Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 118:1-2,14-24; Acts 10:34-43; Mark 16:1-8
The Rev. Candice B. Frazer
Maybe you have heard of “Florida Man”? Basically, its this internet phenomenon about how the news gets reported from the Sunshine State “Florida Man does so and so.” In the beginning, these were wild and wacky and wonderfully bizarre like:
– “Florida Man Attacked During Selfie with Squirrel”
– “Florida Man Charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon After Throwing Alligator Through Wendy’s Drive-Thru Window”
– “Florida Man Gets Tired of Waiting at Hospital, Steals Ambulance, Drives Home”
– “Florida Man Breaks Into Jail to Hang with Friends”
– “Florida Man Denies Drinking and Driving, Says He Only Swigged Bourbon at Stop Signs”
The headlines were obviously about poking fun at the crazy things people do in life, and I will admit it makes me wonder what scripture would look like if we gave it “Florida Man” headlines.
– “Florida Man Claims Great Flood is Coming, Builds Cruise Ship in Front Yard”
– “Florida Man Steals One Pair of Every Animal from Zoo, Loads on Cruise Ship”
– “Florida Man Loses Shoes, Burns Feet on Bush”
– “Florida Man Chops Up Wife into Twelve Pieces and Sends to Friends”
– “Florida Man Claims His Mule Can Speak”
– “Florida Woman Drives Peg through the Neck of Cruel Dictator”
– “Florida Man Claims to have been Swallowed by Whale”
– “Florida Woman Claims to be Pregnant and a Virgin”
– “Florida Man Beheaded by Local Official”
– “Florida Man Walks on Water”
– “Florida Man Brings Dead Friend Back to Life”
– “Florida Man Claims He Can Rebuild Temple in Three Days”
– “Florida Women Flee from Tomb”
– “Florida Man Risen from the Dead”
These “Florida Man” headlines offer a truth, but certainly not the whole truth. Some of these really catch our attention—and might be what we would call in this day and age, “click bait”. They are fantastical, even as they are true. They require a little Biblical literacy to catch all of them. And they also might cheapen the Bible or at least the story of salvation as we might know it.
It’s probably not the best way to share the Good News of the Gospels or even the story of the Israelites. In large part because it takes the story out of context. It also misrepresents the wonder and courage and tenacity of those who have been inspired by God to do God’s will and work in this world. Simplifying their efforts to a soundbite seems demeaning to the people of scripture, to the Biblical story, to God.
We come to this place today to hear the story of God’s salvific plan unfolding beyond time and space and we celebrate the gift and joy of everlasting life that story promises. If Easter is simply a headline, “Jesus Christ is Risen” then we have cheapened this story. The depth and promise of Christ’s resurrection stirs in us a faith and a hope that we cannot understand or even imagine. “Jesus Christ is Risen” is not a fact, it is a mystery. We have no explanation for it or understanding of what it means. We will leave today rejoicing and celebrating, but maybe we ought to be afraid—like the women who found the tomb devoid of Jesus—fleeing from this place in terror and amazement, saying nothing to anyone and pondering what might possibly happen next.
Resurrection is not the end of the story; it is just the beginning. Easter Sunday might be today, but it is only the start of an Easter Season in which we will try to work out exactly what this whole resurrection thing means. The stories we get to hear over the next few weeks are meant to draw us into deeper and deeper reflections around who this risen Christ is. The disciples will doubt and question if this really happened. We will be challenged to enter into a new relationship with the resurrected Christ.
Today is a joyful and beautiful day of celebration but it will take work and time and energy and emotion and trust that a life with Christ is a life that is always deepening, always growing, always becoming. And that doesn’t happen if we approach our faith as a series of headlines.
We welcome this happy morning, but it cannot end here—not on this day, not in this place. We have been afforded the opportunity to bear witness to the resurrection just as the disciples some 2000+ years ago. Our job is to go and share this good news, not as a headline, but in the ways in which we choose to live; the opportunities we afford one another; the building up of the kingdom in this world and not the tearing down of it. When we leave this place today, it is not because church is over; it is because our service and worship will have just begun.
Church is the place where we go to be reminded of all the new beginnings that exist in the kingdom. We come here to be reset, recharged for the life we are called to live out there—the life of eternal salvation. Jesus’s resurrection is a sign to us that the kingdom of God is right here and now—it exists in this realm of space and time as well as the one to come. Everlasting life is not something to wait for or anticipate when we die, it is how we live right now.
The kingdom of God is all around us—that is what the resurrected life is—and it is never too late to wake up to that resurrection in our own lives. We cannot do that by cheapening our world and boiling it down to “Florida Man” headlines or soundbites.
To live in the kingdom of God is to move beyond pettiness and pithy remarks or complaints and disgruntlement because your expectations are not being met or acceptance of the status quo because that is the way it has always been. The mediocre life is not kingdom living. To live in the kingdom of God is to live into the deeper life; to risk your own losses or sufferings for something more, something only God can offer you, something better than what life is now.
That something better is a mystery and, yes, it may cause you to flee in terror but it will also seize you with amazement. Trust in that. Let Easter become a time for deepening in your life—deepening your relationship with God, with family, friend, and stranger, with this world—not to understand or control it or have some particular experience. Deepen your life in ways that invite mystery so that you too may know resurrection.
If your headline is “Florida Man Resurrected Into New Life” how will you write that story?
Amen.