Faithful women went to the tomb. They went as tradition asked of them, as their hearts and love bid them forward even in their grief. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb, they feel the predawn darkness: a void of hopelessness, a crushing sense of loss, grief that cannot be articulated in words. They never thought it would end like this and now they come to anoint Jesus, he was the messiah!
It began in the darkness of the night on Maundy Thursday & what began with such love & hope, a sacred meal & foot washing, ends with his betrayal and arrest, then came the cross on Good Friday and the tomb of Holy Saturday. Days filled with fear & violence, doubt & desertion, and the women walk faithfully to the tomb and then it all changed for them that Easter morning…
If you have ever kept vigil, worried to death at the bedside of a loved one, if you have ever been unable to sleep because of what was to come, if you have ever been overwhelmed by doubt or grief, God has been with you through those long hours; God has embraced you in your isolation; God has come in the morning to your tomb and Easter has dawned in your new life.
“New life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.” - Barbara Brown Taylor
Easter begins in the darkness of night, in the seeming finality of earth, in the hopelessness of a dead man’s tomb. But Easter moves beyond all that, for in the words of the angels at the tomb, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Go and tell, he is going ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.” And the women left the tomb in fear and amazement, they left in the light, the light they would share with the other disciples. They brought faith and hope back to those stuck in the dark.
And that light has been given to you & me this morning. The paschal candle is lit in the church, a reminder that the darkness has not overcome the light, that Jesus is with us still but it is also lit in our souls, to share with a world too often filled with darkness, too often living a Good Friday existence of fear and death. The gifts we each have been given, are given so we can bring Easter to the world.
He was a software engineer by profession - but music was his passion. An accomplished pianist, he composed marvelous pieces. He wrote his first song to impress a girl in his class. And she was impressed. They were 15. They married five years later and have been together 46 years.
Then one day he sat down at the piano to play. He started a song, but stopped. How did it go? He couldn't remember. It happened again and again. It was the first sign that he had Alzheimer's disease.
All those years, he never wrote or recorded any of his songs. Every note and phrase and chord progression were in his head. And soon it would be lost forever. Another piece of this husband and dad would be lost.
One day, his daughter confided to her best friend what was happening to her father. Her friend was an extraordinary musician and pianist: she possessed the rare gift of being able to hear a piece of music once and play it. She offered to work with her friend's father to reconstruct his music. After much prodding, the father agreed.
Each time they met, he would play whatever notes he could remember and she would play them back; she would suggest various paths and would begin reconstructing the piece. She immediately understood his music - she found hints of themes, counter themes, harmonies and rhythms. She found his music beautiful - and worth saving.
For two years they worked together every other week. With the help of some of her musician friends, they recorded a CD of his music. She also convinced him to compose one last song. With her help, he composed a piece called "Melancholy Flower." The Oregon Repertory Singers included it in their 2016 Christmas concert. For the first time, one of his songs would be performed in public. Despite all that Alzheimer's had taken from him, the music of his soul would live on. [CBS Sunday Morning, August 13, 2017.]
The compassion and dedication of a young musician helps preserve the music locked in the brain of its composer suffering from Alzheimer's. Her work is the work of Easter: to open tombs; to restore life to the lost, the despairing, the forgotten; to free the dead from the shackles of hopelessness.
The empty tomb of Easter morning is God's vindication of his Son's life among us: that no tomb can contain the mercy and hope of God. It is God’s eternal April Fools Joke – you thought he was dead. Ha! He is alive and that same spirit he had, is now in you!
May we be about the work of Easter: to unlock the music of God's peace in our lives that has for too long been entombed by fear, anger and hurt and to share it with the world that God has made.
Brothers & Sisters, may we keep faith with the women at the tomb and all who do the work of Easter in our world, that our witness may be as bold, our love as deep, and our faith as true. Happy Easter for Christ is risen. Alleluia! Amen!
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