perplexed by easter

luke 24: 6 - 12 

“he isn’t here - he’s been raised! don’t you remember? while you were still in galilee he told you that the son of man must be handed over into the hands of sinners, and be crucified, and rise again on the third day. and they remembered his words. they went back, away form the tomb, and told all this to the eleven and all the others. it was mary magdalene, joanna, and mary the wife of james, and the others with them. they said this to the apostles; and the message seemed to them just stupid; useless talk, and they didn’t believe them. peter, though, got up and ran to the tomb. he stooped down and saw only the grave-cloths. he went back home, perplexed at what had happened.”

perplexed

perplexed is usually not a word i associate with easter. when i think easter, i usually think joyful, excited, relief, praise, etc. none of these words describe the reaction of the first disciples. 

peter was perplexed. 

i kind of like that. i think we might need to claim a sense of being perplexed by this whole thing. 

those who, like me, have been going to church sense they were born might forget to take time to think about how absurd this story we are celebrating is... 

so this guy died, like dead... legit dead, and then came back to life and that is supposed to be meaningful for me and i am supposed to be celebrating it? “yes sir, you bet. praise the Lord, hallelujah!!” we might answer without missing a beat.

but maybe we could instead take just a minute to slow down and say... what? 

i think when we are too quick to jump to the “yes sir, praise the Lord hallelujah!” we miss a chance to be confounded.  i don’t know that this  story is supposed to be so easily internalized, watered down, and blindly accepted. i think maybe on easter sunday we might take a second to marvel at the overwhelming, illogical nature of the story. 

i am coming to worship this morning with an attitude of being a little perplexed. sure, i’ve heard this story my whole life, but come on.. its madness. 

and i think that is the point. 

in luke’s resurrection story we find ourselves - showing up confused, unbelieving, not getting it, but unable to let go of the power of the story. the story of resurrection is not supposed to fit neatly into our categories and worldview. it is, rather, intended to disrupt our entire way of viewing the world. 

that is not something that should come easily or quickly. 

easter should not be an end, but rather a new beginning, one which cannot come without a bit of sitting, bewildered by the madness of this story. i hope we can see today as beginning of a new story...

a story that might be a little crazy, but one on which we continue to ponder. 

a story that gives light to our lives in ways that don’t always make sense. 

a story into which we seek to live, not always knowing what that means in a world of chaos and confusion. 

today we praise the power of that story. we celebrate the fact that we believe it gives us life. we rejoice in the truth that “Christ the Lord is risen today. alleluia. amen” 

however, let us not loose sight of the baffling nature of that proclamation.