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And They Told No One...
(Easter Day)

The Gospel tells us that the women found the stone rolled away from the tomb and Jesus’ body gone. Two angels or messengers were there and they told the women that Jesus was not dead, that he had been raised from the dead.They were instructed to go and tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus was alive and would meet them in Jerusalem. This is the only Gospel that tells us that the women went away full of amazement and fear and said nothing to anyone.

Why does Mark’s Gospel tell us this story?
Why would the women not rush to tell what they had seen and heard?

Put yourselves in their place, coming to grieve at the grave of someone you loved so much.

Full of amazement and fear.

Amazement because of what they saw and heard… the huge stone was pushed away from the tomb and He was not there. Their Lord might truly be alive. He may have risen from the dead and will be with them again and always.

Fear that it may not be true. Fear that someone had taken His body. Fear that they not only had to bear the death of Jesus, but that now they had to bear the truth of his body stolen and their having no place to grieve. Fear at how the disciples would hear this news and receive it. Would they be laughed at? Would there be rage and blame? How will we leave this place? Do we go from here amazed at the message we have received… that our Lord’s body is not in the tomb, that it has not been stolen, but that He is indeed risen? Do we go from here fearful of proclaiming a risen Lord to others who will laugh at us and mock us? Do we really believe in Easter?

The story of colored Eggs truly has its roots in the Christian tradition although we have lost it in the midst of a secularized Easter, just as Santa Claus has replaced St. Nick and presents under the tree have replaced the presence of God with us.

But the tradition regarding the colored Easter Eggs comes from a very ancient story of Mary Magdalene, when she embraces the resurrection of Christ, whether it is in her seeing of Him in the Garden as we are told in the Gospel of John, or in the upper room with the disciples, she saw Him and believed. Either way, in the years that followed and the faith that was now in her and the fame she had as a disciple of Jesus, she was able to use her notoriety to gain access to the Emperor, Tiberius Caesar at a banquet. When she approached him she was holding a fresh egg in her hands… a symbol of new life. She said to Tiberius, “The Lord is Risen”. And he laughed at her. Then he said, “I will believe He is risen, when the egg in your hand turns red.” And before he had finished speaking and in front of all of those gathered at the banquet, the egg in Mary’s hand turned bright red.

When we color the eggs with our children, if we believe that He Lives, we should tell them that story, so there is a connection between the eggs as new life and colored eggs as evidence of a risen lord, rather than stories of Easter Bunnies delivering eggs. Are we standing at the tomb today, celebrating a Lord who loved us so much that He died a horrific death to lead us through death and into new life? Are our lives colored by His death and resurrection? Are we different? Are we changed? Do we really believe that there is new and eternal life in us because of Him? Because He lives… declares a hymn of old… because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

The messengers said to Mary Magdalene and Mary, James’ mother that they would find their risen Lord in Galilee. He would be there waiting for them. The message is to trust that he is there and waiting for us. He is alive and He will be there when we arrive. We have the testimony of many now who have gone before us, whose lives have been deeply changed by the Christ who lives. These are people who have been told that the tomb was empty and that Jesus was not dead but alive. These are the people who have carried the Good News to us … The tomb is empty. Jesus Lives and by his love and his life we too have life in us. We do not need to leave this place this morning in doubt or amazement about the story we here. We do not need to live in fear of our own journey or our own dying. For just as His tomb was empty, so too our graves will be empty. So, too, the angels sit on the tombs of our loved ones, our family and friends and tell us that those we seek are not here, but risen.

Death has died on this day, once and for all.
Remember the prayer of the great Anglican priest and poet, John Donne….

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

There is no victory for the night, as dawn has come. New life is bursting forth. Do you not see it on every branch and twig, in every garden and lawn.

So go from this place today filled with joy and faith, casting out all fear of life and death. For the Lord is Risen, indeed.