“April Fool” - Mark 16:1- 10 Easter Sunday Service Trillium United Church April 1, 2018 Mark 16

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were afraid. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’

First ending: Then they quickly reported all these instructions to those around Peter. After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

Second ending: When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene Chapter 5.

When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Saviour had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, “Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Saviour said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.”

Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things. He questioned the women about the Saviour: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?

Then Mary wept and said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what are you thinking? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Saviour?” Levi answered and said to Peter, “Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. If the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather, let us be ashamed of ourselves, and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Saviour said. When they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.
************************************************************************
Next Sunday we celebrate Holy Humour. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, which is likely the first organised church denomination, God played a huge joke on Death at Easter. Death thought that death was the end of everything, no life afterward – and God said “not quite over yet.” This year, it’s also almost an ‘April Fool’scenario. For the resurrection is the result of that joke. So Easter Monday, in the Orthodox tradition, is a day of celebrating the resurrection with games, jokes, feasting and fun. We in the western churches have begun to do this on the Sunday following Easter – when we also recognise the resurrection as a defeat of death, and God bringing new life. But with jokes, fun, and celebration.

Jesus was put to death on a Friday, before sundown - because if it were later, the Sabbath would have begun and he would have hung on the cross through the three days. It was important that he be prepared for burial and moved. The women who went only knew he had been laid in a new tomb - Joseph of Arimathea had taken spices for burial, and he and Zaccheus made sure the body was prepared in the proper fashion. As was the custom, a huge rock was rolled across the mouth of the tomb, to prevent animals from getting in....

Three women who stood at the foot of the cross waited with incredible anxiety all through the Sabbath. They could not go on the Sabbath, so they had to wait until the next day....and as soon as the first tiny rays lightened the sky, they were up. They had not had time to say goodbye properly, so they made their way to the garden where the tomb was, to weep and to grieve the loss of someone they loved so dearly. They didn’t know Joseph had prepared the body for burial, so took with them herbs and oils to ensure it had been done.

They arrive, to find the stone rolled away, the tomb empty, and a man dressed in white sitting where Jesus had been laid. And as in all appearances of messengers or angels, the man said “Don’t be afraid.” ....but they were, and in that first ending of the Mark story, they ran away and did not tell anyone, because of their fear.

But let’s look more closely. The earliest manuscripts do not have verses 9-20 of Mark, hence those verses are known as the “second ending”. They were added later, by someone else. The first ending, in the first manuscript, simply states that the three women went back and told Peter, and then the disciples went out preaching and teaching, as Jesus had sent them.

The second ending – verses 9-20, added later by another author – has Mary Magdalene, alone – seeing someone she thinks is a gardener, but then when he speaks, she recognises him, and they have a conversation…

This morning I also read a text called “The Gospel of Mary”. This text is found in the Berlin Gnostic Codex (or Papyrus Berolinensis 85020). This very important and well-preserved codex was discovered in the late-nineteenth century near Akhmim in upper Egypt. It was purchased in Cairo in 1896 by a German scholar, Dr. Carl Reinhardt, and then taken to Berlin.

The book (or "codex") was probably copied and bound in the late fourth or early fifth century. It contains Coptic translations of three very important early Christian texts: the Gospel of Mary, the Apocryphon of John, and the Sophia of Jesus Christ. The texts themselves date to the second century and were originally authored in Greek. Unfortunately the publication of this codex was delayed until 1955 because of two world wars. By then the collection of writings at Nag Hammadi had also been recovered, and the Apocryphon of John and the Sophia of Jesus Christ had also been preserved in that collection. These texts form part of the apocryphal writings attached to the NewTestament.

I’ve given you this little bit of history, because it adds a dimension to the story from a woman’s point of view. It is a legitimate document, written about the same time as the other Gospels - and it is an account which dovetails with the second ending of Mark.

The story throughout this weekend has made a point that the people who stayed with Jesus to the end were the women, and one man. Joseph of Arimathea and Zaccheus did take the body off the cross and look after the burial rites, but they were not at the crucifixion. The story tells us Joseph was afraid, and Zaccheus had come to Jesus under cover of darkness, because he too was afraid.

In every one of the stories, consistently, it’s Mary Magdalene who is there. In one Gospel she is there to pour ointment over Jesus’ feet, and wipe them with her hair. It was an incredibly intimate, and pastoral act - anointing for burial. Mary understood. It’s Mary Magdalene who stands near the cross with Jesus’ mother, and it’s Mary who is the one who goes to the tomb. In Matthew’s Gospel there are two women, in Mark’s there are three, in Luke three, and in John there are four. Mary Magdalene is there in all four stories. She is considered to be the first believer and the first disciple.

In each of the Gospels, the resurrection story happens in a garden – drawing a parallel to Jesus as the new Adam…creation began with a garden, and the new creation happens in a garden. So Mary Magdalene sees a man, thinks he is the gardener, and she doesn’t recognise him. Only when he speaks, she knows it is him. Mary returns to the others full of good news and excitement, for the story is not over.

In Mary’s story, she and Jesus have a conversation about the nature of life and death, and the life which comes after. He tells her of the journey of the soul, and the good news which accompanies the soul. I always have found it fascinating that Paul, who wrote shortly after Jesus’ death and resurrection – was one of the few who had drawn such a conclusion even though his writing predated the Gospels – the physical body and the spiritual body are not the same. Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener, even when he is standing looking at her. Until he speaks to her. Then she knows. There is more than what we see here, death is not the final word.

So full of joy, she returns to the others and tells them what Jesus has said to her. - and what happens? Andrew says Jesus could not possibly have said these things, as they were just too strange to come from Jesus - hence they had to be Mary’s imagination. As if he knows anything about the journey of the soul following death. Peter accuses her of lying, of making up a story. How could Jesus possibly have said those things to her? He would surely have said them to the men first, wouldn’t he? In other words, why would he say anything to Mary first, instead of to Peter or any of the others. Why would this incredible revelation be  given to women, before the men. And a tiny part of me sees this as another kind of humorous, ‘April Fool’ moment….the resurrection was totally unexpected, and the way in which the news is spread is also completely counter-cultural, and unexpected.

In one way or another, the Gospel writers all focussed on the women, on Jesus’ willingness to treat women as people, not property as in Jewish law. So the very first recognition of resurrection is through a woman, the first words of new life are to a woman, Mary Magdalene. Mary runs to tell the others, and we are told that some of the men accused her of making up tales – but there’s another telling line here – if Jesus saw fit to make her worthy, who were they to judge? Mary was able to turn their minds and hearts to the good, and bring them together as a group once more. The disciples get over their little fit of pique that Jesus spoke to Mary first, they agree to divide up into pairs and go out into the world and tell the story. And Mary is recognised as the first true disciple.

The angel at the tomb said “He is not here, he has risen. Go and tell.”...and the little group of first believers went into the world full of joy and thanksgiving. This is our story – a story of a little group of people with a message of good news, struggling to remain optimistic in a changing and often hostile world.. how do we inhabit this news? Is Jesus truly alive in us? How does it become us? Who are we, and what is it about the world around us today which can use some good news? What is our message of Easter?

God has the last laugh. Death is defeated. And death becomes the April Fool.

He is risen, and is here with us always! Alleluia!

“Parades and Stones” Palm Sunday March 25, 2018 John 12:12-16, Mark 14:1 - 15:47

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

************************************************************************
Just this month, cities around the world celebrated Ireland and the Irish with parades. It seems like we have parades whenever celebrations of something are in order. How many military parades do we see when a country wants to demonstrate its might, or celebrate winning a war; or on national days like Canada Day? We have Santa Claus parades, and Easter parades, and how often do we really think about what they are for, or even where they started?

In New York, in 1838 - a whole lot of small groups decided to have one big parade. The purpose was for aid to poor Irish immigrants. It had nothing to do with Irish nationalism, like it’s become now - but was designed to be a support to poor Irish. It wasn’t even anything to do with St. Patrick, either....it was just that he happened to be the patron saint of Ireland, and it seemed like a good idea to do it on that day.

The movie “Kundun” is the story of the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet into India. There is a scene where the Chinese troops come marching into Tibet waving flags and singing songs of how liberated and free the Tibetan people will be. It is a show of military might, under the leadership of Chairman Mao. Far from bringing freedom to the Tibetans, it brought oppression and repression. China annexed a country which had been independent, and killed thousands of its citizens. The world turned a blind eye then as the Chinese brought in thousands of its own poor citizens and relocated them on Tibetan land to farm. Pretty much what the Romans did to the Jews, and of course, with a parade at the Passover, to reinforce their might and the fact that they were in control in the occupied land.

Yesterday, there were what could be called parades of a kind – millions of people out in the streets led by high school students – in protest of the incredible violence and use of guns in the US. In fact the United States is the only country which is facing such a debate, all wrapped up in the ‘right’ to bear arms – which was written as an amendment to the US constitution with a specific purpose, and which has now come to be understood as a right to have all the guns you want. I read yesterday a comment by a father who claims his 12-year old son has 18 guns, including AR15s, and is quite responsible with them.

Donald Trump wants a military parade in his honour, at a cost of 30 million dollars. People are ground down and pushed aside, while this man wants to spend millions on a parade.

In Jerusalem, there would have been two parades - and you can bet the citizens of the city knew exactly what each one meant. Jerusalem was a huge city – there were entrance gates on all sides. Passover was coming, the highest of the high Holy Days, the streets full of people who had come from all over the known world to Jerusalem. The Passover was the celebration of their liberation from slavery in Egypt, and the rebuilding of the temple. Yet they celebrate that liberation under the rule of the Roman occupation. Hardly freedom.

On the west side of the city, Pontius Pilate would ride into Jerusalem with an entire Roman legion, blaring trumpets, powerful horses and armour. It would have been a massive display of Rome’s power, to intimidate any Jews who might think of trying to foment rebellion. They had rebelled before, and many were crucified. Jerusalem was under Roman authority, with the collusion of the temple authorities which is how Rome worked; it would be a display intended to “keep the peace” in the Roman occupation, given that there would have been outbreaks of violence at Passover, trying to stir up nationalism and force the Romans out.

In through the east gate, up from the Jordan Valley, and following the route the ancient Hebrews had taken in their flight from Egypt to the promised land, comes Jesus, just a regular country rabbi riding a donkey, followed by a group of people which grows as the march goes on, who wave branches and spread rough cloaks along the path.

What a contrast to the Roman display of authority! And yet, as the shouts of Hosanna grow, more and more people would come to see what was happening, and get caught up in the moment - perhaps a hope of freedom from the oppressive authorities - and with the crowds, the potential for violence. They cry out “Hosianna”, which in Hebrew means “Save us!! Even the little children were running along, waving palms and shouting “Save us!!!”. Think about it for a moment - if Jesus were able to overthrow the Romans, even the temple authorities would not have power any longer, for he would be king, judge, ruler even over them....

As Jesus rode along, many people were asking the same question, whispering to each other, “Who is this? ...he rides a donkey”. So did Judah Maccabeus, the other martyr and king of the Jewish people who led a revolution against the Seleucid empire. So they cut branches and spread them on the ground. Double confirmation of the identity of Jesus - a new king has arrived, the saviour who would lead an army to liberate the Jews from the Romans.

...each of the Gospels makes it appear as if all of Jerusalem is affected by the coming of Jesus, as if an earthquake has struck. It is a “seismic” event, the same kind of reaction Herod had 30 years earlier when some Zoroastrian astronomers ask about the new King of the Jews.

Even if everyone does not understand who Jesus is, they have very clear expectations of what the Messiah is going to do and how he will act, because they remember the stories of King David. But what they expect is not what they get.

Amidst all of the commotion and confusion, the waving and shouting of hosiannas, we also hear a second theme - what we call in the church, the passion - anger and hatred coming to a sham trial and death. We can hardly hear it at first, but it doesn’t take long for it to crescendo into a deafening roar. We are shocked as the events unfold. A plot is hatched, a death-pact made. We get glimpses - a woman spills a bottle of perfume over Jesus’ feet; she is criticised by the others. Jesus praises her and calls it a burial anointing. A private prayer meeting is broken up by some zealous vigilantes. The disciples, in a moment of panic, scatter like tightly packed seeds that explode from a pod. A single disciple follows from a safe distance, but then denies three times that he’s never even met the man that the religious leaders have dragged in.

The country rabbi sparks such anger among the temple authorities, shaking their foundations of comfort and alliance, that they manipulate to ensure he is put to death instead. They are not allowed to kill themselves, for there is that commandment which is their law. So they find a way to arrange for the Romans to do it instead, thinking that means their hands are clean of this violence. Triumphantly, the temple authorities think they have removed the threat to their power. Their people remain under their thumbs, and all remain under Roman rule.

You know, more people live on the dark side of Good Friday than on the sunny side of Easter. On this side of Easter, there is no resurrection sought or conceived of, only suffering. There is a parade of palms followed by a parade with a cross. Many people live on this side of Easter all the time.

Mary Cardell was an elderly woman who lived alone in an Atlanta welfare hotel, and her only two comforts in life were a bottle and a pen. When she was discovered, she had already been dead several days. With the bottle she eased her pain; with the pen she wrote about her thoughts and feelings. Eventually the bottle became more demanding than the rent, and one day she was evicted from her room. She tried to find a place to spend the night, but there was alcohol on her breath, and no one would take her in. When they found her, her body was in a litter-filled field of weeds, cold and blue, and there was a note beside her. Mary had written, "I have nowhere to go, and there is no one to understand. God is not dead. He is only sleeping, but sleeping very soundly." How many stories like this are there, buried under the noise and celebration of our parades? How many have died in so many places, as the parades of military might grind over them? How many are yet to die, for a misplaced notion of freedom? Where the argument to own guns is considered a more important right to be able just to live without worrying about being shot to death anywhere let alone in school. A place freedom is talked about – but where the voices of children and young adults who have lived through a mass shooting are dismissed as ‘arrogant, attention-seeking’ or ‘not knowing what they’re talking about’.

To the disciples, once the noise of the celebrations was gone and the week was over, God was indeed sleeping very soundly. The death of Jesus seemed to be so stupid and senseless. Did they, in the midst of that, remember even before the big parade - that Jesus had said about Lazarus “he is only asleep.”? Did they go back over the events in their minds, trying to figure out how the parade which they thought was one of victory ended up where it did? Did they wonder how this could ever represent any kind of freedom for them?

They were confused by the events. "But I thought--we all thought--that he was going to bring in God’s Kingdom," Peter might have said. "I mean, I still remember his words, ‘The right time has come,’ he said, ‘and the Realm of God is near.’

Our faith tells us that more was tied up in the person of Jesus than another statistic of Roman crucifixion. Jesus rides through our Palm Sunday parade, but what word can we hear? Is the noise of the mighty machine so loud that he is drowned out? Can we hear him telling us he has not come as a mighty Messiah to meet us in strength, but that he has come as a person, to meet us in the very fragility of being human, he has come to meet us at the depth of our human suffering, and show us how to walk through that suffering to a place in which celebration does not end, and freedom is real, for everyone. Do we take that word of hope to those people who only know the dark side of the cross??? What do we do after the parades are over??? Which parade are we walking in this year?

Healing and Wholeness a sermon based on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21 preached at Trillium United Church Caledon March 11, 2018

Numbers 21:4-9

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom. The people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then God sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many died.  The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against God and against you. Pray that God will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

John 3:14-21

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life.”

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. Whoever lives by truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Ahh those people who followed Moses….in theological and church circles, we call them the “Back to Egypt Committee”. All the while they were in slavery, they cried to God to free them. They didn’t actually have a very hard life in slavery – they had food, good shelter and clothing – and Moses was a respected official with the Pharaoh’s retinue. But slavery is slavery after all – they were free to do only so much.

And so they follow Moses, meandering through the Sinai.  The heat from the sand forms a natural oven that blisters the skin and dries up the water. Not much food on the Sinai -a scorpion here, a tortoise there. Always with manna. In Hebrew it is pronounced, man-hoo, which meant, "what’s that?" Now, "what’s that?" was really a nourishing food that was exuded by plants during the cool desert nights, and dried into solid pieces when the sun arose. Well, yeah, so it was a lifesaver but after month after month of travel, it very likely began to taste like dry oatmeal. So began the grumbling and griping; whine a little here, wheedle there, crab and complain.

Nothing is ever enough for these people. Moses refers to them more than once along the way as a ‘stubborn and stiff-necked people’ – because every time the going gets a little rough, they want to go back to the comfort of Egypt, where everything was familiar. Nothing new happened. Now, there’s little water, little food, and they gripe at Moses as if everything is his fault. And then the poisonous snakes come out too – and Moses is basically accused of trying to kill the people off....

Many died on the spot. But the story does not end with snakebites in the outback. Repentance from this ravaged community comes to the ears of Moses and Moses raises their cry to Yahweh. So God tells Moses what to do: "Make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole; whoever has been bitten yet looks up at the homemade snake will survive."

So Moses makes a rough approximation of a snake and raises this monstrous piece of art skyward. Sure enough, as long as victims were in eye shot of Moses’ snake, no one else died. Hopefully also no one complained any more - at least not loud enough to be heard.

Well, we all know what John 3:16 says – it appears at almost every sporting event one way or another. The problem is, it overshadows the rest of the entire text. It’s not a text where you can cherry-pick one verse, taking it out of context altogether. All together the verses are a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, What surrounds John 3:16? A conversation. Jesus says “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Jesus refers to the story of Moses to in his conversation with Nicodemus. It would have been familiar to Nicodemus.

But what is this story of the Israelites in the wilderness really about? What about the story of Jesus and Nicodemus? Are they really literally true? Or are they stories about the human condition which can hold us back? That when we harbor hatred and resentment which are motivated by fear, we open the door to a deadly venom that eats away at our lives. Medical science confirms this. When we submit to wrong and hurtful feelings, insist on getting revenge for perceived slights or wrongs, we open the door to the snakes. And their bites can be lethal.

Here in Ontario there are quite a few Jewish families, but for some people, even one is too many. Both north and south of the border we are seeing people putting on their KKK hoods and marching, shouting abuse. Here in Canada we’ve always had the KKK, though many don’t know – Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta – we still have hatred, racism, bigotry. It’s always been here – as people of colour know. Yet still, many simply don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, or hide from dealing with it. I had that experience this week.

Rev. Thomas Hall tells a story of an incident in Billings, Montana, where one faith community in town responded to the hatred against Jews by putting small menorahs in their own windows. And the circle of rage and hate against the families, and against their supporters grew. Within a week the faith community itself was pelted with rocks and paint and its doors were smashed by these angry people. We have seen this throughout our own country, with hatred directed to faith communities which offer a message of peace.

But resentment and bitterness against others is ultimately resentment against God. And in our journey of faith, with resentment against God comes the snakes. And with their venom comes spiritual, and sometimes literal death.

Think back – only to 2016 – to Parkdale United Church in Ottawa, and the Ottawa Muslim Association – where swastikas and racist graffiti were spray-painted. The minister of Parkdale, Rev. Anthony Bailey, happens to be black. Parkdale has supported Muslims against bigotry and racism.

So now, a thousand years after the story about poisonous snakes, we see a man talking to a Pharisee, Nicodemus – who comes to Jesus ‘under cover of darkness’ because he doesn’t want the other Pharisees to know.  Jesus doesn’t talk about hatred, racism, or other poisons. I guess by this time, the fact that humans have all been bitten by poisonous snakes at one time or another is obvious. So Jesus moves to the antidote. "When I am lifted up on that pole - just like when Moses erected the snake in the wilderness - people will recover and experience fullness of life."  

John is letting us see Jesus, crucified on a cross in the name of hatred and fear. All the serpents of jealousy, greed, grasping at power, hatred, bigotry, racism, sexism, and unforgiveness. CBS picked up the story of the little congregation and Jewish families who joined together to fight hatred. Donations and money for repairs came from all over the US to that little congregation and its Jewish neighbors. Here in Canada expressions of support came from all over to Parkdale and to the Ottawa mosque. And there in Ottawa, a local synagogue held a ‘solidarity’ evening, standing together against hatred and fear.

In the end, it will always be love, not hate, which wins. The poisonous bites can be healed. Faith in goodness, generosity, and love will always supersede anger and fear. In our walk to Good Friday and beyond, this is the message we are called to carry. May it be so.

Sources:

Venomous Bites, Uplifting Antidotes a sermon based on John 3:14-21 and Numbers 21:4-9
by Rev. Thomas Hall