Acts 10:34-43
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:8b)
So, now you have to decide.
Did you notice how the women at the tomb brought their practical questions right along with them? “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” They were thinking clearly.
Then they were alarmed. They were blown away! And some calm young angel told them Jesus was not dead but raised. “But go, tell his disciples…” Riiiiight.
These are practical women, thinking ahead about heavy barriers, unafraid to anoint lifeless flesh for honorable burial. They know that dead is dead. They saw Jesus’ death with their own eyes.
They left. Terror and amazement seized them. And they said nothing.
Still, here we are, you and I, reading Mark’s story and celebrating Easter… The church exists. So, somewhere along the way, somebody decided to say something to somebody.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome walked forward to meet their grief and discovered instead mind-boggling joy. In the face of this inexplicable gift, too precious to believe, these practical women had the humility and fortitude to decide that they had more to learn, more to share.
God is amazing.
So, now you have to decide: are you gonna say anything? Are you gonna be in on the joke, the wonderful, inclusive, humbling, powerful joke? Death is not the end. Are you gonna risk accepting that this illogical, impossible story is true? Can you laugh with God at the craziness of the resurrection?
Halleluiah; Christ is risen! April Fools!
Come, Holy One. Fill my belly with the laughter of joyful amazement that rises out of my having misunderstood, having been so stuck in narrow understanding when you are doing so much more when you are so much more. Come alive in me again today, that the parts of me that are dead may be enlivened and sent forth. Amen.
-Helen McPeak