"For Christians, the defining moment remains the resurrection of Jesus; and that his is the power that remains supreme around the world, the world which Christians, with many others, understand as God's creation."
-- Bishop of Winchester, Easter Column in The Guardian 2002.The ultimate anonymity is to be storyless.
--Mark Schorer
Scripture: Mat. 28:1-15, Luke 24:10-11.
Do you have a story or are you a storyless person? Christmas starts with a story. Easter ends with a new story. The God of the Bible chose to reveal God's self through the most intimate and vulnerable of communication methods: the birth of a child. The message and the medium became one in Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that God gave God's only begotten child to us (John 3:16). God's word still continues to become flesh when each of us struggles in faith to make this love story take root in the most needy places. That starts right here with each of us. This is the STORY OF STORIES. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.
But the situation around us may make us doubt whether we have a story these days. Forces around us may discredit our story. But this is not something new. For instance, the religious leaders of the day and the government authorities of Jesus' time did not think that the poor and hungry, the widow and the orphan had a story and a perspective worthy of covering as a mainstream response.
Intentionally, Jesus in his mission encounters, got the stories of the marginalized people and empowered them to tell the story of the gospel. The story of the Samaritan woman (John 4:4-41), the story of the Syrophoenician woman (Mat. 15:24), and the stories of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are some of them (Mat. 28:1-13). All these women have a story in the great story of salvation.
TELL THE STORY OF RESURRECTION:
On the day of resurrection, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who went to the tomb of Jesus experienced an epiphany, an appearance of the divine. In that epiphany, an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled back the tombstone, and sat on the tombstone.
The angel appeared to the women and said, "DO NOT BE AFRAID." Jesus himself appeared to the women and said "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee." Think about it. Jesus appearing to the women first (Mat. 28:9) and urging them to go with the message of resurrection to the leadership of the church, Peter and the other disciples. The latter are Jesus' "brothers," not deserters. They are not betrayers or quitters. They are brothers. Resurrection is grace. Resurrection is forgiving grace.
When the women went and told this tale to the male disciples, they called the women's story "an idle tale" (Luke 24:11). That is people supposedly inside the church did not believe in the story of these women. Inner circles of the church may discredit a woman's story of resurrection.
How about the people outside the church then? There the women had to deal with a cover up. They had to confront the most powerful media of the time. The chief priests and the elders. These men held a committee meeting, an official consultation. They gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, more than the sum of money given to Judas to betray Jesus. The irony is that it costs more money to suppress the resurrection truth than bring about death. The soldiers accepted the bribe and became counter-witnesses to the story of resurrection. The priests told the soldiers, "You must say, 'Jesus' disciples stole him away while we were asleep." The church and the military establishment of the day joined together in the cover up story of resurrection.
Two strikes against the women. Patriarch within the church. Misinformation through soldiers and the media of the day. There were actually three strikes against women. As women, they could not pick up their pen and parchment and write the story of resurrection. They were not allowed to. Women could not become scribes. They are ritually unclean, according to the standards of the day.
But these women, with their three strikes against them, went on telling the story of resurrection because the risen Christ promised them his accompanying grace. "I am going ahead of you into Galilee." Be witnesses to the resurrection. Be witnesses to the truth that "dem bones will rise again."
Let us not be storyless women. Jesus is still alive in a mad and insane world, in a world where dead men walk, and where many do not seem to bother why there are so many dead men walking. The message of resurrection is Christ is risen. "Dem bones will rise again."
Justo Gonzales, one of the leading theologians of the day, wrote the following which has been published by the Latin American Christian Community in Geneva. It reads:
"We believe in the Reign of God;
the day of the Great Fiesta
when all colors of creation will form a harmonious rainbow,
when all people will join in joyful banquet,
when all tongues of the universe will sing the same song.
And because we believe, we commit ourselves:
to believe for those who do not believe,
to love for those who do not love,
to dream for those who do not dream,
until the day when hope becomes reality."
Let us not be songless women. Let us not be storyless women. Let us proclaim the story of resurrection in the midst of hate, war, death and despair for this story saves us from ourselves.
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION, ACTION & STUDY:
(1) EASTER BASKETS WITH PLASTIC WAR WEAPONS:
Work on an action plan to stop marketing violence to children during Easter and other seasons. Visit your local stores and check whether they sell Easter baskets with plastic machine guns, hand grenades, pistols and rounds of ammunition. These baskets contain candies along with toy weapons. Visit your Wal Mart, KMart, Rite Aid, Genovese and other stores. Find out the facts. Make your concerns known to the store manager. Write a letter to your local newspaper and contact your local media and address this issue.
When is the earliest time to do this for you?
(2) Continue to pray for Peace. Get involved in United Methodist Women's Pray4Peace Campaign.
(3) How can you demonstrate your Christian faith in the Post Conflict situation in Iraq? What are some of your responses? Contribute to relief work, medicine, re-building schools, hospitals etc., through United Methodist Women.
(4) In Post-Conflict reconstruction, very limited efforts are taken to build relationships, work on trauma healing, and work on psychological healing especially for women, children and youth. Women of Iraq need to be involved in the reconstruction process. Look for action alerts which will come from the Public Policy office of United Methodist Women's Division.
(5) In what ways can you carry out Jesus' commandment to love your neighbor in your local context? In what ways can you create interfaith communities? Copies of the new mission study on ACreating Interfaith Communities@ is available from Service Center at phone number 1-800-305-9857:
(a) Children's Study. Seven Friends-Seven Faiths by Martha Bettis Gee. 2003. This is a story book with photo cubes which tell of children of different faiths and how they celebrate their faith. #03287. $4.00; 5 for $15.00, 10 for $25.00.
Teacher's Guide for Children's Study (#03288) $6.00.
(b) Youth Study:
Who is The Kid Next Door? Creating Interfaith Community including Leader's Guide by Kelly Martini. 2003. The stories engage youth in discussions of interfaith issues, on personal journeys as Christians, and on a quest to live with others in an interreligious community.
(c) Adult Study:
Creating Interfaith Community by Marston Speight. Study Guide included. 2003. (#03286) $7.50.
(The above questions have been taken from The Road to Damascus: Kairos and Conversion. Catholic International Relations, 1989.
PRAYER:
Teach us to pray for whom we support as well as our enemies. It is tough. As war affects leaders of the countries, military personnel, women, children, and youth, and people around the world, teach us to pray, Lord. Teach us, even us. Help us to stand with the crucified peoples of the world in Christ's way. Amen.