Something happened to me the other night.  I may have crossed yet another threshold into being old.  I was watching the news and saw a mall Easter Bunny and children sitting on his lap telling the Easter Bunny what they wanted for Easter.  The Easter Bunny just sat there.  I couldn’t see if he could speak or not.  Later in the same newscast as the weather was being predicted, I saw an Easter Bunny jumping up and down in the column for today’s weather.  Please don’t get me wrong.  I have always been a fan of the Easter Bunny.  He has brought me some of the best chocolates and hard-boiled eggs that I have ever tasted.  In fact, the Easter Bunny has already been by today and I am appreciative.  However, as I read Luke’s report of the initial responses to the resurrection, I have come to the conclusion that if this day of resurrection is reduced to a bunny that brings eggs, chocolates, and occasionally seasonal socks, we are simply settling.  We could do so much better. The Easter Bunny may bring a smile to your face, but the Risen Christ can bring life to your entire being.

Let’s just take a few moments to look at this Easter account from Luke and I think you will see what I mean.
 

The Easter Bunny may not make sense, but it doesn’t really perplex us.

There are some things I don’t get about the Easter Bunny.  The biggest thing is what a bunny rabbit, a cute, furry mammal, has to do with eggs that are typically limited to non-mammals (no offense to the duckbilled platypus or the spiny anteater).  While I can appreciate the difficulty that Santa has visiting every home in one night, at least he has a sleigh and eight or nine reindeer.  What does the Easter Bunny use for all the baskets and how does he even carry one?  Again, I don’t have anything against this benevolent leporid, but if that is all that Easter is for us, then I fear that we are settling.

The women went to the tomb that Sunday morning with spices for embalming.  William Arndt pondered about this in his commentary on this passage.  He wrote, “Even though the hopes that they had attached to Jesus as the Messiah were dashed to the ground, they still loved him.”  So they went to make his corpse as attractive and fragrant as their simple art could.  The stone, which was used to keep odors in and wild animals and grave robbers out, was moved away from the opening.  They went in, but saw no body in there.  Then Luke employed an interesting word that is used consistently in commentaries, as if it has no suitable synonyms, “they were perplexed.”  I looked up the Greek words which convey a sense of uncertainty or being at a loss.  I looked up the English word, “perplexed”, which is simply defined as, “filled with uncertainty, full of difficulty, to be entirely at a loss.”  So this is what they were feeling as they walked into the empty tomb – perplexed.

I received an email this week that challenged me.  It read, “In many ways, we are like the women coming to the grave that day.  They had heard the promise of Jesus that on the third day, the Son of Man would be raised from the dead by the Powers of God. They had heard his promise to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  They had heard Jesus teach, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will never die.”  Nevertheless, on that morning when they came to the grave, they came expecting death, did they not?  When they came that morning to the grave, in spite of all of Jesus’ promises, they came expecting death.  And I am suspicious that you and I are like those women.  Even though we have heard the promises of God…  we come to our graves, and like the women, we are expecting death.”

I would like to argue the point, but I am afraid it is true.  Come into the tomb with the women.  Look around.  Ponder its implications for your own mortality and experience what they experienced – they were perplexed.  There may be some things that we don’t understand about the Easter Bunny, but the resurrection perplexes.  Don’t settle this Easter, the Easter Bunny may bring a smile to your face, but the Risen Christ can bring life to your entire being.
 

The Easter Bunny may surprise you, but it doesn’t terrify.

Just as the women were deep in thought trying to piece it all together, two men appear before them in dazzling clothes.  The Greek word for “dazzling”, comes from the root word for “star”.  These are apparently angels who terrify the women.  One commentator pointed out that the tense of the verb for “terrified” is an aorist, while the tense of the verb for “bowing their faces” is present active indicative, which often refers to an ongoing action.  So they were scared at once, but every time they tried to look up they got scared all over again.

I like that the resurrection does this.  I’m not sure that there is anything that makes one feel more alive than being scared half to death – terrified.  I must have been in the fifth or sixth grade when I went camping with my friend, Robert.  I never went camping as a child, and not much since.  So, it was a new experience, with all the insecurities of unfamiliarity.  About six of us kids went for a walk in the night with our flashlights, looking for night crawlers, toads, and raccoons.  Robert’s brother, Donnie, was quite a ways ahead of us with a couple of his friends.  I heard them coming back before I saw them.  They were running towards us shouting at the top of their lungs.  I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, because they were all screaming at once.  So I pointed my flashlight in the direction of their voices.  My light landed squarely on Donnie’s face.  Do you know how scary it looks to have a flashlight on a face at night? Add to that fear factor, the contorted expression of a terrified boy who is screaming only one word now, “Wolf!”  I am 53 years old and happen to know that there are no wolves in Northwest Ohio.  But I was 11 then and my flashlight was focused on an expression of pure, convincing, contagious fear.  Oh yes, there was a wolf and I may not have been the fastest, but I was determined not to be the slowest.  I ran with sheer terror!  And I remember it like it was yesterday.

My guess is that if you have ever been terrified, you have not forgotten it.  And once we recover from the shock, we must admit that we have never felt more alive.  That’s why amusement parks can charge so much for their rides that keep climbing higher and dropping faster.  I know it sounds weird for me to wish you a terrifying Easter, but this day is too powerful for us to reduce it to a basket and some sweets.  When I look at this passage and sense the unsettling situation, I’m telling you there is life all over this place!  Don’t settle this Easter, the Easter Bunny may bring a smile to your face, but the Risen Christ can bring life to your entire being.
 

The Easter Bunny may bring a smile, but it doesn’t amaze.

Convinced of the resurrection, the women raced to find the apostles.  They shouted to them the ancient confession, “Christ is risen!” but instead of receiving a, “He is risen indeed!”  Luke reports, “The words seemed to them an idle tale.”  This word translated, “idle tale” is the Greek word, lēros, which is a word used to describe the wild talk of the sick in delirium.  This may indicate the level of energy used by the women to recount what just happened.  Peter was probably not convinced, but doing something always seemed better than doing nothing to this impetuous disciple.  He got up and ran to the tomb.  He stooped down, looked in, and saw the linens by themselves.  This would have eliminated the notion of a grave robber.  They would have certainly taken the linens.  Peter returned home (I love all the action verbs that Luke employed in verse 12), and Peter was amazed.  Other words used here are; astonished, in wonder, marveled.

Brian Wren wrote a beautiful Easter song in 1984.  It begins: “Christ is risen! Shout Hosanna! Celebrate this day of days! Christ is risen! Hush in wonder: all creation is amazed.”  Are you amazed today? 

Don’t settle this Easter, the Easter Bunny may bring a smile to your face, but the Risen Christ can bring life to your entire being.  There is nothing settling about this passage.  The risen Christ was yet to be seen, but the participants were sufficiently unsettled – perplexed, terrified, amazed.  I wish for you an unsettling Easter.  Amen.

I want us to sing this hymn of faith.  Be careful not to simply comply with the tune and words.  Read them and sing them with the conviction and animation of the women on the day of resurrection.  Let us stand:            

      Christ is risen! Shout Hosanna! Celebrate this day of days!

Christ is risen! Hush in wonder: all creation is amazed.
In the desert all-surrounding, see, a spreading tree has grown.
Healing leaves of grace abounding bring a taste of love unknown.

Christ is risen! Raise your spirits from the caverns of despair.
Walk with gladness in the morning. See what love can do and dare.
Drink the wine of resurrection, not a servant, but a friend.
Jesus is our strong companion. Joy and peace shall never end.

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven nevermore shall be the same.
Break the bread of new creation where the world is still in pain.
Tell its grim, demonic chorus: 'Christ is risen! Get you gone!'
God the First and Last is with us. Sing Hosanna everyone!