Small conjunction; world-shaking message 

Rev Dr Phil Wall

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Reading:

Luke 24:1-12 New Revised Standard Version

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So here we are – Easter Sunday – the day we gather around the empty tomb and declare that Jesus is risen! This year, our journey here took us along the way of sorrows via the stations of the cross – these powerful paintings by Sieger Koder that tell the story of Jesus’ path to Calvary. Each evening, we paused and prayed by a different painting and as we began our journey on Monday, we looked at Jesus being condemned by Pilate and reflected on the power of words. We remembered the wartime poster which told us ‘Careless talk costs lives’ and suggested that this was just as true today as it was 80 years ago and we partnered this with the words of Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister who, at a memorial service for the 50 women, men and children who were mown down in a place of prayer last month, remarked – ‘We each hold power…in our actions and in our words’.

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Words do matter. A single word can change a life…as those of you who might have uttered ‘yes’…or even ‘no’…to a partner on bended knee can testify. A single word can change the course of a country or even the world…from Obama’s presidential ‘Hope’ to Rosa Park’s emphatic ‘no’. A single word can convey so much truth…as Kipling’s beloved ‘If’ attests; whilst the absence of a single word can change the whole meaning of a text…such as in the infamous ‘Sinner’s Bible’ – the 1631 print that omitted the word ‘not’ from the commandment – ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’!

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Well, this morning, I invite us to reflect on a single word which is central to the magnificent message of today. A three-letter word that can sound a little amusing yet can actually turn the world on its head and that appears six times in our twelve-verse reading this morning…the word…that’s right…

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But!

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But…a short word which is so significant that you’ll find it has a central place in humankind’s greatest orations – from the Tilbury speech to the Gettysburg address; from Gandhi resisting to Martin Luther King dreaming. But…a short word that inspired the play ‘Everything before the but is a lie’; a more colourful version of which is spoken by the hero Jon Snow for you Game of Thrones fans. But…a word with which I was taught never to start a sentence…which is exactly what the gospel writer Luke does in our passage.

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You see, the story that Luke tells in what is now chapter 23 of his gospel account is one of desolation, depravity and death. Jesus is condemned; Jesus is crucified; Jesus is buried in a tomb. Some women from Galilee see his burial place, prepare the oils of anointment and leave for Sabbath rest. This was meant to be the conclusion of the story. Jesus’ Endgame. The Empire’s system of domination had triumphed again; the religious leaders had won, for the troublemaker from Galilee is dead; the dream of a better world is over; the rest is silence.

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And it’s into this abyss of despair that God whispers the word ‘But’. Above the clamour of the military machine, the din of Temple business, the cries of those who shouted crucify…God utters the word ‘But’ as the resting women enter the dawn scene, stage left…as the very first verse of chapter 24 tells us –

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‘But very early on Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared’.

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As world-changing lines go…’women go to graveyard with spices’ might not feel like a game-changer, yet after all the horrors of the previous chapter, we hit that word – ‘But’…and the faintest glimmer of hope pierces the darkness. Luke, the expert storyteller continues…

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“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb…BUT when they went in, they did not find the body.”

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Now we’re really getting somewhere…the women have gone to the tomb with the things they need to anoint Jesus’ body…and they discover that the stone has been rolled away…and then when they summon enough courage to go in, the body of their friend and leader is nowhere to be seen! What the actual?! Luke dares us to read on…

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While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 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…”

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Okay. So by now, your mind should be sufficiently blown…2 Buts in 2 sentences…nice work Luke…the first suggests that the grieving women shouldn’t be scared by the fact that the enormous stone has miraculously been rolled away, their friend’s body is nowhere to be seen and suddenly two messengers in fluorescent fabric have just turned up unannounced, as they do, and just when we’re trying to get our heads around that, Luke hits us with big one – the but to end all buts – ‘He is not here BUT has risen’!

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And this is the part where I thought about ending the sermon short…but don’t get excited, it’s not going to happen! Though I truly did wrestle with any language that could possibly follow that statement. Which words can come after the revelation that the God-with-us is not to be found in the tomb BUT has risen? Which words can do justice to the news that Jesus is alive?!

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Well, as the women try to come to terms with the words they’ve heard, the messengers remind them of how Jesus told them that this was to happen and when Jesus himself meets up with two of the other disciples later that day, he unpacks the stories of old and shows them how God’s plan was always going to lead to this day of joy and wonder; how God’s love story is littered with the word ‘but’.

Go to the first book of the Bible and the seminal story of Noah and the arc, for example. Flood stories in the Ancient Near East were two a penny and a common way of explaining natural phenomena: waters cover land; people and crops destroyed; the gods must be angry. Well the story of Noah story starts like all the others, with divine judgment and a flood…only this time, there’s a twist in the tale.

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At the end of Genesis chapter 7 we hear that the waters swelled on the Earth for one hundred and fifty days…and then, first verse of chapter 8 rings out –

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“BUT God remembered Noah and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the Earth and the waters subsided.”

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Whilst the other religious traditions describe an angry god who treats people as playthings, this small group of travelling Hebrews describe a God who remembers and cares for people and wildlife; who is for the world and makes the waters subside; who even makes the promise that this dominant detached deity thing is over and instead, we are invited into a new, radical relationship with God.

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Then there are the buts of the prophets (okay…you can laugh at that one!). Throughout the prophetic literature, God reveals that the world’s ways are not God’s ways. Nehemiah chapter 9, for example, reminds us that even when we forget God, God never forgets us…

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‘Our ancestors did not obey your commandments,’ we’re told, ‘they were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt…BUT you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.’

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Amazing! So human disobedience, ingratitude and a willingness to be enslaved is met with divine love, forgiveness, grace and mercy. Wowser…and how about God’s words in Amos where we’re told that God’s understanding of religious practices can be remarkably different to ours…

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Take away from me the noise of your songs,” God says.
“I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
BUT let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

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Time and time again, the God of the Hebrew Testament confounds expectations, shakes up society and breaks down human made barriers to love with a simple, divine ‘But…’. So it should come as no surprise that when God takes on flesh and dwells among us, his teaching does the same…

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“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ BUT I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

 

“With mortals salvation is impossible…BUT with God, all things are possible.”

‘The Temple system might tell women, children, the disabled, the unclean, the foreign, the other to stay away from God’s house BUT I say let the children come to me; let the weary come to me; let the sex workers and tax collectors, the marginalized and oppressed, the powerful and the poor come to me and together, we will get God’s party started!’

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The whole story of God, from creation to Christ; Noah to the New World all comes back to that one short, powerful word – BUT. And it still does today…

Christ is not here BUT he has risen.

The Empire tells you that life is cheap and easily discarded BUT God takes on flesh and blood, sanctifies it and redeems the world through it.

The religious authorities might try to silence the marginalized, the oppressed, the invisible BUT God vows that the stolen voices will be heard.

The media tell you that your worth comes from your looks, your bank account, your possessions BUT God says you are wonderfully made, valued and loved as you are.

The morning newspapers tells you that, from Sri Lanka to our cities’ streets, we’re stuck in an endless cycle of violence and vengeance BUT God offers us as path to peace and shows us that divine love, not human violence, will have the last word.

Our political leaders say let’s build bigger walls, pull up the drawbridge, cling to austerity BUT God says let’s build bridges, welcome the stranger, find joy in abundance.

You might fear that that you are stuck in grief or illness, stuck in a rut or a dead end job, stuck in a forgotten place or in a pit from which you can never imagine escaping BUT God says that no situation is beyond redemption, not person should be without hope and that nothing today or tomorrow, imaginable or unthinkable, in life or even in death can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ our Saviour!

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‘We each hold power,’ Jacinda Ardern said, ‘in our actions and in our words’. Well today, our power is heard in words of eternal life; words of wonder; words heralding the risen Christ. So may we be a community who isn’t afraid to live out the BUT of the gospel; may we be a people who shine bright with a message of good news of great joy for all people; may we be a church who gives thanks to the God who took on our hatred, our violence, our darkness BUT who responded then as now, with love, life and light. To God be the glory! Amen.