The April Fool John 20: 1-20 April 1, 2018

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1 The April Fool John 20: 1-20 April 1, 2018 It is rare that Easter falls on April 1. The last time was in 1956 and the next time will be in April Fool's is not an official holiday, nor is its origin known. It may have begun as a festive opportunity to spread the joy of shedding the doldrums and darkness of winter. Typically, a prank is played on a hapless soul who's forgotten about the day. For instance, there is the caramelized onion prank. Dip apple-sized onions in caramel, poke a stick in them, and serve them to people who think they're biting into an apple. April fool! Beware if there appears to be a caramel apple at the Easter brunch! Easter is the most holy day of the Christian year. The unique convergence of these two days prompts the question, "Is there an April fool in the Easter story?" Jesus fools the Romans. The imperial powers feel threatened by this peasant rabbi. People call him by names reserved only for the Holy Roman Emperor. The proclamation, "Jesus is Lord," is a direct challenge to the Emperor who demands loyalty by requiring his subjects to proclaim, "Caesar is Lord." The authorities think they can stop Jesus by getting rid of him. His followers will feel foolish and disperse. So, they crucify Jesus on a cross as a criminal. But come Sunday, Christ is risen! In a royal court, the jester or fool has a dual role. One is to entertain the royal party with dance, music, and comedy. The other job of the jester is to carry bad news to the ruler. The bad news often reveals the follies of those in power. Can you imagine the jester going to Caesar to announce, "Your Majesty, I'm sorry to report that the rebellious rabbi who was on the cross on Friday has escaped death and is roaming the countryside again!" The resurrection proclaims that there is a power greater than the power of the Roman Empire. God's power cannot be crushed by silencing Jesus on the cross. This is bad news for the Romans but astounding good news for Jesus' disciples. Caesar thinks he is all-powerful, and that Jesus will be forgotten. But God has something else in mind. Today Caesar is a salad and Jesus is proclaimed by millions as our living Savior.

2 Jesus fools the disciples. They left their families, homes, and businesses to follow Jesus around Galilee for three years. They weren't sure what they were in for, but there was a magnetism that drew them to this man. Yes, they had witnessed some phenomenal events, happenings that they could not then nor even now explain. The disciples had pinned their hopes and futures on a man they believed would liberate them. Now he has been led away never to be seen again. They are left to rebuild their lives, feeling rather foolish having wasted three years following a fraud whose promises are now as stone cold as his body. But come Sunday, Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty! She expects to find the tomb sealed with Jesus' body inside. Instead it is open and empty. Startled, she runs to tell Simon Peter and the other disciple, presumably John. The men race to the tomb to examine the evidence: the empty tomb and the linen cloth lying there, as if Jesus has broken through the bonds that held him down. John believes, and the men return home, questioning their rejection of those stone-cold promises. Perhaps they haven't been so foolish after all. The magnetism that initially drew them to Jesus is akin to this mysterious moment when death appears to be no more. Back at the tomb, Mary stands in a state of shock. Now angels are present, to whom she says, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she turns, Jesus is standing right there, but Mary thinks he is the gardener. Desperate to find Jesus' body, she asks the gardener if he has carried it away. But it's Sunday! The supposed gardener, the once silenced voice of Jesus, lovingly speaks her name, "Mary." Mary's heart skips a beat as she recognizes that beloved voice and soaks in the presence of the risen Christ in front of her. Imagine the joy the two of them experience in that moment of reunion. The ecstasy enables Mary to rise above her grief and sadness to delight in the presence of her Lord and Savior once again. This is not a prank. She was not robbed of her Lord, after all. Mary experiences the very presence of the risen Christ, who sends her off to proclaim the good news, "I have seen the Lord." The April fool of Easter is Jesus Christ himself. He is like the Jester, announcing the bad news to Caesar that death has not defeated him, which is delightful good news for his disciples and for us. Even during his ministry, according to his contemporaries, Jesus acted in foolish ways. He rejected a comfortable lifestyle. As friends, he gathered tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, fishermen, the poor and needy. There was not a CEO in his inner circle. He shunted aside angel investors and instead told them to give away their wealth and follow him. Jesus knew that there is power in being a somebody, but there is truth in being a nobody. He opted for the truth because

3 he knew that power emerges from truth. He chose weakness instead of strength, vulnerability instead of aggressiveness, truth instead of practicality, honesty instead of influence. He seemed to deliberately bait those who had the power to kill him, which they did. i But come Sunday, death could not hold him. The tomb could not contain Jesus. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul proclaims that "God made foolish the wisdom of the world...but the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom" (I Car. 1:2lb, 25). The great preacher Frederick Buechner said, "The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully-the life you save may be your own - and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get, and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world's sanity Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion." ii That's why Paul invites us to be "fools for Christ." It's Christ-like to be a little crazy, to go against the flow. When others say hate, we say love. When some would reject, we accept. When others condemn, we commend. That's because our Christ-like priorities aren't measured by popular culture. They are rooted in the goodness and graciousness of Jesus Christ, who went so far to give his life that we might be saved, whole, healed. God needs "fools for Christ" today, for there are many forces that try to diminish and curse life. God needs our partnership to prevail over those forces. This week we will mark the 50t h anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., another "fool for Christ." Although he was taken far too soon, his words and legacy continue to call us to rise up against the forces of racism and hatred that diminish the lives of people of color. Goodness has not fully prevailed, but that does not mean that God has given up on us. God is still at work. Sometimes we make God's work more difficult. God needs us to partner with God and to participate with the power that gives birth to life. That's our mission and calling as fools for Christ. In 2010 Haiti suffered a devasting earthquake from which that nation continues to recover. One of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake was home to Haiti's leading school of music, called Holy Trinity. After the earthquake students returned to the ruins to salvage instruments and music. Fifteen orchestra members, fewer than the normal 80 players, gathered to give

4 something back to their grieving nation. They offered a concert of hope. Their audience was a tent camp of homeless people. Amidst the ruins, young musicians proclaimed the sound of hope. A violinist said, "Hope is contagious; when you see someone who is hopeful and happy, it gets to your spirits." Initially the numbed audience's reaction was confusion. It was foolish for an orchestra to sit lopsided on crumpled concrete and try to play music. The beautiful sounds were inconsistent with the ugly ruins. But as the sun set, the beat picked up and the crowd got into the swing. One man said, "It felt like being alive again." iii The April Fool named Jesus is alive again. His foolish, graceful, joyous, lifegiving presence is active. The risen Christ continues to triumph over the powers and principalities that seek to dominate the power of God. God is foolishly at work creating sounds of life amidst the rubble of broken lives. Christ calls us to be fools for Christ, for the wisdom of God is wiser than the ways of the world. My friends, Sunday's come! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Let's dare to be fools with and for Christ, our risen Lord and Savior. Hallelujah! Awesome God, we praise you for the glorious good news of Easter. Come Sunday, the forces that tried to curtail your presence in the world were stopped in their tracks. You are more majestic than we can imagine. Although your amazing power is beyond our comprehension, we trust that you continue to create life anew on behalf of us and all your creation. We are grateful that you receive our doubts and misgivings, loving us beyond them. When we are spiritually bankrupt, you continue to plant seeds of faith that will one day blossom. When we are angry, you receive our lament and share our pain. When we are hurt, you massage our wounds and claim us as your own. As you called Mary by name, O God, we long to hear you call us each by name and raise our spirits. In this moment of silence, we lift to you the longings of our hearts, the dilemmas that trouble us, the concerns that worry us... Receive these burdens, Loving Lord, carry them with us, entering into these circumstances offering songs of hope for the future. Although he sometimes seems far away, we invite the Risen Christ to walk with us, filling us with his calm presence and sparking joyful laughter. We pray for others who desperately seek the freeing new life that Christ offers to all. We pray for those struggling with addiction, those feeling trapped in unhealthy relationships, parents worried about their children, children fearful of

5 their future, persons haunted by the past yearning for forgiveness. We pray for healing for those feeling trapped by illness or chronic pain or the weariness of aging. Enter into the uncertainty of difficult situations offering your life renewing, lifting spirits and raising those who are broken to wholeness. We pray that you would embolden your church and us as today's disciples of Jesus. Make us foolish enough to love as he loved, to speak up for justice, to advocate for truth, and to seek the common good for all your people. Renew our courage to live as Jesus lived that our world might know the goodness of Christ's way and your will. With hope in the lifegiving power of Jesus, we join our voices with his as we pray together. i Homiletics April ii Frederick Buechner, The Faces of Jesus (Riverwood Publishers, 1974), p iii ABC News, February 7, 2010, Rev. Lori Sawdon First United Methodist Church, Lodi, CA