Reflection on Luke 24:1-12

I vividly remember an Easter dinner spent with some friends of the family.  Just as we were settling ourselves around the kitchen table to chat while the meal cooked, the mother of the household came in quickly and declared to everyone that the weatherman on the radio had just said that there was going to be a huge, late snowfall.  She said that the boys needed to go out to the barn and get the snow plow back onto the tractor ASAP.  That announcement elicited a two second pause in the conversation, and then it resumed with the swift action of slowly raised coffee cups to sipping mouths.  No one did anything. 

Just minutes later, the Father came storming into the house, announced the oncoming storm, and told the boys to get out into the barn and get the tractor ready.  “I’m not going to let any of my guests get stuck here,” he stated authoritatively.  And, immediately the boys were putting on their coats and were out the door.  You can imagine the mother’s reaction.  The mother’s jaw dropped to the floor and she simply stared at the father.  The father simply replied, “What did I do?”

Is that not exactly how it goes for many women?  A woman says something and it is considered to be about as important as Groundhog’s Day, but a man says the same thing and it is like Jesus has risen from the dead!  Well, you can take a little comfort from the fact that Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women (yes these, the first evangelists in the world, were so important to the early church that they get to bear for eternity the name, “the other woman”) you can take a little comfort from the fact that no one believed them even when someone did rise from the dead.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women were the first evangelists and the first preachers in the world for the Christian church.  They never hesitated.  As soon as the two angels in dazzling clothes told the women that Jesus was not dead, but had risen, these women were off to share the good news of Jesus Christ…that no one believed. 

Not only did the disciples not believe the women’s story, brushing the women off as insignificant, but the disciples considered the women’s story a bunch of filth.  So, just so you understand correctly, the first people to be told the good news of Jesus Christ by these women, Jesus’ very own disciples, thought the women’s story was utterly ridiculous!  “People raised from the dead, yeah right!  What a bunch of filth.”

In our society where Christianity has had such a great impression throughout the years, one would think that the idea of resurrection and new life would be more entrenched in our psyches than they are.  But, we have other competing ideas that seem to have a little more sway.  Ever heard these quotes?

            “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

            “Death is a natural part of life.”

            “We all labor against our own cure; for death is the cure of all disease.”

“Only death has the last word.”

Even in our society, the women’s words sound crazy!  They go against the very law of nature.  Death is death.  It is the end.  After death, there is no more.  Death is the one thing that we can count on.  And, if the dead don’t stay dead, what in this life can you possibly count on?

What the women are saying is simply illogical, both to a growing number of people in our society, and also in the dark, questioning thoughts lingering in the back of our own minds.  Like the disciples, we ponder, “People do not rise from the dead.  How could we possibly believe such pipe dreams if we did not have a chance to see it ourselves?  It simply cannot be true.” 

Sadly, the only logical response is unbelief.  Therefore, we are tempted to live as if death gets the last word.  Some people hear the good news of Easter and instead of embracing the good news decide to keep to what they already know to be true: death. 

Wow, did you hear what I just said?  Did it sound as bad to you as it did me?  “Some hear the good news of Easter and instead of embracing the good news decide to keep to what they already know to be true: death.” 

Wow, is there not something a little pathetic in that?  Is life about just getting by from one day to the next because we all know it will come to an end soon?  How sad is that?  Is life about just living paycheck to paycheck?  How monotonous is that?  Is life about just trying to get all that we desire?  How shallow is that?  Is life about just getting from one season of the Netflix series “Stranger Things” to the next?  How utterly dependant on video streaming is that? 

Have some of us really resigned ourselves to death?  Is it really healthy to keep Jesus in the tomb?  Is it really healthy to live there in the tomb even after he has left?  Is death really where we will find our answers?  Is death really something that we can construct our lives upon?

The angels in the tomb have a question for us, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

People’s lives are not changed by a monotonous life of living paycheck to paycheck.  People’s lives do not flourish when death has the last word.  Why is it so tempting to look for the living among the dead?  Why is it so easy to live lives that are not actively guided by the promise of Jesus’ resurrection?   Yes, death is real, but death does not get the last word.  Jesus got the first word when the world was created, and he gets the last word at the end also.  It is a word filled with resurrection that says “life and love wins.”

Yes, in Jesus life and love gets the last word.  That is what is proclaimed by those first evangelists! 

What if?  What if the women are not full of it?  What if death is not the last word?  If so, what might a way life look like that is focused on life and love instead of fear and death?  What might a life that walks and talks with Jesus look like, if the women are right?  What might a life that walks and talks with Jesus look like if life and love get the last word?  Would life have meaning?  Would it build up rather than tear down? 

Is that way of life not worth checking out?  Would that not be a great way to live through the next few weeks of the Easter season?  How about we give it a try?  How about we give it a test run…even if we have tried before?  How about we run beside Peter, the one disciple who actually listened to the women…you can tell he was married, he actually listened to the women, smart man…how about we run with him and find out what this life of love in Christ is all about for ourselves?  What could it hurt?  Certainly, it cannot be worse than death. 

Why not walk in ways of life and love with Christ?  After-all, Christ has already claimed you for life with him!  He has already grasped you and raised you from the tomb!  What is there to lose in living as if life and love win in the end?  After-all, they do.  Alleluia!

Reflection on John 20:1-18

The Resurrection story begins with running away.  I cannot tell you how important this small detail is in the life of our faith.   

While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and sees that the stone has been rolled away.  She fears the worst.  She fears that Jesus, her rabbi, her teacher, the one who loved her as God loves her, will not even get a peaceful death.  "Someone has stolen his body," she thought with panic.  What more could happen?

You know how when it rains, it pours?  Whenever things seem to have gotten to the point of being the worst that anything can possibly get, just wait for it, it can and will get much worse.  

So, Mary runs away in the night.  She runs through the darkness, grasping for some light.  She runs to her friends, Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved, trying to find some foothold now that things have gotten as bad as things can be.  

Unfortunately, as is often the case when we reach out to people in our darkest moments, they end up being of no help.  Mary follows as Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved run and enter into the tomb to investigate, but both disciples leave and go back home without speaking to her.  

She is left there, alone.  

Little did she know that the disciple that Jesus loved saw and believed.  Little did she know that he had been given a little gift of light when he peered into the empty tomb.  She did not know because he failed to share it.  

So, there you have it.  She was utterly alone, in the dark, in a graveyard.  Can you get any more cliché than that?  Can you get any more Hollywood, 3/4ths of the way through the movie that that?

But, this is not Hollywood or clichéd storytelling, it is Mary’s life; just like it is our own lives when it happens to us.

Of course, you already know how the story ends.  But, I urge you to not rush to get to the end of the story just yet.  It is OK to sit in this in between time.   

Granted, sitting in an in between time does not feel good.  It does not feel good to lose what you have loved.  It does not feel good to stumble around in the dark.  And, it certainly does not feel good to think that you have been abandoned just when you needed your friends and your Lord the most!  It does not feel good, but the time of running away in sorrow and fear (the time spent in between the horror and the joyous new beginning) is as much a part of the life of faith than any other time.

That is why we gather together for Easter Vigil, some churches in the night, and others like us at the bridge between night and morning.  That is why this very moment has been built right into our liturgical year.  It is a time to sit with Mary and spend some time sobbing and grasping for help because that is faith too.

Without the time of running away into the darkness, there would be no break of day.   

Without the darkness and the sobbing, there would be no joy in the morning.  

And, without the horrible, terrible abandonment of friends we would not be in a place in our lives where we are open to hearing our name being called.

“Mary” the voice in the graveyard garden says.   

“Mary.”  

The name comes from the mouth of the one who knows her.  The name comes from the one who actually is not gone, though she feared he may be.  The name comes from the very lips of Jesus, our Lord.  The name comes from the lips of the one who draws her to new life.   

Mary had not been abandoned.  She had not been left in the dust of life, and neither have we. 

For the first time in days, the blooming flowers are seen in the garden and the rays of light start to fall upon the skin.  We see our Lord in a new way, and we follow our Lord in a new way.   

Our lives are not the same after the in between times.  Jesus’ resurrection brings a new life, at the right time, after our moment of running away.   

Jesus comes to the garden to let us know that everything will be just fine, in fact, more than fine, the new life that he gives us sends us running again.  But this time we do not run grasping in the darkness, rather we run in the light of Christ.  And, it feels so good to finally live in this new life.  But, never forget, the new life basking in Jesus’ light and love would not have been possible without darkness.  Both are celebrated as holy the night of the resurrection.

Reflection on John 13:1-35

When stripped bear, you might see the imperfections in my feet.

I have a somewhat crooked little toe which was the result of kicking the concrete step in front of our trailer house while running.  There are peeling heals that never seem to improve.  There is that toenail that never grows straight and has the crack on the side.

I realize that this is probably not what you came here to read.  Feet can be rather disgusting.

You know, from afar feet my feet look fine.  With nicely shined leather shoes on Sundays they look pretty grand.

However, when stripped bear they are far from perfect.  I scrunch my toes under my feet at the pool to hide the imperfections from those who would pry with their invasive eyes.

Stripped bear, my soul fairs no better.  Crooked intentions hide behind actions that gleam good.  There are all the vices that never seem to improve.  Quite frankly, stripped bear, you would see a person who has a cracked soul.  One that fails to be filed smooth.

You know, if you stand from afar everything looks fine.  Nice clothes and religious titles can hide quite a bit.  But, stripped bear, the soul is far from perfect.

That is why it is remarkable that Jesus strips, taking off his outer gowns in order to wash our exposed selves and joins us and our naked feet. 

“Lord, are you going to wash our feet?”

As if our stained feet and stained souls could taint one who gleams.

But, Jesus is not afraid in the least.  He draws close and touches all that is shameful, all that is sinful, and all that is naked and exposed.

That is the way of love, whether you are Judas, or Peter, or Thomas (whether sinful, unreliable, or reluctant to trust) love does not care, it only sees dirt that needs to be washed off.

“Not all of you needs to be cleaned, but only the feet.”

The Lord knows the heart that God created in us, a gleaming spark of love in the night.

“Take off your sandals and let me see.” 

Jesus washes away the dust on the soul and finds the love that he knew he put there.  Once exposed and made clean; you shine all that love once again.

We shine the love of the one who was stripped, hung for all to see, and showed love to all the world, naked on a cross.

So, “wash one another’s feet,”  Jesus says.
“Help each other’s love shine.” 
“Love as I have loved you.” 
Do not be ashamed,
and love all will find.

Reflection on John 12:1-8

I was once told, “If you want to find God, start looking around for the love.”

So, in this story of Mary, Jesus, and Judas, I started looking around for the love. The love was not hard to find. All I had to do was look in Mary’s hands. Mary carried a pound of costly perfume (worth about the year’s worth of wages) and placed it on Jesus’ feet, anointing Jesus for his imminent future. It was an act of love. Mary was loving Jesus into his future, much in the same way that Jesus was loved into his future by his mother at the very start of his ministry.

Do you remember the start of Jesus’ ministry? Jesus and his mother were at a wedding and the wine ran dry. Jesus had no plans of doing anything in response to this wedding crisis, but it was his mother who saw Jesus’ potential. It was Jesus’ mother who knew what Jesus could do. It was Jesus’ mother who lovingly knew that it was his time to begin his ministry, even if Jesus did not realize it. It was Jesus’ mother who loved Jesus into his future ministry. Where was God at work? Look for the love.

Loving people into their futures is essential to life in God’s kingdom, and like bookends to the Jesus story, it happened again just before Jesus’ death and resurrection. As Jesus faced the future of his difficult ministry which included death on a cross, there was a woman present who would once again love him into his future. She would anoint him lavishly. She would anoint him with tenderness and love. She would take the perfume and anoint his feet with her hair. She would anoint Jesus for his future death and burial. She would love him into his next step in life. She would anoint and love him into his future.

I am not sure if anyone realizes just how important all of this is. Judas obviously does not understand. He complains about the attention devoted to Jesus. He complains that all of that love could have been sold to help the poor. Indeed, perfume that was worth a year’s worth of wages could have fed a great many people. As important as loving the poor is to God (and the writer of John is certainly skeptical that Judas cared about the poor in the first place), loving people into their futures is also important to God.

Love and the encouragement that it provides is what gets babies off of their knees and onto their feet. Would any of us be walking around if it were not for our parents loving us into our futures with their guiding hands?

Love and the encouragement that it provides is what gets students from being only students to becoming teachers. Teachers have all had someone who loved them into the future and said to them, “You are good enough for this.”

Love and the encouragement that it provides is what allows people to die peacefully as their children say, “We love you, and it is OK to go home to God. We will be fine. You have permission to die and be in the eternal love of God.”

In the ancient world, kings were anointed and the dying were anointed. Kings were anointed and loved into the difficult task of leading an entire people, and the dying were anointed and loved into the difficult task of giving up this life. In this moment in Jesus’ story, he was faced with the future of both. He would soon be riding into Jerusalem, hailed as a king, and he would soon be facing the death that the designation of king would bring. And, in all of this difficult future, Mary is there to lovingly help him to take those next steps forward. Jesus was loved into his future.

Living into our futures is not something that we do alone. God does not prefer that we be self-made men and women. God does not prefer that we need no one and go it alone. God did not make us to live and work alone. God did not make us to face problems and challenges with no one there to help. God did not make us to be gods who need no one else, including God.

We are a people who were created for each other. We are a people who were created to share love with one another. We are creatures created to display love, and so we do. We love each other into our futures.

This week my mother made her way on I-80 to western Iowa to be with my grandma who was facing her last moments. She went so that she could love my grandma into her future in the same way that she loved me from High School into college, and went with me on the long, bumpy drive to Montana (with no working shocks on my car) as I moved from single life to married life, and was present the day that I went from student of God's Word to teacher of God’s Word. We love each other into our futures, and that is what makes this life a life of grace upon grace.

We will always keep the poor with us and love them into their futures. We will not forget the poor. Loving the poor will always stay central to what living in God’s kingdom is about. But, in doing so, we will not forget to love other people into their futures also.

Loving people into their futures is essential to living in the kingdom of God. There is not a limited amount of love. There is not only so much love to go around, and if you do not get any, tough luck. You do not need to stop one act of love just because there are others who also need love. That is not how love works.

Rather, love is something that can grow and expand. It can start at a single cross and expand throughout the entire world. Jesus understands this, and so does Mary. Her small act of love will allow Jesus to face his own difficult act of love to come. Loving people into their futures is probably one of the most important acts of love you will ever experience or undertake.

Know that you are never alone. Know that God’s love is always with you to bring you from death into life. Know that you are loved into the future every step of the way.

Reflection on Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

He never stops looking. He never stops loving.

How do you not wonder what happened to your very own flesh? How can you simply sleep through the night without worrying where they are or what they are doing? How do you not at least look out to the horizon to see if they might, by chance, be on their way home?

That is what he did everyday; the father looked down the path, to the horizon to see if he might glimpse the familiar, slightly slumped, walk of his youngest son.

You have to understand, his youngest son had asked for his inheritance early. So the loving father divided up his property between his two sons. It sounds simple, but it is not. It was not that the task of dividing was difficult, but what it meant was heart wrenching. Asking for the inheritance early only meant one thing: his son no longer wanted to be a part of his family. And, to confirm that suspicion, in just a few days the father looked into the son’s room to wake him for morning chores and all he saw was an empty bed.

What had he done to deserve this? Had he not shown him enough love? Maybe over the years he had been much too harsh when punishing? Had he ignored him too many times while working?

The father ran the memories over and over and over again in his head. The truth was, he just did not know. He did not know why he left. He did not know why he seemed not to care. He did not know what he was doing. Maybe his son was doing well on his own. Of course, there is the possibility that his son had failed on his own.

All he did know was that he was willing to do anything for his son, even give up his property. All he did know was that he loved his son incredibly and that he missed him in a deep, deep way.

The father saw the glances of his older son whenever he gazed off at the horizon. He saw the slight shaking of the head, as if to dismiss his concern and love. He will learn in time what it is to love. One day he will have children, and then he will understand.

You cannot just lose a child and not have it affect you. You cannot lose an arm and not have it not impede your daily functioning. We just are not built that way. We are built to be whole. We are built to love.

Then the moment came. After what seemed like ages of staring at the horizon, he saw the tell-tale slumped walk of his younger son. Even in silhouette against the setting sun there was no mistaking who was approaching.

He had found him! After all of this time of gazing down the path, he had finally found him. Running to greet him, that father had his son in his arms in no time. Ignoring the mumbling of repentance, the father called the servants to prepare a feast. The father welcomed the son back into the family with the giving of a family ring. He felt complete once again; for the lost had been found!

The evening could not have been better as they partied. The world was finally right again. That was until the father learned that he had lost a second child.

During the party, the older son sent a servant asking his father to come outside to talk. The father approached the older son, anger burning on his face. The accusations flew from the older son’s mouth.

"Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!”

And, that is when the father realized that he had lost his other son. Though he had worked beside him every single day, he had somehow lost him.

The older son was an angry mess. The older son only wanted punishment, or better yet, banishment of his brother. Oh, there is that. He did not even consider his brother as his brother any longer. That was what all of that “this son of yours” talk was about?

You cannot just cut off your arm and live like you have two! You cannot just cut someone out of your life and live like they do not matter. His older son was utterly lost. Lost from love. Lost from compassion. Lost from all he had tried to teach him.

What do you do with the older son? What do you do when he is so close, yet son distant? What do you do with someone who is present, but is lost? What do you do with those who refuse to show compassion or forgiveness? What do you do with the older son?

Granted, it is not like the older son was exactly wrong in his thinking. The younger son had not proven in any way that he had reformed. Maybe, he would just steal some of the older son’s property and take off again! He already has the beloved fatted calf and a ring after-all!

The younger song could have refused the party. He could have just come back and worked like a slave…a position that he deserved. This party and celebration just was not fair. And, the older son was right…it was not fair.

But, that is not how love works. Love is not fair. God’s love searches for the lost and celebrates their return. God’s love pours lavishly on the sinner. God’s love heals the broken. God’s love spills haphazardly on the deserving and the undeserving alike.

God’s love is not fair. It does not keep track of the good and the bad from the past. It does not keep a tally. God’s love just is. It is always there. It is always searching for the lost. It is always there.

Did the younger son deserve the love? Of course not! But, if he did, it would not truly be love would it? It would just be payment being good. God’s love is not fair. But, that is what makes it able to save. It cares for the sinner, and it saves the sinner. It cares for the lost and brings them home. It cares for the undeserving, with no regard to earning it. God’s love is not fair, but that is what gives love its power. We are saved because of God’s amazing grace. We are saved by God’s love of a wretch like me. We are saved by God’s love.

So, what do we do with the older brother when he is lost from love? Well, just like you cannot keep the younger son from walking away from love, neither can you keep the older son from walking away from love. But, what you can do is what the father did. You can invite them into love, saying, “Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found."