Sermons from St. Francis
March 23, 2008
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Pr. Robert Goldstein
“Those Two Marys”
A new day is dawning. And what a
day it will be! God’s Jewish people are rising from their Sabbath rest. In the
dawning light, before the sun will burst across the horizon, Mary Magdalene and
“the other Mary” come to Jesus’ burial site.
These women were probably the most
faithful of Jesus’ disciples. They stood by at his crucifixion, watching
helplessly against the might of Roman soldiers. Most of the male disciples had
fled out of fear, but the women stayed with him even through this.
They were extraordinary in
themselves. Under oppressive pressures of sexism, the two Marys had managed not
only to survive but to garner such financial resources to be major underwriters
of Jesus’ ministry. But their investment and their hopes seemed nailed to that
cross that day.
But there is more to these two
Marys. They haven’t given up. The world’s violence had taken another lunge at
them in Jesus’ death, but they keep on fighting; keep on believing in his dream
of a society in which people live in compassion for one another, in justice and
hope and security instead of fear, brutality and greed.
Above all, going to Jesus’ grave
in the early dawn was still an act of incipient faith in the promises of God
that Jesus preached and promised. They would not give up! And that would
explain their reaction to the earthquake, the lightning and the angel’s speech.
They were tough. They were ready.
While the male guards react to
this earth shattering with terror and paralyzing shock, these women are still
functioning and respond to the angel’s wonderful news. It has now dawned on
them that Jesus had submitted to death because he would overcome it. He wasn’t
in the tomb any longer and he couldn’t be! The dead Jesus was now the
resurrected Christ! The two Mary’s got the message as the Sun of Righteousness
rose on that first Easter morning. What a new day!
Of course they were fearful!
Resurrection contradicts all we can ever know humanly about life and death. But
Jesus Christ is now risen. He is risen beyond death’s grip and grave. The two
Marys came with only shreds of faith, the faintest shreds. Yet God blesses them
–the first to receive the news and the first to tell the story. From shreds of
faith a mighty weaving of the human fabric of forgiveness and redemption has
begun. And, as if to thread the needle for them, Jesus himself meets them as
they run with fear and joy to tell the other disciples.
Those Marys didn’t get to where
they were by winning the lottery or by rich parents. The world they lived in
was a man’s world. Because of hard work, against betrayal and resentment, they
cobbled together their resources. It took toughness to do that and yet, against
the temptation to spend their own hard-earned wealth on themselves, they
instead invested in the vision Jesus had for the world.
Senator Obama gave a very
important speech on race relations last week. Its only weakness was that it was
too honest and too reflective. Honesty is not a virtue in politics and
conservative pundits are already hard at work spinning his words and his
honesty about his contradictory relationships with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
Pr. Wright said some pretty nasty
things about
Those of us of Pr. Wright’s
generation, who grew up terrified with our self-knowledge that we were gay
ought to understand this situation all too well. We were simply not allowed to
be gay. The word “homosexual” was dirty. And we suffered, going in the dawn
light of faith mixed with despair, with only a shred of belief that God
couldn’t have created us to be hated.
When I tell this history of the
struggle to younger gays they just don’t seem to comprehend that what they take
for granted in their coming of age and self-understanding, was never an option
for us. It is awesome beyond words to see adolescents coming out with the
support of most of their peers and families. Just awesome.
But the point is this: when we
understand Pr. Wright’s history of how terrifying white power made their
restricted lives, you would think gay people would understand. But in all my
years of pastoring with straights and gays, I find that gays harbor more racism
than any other segment of the populations I have ministered to. We ought to
know better. We have borne a similar cross as they.
This is all part of the complexity
that Senator Obama addresses in his speech. Not many will be so patient to take
the reflective effort it requires. But anyone who has suffered in life ought to
stop and consider the vision Obama is professing: that not only is racism deep
and complex, but more importantly his vision that this nation can make itself
into a better and more perfect Union; as a nation we can honestly admit these
racial and economic prejudices we keep unstated publicly and begin to deal with
them, to solve them.
I am not asking you to vote for
senator Obama, but I am asking you to dare to live your faith concretely and
genuinely, without racism and without sexism. Not just because he raises the
issue so honestly, but because this is also what Easter means. Can’t we set our
minds on such high and noble dreams for our nation as St. Paul pleads? Or has
the last 20 years of greed, selfish and divisive politics jaded us into
submission? Where is that fighting spirit?
Resurrection isn’t just about
bunnies. It is about courage, suffering for righteousness, it is about St.
Francis’ vision. In our part of human history the struggle goes on for equality
in church and state for sexual minorities. God has given us that vision. We have
paid for it –and God has blessed us all the more. And as we seek prayerfully
and actively to fulfill that vision we make our nation a more perfect Union.
A new day is dawning. And what a
day it will be! The two Marys started the great fabric of faith and redemption.
They have handed the great tapestry onto us. It now lies at our feet and the
needle is in our hands. Oh, how we depended on those two Marys! And now they
depend so much on us. Let us weave in that cloth of forgiveness and redemption
smooth and bright colors of faith, hope and love for the world and for a more
perfect Union. For with them we can go and tell the story that Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen indeed! Amen
St. Francis
Lutheran Church
Phone: (415)
621-2635; Fax: (415) 621-8819
E-mail: StFrancisSF@sbcglobal.net
www.st-francis-lutheran.org