FREED TO LOVE
Matthew 28: 1-10
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Over 40 years ago, my wife, our three children and I were driving to see my parents in Franklin, Ky. to celebrate Christmas. It is a six hour drive. Almost half way there, the car started making a terrible noise. I could see an exit within a hundred yards and we pulled into a tiny Mom and Pop store with two gas pumps. I turned the car off and went inside for help. They did not have a mechanic. When I asked to use their phone, the clerk said “No, I could use the pay phone outside.” Unfortunately the phone book in the booth was vandalized. I went back inside but for whatever reason, the clerk remained unhelpful.
It was really cold. I figured we could drive to the next exit to get help—noise or no noise. That’s when I discovered my car was dead. There was no starting it. I was stuck. I told my family to wait inside. I was reduced to asking cars who pulled up for gas for help. The first vehicle was an old beat up pickup truck with a young couple in it. The man told me he couldn’t help but his brother had a garage and he would try to call him. He did so, interrupting his own family time and within a few minutes, his brother showed up with his tow truck, hooked us up and drove us to his garage— with three adults and three children in the front seat of his truck.
The news was bad. The engine had frozen up because the oil had been leaking from the oil plug that had not been screwed in tightly enough. We would need a new engine. He could fix it but it would take weeks. He suggested we take it to a dealer. He would tow us. The choice was to start the journey home and go to a dealer in Chattanooga or continue north to Nashville and have my father pick us up at the dealership. We decided to go north. So off we went, jammed into the tow truck for 60 miles.
When we got to the dealer there were two more complications. (1) We discovered the keys to the car were locked inside and we had to break into the car to get our luggage and presents and (2) my father had not arrived to meet us. He had gotten lost. When he finally showed up, he had come in their small car—an econo box designed for four people.
We somehow got all of us, the luggage and the presents into the car and drove the last 60 miles to my parents home. Though totally exhausted, we had our Christmas together.
The next day, my father, very uncharacteristically, made a personal observation to me. He commented he was surprised at how calm I seemed. He had thought I would be a bundle of anxious nerves after the craziness of the trip.
I replied, “Dad, it turns out I only get really anxious when I think I can control something. This whole trip got so far beyond my control, I just went with the flow and dealt with each event as it occurred.
When we imagine we can control the events of our life, as often as not, we ignore the line between our obligation to all we can do and our belief we can do anything if we try. The first side of the tension is our responsibility to use our God-given gifts and the second is the acknowledgement that we are mortal creatures with limits we do not like. Most of us have trouble comprehending that death belongs to life. We try to decide what is fair, what is a ‘good’ life or a’ good’ death. But, as we all learn, our opinions and preferences do not really matter.
Death is hard, but that does not mean it is bad. That call is above our pay grade. We may want to argue about the creation. We may think God could do a better job. But if we burn our energy on what we can barely glimpse, much less control, we sacrifice the life we have been given. But when we surrender to God’s creation, we are freed to deal with life as it unfolds. We are freed to love—which is the most important thing we can do with our lives.
Jesus said: Go back to Galilee. Go back to life. The workings of God’s creation includes hardship and death. We may not like or understand what happens to us but each of us will die. The people we love will die–some quietly, some as infants, some feeble and lost in another decade and some unfairly accused and tortured. Jesus was willing to endure all of that to show us, no matter how hard his life was nor how hard his death was, he never stopped loving. That is what his devotion to God means and that is what his devotion to loving neighbor means. It is in our daily, ordinary lives that we will discover that the same love is with us. Death could not overcome it. Jesus trusted God’s love. He trusted that his love mattered and he trusted love would prevail. He asked for a way out and an exception to the chaos and cruelty of this world—but ultimately he faced what lay before him, one terrible event after another.
We can barely perceive God’s creation, much less control it. Our job is to focus on what Jesus taught us. Go back to Galilee. Live a life of regard no matter what life brings. Do not be overwhelmed by what we cannot fathom. Keep loving. That is how we meet Jesus. That is how we will discover “there is nothing in life or death that can separate us from the love of God”. That is how we know he lives. When we meet him, we find courage and hope in the harshest corners of our lives. Death cannot overcome Him.
He is risen. He is risen indeed. Let it be so.
