Easter Day.A.26
Matthew 28:1-10
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Now, about that angel who appears in Matthew’s Gospel account of the Resurrection….perhaps you are as fascinated as am I. In this Gospel account, the women (Mary Magdalene and Mary), they don’t arrive in the quiet of the dawn and behold a stone rolled away from the tomb. No, upon their arrival the tomb is still closed, the soldiers, they still stand guard. What the Mary’s encounter on the dawn of that first Easter morning is not the chirping of birds, flowers gently budding and bunnies hopping about, what they behold is an earthquake and an angel—with a message. Listen again to Matthew’s account: “And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightening, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said…”

It’s a great scene. This angel is not meek, quiet or retiring. My word—this magnificent being arrives with the force of an earthquake. If I had to choose an actor to play the role I’m thinking Dwayne Johnson or Chris Hemsworth might fit the bill. In other words, this angel is fierce—and frightening—remember, the guards behold his appearance and faint. Interestingly, the Mary’s do not. Maybe they’ve already seen the worst—the death of their Savior on the cross—not much could upend them now.

This angel, he has a job to do. Think of him as being like your UPS delivery person. That person’s job is to show up on your doorstep with a package to deliver. They are not trying to sell it to you—they are there to deposit it into your care.

As the Rev. Alyce Mackenzie puts it: “The delivery person is there to deliver a package, not to be my buddy or to empathize with me. “Hey, Melanie, how are you feeling about this humidifier? I know anxiety can be a part of the process of receiving a package so I just want to reassure you that it will be a positive addition to your home and encourage you in the big step of accepting it into your household. No. Your UPS person is there to ring the doorbell, hand you the package and hold out the clipboard for you to sign.

The same goes for our angel today. This being is not about the business of mincing words. He has a message to deliver: “Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has been raised, as he said.” Here, the angel is reminding the women that they are to remember all the things that Jesus said.

The angel’s message continues. “Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” Short, sweet and to the point. The end. The angel’s job is complete. He can return from whence he came, sit down, enjoy a cold beer—or do whatever it is that angels do when they are off-duty. And the women run from the tomb, carrying their message of hope and joy, and they encounter Jesus along the way.

So, here is something to consider—the Good News, what is it? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That is our Savior’s Summary of the Law. It is not his Gospel. The divine message of Christ’s Gospel is the story of the Resurrection. “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day.” (Acts 10:39, 40). This is the Good News of which the Gospel speaks. This is where the true hope and joy of the Gospel is to be found. The Good News is found in the empty tomb, delivered by a straight talking, to-the-point angel.

And make no mistake, this news—this Gospel—has implications for all of us gathered here to listen to this story be told once again, as it is every year (from the perspectives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). It is a reminder that not only is Jesus resurrected, but someday we shall be as well. Think about that—we are given the promise that all those we have lost—everyone who has been taken from us by death will be restored. Now, that’s enough to rock most anyone’s world.

A glance at our world makes it easy for us to believe that violence and hatred rule the day—that the very wealthy exploit others for their own gain; that resistance to this system is pointless, and that there is no truth to be had anywhere—and even the attempt to discern what is real is a futile effort with the advent of Artificial Intelligence. In this world it is easy to believe that we are defined by our race, sexuality, gender, age or any other of the multitude of ways that people are sinfully divided. Vanity, futility and apathy seem to hold the winning hand.

But not for those of us who have heard and received the Good News. Not for those of us who have heard the message “He is risen.” Not for us. With this news we can understand that our world is defined by a God who has loved us from the foundation of the world, who loves us now, and who will love us for all time. This world, the world of God and Christ is one defined by grace and mercy, bearing a message of hope, not just for some people, but for everyone. It is a message more powerful than any the world can devise. To illustrate this point, listen to the following:

Dr. George Sweeting tells of an incident in the early 1920s when Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address an anti-God rally held at the behest of the Russian government. For an hour he abused and ridiculed the Christian faith until it seemed as if the whole structure of belief was in complete and total ruins. Then questions were invited. An Orthodox church priest rose and asked to speak. What would he say (what could he possibly say) in the face of what appeared to be unassailable logic, facts and reasoning. What kind of argument could he give? He turned, faced the people, and gave the Easter greeting, “Alleluia! Christ is risen.” Instantly the assembly rose to its feet and the reply came back loud and clear, “The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!” That is the power of the Good News of Easter Morning!

The world in which we dwell; the powers, principalities thrones and dominions which hold sway over the nations—in the end, these are powerless against the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Mary’s—they lived in a world much like our own. On that joyful morning they received the message of the Angel, and ran to tell the disciples. Along the way they encountered the living Christ, and “taking hold of his feet, they worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Their message has become our own. To go and tell—to spread the Good News that the world has not overcome God, but God is overcoming the world. In the name of the risen Christ, Alleluia, Amen.