Small Things

 SMALL THINGS – SUNDAY APRIL 20, 2025



Luke 24:1-12: “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went 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 the hands of 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.”

➖

Our Humanity is best seen in small things – like saying “Thank you” when somebody offers us a cup of coffee, or helping a stranger in the grocery store, or in the way we respect and treat our dead. So it is that on the first Easter Sunday we find Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women taking spices to a tomb to embalm the body of Jesus. They were out at “early dawn” because this had to be done, they wanted to do it, and it is the loving a respectful way to be.

The Resurrection of Jesus was bodily thing. When the women arrive at the tomb it was empty because Jesus did not just float away like some spirit, or a butterfly leaving its cocoon. No, Jesus walked out of the tomb, released by angels who rolled the stone away and asked the women why they were looking for “the living among the dead.” These angels thought the women should understand because Jesus had told them what would happen - but how can you prepare for such a thing?!

“Perplexed,” “terrified,” "unbelieving” and “amazed.” These are the words we find in our lesson today and they are the phases we humans journey through as God does new things in the midst of our everyday. Faith, you see, is not possible aside from the little things that make us human. It takes time to fully understand love.

In the days to follow his resurrection Jesus will show his disciples the nail holes in his resurrected hands and the wound in his resurrected side. Yes, he is a body. Yes, he is Jesus. Yes, he has not escaped, transcended, or floated away from the life we all know or the relationships we so value. And Jesus will eat breakfast with his disciples in the Gospel of John. He will break bead with his disciples in the Gospel of Luke.  Life is continuous, validated, embraced, important - all the more so because of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ Humanity is confirmed, not denied. Our Humanity if affirmed – and affirmed again and again through the little things we and the Resurrected Christ continue to engage in.

This is why the safe return of one man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, is so important to us. He has been wronged, purposefully or by accident we do not know. Still, he has rights and it is the Human thing to care for our neighbor. The test of the Resurrection is upon us.

This is why the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals just called for mutual respect between the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, because no one is served by name calling and power struggles. The test of the Resurrection is upon us.

And this is why absolutely everything in God’s Creation depends on diversity, respect, inclusion and equity. Because to be Human is to engage the other, in both small ways and large, in healing ways, in just ways, in caring ways – like bringing spices to the tomb of our Master and our friend. The Resurrection follows, affirms and empowers the little things in life. This we see with our own eyes and feel in our own heart.

So is the Resurrection of Jesus an “idle tale” or is it an echo of all God has done and is doing among us? 

With the Apostle Paul I believe that “If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins!” Yet, if indeed Christ has been raised then we are neither slaves to our brokenness nor unable to say when we are wrong or when it is time to change course.

Our Humanity is best seen in small things. Ultimately it is a Resurrection question to ask with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals “(If) the government has conceded that Abrego Garcia was wrongly or “mistakenly” deported, why then should it not make what was wrong, right?”

Indeed, why should we not? For Christ has risen. He has risen indeed!

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