Easter in Ordinary Time

Nothing spectacular happened on this day, 500 years ago. In fact, I have nothing on my Anabaptist timeline until August. It reminds me of the theme of my sermon this past Sunday on John 21:1-14. Here is my introduction and conclusion. Do your own reflection on the biblical story in between.

We just finished celebrating Easter just over a week ago. Now, it’s back to the daily grind of ordinary life. Students and teachers have gone back to school after spring break. Does God come to us during ordinary time? What relevance does Easter have for my daily existence? Does menial life have any meaning? The resurrection seems so far away and impractical.

The disciples were no doubt somewhat confused, aimless, disillusioned, and disheartened by the whirl of tragic and dramatic events just a few days prior. “So, what do we do now?” They too were left wondering what it all meant. As the story opens in John 21, we find them waiting for Jesus to “show himself” at the Sea of Galilee as he had instructed them. Are we also waiting for Jesus to reveal himself to us today?

The interesting thing about this miraculous catch of fish is that it takes place in an ordinary “pre-resurrection-like” scene in the former occupations of the majority of the disciples. Even in the daily material world, Jesus is at work. We also struggle with our faith in the everyday world, but as we trust and obey, God provides abundantly and miraculously for our needs.

How might this story look for us today?

If you are a fisher, go fishing, obey Jesus commands, and recognize God’s handiwork in God’s miraculous provisions… like the catching of a fish!

If you are a gardener or a farmer, go plant your seeds or go prune your berry bushes, obey Jesus commands, and recognize God’s handiwork in God’s miraculous provisions… like an abundant harvest.

If you are an administrator, go to your office, obey Jesus commands, and recognize God’s handiwork in God’s miraculous provisions… like things coming together for the completion of a task!

If you are a student, go study, obey Jesus commands, and recognize God’s handiwork in God’s miraculous provisions… like the passing of a test!

If you are a teacher, go teach, obey Jesus commands, and recognize God’s handiwork in God’s miraculous provisions… like the transformation of a student’s life.

All of us, each one of us is accepted by God with our different personalities, qualities, interests and vocations. God accepts us with our failures and struggles of faith.

God is interested in our daily, ordinary, bodily lives. Jesus is present in our working and playing, eating, and sleeping, in all that we do! As we put our faith in Jesus and obey his commands, we will begin to notice the presence of Christ in our lives.

Will you be like John and recognize him?  Will you be like Peter and do something about it? Jesus comes to us, not so much in great meetings or through great people, but simply, as we give him the fruit of our menial service and as we recognize the divine touch in our earthy, daily experiences.

I am present

Passion Week moves through all kinds of emotion: from the celebration parade of Palm Sunday to the sorrow of violent death on Good Friday to the surprise of resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Life too is a mixed bag. There are psalms of lament and there are psalms of praise. There are days we mourn death, brokenness, and pain. There are days we celebrate birth, healing, and pleasure. Sometimes in fact they are mixed up with each other. Sometimes in the midst of suffering there are the best parties. We are “dancing in the dragon’s jaws!”

I entered the Lent season with some weariness and despondency this year. Therefore, I decided to do something different this year than give up chocolate or dessert. (I have enjoyed some almost every day of Lent!) I decided to give up wallowing and do something cheery and positive for someone every day. It’s been good for me.

Sometimes people like me say that positivity and celebration in the midst of suffering and death, trivializes the pain, but that is not necessarily the case. We acknowledge that not all is right with the world, but we can put on the “garment of praise” in the midst of that. Just for a moment we are transported to another realm where death and crying and pain shall be no more. We are present to all our passions and the passion of our Lord.

Praise and deep celebration is a healing balm. Sometimes such praise is an act of the will. As I turn my will I am drawn into praise by the presence of my faith community who shares my pain but also lifts me up out of my self-deprecation. I can hardly form the words, but as my feet begin to move and my body begins to sway to the rhythm of the people and the music around me I am transformed by the presence of the Spirit.

We are wretched. We are lost. We are in darkness. God is absent. Yet out of that abyss we cry. And a cry, even of absence, is the cry of faith towards the Faithful One. We celebrate the light even though we see it not. We party the kingdom even though it seems only a mustard seed. Even though my soul is knotted and numb it can unravel with praise. I want to be present to all the passions of Passion Week: the pain, the pleasure, and even the mundane.

Mary Magdalene

This reposting represents a new insight I gained during this Passion Week. (This can be #3 in the series of posts that began on International Women’s Day.) It has been pointed out before that women were the first to believe in the resurrection, but I did not realize the following until now.

“All four gospels insist that when all the other disciples are fleeing, Mary Magdalene does not run. She stands firm. She does not betray or lie about her commitment to Jesus—she witnesses. Hers is clearly a demonstration of either the deepest human love or the highest spiritual understanding of what Jesus was teaching—perhaps both. But why—one wonders–do Holy Week liturgies tell and re-tell the story of Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus, while the steady and unwavering witness of Magdalene is passed over–not even noticed? How would our understanding of the paschal story change if instead of reflecting upon Jesus dying alone and rejected if we were to reinforce the fact that one person stood by him and did not leave? For this story of Mary Magdalene is as firmly stated in scripture as the denial story. How would this change the emotional timbre of the day? How would it affect our feeling of ourselves? How would it reflect upon how we have viewed, and still view, women in the church? About the nature of redemptive love?”

Cynthia Bourgeault, Espiscopal Priest