Easter Sunday - From Certainty to Openness

 Christ is Risen!

Christ is risen indeed!

What an amazing declaration!  What an amazing thing to have happened! 

Over this past week we have, once again, seen the crowds, and even one of Jesus' own disciples, turn on him. We have seen those who seemed to know and love him best run away, and deny even knowing Jesus. What a weird and awful week as we saw the certainty, joy and hope of Palm Sunday diminish and turn into the confusion and anger of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. We celebrated the intimate ritual Jesus instituted at that last Passover meal, became quiet as Jesus prayed in anguish, then watched in horror as he was led away to be tormented, tortured, and killed. All this in one week. How can we take it all in?

Then, when many thought they now understood that all was lost - Jesus arose! The grave was empty! Mary even claims to have seen him! What could it all mean? 

The immediate reaction of the disciples wasn't joy and celebration, but disbelief and wonder. When we are so certain what has happened and what it means, it is hard to shift gears and take in the new thing that God is doing. As we look back over Jesus' many discourses we can hear him telling his disciples that he was going to die and be resurrected - but somehow, in the moment, that is not what his followers heard. When they saw Jesus arrested and, for those who followed, even if at a distance, saw him raised up on a cross, they knew that his ministry had come to an end. They knew that all was lost. They knew his life was over.

But they were wrong.

They knew death was final, but Jesus rose from the dead. They knew his message was one of political freedom, but it actually transcended earthly politics and the fate of the Israelite nation. They knew Jesus' ministry and message was at an end, but it still goes on over 2000 years later. They knew many things - yet found out they were wrong. 

God's ways are not our ways, as the theme of this season's services have pointed out. God is not limited by our logic, by our imagination, by our rules or our understanding. God is not limited. So let us stop trying to put God into a box. Let us stop creating God in our human image. Let us stop limiting God to what we can understand. Let us stop striving for a certainty that is going to be limited by our humanity. Let us, instead, open ourselves to hearing God calling us to the illogical, impractical, impossible, and beautiful way of God's love.  Let us accept the fact that we cannot possibly fathom all that God is nor what God can do. Let us open our eyes and see the miraculous ways God has worked (like sending a group of people THROUGH a sea?) and is working. Even when we can't see a way through a difficult time or situation, let us pray, for God can find a way. Let us open our eyes to see God at work. Let us never give up.

Let us live as people of the resurrection.  A people that are not limited by human frailties, logic, and knowledge but empowered by an infinite and loving God. Let us expect the unexpected and wake into the wonder of what God will do next. As it says in the Leader magazing (https://www.mennomedia.org/leader-resources/) "May we have the courage to step beyond certainty into the unsettling miracle of the resurrection."

May we go forth into our lives with open eyes, minds, hands and hearts so, when we are confronted with a miracle we do not dismiss it for not fitting into our certain way of perceiving life. Let us, instead, celebrate God's amazing imagination and goodness and ability to do the unexpected. May we move from human certainty to spiritual openness so, even if it doesn't make sense, we can cry

Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen Indeed!

Halleluia!

Have a wonderful and blessed Easter.

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