Terry Paul Choyce
April 15, 2007, Brunswick Street United Church
(I hold up a piece of poster board on which are 10 images. After a minute I fold it up and ask people what was on the poster.)
This little exercise demonstrates how hard it is to remember details, and it shows us that different people remember different things. This is necessary to keep in mind when you hear today's sermon.
Our readings this morning gave 3 different versions of the resurrection story. You may have noticed that there are distinct differences in them. Matthew (28:1-9) had Mary Magdalene and the "other" Mary go to the tomb. They experienced an earthquake, then an angel who rolled away the stone, then sat on it. The guards froze. Then Jesus appeared to the women and told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, where they would see him. Now Galilee was a 7 to 10 day walk from Jerusalem, so it was at least a week before the disciples saw Jesus.
Luke (24:1-12) has Mary Magdalen, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James at the tomb. They found an already empty tomb. Then two men in shining clothes appeared to them and said that Jesus had been raised. The women told this to the 11 disciples. Peter did not believe them, so he went to the tomb to see for himself.
In the Gospel of John (20:1-22) we only have Mary Magdalene going to the tomb. She found the tomb empty, so she ran to tell Peter and another disciple. They went with her to the tomb. They left, and Mary remained, crying. Two angels appeared to her. Then Jesus appeared to her and told her to tell the disciples he would come to them. Verse 19 says he came to them that night.
The account of the resurrection that was written closest to the actual event was written by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3 to 7. He wrote:
"3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have died. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles."
Paul's letter was written 24 to 28 years after Jesus died. The first Gospel to be written was Mark, which was written between 64 to 70 AD. This is what Mark writes of the Resurrection:
"1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
4But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "
8Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid."
Now comes another glitch. The earliest versions of Mark ended here. But this did not jive with the other gospels, so at some point, this was added to Mark, verses 9-20:
"9When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
12Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
14Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."
So in verse 1 we had 3 women at the tomb, and an angel. There was no earthquake and no visit with Jesus. In verse 9 we only have Mary Magdalene, and Jesus appears to her. He later comes to his 11 disciples, and then is taken up into heaven.
So why am I confusing you with conflicting facts? It is to demonstrate that the Gospels were written by men who never knew Jesus, and who got their information from stories that were passed down for many years. Like our exercise with the poster of pictures, we each remember different details, and some things we forget all together. Also, any time any of us tells a story about our past, we change it a little bit. If I told you about the camping trip I went on with my family when I was 12, it will have very different details and events than what my father would tell you, or my sister or my brother. We each view life from our own perspectives, and thus we all have different versions of the truth. That is why we have lawyers and judges. Often the truth is not clear. "Facts" are not always accurate. But there is a truth at the bottom of it all.
No matter what version of the resurrection story you read, they all have several things in common. The most important one is that, on the third day after his death, Jesus was no longer in his tomb. This is the most important event in Christianity, because it proves that Jesus was more than a mortal man. Jesus had powers that can only be described as divine. So if he was Divine, then what he taught was inspired by God. Bishop John Shelby Spong, in his book Liberating the Gospels writes (p. 308):
"For his life was and is of God, and his death was seen as his re-entry into God...
His was a life in whom the Holy God was pleased to dwell. His was the life through which the spirit of the living God found access to the human family. He broke the barrier between the human from the divine, the mortal from the immortal, and he called us to journey through him into the mystery and wonder of God that he had revealed. He was the way, the truth, and the life."
So let us all bring the power of the Easter story into our lives. The details are extraneous to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to many people, and he told them to live in peace, and to spread the good news that there is life beyond death, and that we must all live with love and compassion. And as Matthew reports at the very end of his Gospel Jesus says "I will be with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b)
Praise be the Lord
