Luke 24:1-12

April 8, 2007

J.W. McNeill

[Luke 24:1] But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.

[Luke 24:2] They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

[Luke 24:3] but when they went in, they did not find the body.

[Luke 24:4] While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.

[Luke 24:5] The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

[Luke 24:6] Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,

[Luke 24:7] that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."

[Luke 24:8] Then they remembered his words,

[Luke 24:9] and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.

[Luke 24:10] Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.

[Luke 24:11] But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

[Luke 24:12] But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Our gospel lesson this morning begins with a surprising word. It begins with the word, But.

I believe that I was taught many years ago that it was poor phraseology to begin a sentence with the word, But or and. Luke and I apparently did not have the same language arts teacher. Mr. Racz would never have approved this writing of St. Luke on an essay turned into him. Mr. Racz was not a teacher of exceptions, he was a teacher of the rules.

For a time I was a teacher of logic. From a logical point of view, the words but and and have the same logical property. They are both conjunctions. They affirm the truth of both parts of the compound sentence.

If I say, Sally went to the playground but Jimmy went to the movies. That means the same – for the purposes of logic -- as Sally went to the playground and Jimmy went to the movies.

Yes, they may have the same logical properties, but we do not use them interchangeably. We use the word and when the usual thing or the expected thing or the regular thing happens. We use and when we want to simply say two things that are both true and occur together without being noteworthy.

On the other hand, we use the word but when we want to highlight or underline that something unexpected, unusual happened. It marks the fact that somehow what you thought was going to happen, does not or did not or will not happen. But is a word that reflects a contrast of some sort.

So if St. Luke starts out this passage with the world but we should have a look back at what happened previously. Something isn’t going to hang together here. Something is going to require some explanation or elaboration.

In the previous verses St. Luke is wrapping up the story of Jesus’ death and burial:

Luke reports that after Jesus dies on the cross,

[Luke 23:54] It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.

[Luke 23:55] The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid.

[Luke 23:56] Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

To some this rest might mean the end of the story. Yes, the ointments are prepared and there is some work to be done with a corpse, but that’s no story, that’s just an epilogue that wraps up a sad tale of an upstart preacher and healer who manages to alienate the rulers of his world by proclaiming that God’s steadfast love and mercy are to be the theme of this world, not injustice, revenge, and cruelty. It’s just some tag lines to a story that has come to a bad end, like so many stories we live through or hear from those around us.

Luke breaks this spell of inevitability with his arresting use of "but". The rest that was hinted at in the previous chapter now does not matter at all.

The disinterest and rest is broken as our story begins this morning.

On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment, but on the first day of the week they came to the tomb.

Rest time is over and the women are back at work. They go to face a hopeless task to care for an honored friend who is dead.

But…things were not as they expected to find them. The stone was rolled away from the tomb, that could be a good thing, because they needed access to the body, BUT – as Luke tells us – the tomb was empty. Jesus was not there.

In the 12 verses of our reading this morning, the word "but" occurs six times.

This conjunction – but – that defies our expectations of what is supposed to happen in this world, keeps showing up in Luke’s account to make us attend to the surprising reality embedded in our story this morning.

In fact this little word takes us back and forth in point of view. The matter is clearly not settled as Luke tells the story: there was this, but then there was that, but then there was this other.

And actually our reading this morning around the story of the empty tomb does not bring the matter to a conclusion for the disciples:

It goes back and forth. The women are frightened and don’t know what to make of the situation, but the divine messengers do not let them remain in fear. Jesus is not here, but he is risen. They remind them that Jesus had told them that he would be killed and would rise from the dead.

Now convinced that the power of God is again let loose in the world, the women run back to the eleven remaining disciples and the other followers and told them what had happened.

BUT… it seemed to the others an idle tale and they did not believe.These disciples are living in the world of the ordinary expected, the cynical, the jaded, those who cannot bear to live in hope for fear of being disappointed. Jesus’ life was unable to open them up to a new reality of possibility in which God’s power of steadfast love and victorious love would carry the day.

And after all, the others wonder if they can believe the testimony of women. It just might be that women who are on the outskirts of the world’s power structure to be open to the possibility that a new power is being let loose in the world. Ones who had encountered Jesus as an unexpected presence of openness to a different future, were perhaps quicker to embrace the emerging new reality. But, for that very reason were less trusted by those whose hearts were still captured by the old and bound by what they understood to be the finality of death.

BUT… Peter must go see for himself. This is not a matter to be left to speculation or argument or debate. He must see what has happened. Is the tomb empty or not?

But even his own eyes could not settle the matter. He goes home, amazed, but with no clarity as to how to engage the future.

So you see our reading this morning takes us only as far as but this and but that. It is a story that goes back and forth.

Now I sometimes wonder whether that is not the mode in which we live.

We might think of this way of life as, "Yes, but." This is a life of reservations -- not commitments. Our buts keep us from commitments.

So we might say, "Yes, this is a Bible story about new life and overcoming death, and the power of God, but I live in a world of practicalities that don’t leave a lot of room for these idealisms."

Yes, this story does move beyond the crucifixion, but it does not tell me what to do. What direction can there be for me?

Yes, I understand that the tomb was empty, but I don’t hear a positive message to lead me into tomorrow.

What can this mean for us? How do we get beyond Yes, but?

Luke does move beyond the but this and on the other hand, but that. The story moves beyond this stage of uncertainty when the followers of Jesus finally encounter the risen Christ and then become empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The reality or the non-reality of the stories of the empty tomb can land us in the back and forth of yes, but. But this, but that.

Logic does not just teach us about and and but. Logic moves toward the therefore!

Only as we open ourselves together to engage the risen Christ do we gain the hope, faith, and love to experience the reality of the power of God. Therefore, we entrust ourselves to God’s future.

Week by week, as we pray together, as we work together, as we engage one another in reading Scripture and praising God, as we share the Lord’s Supper, we begin to gain the eyes that see the reality of God at work in the world and one another. Therefore, we entrust ourselves to God’s future.

As we experiment with forgiveness and confession, as we expand our capacity to gracefully give and receive, we gain new ears to hear the melodies of God’s grace that echo throughout the world. Therefore, we entrust ourselves to God’s future.

The disciples lived themselves into their encounter with the risen Christ. They lived themselves into a life which embodied the teachings that they had heard from the master: teachings of justice and compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation, peace and vulnerability.

Therefore, the crucifixion was again defeated as the disciples came to live in themselves a life rich in the love and power of God.

Therefore, we, like them, can move beyond yes, but by embracing in our lives the life of Christ together. We can open our future to live the story of mercy and love that Christ lived.

Therefore our lives bring the reality of the resurrection into today.

God put the question to the world in Christ Jesus: Will you accept and receive, will you embrace the love and presence and peace I have to offer?

The world answered with the crucifixion.

God’s reply is: I am going to love you anyway. I am going to transform that very act of rebellion and rejection of me into your salvation. I want to rewrite every death story into a resurrection real life story.

Listen, says God: my story, your story, our story together, is not about retaliation, condemnation, getting ahead, or dominating others. It’s not about getting your own way or about shrinking back from the dreams of your true heart. It’s about living out my real life story.

Our story together is the real life story that takes us beyond "yes, but" to embrace the therefore of God’s blessing and goodness in faith, hope, and love. We embrace the life that Christ opens up before us as we encounter the risen Christ in our life together.

Therefore, let us entrust ourselves together to the abundance of God’s future on the journey toward wholeness and peace.