WEBVTT 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.359 A reading from the gospel according to Mark. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:21.760 Chapter sixteen, verses one through eight. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:33.119 When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:38.159 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:45.039 And they were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:49.039 And looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:50.799 It was very large. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:59.359 And entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.439 And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.599 You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.799 He has risen, he is not here. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:13.920 See the place where they laid him. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:21.040 But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.879 There you will see him just as he told you. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:36.560 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:39.599 The Gospel of the Lord. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:53.840 Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:55.040 Amen. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:08.960 The women of Easter, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, waited until the Sabbath was passed. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.360 That would be Saturday at sundown. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.400 But on that Saturday evening, as the lamps were being lit and the shops were reopening, they waited no more. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:29.840 They made their way to their local Jerusalem funeral home to go and buy the burial spices that they needed. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:41.599 And perhaps, like us, when they got to that funeral home, they were surprised or shocked even to discover just how much a funeral costs. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:52.639 Perhaps like us, they groused a little bit about how expensive it is to bury a body nowadays. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:05.439 We grumble and complain about this, but we pay the fees nevertheless because a body is never just a body. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:15.439 Now, to be sure, we act like it and sometimes we say with a bunch of bravado, look, when I'm dead, you can do whatever you want with me because I won't be here. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.400 But we don't actually mean that. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:30.879 If a body, even a dead body, a corpse, really were nothing, then we would treat it like it was nothing. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:38.240 And it would certainly be cheaper to dispose of a body like we dispose of trash. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:43.439 Put it out on the curb for the garbage truck to come and pick up and take away. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:45.520 But we would never do that. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:50.719 And the women of Easter wouldn't do that either. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:55.439 Because they didn't go to buy spices to anoint it. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:01.520 They went and bought spices to anoint him. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.840 That pronoun carries weight. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:16.879 It signifies why we go to such great lengths and great expense to show respect to a dead body. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:22.319 Because even when the body is dead, it's still someone's. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:26.160 It's still a him or a her. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:38.319 And Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Salome, were convinced that this particular hymn would live on. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.639 Their actions tell us that they were very much resolved. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:52.160 Everything they did says, We will remember you, Jesus. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:59.519 So, yes, buying the spices and going early on Sunday morning to finish the burial, but then what? 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:13.439 They strike me as the kind who would circle the anniversary date of Jesus' death on their calendar and make a point of going every year to the grave on that day to put the flowers by it. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:23.519 The women of Easter, you see, were convinced that Jesus would live on in their memories, in their minds, and in their hearts. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.480 And maybe someday in more than that. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:53.120 They had heard Jesus preaching and teaching about a resurrection of the dead, which was a hope that God's people had always held on to, a hope found in the promises of the psalms and the words of the prophets, and the exclamations from the lips of someone like Job saying, with my own eyes in my own flesh. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:06:16.879 And so the women going to anoint Jesus' body with spices not only demonstrated how much they loved Jesus, but also how highly they valued the gift of a body that could, hopefully, maybe someday at some time be raised by the power of God. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:33.519 And so the women went out early on Sunday morning to undertake the very unpleasant task of opening up a tomb, unwrapping a body, and doing all that they could to preserve the memory of Jesus. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:43.839 When they left, they wanted to be able to say, we have done everything we could to see to it that Jesus lives on. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:07:05.279 And like those women going to buy spices on Saturday evening, you and I also are inclined to grab for anything we can hold on to to find a way to convince ourselves that our dead will live on. 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:18.639 I will carry you in my heart forever, is said at hundreds of funeral luncheons across our country every single day. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:39.439 We set up memorial stones, we tend graves, we put the flowers on them on the anniversary, we visit them, we treasure old photos, we hold on to mementos, we tell stories about our dear deceased. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.160 Nowadays, there's options to do even more than that. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:08:01.120 Not long ago, my line of work took me to a funeral home, and I was waiting in one of their meetingslash showrooms with walls lined with glass cases filled with the various articles you can buy from someone in the undertaking business. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:15.120 And as I was waiting there, I was perusing through those glass cases and I found an entire case devoted to jewelry that you could have made that would contain some of the remains of your deceased. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:20.560 Now, I suppose our Roman Catholic friends would have told us that relics have never gone out of style. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:25.439 But I was a little bit surprised to realize that this had become such a popular practice. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:33.120 It demonstrates how much we want to hold on to the memory of those who have departed. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.360 And then, of course, there are the techno options for continuing life. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.159 Saying we're gonna be able to hack aging. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:44.480 You don't have to die. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:53.840 Sooner or later, we're gonna get the right combination of diet and exercise and supplements and meds and procedures. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:56.159 We're gonna overcome death. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:04.320 Or you could go the route of having your body frozen in the hopes that some days they'll be able to thaw you out and wake you up. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:16.720 Or at the very least, you could train an AI on everything that you ever wrote so that for perpetuity your kids could always quote unquote consult with dad. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:21.519 These are the ways that we buy spices. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.240 And I understand why. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:29.840 Life is so unbelievably incredible, our bodies are so amazing. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:38.399 The love that we share with those who are closest to us is such that it we don't ever really want to have to say goodbye to them. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:49.919 And if life is so good, then it just seems so wrong that death has to come and end it all. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:10:01.200 And so we are willing to go to great lengths to preserve the memory of those we've loved and lost. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:13.279 We too are willing to do whatever it takes so that they will live on in our memories, in our minds, in our hearts. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:32.720 But the problem is that all of those things that we reach for, the spices that we buy, don't actually offer much of a future existence for those whom we have loved and lost. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:36.720 They don't actually work, at least not long term. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:43.519 Memories fade and die away within a few generations. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:11:00.080 Memorial stones get worn down by wind and rain, freezing and thawing until the names and dates disappear entirely, and those resting beneath them rest in blissful anonymity. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:08.240 And the techno options for hacking death don't reckon with the deepest cause of death, namely sin. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.600 And so cannot deliver on what they promise. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.559 We need something more than this. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:28.559 And ever since Mary, Mary, and Salome traveled to the tomb on Easter morning, we have it. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:37.759 They went there, expecting to do all they could to keep the memory of Jesus alive. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:46.799 But what they didn't expect was to find the stone already rolled away. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:56.720 What they didn't anticipate would be hearing that he had already risen from the dead. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.039 They weren't prepared for this. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.159 That already Jesus lives. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:10.159 That already now he lives on. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:15.120 And of course, how could they be prepared for that? 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:26.320 Ever since that gray day when death entered into our world through sin, it has been the one constant present reality of our existence here and now. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:28.240 We know how it works. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.399 Generations come and go. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:33.919 God's creative activity raises us up when we are born. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:37.840 Death comes and cuts us down one and all. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.600 Death misses no one, and it is final. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.399 How are the women to be prepared? 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:47.120 When you and I know what it's like. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:53.039 After you've buried a few hymns or hers in your life, you know how this works. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:58.399 You put him in the grave, and that's where he remains. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:00.240 End of story. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:15.039 But when the women of Easter arrived at Jesus' tomb, there was no blood-caked, dead, cold flesh for them to anoint. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:22.720 Just an empty spot that had been occupied recently by a dead body. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:29.120 And more of those glorious pronouns for them to take in. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:31.600 He has risen. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.159 He is not here. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:36.799 You will see him. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:14:05.840 They went to anoint Jesus, but they left the tomb with the promise that soon they would see him living and breathing, raised from the dead as he already was, that soon Jesus would show up and he would make his glorious resurrection appearances to women who would throw their arms around his feet, his living feet, to disciples who were cowering in fear behind locked doors. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:11.600 He would show up and breathe on them from his breathing, living body. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:25.919 They would stretch out their hands and touch him, and everyone would see that he lives, he lives on, in his flesh and blood. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:41.600 What the women found at Easter is that resurrection is not a sort of someday, maybe, I hope, long in the future kind of thing, but a present reality. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:48.480 One of us with a body like yours and mine died and now lives again. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:15:03.600 And that present reality that Jesus lives, he lives on, is also, therefore, the promise of the resurrection of your body from your grave. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:17.679 It's the promise that the Hymn or the Her that your loved ones will someday put in its final resting place will live again. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.440 Jesus will raise it from the dead. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:26.879 That is the comfort and the consolation and the hope that we have. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:32.399 And it is a living, breathing hope. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:44.639 Look, if you can discern the fact that you are alive and have a body, if you can see the hands that are yours that are in front of you, they may be young, firm and fresh. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:51.120 They may be old and wrinkled with veins and tendons and bones showing through thin skin. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:58.720 But the message of Easter is that if you can see these hands of yours, then you see what it is that God is going to raise from the dead. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:15:59.919 Your body. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:07.200 It will be these hands of yours that stretch out and touch the resurrected body of Jesus. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:14.159 It will be these hands of yours that you throw open to embrace the saints who have gone before us in Christ. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.720 It will be this body that is raised from the dead. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:28.799 Because Jesus' tomb was empty, and the spices that the women bought were worthless, not needed. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:33.360 This is our hope, my friends. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:46.639 And Easter is both the promise that we will not be disappointed and the reminder that it's okay to slurge on caring for the bodies of our dead. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:17:02.320 Because they will live again, because they will live on, because he lives again, and he lives on.