But on the first day of the week, at early
dawn, they [the women] came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had
prepared. 2 They found the
stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but
when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in
dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The
women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to
them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen. 6 Remember how he told
you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that
the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the
third day rise again.” 8 Then
they remembered his words, 9 and
returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this
to the apostles. 11 But
these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to
the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then
he went home, amazed at what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12).
As has been noted before, this is
"Year C" of the lectionary cycle which means that our primary Gospel
readings are taken from Luke. This being the case, this Easter Sunday we are
directed to consider Luke's resurrection narrative from chapter 24.
As any casual study of the Gospels
reveals, certain stories contain elements of nuance and variance not found in
other versions of the same story. This has led to no small amount of
consternation on the part of some, and outright mockery on the part of others.
In times past a great deal of energy was expended on attempts to 'harmonize'
the stories so as to make them more "believable." Were the two men in
white "angels?" If so, why doesn't Luke just call them that? Was
there one angel is per Matthew's gospel or two men in white as per Luke's? For
those who *desperately need the stories to harmonize, I guess I'd direct our
attention to vs 11 in this text: But
these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. As
several commentators point out the English term "idle tale" comes
from the Greek leros. This is the
*only place in the Bible where this word occurs, but it's found in ancient
Greek medical literature. It's used to describe the ranting of a person
suffering from delirium! In other words, you have three named women and an
unknown number of other women who were also part of the group in the tomb, and
they come running back to the Apostles... all talking at once... and all
talking about something that seems like complete nonsense. It seems obvious
that a detail or two is going to fall through the cracks in one oral tradition
and get picked up in another. The true point of harmony in the stories is that
THE TOMB IS EMPTY. He is not here, but
is risen (v5).
During the whole "Easter season"
we'll have ample opportunity to explore the various 'so what's' of the
resurrection of Jesus, but just from this text several important factors
deserve our attention:
1. The shattering of death's
permanence. The worst part about death is that it seems so invincible. It robs
us of our friends and loved ones (sometimes cruelly, and always too soon), and
like all bullies it seems to mock us in our sorrow. As the narrative begins in
chapter 24, death is everywhere. It's in the spices the women have--as they
have them for one and only one reason, the ritual anointing of the dead as
practiced by Jewish custom; it's in the coordinates of their 'gps,' as they're
headed for a tomb, and tombs are for dead people. But when they get there, they
don't find death. God has started something NEW. And this new thing is defeated death. And like the ripples
that happen when a rock is dropped in a pond, this new thing of defeated death
refuses to stay put. It spreads. It gets shared; talked about; and believed.
2. The inclusivity of the Gospel. The first
people who get the good news of the resurrection of Jesus are women. In our
modern western society where women hold high office and positions of authority
all around us, it's often easy to forget that the first century world of the
Bible was a very male-dominated society. Yet in this story we see that in a
very real way, the 'apostles' to the Apostles were society's 2nd class
citizens...women. And even though their story was initially dismissed, the
narrator affirms the validity of their story. Their story is true--whether it's
believed or not. Their story is worth sharing, whether it's believed or not.
Even though we live in a time that is far different from the 1st century
Greco-Roman world, many of us still know what it feels like to be
marginalized...whether because of our age, sex, income, level of education, or
other factors. The women of this story are examples for us. They didn't let
their 'status' silence their testimony.
3. The piqued curiosity of Peter.
Peter is one of the great 'larger than life' figures of the Gospels. He's
obviously singled out by Jesus for a leadership role (he's given the title
"Rock," and is always listed first in the named group); and at times,
Peter lives up to his potential. He boldly proclaims Jesus as Messiah/Christ in
Luke 9, but then falls terribly by denying Jesus three times in chapter 22. Of
all of the members of the group, Peter has every reason to wallow in depression
and self-pity at this point. When his master was on the ropes, Peter disowned
him. But now in this chapter, we see the beginnings of a renewed Peter. The
women seem to be babbling nonsense in vs 11, to such an extent that they did not believe them. The
"they" on the one hand seems all-inclusive of everyone listening,
perhaps even including Peter. AND YET... Peter's curiosity was piqued enough to
go and see.
I think very often we set our
expectations WAY too high within the Church. We do something nice for someone,
or manage to drum up enough courage to share our faith with the expectation--or
at least the hope--that now they'll get baptized and volunteer to serve on a
board... or at the very least show up every Sunday. It's hard to know exactly what was in Peter's mind when he
left the house that morning. Sticking strictly to the text, it seems safest to
assume that at least at first he was dominated by unbelief. But he was at least prompted to go and have a look for
himself. And in time... he grew into the "Rock" that Jesus always
knew he could be.
For those of little or wavering
faith, the message is always the invitation of the women. Yes, it seems like
babbled nonsense. Of course. People die and usually stay dead. There's no
reason why that shouldn't also pertain to Jesus. And yet the tomb was empty, as
Jesus himself said it would be. The message of the Church has been the same as
the women for 2,000 years. Come and see for yourself.
Cheers,
T.M.
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