Easter 2010

Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.--John 20:15-18

I have said that I think trying to preach a sermon on Easter Sunday must be a huge task. I mean, what is there left to say? What more can a person offer other than a shout of "Hallelujah!! And Thanks Be to God!!"?
God has done the impossible. God has taken death and turned it on its head. The Romans (Pilate) and the high priests (Caiphus) and Jewish leadership (Herod Antipas) had become friends in their common desire to crush down this rebel for the cause of love. For Rome, Jesus would be the warning to all the Israelites; any uppity Jew is going to be killed in a painfully slow and excruciating death.
So, imagine what that must have been for Mary Magdalene and the others to discover that their friend and advocate for another way, the way of love, had been resurrected. Not only has he burst the prison of the grave; he's blown it to smithereens!
Still, the interesting statement I see in the passage from the John gospel is when he tells Mary, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father." This feels to me like Jesus is saying, 'I've still got more to do... and I can't be kept here.' And he tasks Mary Magdalene (yes, a woman) to be the one who tells what is the very Good News that Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia!
I've also understood that statement from Jesus as the warning to all of us who have come to believe in him; do not hold me in the human, solid, flesh and blood form, especially in that crucified form. Know that I have been that... and I am that and much more. And the "much more" will come with the ascension into Heaven, where he will be joined again with God and where he can do even more for us by being that link for us to God, a window in which we, those who are Christian, will see God. Besides, he is not the end of God's purpose. He has promised that God's purpose will be worked in the world when the Holy Spirit comes.
On this day, the Lord has acted. The joy and rejoicing of Easter comes in knowing that Love is alive and reaching out to continue touching and changing lives. Love is calling back all those who were driven into the wilderness. Love is reviving the dead and giving them new life.
Is it any wonder that the song that was on my lips this morning wasn't a hymn, but the Beatles?

"All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love, Love. Love is all you need."