As Preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church
Christ is risen!
As a child with a curious mind, I did not want to know just a part of any story. I often wanted to know more about something, but would only be offered partial explanations. “Why?” I would say. My parents would answer that there was more to the story than I would be able to comprehend. “Just wait. One day you’ll understand.”
Reflecting on today’s Gospel, my perspective about many things is different than at earlier times in my life. Certainly, too, the Myrrhbearers eventually understood Jesus’ words much differently when they realized Jesus had risen from the dead. He had said repeatedly that he would rise, but none of his followers seemed to comprehend.
What had Joseph of Arimathea not understood about Jesus when he did not speak up in Jesus’ defense when the Sanhedrin had Jesus on trial? Was it only after Jesus died that he was courageous enough to ask Pilate for the body? Jesus had said that when he was lifted up, he would draw all people to himself. Perhaps the first to be drawn to him was the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear and called him the son of God. Perhaps Joseph was the second one to be drawn to Jesus.
Even though the Myrrhbearers did tell the apostles that Jesus was risen—there are several versions in Mark’s gospel—they were not believed. When Mary Magdalene also told the apostles that Jesus had risen, they were starting to come around, enough to go check out the tomb for themselves. Then we know that Jesus made several more visitations before the apostles accepted he had truly risen and was alive. Jesus still had much to reveal to his followers, but he knew they needed more time to live in the resurrection reality before they could be further enlightened.
Jesus’ revelation that the Spirit would soon disclose more is a message meant for us as well. We simply cannot know everything, but we do need to pay attention to the Spirit as we go along, our sights fixed on the Risen Lord. To know God, to abide in God, to have fellowship with God has been the quest of our human spirit throughout history. Knowing God does not come just by human speculation, or by an exotic experience of emotion, but by God’s own revelation through the Spirit.
We are making our way through these 40 days of yet another Easter season. The truth will be revealed to us, but in God’s time, not ours. Be watchful. Pay attention. Be open to what life teaches us through scientific and theological knowledge and through our own experience. Be open to the Spirit of God speaking to us today.
In our universe, predictable laws are combined with unpredictable probabilities, so that nature takes on the form of a story being told. Patient waiting is essential for us to awaken to any meaning in the cosmic story, including the story of life. The biblical emphasis on the need to wait in hopeful anticipation for the self-revelation of God—or for God’s will to be done—goes along with the need to wait for a greater understanding of the meaning of our life.
There will always be more to the story.
Christ is in our midst!
