A sermon preached at Niles Discovery Church, Fremont, California,
on Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018, by the Rev. Jeffrey Spencer.
Scriptures: John 20:1-18 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Copyright © 2018 by Jeffrey S. Spencer
The last time it happened was before I was born. The next time it with happen is after I am eligible for full Social Security benefits, so I may be retired. I must take full advantage of it happening now. Today. Today is Easter and April Fool’s Day.
Lest you think combining Easter and April Fool’s is sacrilegious, let me remind you that there are plenty of jokes in the Bible. They may be serious, in terms of their message, but they are jokes.
Take, for instance, a story that is told in the first three gospels. It happens in the days leading up to Jesus’ execution. He’s in the Temple teaching and he gets asked about paying taxes. Maybe I should save this story for two weeks from today – for April 15. Jesus gets asked a question about paying taxes, and to paraphrase what happens, he asks the questioner if they have a $20 on them. Jesus looks at it. He asks somebody, “Whose picture is on it?” “Jackson,” they say. “Well, then, give to the genocidal government the things that are the genocidal government’s, but give to God the things that are God’s,” Jesus tells them. And for all we know (the Bible doesn’t tell us), Jesus pockets the $20.
That’s not a laugh-out-loud funny joke, but satire often isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. Still, when we remember what all good Jews knew back in Jesus’ time – that everything in creation belongs to God – there’s more of a humorous twist to the story.
Of course, the people who were trying to trap Jesus with their question ended up quite frustrated, because he didn’t specifically answer their question. They just couldn’t nail him down.
If you think that’s bad, be happy none of the gospel writers told about the time Jesus walked into an inn, handed the innkeeper three nails, and asked, “Can you put me up for the night?”
Wait. I’ve got one more. It’s visual.
To understand why the resurrection is the greatest joke ever, we need to remember the context. The week started with a political demonstration, with Jesus’ political street theatre. The week started with Jesus’ mocking parade into the city. The synoptic gospels say he went from that demonstration to another one, to another bit of political theatre, when he chased out the money changers and sacrificial animal sellers.
He spent time teaching and lecturing and facing questions. He told his joke about paying taxes. On Thursday, it was time for the Passover, so he supped with his disciples.
After they ate, Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray. He asked them to keep watch as he prayed. And they fell asleep, which was the beginning of the time-honored tradition of sleeping during worship.
Of course, it was there in Gethsemane that Jesus was arrested and hauled off to the religious and political powers. They wanted to get rid of this pesky, brown-skinned, boundary-breaking, radically inclusive, deeply loving guy who gave away free healthcare.
While Jesus was before the Sanhedrin, Peter was hanging out in the courtyard, probably trying to find out what was happening. He was recognized as a Galilean and so he was questioned about knowing Jesus. He said he didn’t. Three times, he denied Jesus – just as Jesus had predicted he would. Which isn’t as amazing as one might think. Peter had denied Jesus before. It’s just that that experience didn’t get into the Bible.
It was the next day when the principalities and powers got their way and Jesus was crucified. The Roman government executed him as a political radical. And he was buried in a tomb hewn from solid rock and a large stone was placed in front of the entrance.
You gotta wonder what it was like for the disciples that next day. It was the Sabbath, so they weren’t supposed to do much anyway. They probably sat around, remembering the one who they thought would save Israel, the one who had been killed by the government. Jesus had spent all this time talking about the Son of God, and they were pretty sure he was talking about himself. And now he was dead and buried.
Sunday did come, and with it, that phenomenon we call “the resurrection.” The disciples experienced the presence of Jesus. I love the way the gospel storytellers try to explain it.
In Mark’s gospel, there’s actually no resurrected Jesus. The women go to the tomb to do the preparation of the body that should have been done on Friday, but the sun had set and the Sabbath had begun. So, it’s early Sunday morning and they go to the tomb and find it empty. There’s a man there, dressed in white. Mark doesn’t say it’s an angel, though I’ve interpreted it that way until this week, when Pastor Brenda pointed out that being dressed in white, the man could represent someone dressed for baptism. This is an intriguing notion, especially given some of my other thoughts about Mark’s gospel, but we’d be here for at least an additional hour if I were to try to unpack that. Instead, I want to point out the humor of the scene.
The women go to the tomb with their spices and stuff, but they haven’t figured out how to actually get into the tomb to prepare the body. Not exactly good pre-planning. Then, when they get there, they discover that the stone has been rolled away, mysteriously, and the body is missing. There’s the man there, dressed in white, who tells them to tell the disciples the Jesus is going ahead to Galilee and that he’ll meet them there. And this is how Mark concludes his gospel: “So [the women] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
Apparently, the women thought the first rule of resurrection club is, “You do not talk about resurrection club.”
Jesus spends all that time teaching and demonstrating the power of the kin-dom of God here on earth. He suffers humiliation, betrayal, condemnation, and execution. The mystery of the resurrection happens. And they don’t tell anything to anyone. So sorry, but you don’t get a gospel. April Fool!
John’s telling of the resurrection has its own humor, too. First of all, there’s the foot-race between two of the disciples. Peter and “the beloved disciple” run to the tomb. The beloved disciple gets there first; he’s quicker. Peter follows behind and heads right into the empty tomb. Then Peter leaves, confused. The beloved disciple, entering the tomb second, sees and believes. It’s not exactly clear what the beloved disciples believes, just that the beloved disciple is, once again, quicker. That’s fine, John. Go ahead. Rub it in.
Peter and the beloved disciple return, leaving Mary to grieve by herself. We’re in on what happens next, so the joke is on Mary. Jesus shows up, but Mary doesn’t recognize him. She thinks he’s the gardener. April Fool! It’s me, Jesus.
Or, maybe the joke is on us, too. Maybe the joke is pointing out how we fail to recognize the resurrected Jesus in our lives.
Easter is filled with jokes, and I think the greatest joke of all is the joke played on death itself. Death thinks it is the final word. There’s death and that’s it. But God says, “Not so fast, death.”
The resurrection is the greatest joke because it says that death isn’t the final word. There is something, some love, beyond death.
The apostle Paul goes so far as to humorously mock death in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Where is your victory, Death? Where is your sting, Death?”
This greatest joke reminds us, when we are experiencing terrible things, we know that even the worst thing is only the next to the last thing that will happen.[1] As Frederick Buechner points out, “That means not just that you shall laugh when the time comes, but that you can laugh a little even now in the midst of the weeping because you know that the time is coming. All appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, the ending will be a happy ending. That is what the laughter is about. It is the laughter of faith. It is the divine comedy.”[2]
So may this Easter and your life be filled with laughter.
Amen.
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[1] Jeanne Torrence Finley, “Easter and April Fools,” Ministry Matters, http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/8888/easter-and-april-fools (posted and accessed 27 March 2018).
[2] Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark, quoted by Finley, ibid.
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