Paul Walker, Easter Sunday, April 9

 Happy Easter, everyone!  There is a story of a minister in Jackson, Mississippi who climbed into the pulpit on Easter morning to preach his sermon to an overflowing church.  “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” he began. Then he leaned into the microphone and simply said, “It’s all true. Amen.” And, then he sat down. Sermon over. 

     For a moment I considered doing that this morning. Because it is all true! We are not here to reflect on the return of the daffodils. We are here to bear witness to the bodily resurrection of a man who was put to death on a cross and sealed up in a tomb. The Lord is risen, indeed!

      This Easter sermon will be short, but not that short. Your egg hunts and Bloody Marys will have to wait a few minutes longer.  The true story of Christ’s death and resurrection does, however, speak for itself. What did we just read from the gospel of Matthew? 

     “After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” That is the beginning of the story of resurrection. It begins after the sabbath. The sabbath is the last day of the week. So, our story begins on the first day of the week. And not only on the first day of the week, but just as the day is dawning – the first moments of the first day. Those details are there for a reason. We are meant to see that the story begins when everything is new. 

     What has happened is in the past. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus at the Last Supper, Peter’s third denial by the fire as the cock crowed, the desertion of the disciples down to the last man, the mock trial in a kangaroo court, the flogging and taunting and crown of thorns, the spikes driven through wrist and foot, Jesus’ anguish and dereliction and final gasp – all that is in the past. Now, right now, on Easter morning, everything is new.

     There is a line Shakespeare’s The Tempest that fits this Easter Morning moment. “What’s past is prologue.” What’s past is prologue. That means that everything that has happened, everything that has happened to you - and everything that you have made happen - is just the very beginning of the story. In fact, it is just introductory, just a prologue, not even part of the main body of the real story. What does that mean?

    Your life, like mine, is an unfinished story. Sometimes, that can be frustrating and defeating.  You long for the fractured pieces of the puzzle to finally come together. There are things that you have done or have been done to you that you wish could be undone. There are things that you haven’t done that you wish you could go back and do. There are run on sentences, dangling participles, and the convoluted plot lines. And worst of all, there are chapters that you never want anyone to ever see. 

     Well, guess what? You have now arrived at the first day of the week. Here you are, just as day is dawning.  As Gandalf said as he rode his white stallion across the hills to his embattled and besieged friends as the sun rose behind his back, “We meet again, at the turn of the tide.”  That’s what Jesus, newly risen from the grave could have said to the two Marys. Instead, standing outside His empty tomb, says, “Greetings!” Say hello to the beginning of your real story.

      When you see the unfinished story of your life in the dawning light and the rising sun of Easter morning, everything changes! In the refracted light of the Easter dawn you will see that God has made and will make a way for you.  And you will realize that all your laboring over your own story, all your feverish attempts to make the plot work and the characters align – they are all just needless toil. What’s past, after all, is just prologue. 

    So, you can just go ahead stop trying to write your own story. Close your computer or if you are old school put down your pen. You are free to just live your life. Go find some Easter eggs – or don’t, go drink your Bloody Mary – or don’t. Do not worry – in time, your past will finally make sense. And right now, on this first day of the week, your future is better than you can possibly imagine. Oh -your secret and shameful chapters? They don’t mean a thing. As the great bluesman B.B. King sings,

    “I was there when they crucified my Lord / I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword / I threw the dice when they pierced his side / But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide.”

     Love has conquered the great divide, for Christ has risen from the dead. And the best part? It’s all true! 

     Amen.