Still Waiting for Resurrection ~ Easter 2021
I don't know how many of you remember, but I used this same passage from Joshua for Easter last year. It's not a usual Easter reading, but it seemed very suitable last year as we were entering into the unknown land of the Covid 19 pandemic.
So here we are, a year later, doing our Easter service virtually again, and I have to say the parallels with the reading from Joshua are even greater. Because think about it, today's story is not the first time the Hebrew people camped on the side of the Jordan River, waiting to enter the Promised Land. They had been there forty years earlier with Moses after their dramatic exodus from Egypt through the Red Sea.
But the first time they got to the Promised Land, they basically lost their nerve. Spies went in, scoped out the country, came back and said how amazing the land was, and also talked about all the powerful people already living there. All the spies except Joshua and Caleb said was no way the Hebrews could hold their own against the Canaanites. So the people refused to enter the land God had promised to them.
God then said none of that generation would ever enter the Promised Land, only Joshua and Caleb would make it there, because they trusted God. The Hebrews went back into the wilderness for forty years, and there they learned how to be a nation, how to be God's people. They learned how to keep God's laws and live together in community.
When they came back to the Jordan for the second time, the story we heard today, they were ready to enter the Promised Land. They knew their lives were about to change, but this time they were prepared. They weren't the same people who had turned away in fear the first time.
You can see the parallels wtih where we're at, can't you? The first time the Hebrews approached the Promised Land, they had no idea they would end up spending 40 more years in the wilderness, just like the first time we did Covid Easter, we had no idea the pandemic would last so long, that a year later we would be here doing a second virtual Easter service.
Like the Hebrews, we have had a much longer time in the wilderness than expected, and it has changed us. We are not the same people we were a year ago. We have dealt with so much loss: loss of freedom, loss of touch and connection with loved ones, loss of life in some cases. Some have lost jobs or opportunities or dreams.
Like the Hebrews, we're now at a place of mixed hope and fear. People are being vaccinated, the Promised Land of a Covid free world, or at least a pandemic free world, is on the horizon, but the Jordan River of keeping cases under control, of continuing to follow restrictions, lies between us and that Promised Land.
Or to put it in New Testament terms, we can see the glow of resurrection, of the sunrise, on the horizon, but we're not there yet. We're like those women, Mary Magdalene, Salome and the other Mary, quietly going out to the tomb before dawn, seeing the stone rolled away, fearful and yet feeling an uncertain sense of hope.
You'll note that the gospel reading we used doesn't have the women actually seeing the risen Jesus. That's because in the original ending of the Gospel of Mark, which is the oldest gospel, there is no actual resurrection, or at least no siting of the risen Christ. It ends with the disciples still waiting to figure out what the heck was going on. They knew something unexpected was happening, but what?
It seems odd to us that the story would end that way, but if you think about it, it makes sense that it took the disciples some time to understand what had happened. We have to remember that while for us it is totally expected that Jesus is resurrected, for his followers that was not even on their radar, it wasn't something that would occur to them, at least not right away.
There are parallels in this story with our Covid times as vaccinations begin, but cases are rising. There's hope, but we aren't sure how long vaccinations will take or what will happen in the meantime. We can see the glow of resurrection on the horizon, but we aren't there yet.
Yet at the same time, just as resurrection was happening even though the women didn't know it or see it, so resurrection is happening among us in spite of, or even because of the challenges we're facing.
Earlier I talked about all the various losses we have faced through Covid, but loss isn't always all bad. There has been growth because of that loss, hasn't there. The past year has seen growing awareness of climate change, partly because we saw in vivid images how the world slowing down, even for a few weeks, gave creation chance to catch its breath, to heal a bit. Who can forget the images of Venice with clean water? Of large cities without smog?
We saw growth in awareness of racism and of how each of us as individuals needs to be aware of our own hidden prejudices and privilege. There has been growing new awareness of poverty, of the huge gap between rich and poor, as lower income people have been hit so much harder by the effects of Covid, whether through losing jobs, doing more dangerous work or getting ill more easily with more serious consequences.
We have seen growth in people taking time for prayer, for spiritual growth, for outdoor activities. The ski hills and bike shops in the Comox Valley have never been so busy!
People who hate technology have learned to use zoom and reconnected with old friends in new ways. Ironically, friends and family who live far away all of sudden have become closer because of Covid and the push for connecting virtually.
As I was mulling all of this over, I saw a quote that really struck me. Some of you may have seen it. “Nothing should go back to normal. Normal wasn't working. If we go back to the way things were, we will have lost the lesson. May we rise up and do better.”
Wow. I was especially caught by the words, “May we rise up,” because truly, this is talking about resurrection isn't it, or rather, the possibility of resurrection. Like the disciples on that first Easter, we have a choice right now. The disciples could have gone back to normal, back to their fishing boats and tax collecting booths, back to Herod's court or a life on the fringes, but they didn't.
Even though they weren't quite sure what was going on, they chose to try a new direction, even without Jesus there to guide them in person. They chose to try and live by what they had learned from him despite huge risks and change to their lives.
Perhaps that is our task for this Easter season, to figure out, what have we learned from these Covid times, as individuals and as a society? What do we need to take forward, to change, if we want there to be resurrection in our lives and in our world as Covid ends?
Think of all the areas I just named where there has been significant growth or change: on a societal level there's awareness of racism and climate change action, awareness of economic injustice and of the interconnectedness of the world.
On a more personal level there's awareness of the importance of slowing down, of spiritual practices, of exercise, of connection, the list could go on.
Interestingly enough, almost all things I just named were taught by Jesus. They were part of his vision of resurrection for the whole world, for all of creation. He called that vision the Kingdom of God.
Covid has shown us that we are capable of living differently. As we wait for resurrection, now is the time to sort through what we have experienced and discern what from our old lives we want to leave behind and what from our Covid experience is worth carrying forward into our Promised Land, our post Covid world.
The Hebrews certainly didn't carry everything they took out of Egypt with them into the Promised Land. A lot of stuff got left in the wilderness, but lot of new lessons, new ways of being, came with them into their new lives.
Rather than waiting desperately for things to “get back to normal,” may we continue to learn from this pandemic experience, and may those lessons indeed help us to rise up and do our part as individuals and as a church to create a world that is a little closer to that vision of the Kingdom of God, that place of justice and love, that Jesus lived and died and lives again for.