Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Easter 2024
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!
Yes, that’s what the young man said. He was dressed in white sitting in an empty tomb, like some lost refugee from a casting call for Saturday Night Fever, “He has been raised,” he said. Then, as if needing to state the obvious he adds, “He’s not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.” The three of us looked, and sure enough he was not there. But then, who is this young man in white? Is he the same young man who ran away from the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested? But he ran away naked – leaving his white robe behind. Who is this guy anyway? There we stood, three Marys: Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Mary Salome. We saw Joseph take him away. Place him in the burial chamber. Roll a large stone across the entrance. And now this. Someone had rolled away the stone. The chamber is empty except for this young man. Where is he, we wondered? Where did he go? Jesus!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!
Some call us Les saintes-maries-de-la-mer: The Three Maries of the Sea. We were the first witnesses of the resurrection. But just what did we see? Just an empty tomb. That’s it. The end of the story, according to Mark. But what does he know. He wasn’t there. We were, the three of us. The young man gave us a message to tell the disciples, and quote, “and Peter.” And Peter? Isn’t he one of the twelve? What does “and Peter” mean? Who was that young man dressed in white? Where have they put my Jesus? Our Jesus? We followed him all the way from Galilee. Pilate and the Romans had him killed. Afraid he would spark an insurrection. We went to do the customary ritual with the ointments. But he was missing. Gone? End of story?
Or, was it? Looking back at it, that morning after Shabbat
was just the beginning. We were scared, despite the usual angel’s assurance, “Do
not be afraid!” Easy for you to say, whoever you are. And where did you get
that new white outfit? The three of us were uncertain what to do next, what
with the Roman Centurions and their orders to round up the rest of Jesus’s Community
of God's love and shalom. God's Shalom of Justice and Peace and Healing for a
broken world. Tikkun Olam, he would say. Repair the World! As usual, at the
beginning of the troubles, the men ran off and hid. The three of us stayed to
watch. To make sure. To know just where they would put him so no one would
steal the body and say he never existed. And we wanted to perform the ritual
anointing. But now this. An empty tomb. What next?
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!
Why do you all keep saying that? The young man said, “It’s
‘He has been raised,’” not “he is risen.” It makes a difference. We knew
that. There is only one way that he could have been raised, and that was up on
that Roman Cross at the Place of the Skull. The three of us were there as well.
But once we saw that ‘he has been raised,’ we ran for our lives. And
Mark is right. We told no one. How the word got around, we don’t know. We kept
our mouths shut for fear of the Roman soldiers who were everywhere that
Passover. Pilate had ordered extra troops from Rome fearing an insurrection was
about to take place. Which was absurd. That’s not what Jesus taught us to do.
Put down your swords, he would say. Turn them into ploughshares, he would say.
He was always quoting Isaiah. Believe us when we tell you now, though. The tomb
was empty.
When our uncle Joseph found out, he too was scared for his
part in all of this. He hustled two of us onto his boat, and Mary Salome got
the Zebedee’s boat, and we sailed away to a sleepy little resort town on the
coast of France to get some rest and safety. We were all from fishing families.
And now we were to fish for people to join Jesus’s Community of God’s Love and
Shalom. We stayed there and began inviting people to join us in his Community
of God’s Love. We fished for people on the coast of France.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!
Jesus had told us it would be like this. That after three
days dead he would be raised from the dead. What he didn’t tell us is that
everything would be different. That things would not look or be the same. We
would only recognize him in the breaking of the bread. And it’s true. It’s as
if he is more present to us now than he was before the Cross and the tomb. He
tried to explain what had happened when he had been raised from the dead:
Two of the fingers on his right
hand
had been broken
so when he poured back into that
hand it surprised
him – it hurt him at first.
And the whole body was too small.
Imagine
the sky trying to fit into a tunnel carved into a hill.
He came into it two ways.
From the outside, as we step into a pair of pants.
And from the center – suddenly all
at once.
Then he felt himself awake in the
dark alone. [i]
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!
Now he is with us again! He had been raised! He is still with us to this day. Which means we have been raised with him. We just did not know it at first. It surprised us as much as it surprised him. Even more so since he had been expecting it would end this way all along. But, as I said, it was not the end at all. It was just the beginning. He had told us all along that we would do the things that he had done, “and greater things than these,” if we would only believe. Believe in him. And believe in ourselves. After all, it was the three of us and all the other women from Galilee who took care of him and the others until that morning we found the empty tomb. Then we knew it was time for us to take care of ourselves – and to reach out and take care of others whenever we can. Just as he had always done. None of us ever forgot that night he had washed our feet. Peter thought he was daft! But Peter finally got the message and helped us all to understand. We were to love one another, as had loved us.
Did you ever wonder just where the wind comes from? Or, the
spirit? Or, the colors of the sky when the sun rises and sets? He had taught us
what his friend and rabbi Hillel had taught him: If we did not take care of ourselves,
who would look out for us? And if we looked out only for ourselves, who are we?
And if not now, when?
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed, Alleluia!
I often remember the first time I met him at the well in the middle of the day. It was the first day of the rest of my life. I ran and told everyone that I had found someone who really knew me! And it’s funny, to have known him, and be known by him, makes every day like that day all over again. The tomb is still empty. You can keep looking for Jesus all you want. After a while, however, you will see the tomb is empty because he is always with you, wherever you go. Because he knows his work is never done. He will never be done with any of us. He will lead us to take a first step into his Father’s Kingdom – a kingdom not like any in this world! A kingdom where he will be with us, and we will be with one another forever. And ever. We, Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer have seen and experienced all of this, and we know that our testimony is true. He has been risen, and has been with us ever since. We have written all of this so that you too might come to know Jesus the way we know Jesus. He is alive! He is beside you here and now! Like us, become a part of his ongoing Community of God’s Love and Shalom for all!
Know, my sisters and brothers, there is a place in your heart where Jesus lives and calls you to do something beautiful in this world. Go forth with Christ, go into the world with Love. With Peace. With God’s Shalom! A Peace that passes all understanding! And you will discover what the three of us did that morning – the tomb is not empty once you take that first step in as we did. Step in with your whole self and you will know he is always at hand. Reach out and he will take your hand and lead you into a new day, a new world, a new way of being you. A new way of loving others. All others, as together we usher in His world of Love and Shalom! Shalom, my friends, shalom, my friends, shalom, shalom! Shalom my friends, shalom my friends, shalom, shalom!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed,
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed,
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen, indeed,
Alleluia!
And so are we!
And so are we!
[i] Howe, Marie, The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (W.W. Norton,
New York: 2008) p. 24
As one can see, this poem is by yet another Marie. Marie
Howe’s work is extraordinary, and much of it reflects on the life of faith.
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