“Nonsense”

People of different races and languages celebrating an Easter sunrise service on a cold April morning by Lake Michigan's shore in Chicago? Seems like a whole lot of nonsense...

An Easter Pastoral Reflection
By Magdalena I. García

Luke 24:1-12
New Revised Standard Version
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 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. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 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.

Three men were hiking through a forest
when they came upon a large, raging, violent river.
Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed:
“God, please give me the strength to cross the river.”
Poof! ... God gave him big arms and strong legs,
and he was able to swim across in about two hours,
having almost drowned twice.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed:
“God, please give me strength AND THE TOOLS to cross the river.”
Poof! ... God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs,
and he was able to row across in about an hour
after almost capsizing once.

Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed:
“God, please give me the strength, the tools
AND THE INTELLIGENCE to cross the river.”
Poof! ... He was turned into a woman!
She checked the map, hiked one hundred yards upstream,
and walked across the bridge.

Alright, I know it’s a sexist yoke.
And you did not come to church on Easter Sunday (of all days)
to hear a woman preacher tell sexist jokes.
But in light of all the bad press women get,
we need more jokes like this one,
that challenge the well-established notion
that all women are dumb blonds or crazy fools,
like Jesus female disciples,
who are said to run around talking nonsense!

What’s your opinion of women,
and especially of women disciples!

For many people, the Easter story is indeed a bunch of nonsense.
Even Christians at times aren’t so sure about this resurrection stuff.
The early disciples themselves were confused and incredulous.
Each of the four Gospels offers us
a slightly different version of the resurrection story,
but they all share some element of fear and disbelief.
For example...

Matthew 28
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb. There is a strong earthquake, the guards shook from fear and fell down. The angel said to the women, “Jesus isn’t here! God has raised him to life. Hurry! Tell his disciples.” The women were frightened, as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples, perhaps thinking to themselves that this was all a bunch of...nonsense!

Mark 16
Mary Magdalene, Salome and Mary the Mother of James go to the tomb early Sunday morning with spices to put on Jesus’ body. Inside the tomb they find a young man in a white robe. The angel tells them Jesus is risen, but they ran from the tomb, confused and shaking all over. Later on, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. She told his friends, but they would not believe it. Nonsense!, they must have thought.

John 20
Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, finds the stone rolled away, goes off and tells Peter and the other beloved disciple, and they all go to see the empty tomb, but the text says the disciples went home. Nonsense!, they must have thought.

Luke 24
And in today’s reading we already know what happens: Mary Magdalene and the other women return from the tomb tell the eleven and the other disciples what had happened. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. Nonsense!, they must have thought. Only Peter, to his credit, got up and ran to the tomb to see what was going on...perhaps taking the women half seriously.

A bunch of nonsense.
That’s all the Easter story is for a whole lot of people,
and that’s because they want a scientific proof for the resurrection.
But you and I both know that the Gospels and the Bible
are neither news reports nor science textbooks.
The Gospels and the Bible
are the testimony of a faith community,
and they reveal their spiritual journey and life in common.
It is a narrative that resonates with our own faith journey.

Besides, are we so naïve as to believe
that only the things that can be proven scientifically are real?
Of course not!
The most important and meaningful aspects of our lives,
have nothing to do with scientific proof,
but they are very real!

So I think the reading from Luke encourages all of us
to put aside the quest for the scientific proof,
and to perhaps think about these two insights:

FIRST
The experiences and truths that result
from OUR faith journey
need to be honored and shared,
because they have the potential
to give life and to transform the world,
even if OTHERS consider them nonsense!

SECONDLY
The experiences and truths that result
from the faith journeys of OTHERS
need to be honored and shared,
because they have the potential
to give life and to transform the world,
even if WE consider them nonsense!

The pages of human history are full of events
that were at one time considered nonsense.
Who would have believed...
that we could one day fly? Nonsense!
that we could land on the moon? Nonsense!
that slaves would be free? Nonsense!
that women would vote? Nonsense!
that the Civil Rights Movement would succeed? Nonsense!
that the Berlin wall would fall? Nonsense!
that South Africa would be racially integrated? Nonsense!

And you bet that the people who dared imagine such wild things
were, in their time, said to be speaking nonsense!

So who might be the ones who, in our day,
are said to be speaking nonsense?
Perhaps those advocating for gay rights.
Perhaps those advocating for immigration reform.
Perhaps those advocating for healthcare reform.
(guess what?, it passed!)
Perhaps the Ladies in White who are marching in Cuba
demanding that their loved ones—husbands, boyfriends and sons—
be freed from political imprisonment,
where they were thrown for the simple crime
of having their own opinion.

But praise God for all the fools—all God’s fools—
who believed in such nonsense,
and who lived and worked to see them become reality!

May you and I be blessed with the honor of being accused
of speaking nonsense on behalf of the Living Christ.
May you and I be blessed with the honor of being accused
giving ear to the nonsense
that others speak as part of their witness to the Living Christ.
Because this kind of nonsense
can indeed transform our lives and the world.

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“He who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either…”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer