Beyond the Graveyard

So many people know the Easter story…or maybe not.  It often seems to this jaded preacher that 95.7% of the population lives as though the cemetery is the end of the line:  gratification NOW, win at any cost, sell your soul for Fame ‘n’ Fortune.   Has it made any difference over 20 centuries that my colleagues and I have brought an audacious message of Life overcoming Death, and that subsequently Believers may live in an ethic of Love and Justice and Humility??

There are several Easter accounts; the one that many will hear this Sunday is from John’s Gospel, 20th chapter.  Here is faithful Mary of Magdala, come to the tomb of Jesus to weep and remember…and the stone covering has been removed!  What’s more, two angels were sitting inside the empty tomb!  Turning in puzzlement, she met Jesus himself, who called her by name since she was crying too hard to recognize him…  Well, she saw him die:  why then should she expect to see him alive?  What do you expect after Good Friday?  Is there life beyond the tomb??

The prophet Jeremiah caught an early glimpse of this undergirding life when he assured his hearers, “Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.” (31:4)  Funeral memories don’t have to rule our lives!  We can live as though there’s something more beyond the graveyard!

“So’, say St. Paul, “if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)

The new pastor was traveling about his rural parish, trying to meet as many of his flock as possible.  He was delighted to find elderly Farmer Wright at home, and asked for his wife.  “She’s over in the cemetery ‘cross the road,” the old man said.  The eager preacher said that he’d sit on the porch until she returned; and so he stayed conversing with the venerable gentleman.  The hour grew late, and finally he asked, “How long ago did your wife go over to the cemetery?”   Farmer Wright took only a second to reckon, “Well, it’s been almost four years, now!”   Well, what do you expect?  Is there life beyond the graveyard??

A Blessed Resurrection to All!                        Horace Brown King