Paul Walker, “In the Midst of Death we are in Life”
On the rainy mid-afternoon of July 5th, 1826, the Reverend Frederick Hatch donned his clericals, stowed his bible and prayerbook in his saddle bag, and mounted his horse to ride up the mountain to Monticello. He left from this very spot – the newly constructed Christ Episcopal Church, where he served as our first rector. Hatch arrived just before 5pm for his appointed task – to preside over the burial service of our nation’s third president. Thomas Jefferson had requested no pomp for his burial; there were only 40 or 50 people there, although 1500 people were reportedly still coming up the mountain to attend.
Former Governor Randolph wanted Hatch to delay the service until everyone was there. But the first Christ Church rector was a man after my own heart; he began right on time. As an evangelical preacher, he knew the urgency in his message. Opening his bible to the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John, Hatch proclaimed, “Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Hatch must have known that this is one of the verses that Jefferson, his friend, dining companion, and parishioner had cut out of his own version of the bible! But despite the Jefferson Bible, the glorious news of the resurrection rang out on Monticello Mountain almost 200 years ago.
Hatch knew that Jefferson, like all of us, needed the hope of the resurrection. Jefferson had outlived nearly all his friends and most of his children. So familiar with death was he that he frequently quoted his much underlined and annotated prayerbook’s line from the funeral liturgy: “In the midst of life, we are in death.” And that is true, of course. You have people in your lives who are no longer with us on Easter Day. You have relationships that have died, hopes that have died, health that has died. As a 17th century French philosopher said, “Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives.”
In the midst of life, we are in death. Yes. But on this Easter morning we are here to proclaim the opposite: “In the midst of death we are in life!” As Frederick Buechner says, “Resurrection means that the worst thing isn’t the last thing in the world. The last thing in the world is the best thing.” He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
That proclamation began not 200, but 2000 years ago. At the cockcrow of the third day after the crucifixion of their Lord, Mary and Mary Magdelene arrive at Jesus’ tomb. No reason is given in the gospel of Matthew for their visit. Perhaps they wanted to make sure his body hadn’t been tampered with? Maybe they needed something to do to expend their grief or try to make sense of the tragedy and rehash once again all that had happened to the One they knew as the Messiah?
What they expected is not what actually happened. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, an angel appeared and said, ““Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” The women are to go and tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead! Wait, what?!? A minute later, Jesus Himself appears, risen from the dead – fully alive! They fall to the ground and cling to His feet in awe and wonder and worship. In the midst of death, they are in life!
Much has been made of the fact the women are the first witnesses of the resurrection and the first authorized evangelists. And much should be made – for women had no real status, and yet Jesus appears to them and trusts them with the Good News. That is a window into the Gospel’s power and relevance for all people everywhere -worldly standing means nothing. We all die and therefore we all need the news of resurrection from the dead. One commentator rightly noted that of course women were at the scene of the resurrection. It is women who birth babies, women who bring new life into the world. The women were a living parable, symbolic of the Resurrection’s New Life.
That’s a great insight, but don’t mistake the fuzzy chicks or the beautiful easter lilies for anything more than a shadowy symbol of the Real Thing. I love the New Yorker cartoon of two dyed Easter eggs sitting at the bar having drinks. One egg, martini in hand, says to the other egg, “What I don’t get is that one minute we are symbols of new life, and the next minute…. we’re a sandwich! If all we have is symbol and an egg salad sandwich, then the words Frederick Hatch proclaimed on Monticello Mountain are emptied of their power. The bible tells us that “If Christ is not raised from the dead, then of all people, we are most to be pitied.” If all we have is some kind of vague and spiritual hope, then we will live forever in the midst of death with no life. Then the last thing in the world is indeed the worst thing.
As Fleming Rutledge says, “It cannot be said too often: if Christ was not (actually and physically) raised from the dead, we would have never heard of him. Tens of thousands were crucified in the Roman era; of all of these, the name of Jesus of Nazareth is the only one known to us. He was consigned to the oblivion designed by Rome for crucified victims, but within weeks was proclaimed as the Name above all Names.” In the midst of death, we are in life!
The Name above all Names. No wonder the women fell at His feet in worship. That is the only sane response. King of Kings, Lord of Lords, who unbelievably, is the Friend of Sinners and Sufferers like you and me. He has the power to make every death you have or will experience into a resurrection. He is no spring chick but the Lion of Judah, the Lamb that was Slain from the Foundation of the World, the Savior who rose from the grave victorious to give us life in the midst of death and in the end, Life in the Midst of Life forever and ever. Alleluia, Christ is risen! “I am the resurrection and the life, sayeth the Lord. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
Amen.