A man is stumbling through the woods totally drunk when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people down by the river. The drunk walks into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher. The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of booze. Whereupon he asks the drunk, "Are you ready to find Jesus?"

"Yes I am" replies the drunk, so the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the river. He pulls him up and asks the drunk, "Brother have you found Jesus?"

The drunk replies, "No, I haven't." The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again, but for a bit longer this time. He pulls him out of the water and asks again, "Have you found Jesus, my brother?"

The drunk again answers, "No, I have not found Jesus."
By this time the preacher is at his wits end so he dunks the drunk in the water again, but this time he holds him down for about 30 seconds.

When the drunk begins kicking his arms and legs, the preacher pulls him up. The preacher asks the drunk again, "For the love of God, have you found Jesus?"

The drunk wipes his eyes and catches his breath and says to the preacher,

"Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

 

There are four Biblical accounts of what happened on what we call Easter morning, the first Easter morning. All four Gospels describe the women coming to the tomb early in the morning.  All of them describe that the heavy stone that sealed the tomb that had been rolled away. All of them describe the presence of angelic visitors who stun the women with their presence and their message. But only one Gospel, that of Luke, has the angel demand of the women, “Why do you seek for the living among the dead?” It is a challenging question.  Where do we go to experience the risen Lord.

 

These women went to the tomb expecting to find the dead body of their Messiah. Instead two men in shining garments met them and asked, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” It can be easy to miss the significance of this question.

We have preconceived ideas about God and His plan only to discover that their first inclinations were wrong. Our expectations can get in the way of understanding God’s plan. We frequently look for God to move in the wrong places. We look for love in all the wrong places.  Nothing works out like we had planned and then we begin to doubt God’s promises.

Take last night for example.  Our Easter Vigil was at 8 pm and I arrived at about 7:20 to find our parking lot half full of cars from parishoners from St. Pat’s.  I marched over there and went in the front door and asked to see one of the ushers.  When I was told that the ushers had disappeared, Father Hinds came up to me and I pointed out all the cars in our lot that belonged to his congregation of Roman Catholics.  He turned to me and said, ‘You will have to talk the Pope about that.” I said, “the Pope’s Easter Mass is broadcast around the world by satellite, but my people have no place to park.”  Nothing happened and I realized I had been looking for God to move in the wrong place.  Nothing works out as we plan when we begin to doubt God’s promises.

The angels ask the women at the tomb why they are seeking the living among the dead and then they remind them of Jesus’ words.  Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’  Jesus’ followers miss his point.  God wants us to understand his plan, but we look in the wrong place.  The one thing we think could never achieve God’s plan is exactly what God uses.  To the Jews, the idea of a king conquering through dying as a common criminal on a cross seems completely absurd. Kings conquered through conquest not suffering a shameful, barbaric death.

If you are faithful to serve despite the pain of your circumstance, like the women at the tomb, you will see the power of God materialize. It may not happen in your timing or how you want it.  I may never win my battle with Saint Pat’s. But God rewards those who are faithful by visiting them with His presence and power.  

Some of us are like Peter. They have a hard time believing in Easter. After finding the tomb empty, the woman went and told the apostles what they had seen. But at first the apostles scoff. Their words seemed as “idle tales.” How often do we react to what God does in the same way as the apostles did? God does something incredible, and we think it is impossible – a fairy tale. Is there anything too great for God? Has He oped out of the miracle business?

But they go and check the tomb for themselves. And when they discover it empty, they scratch their head wondering what happened. They know the tomb is empty. But their reason gets in the way making it hard for them to accept what they know to be true – God did the impossible.

Where is the power of God moving today? If you are having a hard time seeing God’s hand in your life, maybe you are looking in the wrong place. Maybe you need to look in the one place where you have given up. Maybe God is in the one thing that you think is a lost cause. When you look at God’s track record, you see that He loves to tackle the impossible and specializes in the business of bringing life to death. Expect a miracle.

 

  Amen