Eastering: Saying "YES" To Life Again and Again

Rev. Abhi Janamanchi

April 8, 2007

On Easter Sunday, many of my colleagues up north like to focus on their having survived another harsh winter or how the earth awakens again after the melting of snow or resurrections of spring.

Part of the reason they like to do this is (according to some that I have talked to) is that it helps them avoid the theological pickle that Unitarian Universalists find themselves in over Easter.

Let's face it. Most of us UUs feel at least somewhat uncomfortable with the intricate story and theology that has grown up around the historical personage that was Jesus of Nazareth - especially the dramatic Easter tale of his crucifixion, death, and (most problematically of all) his physical resurrection. And yet, despite our cultivated avoidance, deep ambivalence, and in some cases outright rejection of what most Americans celebrate on Easter, all across the continent on this Easter morning, UU churches are full to overflowing - just like Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Fundamentalist ones! As my colleague Scott Alexander likes to say, "We are all dressed up and have nowhere theologically to go!"

As a non-Christian, who does not for one minute believe that this day has to do with the resuscitation of an ancient crucified, rabble-rousing, rabbi, I have a real hard time coming up with something new to say every Easter. But I still love the holiday.

The reason I love this holiday (despite heartily rejecting the doctrine and dogma that surround it) is because of how the disciples reacted initially to Jesus' capture, trial, and crucifixion and then later, to his so-called resurrection.

For the disciples, Jesus represented hope; he gave their lives purpose and direction. But now he was dead. So, what did they do? They ran off and hid themselves. They didn't want to be found or associated with someone who had been deemed treasonous. It was actually the women who had the courage to stick around after Jesus was crucified; who tended to the body and made sure it was properly laid to rest. I am sure this part of the legend points to some deeper implications about the male species but that's not what I want to focus on this morning!

The story doesn't end there. It proceeds towards the resurrection and subsequent happenings. In all four gospels, the resurrection is recounted according to the mindset of people who lived in that time period.

In Mark, according to the longer ending that was later added, the risen Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene first. But the disciples do not believe her. Then he appears in another form to two of them as they are walking into the country. They report this, but are not believed. Finally, Jesus appears to all eleven as they are eating together, chastising them for not believing those who had seen him, telling them to go into the world and preach the gospel. Then Jesus as Lord is taken up into heaven to sit at God's right hand (the exaltation).

In Matthew, there is an earthquake, in which an angel rolls back the stone and sits on it to speak to the women. The women run with "fear and great joy" . . . to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." (Matt. 28:8-10)

Luke, on the other hand, does not have the disciples go to Galilee at all. Jerusalem is the focus of his story, both here and in Acts. The women who had come with him from Galilee go to the tomb and see not one but two men in "dazzling apparel" who ask, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?", and remind them of what Jesus had said in Galilee: that "the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise" (Luke 24:4-7). The women tell the apostles this but they do not believe them. Then, Jesus shows up as they are preparing to have dinner, breaks bread with them, and then, they recognize him. They are frightened because they think he is a ghost and he says, "See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." Then he blesses them and is carried up to heaven.

In the fourth gospel, only Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb. When she finds the stone removed, she runs to get Peter and John. They see the linen burial cloths lying there and because they did not yet know that he was supposed to rise from the dead, they go home. A weeping Mary runs into two angels and then sees Jesus who she first mistakes to be the gardener. When he speaks to her, she calls him "Rabboni." He says, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them I am ascending to my Father, to my God and your God." (John 20:17)

That evening he meets the disciples behind closed doors. He breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Then, of course, he reveals himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias.

Why are there multiple accounts and interpretations, you may wonder. According to John Buehrens, author of Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals, "the ancient world equated credibility with multiple witnesses, not just a single account." That's why, he continues, "the early church did not worry about the contradictions. And it gave these gospels canonical status because they all helped interpret the Hebraic idea of bodily resurrection within Hellenistic culture, without making the risen Christ a disembodied spirit."