Easter Year C 2016 Sermon. Razzle Dazzle in the Silence Text: Luke 24: 1-12

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1 Easter Year C 2016 Sermon Razzle Dazzle in the Silence Text: Luke 24: 1-12 The two men in dazzling clothes were not subtle or silent when they greeted Mary Magdelene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James at the tomb of Jesus. The news they proclaimed to the astonished women was even more dazzling than their appearance: Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. God had accomplished the most dazzling miracle of all in the terrible aftermath of a painful and violent death, in an area oppressed by a great foreign power---and done so in the dark silence of the tomb. Somewhere in that long preceding night, Jesus shook off death itself and silently slipped away from his burial place. God is funny that way, often making miracles in silent and unlikely places. Maybe that s why we so often miss God s razzle dazzle, mistaking God s use of silence for absence, and God s use of surprise for rarity. In a wonderful little book called When God is Silent, theologian Barbara Brown Taylor suggests that perhaps God uses silence at times to draw us in to listen more closely, to look more carefully--rather than to see silence as proof of God being AWOL. If we key into our too-often under-used spiritual sides, we can look around and begin to see that great, momentous events happen in silent places all the time. These days, when there is so much fear lurking in the world, so much violence on the loose, so much division playing out, we can begin to despair and believe that there is no hope. Fed on a steady diet of media reports of devastating violence and politicians behaving badly, we begin to see these things as inevitable. They are not. The dazzling angels announced a silent but remarkable reversal that God had accomplished when all hope seemed lost on

2 that Saturday night so long ago. The brave, loyal women who dared to come to the tomb to care for Jesus body surely at risk to their own safety--- leaned in close enough to witness the miracle, a Resurrection rendered in the quietest, darkest hour. Because of this, we can trust that fear, violence, and division will never have the last word. Today, from where are dazzling angels calling to us to lean in and see Resurrection truth and possibility, witnessing to the deep and enduring truth of God s great love for all persons, revealing to us our own beloved-ness in God s eyes, and calling us to love others? Easter shows us that we need to lean in more attentively to grasp that Resurrection is indeed God s every-day mode. Great, momentous things happen in silent places; the moment of Resurrection was invisible and silent at first, but oh so apparent when it got noticed. Silence does not mean that nothing is happening: Have you noticed the little dazzling signs of early spring? Where I live, in Durham, brave little crocuses, in their dazzling little purple robes, bloom resolutely through the snows and the icy rains. Somewhere, in the dark winter ground, shriveled little bulbs silently push out shoots of life, and crocus, tulips, lillies, daffodils paint the drab March landscape with color. Look around the room. Each of us here is evidence that deep in a human body, a silent meeting of sperm and egg resulted in the unfolding of a human life. Momentous, hidden. Witnessing an emergency can, in the silent blink of an eye, turn an everyday person on the street into a celebrated hero-- in the silent, instantaneous

3 turning of the human heart from that of a stranger and passer-by to that of someone who will act to save the life of someone they don t even know. People who don t speak the same language can communicate beautifully in silence, understanding one another through gesture, laughter, tears, pointing, touching. Cultural barriers are nothing when confronted with the Resurrection miracle of a silent, kind smile that shatters the expectation of division. The silent turn of heart or of events that is Resurrection redefines what we mean by power. Violence, scapegoating, stereotyping, bullying, saber-rattling--- these things (very specifically in Jesus story) are exposed as weakness, and as futility itself. Peace, forgiveness, the quiet carrying out of loving duties, building relationships these things are shown to be indestructible. We look into a tomb, expecting death, and we find life, beauty, grace. Almost a year ago, two Michigan police officers noticed a car parked in which a mother was holding a baby in her lap. There was no car seat, and officers Jason Pavlige and James Hodges approached the car in order to issue a citation. But first, they talked with the young couple, and heard their story. The couple was new to the area, and did not know anyone yet. Bereft of financial means, they were not able to afford a car seat. The way the officers tell the story, the 26 year old Dad of the ten month old baby in the car was in shock at what happened next. The hearts of the officers were moved, in that deep silent place where Resurrection Reversals can happen. Officers Pavlige and Hodges hopped over to the nearest big box store, bought a car seat with their own money, installed it, and instructed the parents in its use. Four hearts were changed that day, and maybe even saved a baby s life. What seems weak was oh-so-powerful. (Good

4 News Network, Cops Buy Them a Car Seat Instead of Slapping Family With a Ticket, April 3, 2015.) Last Thursday, the day we call Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, a head of state and the leader of one of the largest and most influential organizations on earth offered a quiet, gentle display of Resurrection power. It was Pope Francis, once again calling our attention to the most vulnerable among us; in imitation of Jesus at the Last Supper, he knelt and bowed and washed and kissed the feet of Muslim refugees. Let s watch. This is silent Resurrection power: loving, humble, tender, caring. This is the power that endures the tombs of division, despair, and enmity. Since we don t hear much good news, we are surprised to find that there is a lot of it. When we listen for it in our daily lives, or search for it online, we find that at the core of most good news is a silent moment of beauty or grace or realization or turning around in one or more hearts. For example, last year, shortly after the terrorist attacks in Paris, a group of Muslim Americans decided to engage in an act of love, handing out roses to tourists at Disney World with a little card attached, saying Happy Holidays from your Muslim American neighbors. One participant said, The idea was to help fight the hate that is being directed at people like us with the message of love and tolerance that my friends and I were all raised with. Speaking of the fear he felt about doing this, he shared that one rose recipient came back over to him and told him that with all the hate that was around, he really admired that they were all responding with love, and that he was very touched by it. Total strangers, they hugged, shed tears, and realized

5 together how much difference one person and one simple act can make in one heart----one kind act can roll away a stone in another s heart, and a Resurrection of hope, openness, and connection can result. (See article in Good News Network, Muslims Give Strangers Holiday Roses, Responding to Hate with Love, December ) We are called to look straight into the depravity of the world, in which power is equated with loudness, money, weaponry, and might, and to stand up to it with love. We are called not to lie down in tombs of despair and hopelessness. Our hearts are capable of so much more. We are called to look straight into the struggling hearts of any who are overwhelmed by grief, worry, addiction, depression, or illness, and go looking arm-in-arm with them for Resurrection possibilities and sightings of dazzling angels who bring good news. We are called to trust God with our own sorrows, fears, pain, and challenges and know that God can work Resurrection Reversals on them. Happy Easter! God s Resurrection Razzle Dazzle is never far away; it can always live right here, right in our own weary but revivable and capable hearts. Amen.

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