Easter Sunday is always a challenge for a
preacher. I know good and well that I’ll be preaching to folks I probably won’t
see again until Christmas, and I feel under pressure to say something extra
profound. The truth is, I don’t think I’ve ever had an originally profound
thought in my life. Fortunately, I don’t have to have one for Easter. I can
just fall back on the creed of our faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Last year I used the gospel lesson from
John (John 20:1-8) which I really like because it’s kind of sweet with Mary Magdalene
weeping in the garden and so overjoyed to see Jesus alive that she practically
leaps into his arms. This year, however, I thought I’d switch it up and use the
Luke gospel (Luke 24:1-12). As I re-read it, it seems to me that the primary
theme seems to be belief versus doubt.
A detail I like about this story is the
fact that no one seems to believe that Jesus will be raised from the dead.
The two men in dazzling white who appear in the tomb have to remind the women
who have come to anoint Jesus’ corpse that Jesus had told them he would rise. Apparently they remembered hearing
something about this, but it doesn’t look like they really believed it would
happen. Sometimes it’s just hard to believe good new—or even the promise of good news—when life looks to
be circling the toilet bowl.
The women may have caught on to what God
was up to, but the men they tell it to don’t believe them at all. In the world
of the text (which was a pretty sexist world), a woman’s word was never
considered to be reliable. I guess the apostles find it easier to embrace fear
and misery than to embrace the gift of God’s mercy. At least Peter makes an
effort to check out the story, but the scripture only tells us that he was amazed—not that he believed.
When it comes to God’s power to heal and
resurrect, I find I struggle with unbelief myself. There’s a pretty darn thin line
between being realistic and being pessimistic, between acknowledging the dark side of living on this planet as opposed to
actually settling for it. But sometimes,
I get a little unexpected boost.
Yesterday, I was driving back from
visiting an elderly shut-in who lives in an assisted living home about thirty
miles from my church. I was listening to NPR’s “All Things Considered” on the
radio and I heard a story which sounded like a pretty decent Easter illustration.
That morning, ISIS terrorists had attacked the city of Brussels, Belgium. News
like that blackens our hearts and makes us wonder if this insane asylum of a
world will ever embrace peace. But just as thoughts of Muslim extremists were
filling my brain, NPR broadcast this tale of a Palestinian Muslim who is actively
campaigning to create love and harmony between Jews and Muslims.
Bassam Aramin was five years old when he
witnessed a cousin being beaten by an Israeli soldier. He grew up hating those
whom he saw as the occupiers of his homeland. As a teenager, he actively
provoked Israeli troops, often throwing stones and joining in anti-Israeli
demonstrations. When some of his buddies began using live ammunition against government patrols, Bassam was rounded up with them and spent seven years in an Israeli prison.
One night during his prison term, Bassam
was shown a film about the Holocaust. Unexpectedly and against his very nature,
he found himself being deeply moved—even to the point of tears. For the first
time in his life, he began to see the hated Jews as human beings and fellow
victims. Upon his release from custody, he determined to continue working for
Palestinian liberation through non-violent means.
His pacifism was deeply tested many years
later when his ten-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli soldier as she
walked to a friend’s home. Bassam recognized that revenge would not bring his little girl back. His pain would be never-ending. His greatest challenge, however, was convincing his teenage son
that retaliation was meaningless. It took considerable effort on Bassam’s part
and truly tested the relationship between father and son, but eventually the
boy came around. Today both father and son actively participate in a group
Bassam has founded called the Parents’ Circle-Family Forum. This organization brings
together families—both Israeli and Palestinian—who have lost family members in
the ongoing cycle of terrorist acts and official retaliation which is the
reality of life in that corner of the world.
In Bassam Aramin I see the truth of Jesus
Christ and the truth of Easter. Although it seems impossible to believe, out of
outrage and tragedy, peace, hope, and love can grow. This is the message of the
cross and empty tomb. Life—abundant life—is God’s will for us and always has
been from the beginning. How can we look at the Easter story as an idle tale,
when daily God is raining down on us stories of resurrection? It only calls for
us to believe.
A blessed Easter, to you all. Christ is
risen!
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