Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Bob Henry
April 4, 2021
Scriptures: Mark 16 (The Message)
16 1-3 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, “Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?”
4-5 Then they looked up, saw that it had been rolled back—it was a huge stone—and walked right in. They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white. They were completely taken aback, astonished.
6-7 He said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you’re looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He’s been raised up; he’s here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty. Now—on your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You’ll see him there, exactly as he said.”
8 They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.
Happy Easter Friends! It is so good to be with you on this special day.
Each year in preparation for the Easter holiday, I find myself contemplating the mystery and broad understanding of Easter among Friends. Since traditionally Quakers consider every day a “holy day,” it is always a different experience among Friends than it would be among other traditions within the Christian faith.
Yet, when we strip Easter down to its rudimentary elements – it is hard not to find resurrection at its core.
This year especially, as we are coming out of a deadly pandemic, and even today, meeting together for worship in-person, as well as, virtually, resurrection has a new meaning once again.
I truly believe there is a resurrection taking place in our world, our country, our families, and even our personal lives. The stone is slowly being removed from the tomb that has been this pandemic and there is new life and new hope emerging. I am sure you can sense it, and some are possibly even experiencing it through a simple hug from a loved one, again.
Today, as we explore this core aspect of Easter, I want to again relate it to our theme for the past 6 weeks of “bearing one another’s burdens.” To do this I will highlight how the resurrection speaks to our Testimony of Equality – that all people were created equal in the eyes of God and that there is that of God within all people.
To understand the resurrection in this light we need to explore what theologians call “Universal Resurrection” and its impact on us still today. In it, one will find that dying and rising, or resurrection, is bound up with one another.
Mystic blogger, Mark Longhurst, points out that…
“This rising is expansive in scope: Jesus Christ rises, but also brings everyone and everything into God’s resurrection movement.”
I believe his point is that there is a definite focus on equality in the resurrection, if we will take the time to see it.
Longhurst points out the slight differences in how we see the resurrection. He says,
“Jesus Christ has risen, except many in the Christian religion have turned this transformational tale into an individual heroic feat. Jesus Christ is risen: he did it, or God did it on his behalf, and we marvel at how amazing it all is. We turn Jesus into a box office sensation: Jesus, the Superhero, back from the dead, who disappeared briefly to another galaxy and has returned to save us. Or, alternatively, we ignore the resurrection completely, awkwardly downplaying its importance for our faith.
Resurrection, however, is not only about Jesus rising. Jesus Christ sweeps everyone and everything up within God’s resurrecting movement. To talk about resurrection, and better yet, to experience it, is somehow to bear the weighty paradox of death and life evolving together at the center of the universe.”
Our scripture text that Beth read for us this morning focused on the women - Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, and the Luke account even adds Joanna – these were the women who came to the tomb on that first easter morning.
That the gospels even mention the women being the first to experience this occurrence speaks to a clear focus on gender equality, especially for Jesus’ day.
Easter is also about the women rising, Peter and the other disciples rising, the early church rising, the generations that have gone before us rising, and even us rising. The resurrection is not just about one man rising, it is about the universe itself rising.
Wendell Berry in one of my favorite poems, “The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” described Resurrection as
“the humus building under trees, the sequoias planted, the choice of love over profit, the sheer bliss of resting in a lover’s arms in a field, the practice of believing and enacting that another world is possible.
That was Jesus’ eternal message for ALL of us – that another world is possible.
On a side note, I find it interesting that the word resurrection does not appear at all in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament it is the Greek word anastasis which translated means “to stand up” or “to rise up.”
It is the same word that is often used when saying someone will take a stand or rise up to speak. That is exactly what Jesus was doing - he was rising up, standing up to show that another world is possible.
And that is what the women coming to the tomb would experience first-hand. They would be empowered by the men appearing in white to go spread the word of this resurrection. Women were often considered possessions in Jesus’ day and were not allowed to speak – especially, to share news of this magnitude to men. What these women were hearing was that a new world was possible for women, starting that very day!
Mary would even hear this directly from Jesus’ lips in the garden beside the tomb. He would encourage her not to cling to him but instead fulfill her calling to be the bearer of good news that resurrection is for ALL! I find it beautiful that the news of resurrection begins with barriers for women being broken.
This is what Peter and the other disciples, who not believing the women, would run across town to experience for themselves. A slow change would begin that in that moment would call them to be shepherds – caretakers of the flocks – not of sheep but of people. The disciples, too, were rising to their calling.
And this is true for us as well, resurrection cannot just be for a man 2000+ years ago. It has to be relevant still today and speak to our condition. Just as we watch the spring flowers resurrect from dead bulbs in our gardens each year, we too must find the life and hope resurrecting from the dead of our lives proving to us that another world is possible. Proving once again that we are being called to a greater purpose of loving this great God and our neighbor as ourselves.
When I was a campus pastor, I had the opportunity to officiate some of my student’s weddings. On one occasion, the couple asked if I would paint them a picture of the resurrection. The husband wanted a modern take on a classic Eastern Orthodox painting of the Resurrection.
If you are not familiar, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Jesus is almost always shown rising up from the tomb holding the hands of Adam and Eve who are rising along with him. Sometimes others biblical characters are also included in these icons, but almost never is the resurrection seen as a solo act.
What this illustrates and helps us understand is that the resurrection is not only about one person’s accomplishment, but about the rising up, the amazing feats that will take place in and through all humanity from this day forward.
Resurrection was never intended for one body, but for ALL bodies – or we could say ALL humanity!
Longhurst puts it so well,
“And if resurrection is for all bodies, then surely it is for those bodies who are most suffering. Whatever Jesus’s rising means, it must mean that justice rises, finally, for poor bodies, black and brown bodies, queer bodies, incarcerated bodies, homeless bodies, and children’s bodies separated from mom’s and dad’s bodies at the border.”
I don’t know about you, but this should make sense to us Quakers, because in the early centuries Friends took what was considered to be a progressive approach to women, to children, to prisoners, to those with psychiatric illnesses and even eventually to slaves. This was the foundation for our testimony of equality. And still today, Quakers continue to promote and empower the resurrection and the rising of marginalized people who are affected by unemployment, homelessness, homophobia, racism, disability, and so much more.
From our earliest of days, Quakers have and continue to believe another world is possible, and that world includes ALL people equally. Friends have taken to heart the words of the author of the letter to the Galatians, when she or he wrote,
“In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 3:28)
Jesus Christ has risen. The women are rising, the poor and marginalized are rising, all humanity is rising, the earth and the cosmos are rising. New possibilities, new worlds surround us every day, and especially this day.
My prayer this Easter morning, is that we will ALL take those words of Wendell Berry to heart and believe and act upon the resurrection promise that another world is possible.
Now, let us enter a time of waiting worship. To do that, I would like us to ponder the following queries:
1. Where is the Divine calling me to “rise up” or “take a stand” to show that another world is possible?
2. Who do I struggle to find equality with in this world? How might I help bring “resurrection” into their lives, today?
3. Where do I see “resurrection” taking place as we come out of this time of death known as the pandemic?