31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?
33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Did you ever have one of those relationships was so right…
so close… so fun… or just so comfortable…
that you all you wanted was to be in that person’s presence all the time?
It’s fun to watch that happen with little ones. Those first friendships when they become inseparable. Or when they become enamored of a grown up or older sibling and that little shadow tags along everywhere,
Listening, learning and enjoying every minute.
It can be nauseatingly cute when young people begin coupling
The magnetic attraction is so strong… they seem physically inseparable
Though, if I’m honest, “young love” sometimes strikes after 25…
and after 50… even after 75
It’s a rarity that we connect deeply with new people when we are grown ups… but when we do become friends, it’s not hard to find excuses to grab a meal, go on adventures, or just hang around doing not much of anything. Being present with each other.
We have a deep longing for that kind of connection
It is in the core of our being
It was baked into us from the beginning, when we were made in the very image of God.
God made us relational, because God is a relationship
God the Creator
God the Spirit
God the Son and Redeemer
They are inseparable
If you try to look at Jesus, you can’t help but see the others.
If you try to engage with God, you can’t help but engage the others.
If you try to run away from the Spirit, the psalmist tells us there is no place far enough, no sea deep enough, no darkness dark enough to keep God from finding us.
Even when we are afraid or angry
Even when we are confused and doubting
Even when we try
Creator and Created??? INSeparable.
Because God loved us from the beginning,
God kept covenant with all those generations of people whose stories we read in our scriptures.
There was just no way that we humans would be left without a way home.
That’s what Paul is so fired up about in his letter to the church in Rome.
God loved the world so much that God came to the world.
God made a way through Christ, so that we might never be separated again.
But there was a point at which it sure didn’t feel that way.
Not to the disciples who had been closest to Jesus,
Following him, listening to him, learning from him
The ones whose names are listed in the stories.
And it didn’t feel that way to the women who had cared for them,
And listened, and learned, and were also followers.
As close as they had become during all their travels with Jesus,
the days following his arrest and crucifixion must have been all but unbearable.
This man who was always there
Always ready with a story and a challenge
Always overflowing with compassion.
He had been ripped from their midst. And they had to wait to care for his body.
So… they were probably up before the sun, fixing a meal for themselves and maybe something for the others. After all, they wanted to get an early start.
They’d gone out to the night before to get what they needed – spices and such -just as soon as the sabbath was over.
I suspect they were probably tempted to cheat a bit. After all, these women had followed Jesus as closely as the men we call the disciples, maybe even listening a little more closely.
And Jesus had a habit of not quite following the letter of the law. He had gathered food, healed people, forgiven them of their sins…
all on the Sabbath.
Sometimes, it seemed he did these things to spite the leaders – the scribes and teachers who spent a lot of their time arguing every tiny nuance of the law.
But because the women knew his heart, they knew it was also to help show people how to move past the letter of the law and toward the God who gave the law.
So, maybe these women had done their prayers to end shabbot as the sun dropped below the horizon. Or maybe they started a wee bit early.
It’s a mystery.
It is a pretty safe bet that they had been chatting since the time they rose- and as they gathered their cloaks and picked up the spices they had purchased.
It wouldn’t have been the excited chatter they had shared on other mornings, the mornings after Jesus had healed lepers or that poor woman who had been bleeding for years.
And not the snappy sort of chatter that comes when the resources and hands are too few to feed and care for the huge crowds that had gathered.
No, they would have been talking somberly, quietly, perhaps between silent tears, mostly about the details of the work of the day. They were going to finish what they had started on Friday. They were headed to the tomb.
That’s how Mark begins our reading from chapter 16…
16 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
The big heavy stone that had been placed in front of the tomb was meant to keep away any mischief makers. The powers that be were concerned that some among Jesus’ followers might try to convince others that the prophecy was true- that Jesus would rise from the dead- by removing his body and hiding it away somewhere.
Or perhaps a naysayer might do the same, only to reveal the truth later and further shame any of the believers who would be gullible enough to think Jesus had told the truth about who he was, and what God had planned to do.
Who could roll away the stone?
Judas hadn’t shown up last night. No surprise.
But neither had Peter. Word was that Peter had actually denied knowing Jesus. Had denied being one of his followers.
I can see them shaking their heads, saying a prayer for both men.
But Peter…
He had loved Jesus so deeply, trusted him with so much. Grief and that tendency to speak before thinking everything through, well, he needed their prayers now more than ever.
And the rest of the men just didn’t seem to be themselves. Even Mary’s James and John, the Sons of Thunder, seemed to be at a loss over what to do next. It’s probably just as well the women had left this morning… give them some space.
But still – who would roll away the stone?
Perhaps the Roman soldiers who had been assigned guard duty would have pity on them. They understood the importance of honoring the dead, even if their rituals were not the same.
And Pilate had already allowed them more than they had imagined… Perhaps, now that the frenzy of the last few days had calmed, the guards would be willing to help.
Soon, the walk was over. They were at the grave. Mark tells us that
When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled away.
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
Of all the things these women expected… yeah… not this.
Where was the stone?
Who was this guy?
More importantly, where was Jesus?
They had come steeled for the pain of grief, sorrow, and loss. They were no strangers to death, these women; they knew how it smelled, what it felt like.
But death was gone.
Jesus was gone.
In their place, a man in a white robe?
Mark continues with the messenger’s words
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.
Sorrow, grief and resignation gave way to fear.
Did they shake their heads, closing their eyes, only to open them once again to this unexpected vision?
How long did it take for fear to settle into confusion, then cautious optimism, then hope that became joy?
The stone was gone.
Death was gone.
Jesus was on the loose.
And isn’t that just like Jesus?
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the Easter story… and read it…
But a couple of years ago, for some reason, this business about the stone was the detail that grabbed me.
Perhaps, it’s one of those little throwaways that we fly past on the way to the He is Risen’s and He is Risen, indeed’s of Easter Sunday.
Or maybe it was just the first time in a while I had heard Mark’s account. Regardless, I heard it, and it hit me.
Isn’t that just like Jesus?
Doing exactly what he promised.
And isn’t that just like humanity?
Not really hearing what Jesus said.
Not really understanding what Jesus is doing.
You see, the work was done on Friday, right about the time Jesus said, “It is finished.”
That was the end of his day, the day in which he endured the awful truth of our human capacity for evil.
It was the end of his human life.
And it was the beginning of our lives in Him.
In that moment, nonviolent resistance beat capital punishment,
dignity overshadowed dehumanizing taunts,
forgiveness took the steam out of hatred and fear
and love won,
Once and for all.
For all people.
For all time.
What happened between Christ’s moment of victory and the moment the women were confused by the missing stone?
It’s a mystery.
What matters is that the stone was gone.
Done.
Taken care of.
Just like the distance between us and the God who loved the world enough to send forgiveness and grace incarnate.
Which makes me wonder…
How many stones do I worry about that God’s already moved?
What aspects of our hearts, our lives, our world are ready and waiting for this living, breathing body of Christ to bear witness with joy and energy…
All while we carry on…
Gathering tools that we don’t really need,
Picking up rocks we need not carry
or looking for someone clever enough and strong enough to move an obstacle that doesn’t really matter any more.
Because Christ is risen.
He has redeemed all those things we have buried.
The stone is moved.
But it’s hard to hold onto that joyous truth week to week.
It’s especially hard to hold onto that truth right now.
When the lights are turned off and the doors are locked
The laughter and singing and passing of the peace are gone
The echoes of the handbells and organ pipes cease
It’s easy to imagine this building as a tomb… big stone and all.
And truth is, Jesus hasn’t been especially helpful, what with keeping us waiting… along with all of creation
Tapping our watches in anticipation of a time in which justice and peace and love reign.
But calling out “Come, Lord Jesus!” and checking your watch is an act of faith.
And faith is inseparable from hope.
It is that hope that allows us to gather and worship and sing
Even on days like today, when we desperately need the Spirit to pray on our behalf.
Paul declares that because God “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,” God will “with him graciously give us all things” (8:32).
Even though the present state of believers is suffering and groaning — whether because of distress, persecution, famine, etc. (8:35) —
Paul says that there is nothing in this broken world, neither “things present nor things to come,” that can separate believers from God’s love (8:38-39).
Nothing. Not one thing.
Can ever separate us from God’s love.
Not anger, nor doubt,
Not even having to stop meeting together here
And needing to go find a new family of faith.
And being really really ticked off about it,
Just flat NOTHING can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.
God’s love, because of God’s own giving of the Son for us and the pouring out of the Spirit on us.
Indeed, it is God who works all things together for our good (see 8:28).
Yes. Even this.
Because eventually, God takes all of the awful moments, decisions, events, relationships, disasters… whatever it is, and brings the power of resurrection to bear… making them into something beautiful.
There is pain… life is pain
And as they say in the Princess Bride – anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
But there is HOPE
Because the stone is rolled away
Christ is alive
The Spirit is in and around and among us
And nothing…
Nothing. can separate us from the love of God.
That’s what the big show on that first Easter morning was all about.
The God who created us and claimed us
The God who calls us and holds us tightly
Came for us. And loved us into the family.
And then sent the Spirit to enliven us, to pray for us
And to bind us to one another in love.
So that we might be the embodied presence of God
That, my friends, is VERY GOOD NEWS
The Viau From Here 