Justice Reflection, Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015 Mark 16:1-8

Justice Reflection, Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015

Mark 16:1-8
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"  When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.  As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you."  So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

The stone has already been rolled back, the impossibly happy ending has happened, "just as he told you," but did they dance in joy?  No, they fled in terror.

My favorite prayer of thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer states, "We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love."  How can this impossibly happy picture exist side-by-side with all the suffering, misery, anger and violence in this world?

I once had a cartoon of a vested preacher orating from the pulpit, "And on the eighth day, God said, 'Let there be problems,' and there were PROBLEMS."  Thanks to the 24/7 media, in addition to the problems large and small in our own lives, we are bombarded with problems everywhere on the planet.  The eighth day seems to fill the whole week, every week.  We get compassion fatigue.  We are overwhelmed.  We flee in terror -- what can we possibly do?  The impossibly happy ending seems like a naive fairy tale.

Actually, there are a lot of things we can do:  Decline to enter into contentious discussions.  Carry in our elderly neighbor's groceries.  Sign up for a shift driving people to their polling places to vote.  Buy extra groceries for the food pantry.  Tip low wage workers at least 20%.  Set up a Little Free Library in your front yard and fill it with books for early readers.  Keep an eye out for blankets and warm socks at thrift shops and next winter get them to where the homeless are.  Most importantly, we can help our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews grow into confident, loving, open-minded adults.  Trust that every small kindness you do is magnified many times over by the Risen Christ.  The Impossibly Happy Ending is real and we are part of it.