't be alarmed," 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. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" 8Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. Dear Easter Congregation, I enjoy walking through German cemeteries, especially in the spring time. In Germany, cemeteries still look like gardens. I like those places where the head stones remind me of the faith and hope of former generations, and where once in a while I can read “I know that my redeemer lives” on a headstone, confirming the Easter message. And I realized during those walks that during the weekdays, I usually only meet women, sometimes two of them, sometimes one alone. Obviously this reality of women at the gravesides seems to be a tradition that we encounter already in the Easter story that Matthews tells. The male disciples who were close to Jesus were afraid. They
were hiding somewhere, locked in, so that they would not become victims themselves seen as those who followed Jesus. The disciples acting in this way allowed those who crucified Jesus to have the victory: They were able to eliminate what threatened their ways of thinking and being in the world. It seems that the people won who considered the teaching and the example of Jesus as dangerous. They tried to eliminate the experience of lived peace, lived expression of love, warmth and grace. They saw those as dangerous, because no powers in this world can overcome the person who knows God’s love to be the answer to our “angst” in this world. The women though do not hunker down, do not hide, but they do what up to today seems to be reserved for women to do. They tell themselves: “We have to go to the grave side”. They are not ready to bury their hope. “This cannot have been it”, they say. “Love is as strong as death” we read in the Song of Salomon. And these women loved Jesus. Even though they might have been afraid of the soldiers keeping watch, nothing could stop them from visiting the grave the day after the Holy day was over. And yet they could still hear the words of the disciples in their ears: “This is it. He is dead”. In seconds the news of Jesus dying on the cross had travelled the country. Bad news usually travels much faster than good news: Hopeless! This was the end. A few hours later nearly everybody knew what happened and many asked themselves: “And what will be now?” “Where do we go from here?” “This is hopeless.” “Him dying on that cross, this was the end.” “The short time we had with him, filled with hope, is
over. Now, nothing will change. The hopeful light on the horizon turns out to be an illusion.” Yes, for a moment they all thought that life could be more than just hard labor and pain. They thought there was meaning and fulfillment that remains, that carries one through. But now? That all was gone. Wasn’t this to be expected? Just as at the end of every day a long dark nights awaits and at the end of life, there is death? The disciples declared Jesus as dead and with him they buried their hopes as well. And then: following the bad news, suddenly there was a good news, shared by frightened and excited women: “He has been resurrected from the dead! Jesus is risen, he is truly risen!” Easter, dear congregation. Life continues! The Russian writer and poet Leo Tolstoi once said: “Whoever truly believes and takes in the message and life of Jesus, has the same feeling like a bird that until that moment did not know that it had wings, and now, suddenly realizes that it can fly, be free and does not have to be afraid anymore.” Based on Tolstoi, I want to tell a story. Some of you might already know it:There was an eagle. When he was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest. A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought him to the farm, and raised him in a chicken coop among his many chickens. The eagle grew up doing what chickens do, living like a chicken, and believing he was a chicken. A person who loved nature came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was really true. He knew that an eagle is king of the
sky. He was surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground, and acting very much like a chicken. The farmer explained to the person who loved nature that this bird was no longer an eagle. He was now a chicken because he had been trained to be a chicken and he believed that he was a chicken. The person who loved nature knew there was more to this great bird than his actions showed as he “pretended” to be a chicken. He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said, “Eagle, you are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” The eagle moved slightly, only to look at the man; then he glanced down at his home among the chickens in the chicken coop where he was comfortable. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do. The farmer was satisfied. “I told you it was a chicken,” he said. The person who loved nature returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater. He took the eagle to the top of the farmhouse and spoke to him: “Eagle, you are an eagle. You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop. He jumped from the man’s arm onto the roof of the farmhouse. Knowing what eagles are really about, the person who loved nature asked the farmer to let him try one more time. He would return the next day and prove that this bird was an eagle. The farmer, convinced otherwise, said, “It is a chicken.” The person who loved nature returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer some distance away to the foot of a high mountain.
They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this new setting. The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above. He spoke: “Eagle, you are an eagle! You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun, straightened his large body, and stretched his massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew and never came back. Isn’t this a beautiful image for the hope that we have? And for the strength that comes from the call: “Jesus is alive, he is risen from the dead”! When this truth takes fully hold of us, then we are like a bird that suddenly realizes that it has wings and can fly, that it can be free and does not have to be afraid anymore. I imagine the women, how heavy they must have felt and how they dragged themselves to the grave of Jesus that Easter morning. Just how we sometimes drag ourselves in our daily lives: When we anticipate a difficult test in school. When we are on our way to work and know there is a colleague that makes our life difficult. Or the walk to the doctor’s office when we anticipate hearing: “Your cancer has come back, you will need to undergo treatment once again.” And then finally the walk that we have to take when we carry a beloved person to the graveside – so heavy are our steps that we can hardly stand on our own two feet… Mark describes how the women were bewildered and scared even when encountering the messenger of God. Matthew on the other hand describes how the women start running filled
with joy and excitement. Instead of shock and fear, Matthew describes the women as if they suddenly recognize: “I have wings! I can fly! I am free!” Mark describes the women still in grief and shock, unable the grasp the new reality. While Matthew leans into the Easter mystery and describes how the women might have felt after they heard the words: “He is risen”. Their steps were no longer heavy and dragging. “So they left the tomb in a hurry, afraid and yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples”. Matthew decribes how suddenly their feet were carrying them easily, they run as if hardly touching the ground. They feel like flying to bring the good news to the others – and on the inside they surely soar a little. Have you had the feeling before: “I am floating a little above the ground? I am so filled with happiness!” First I thought of how it feels when we fall newly in love – this is when we even say that we have butterflies in our stomach. And so it might have a little to do with flying, this feeling of falling in love. A new father told me that after the birth of his daughter he felt for several days as if floating on a cloud. And I felt a little like that after I took my exam as a counselor: after so many hours of studying, after years of accumulating hours, after taking the test for many hours online – finally it was done, finally I passed. When I then drove home, I felt so light and unburdened, as if I could fly. Surely, these are time limited experiences of joy. Sometime afterwards we are landing right back in daily life and reality has us back. But how would it be, dear congregation, if we took the good news of Easter and made it the good news for our life: as a message, a hope that can allow us to fly. And this
good news is not time limited, but is eternal, timeless. In the end, when I tally everything, I find what can make me truly happy: “I have made it. I am save. I am free. I am facing the death of my body – but this is not the last I can expect, my soul faces life.” Yes, life is presenting us with experiences of failure and desperation, yes tribulations, bewilderment and fear still happen, but underneath my life, when I total everything there is written the end result: “I am set free”. Wouldn’t it be great if others could recognize that we are Easter people and that we are already set free, that we can fly? Not in the sense that we don’t care or are removed from daily life or are ignoring the realities of life. Not in the sense that we don’t care about the world and its needs. But “flying” in the sense of finding inner freedom and comfort. When we are fully present every moment, and when we think with ease about our future. And because we have a small advantage: We know that we have wings. We know that our life won’t end. Christ is resurrected, we will not die. How will others recognize this? Maybe we are radiant, are happy and kind and are able to turn towards others? May be we are courageous, hopeful, alive! Easter is the good news: “The one who we thought had died has become alive. God resurrects who we thought as dead! Christ lives and with him, so do we. This good news transforms us. As followers of Christ, we have discovered that we have wings like an eagle. We can fly and we are free! We can live without fear! What a deep joy. Jesus is risen – he is risen indeed! And with him, so will we! Amen