The audacity
There’s a game, maybe you know it, it’s called Hitster. It was created in 2020 at the height of the pandemic by a group of Swedes in Stockholm. The goal of the game is to be the first to identify the decade a song was released based on a 20 second clip played on your phone. There are bonus points if you can name the title and artist. The songs span many different genres from the last 100 years.
Now, because it’s Easter, and at Easter, we have as much fun as possible, I have a couple of songs lined up. Here’s what I’d like you to do. Listen to the song (dance along if you like) and when you’re ready, turn to your neighbour and see if you can determine which decade the song was released.
Depeche Mode - 1980 - Just Can’t Get Enough
The Beatles - 1969 - Here Comes the Sun
Now, there’s a bible version of this game. It hasn’t been copyrighted yet; you’re hearing it here first. I’m going to read out a line from the Easter story, and I want you to see if you can correctly identify which gospel it comes from. Here are a couple of things that are going to help us out. Looking at the key that you picked up on your way into the service this morning, notice that there are four gospels, four books of the bible that talk about the life of Jesus: The Gospel of Matthew, The Gospel of Mark, The Gospel of Luke, and The Gospel of John. Second, each gospel tells the Easter story in a different way. Matthew is famous for the cinematic version — loud noises; dramatic entrances. Luke is your detective’s telling, your crime scene investigation: lots of questions, lots of recalling what evidence they’ve collected so far. Mark’s version of the Easter story is like if the resurrection was an Instagram reel. It’s super punchy. Short and sweet. Not a lot of fuss. John’s version is the personal, intimate version, where you really get to know the back stories of the characters, why they’re maybe reluctant to believe in Jesus’ resurrection.
Matthew - cinematic, grand entrances; Mark - short and sweet, little detail; Luke - recalling evidence gathered so far; John - emotional, personal, intimate.
Here’s your first excerpt, when you’re ready, turn to your neighbour and see if you can determine which gospel it comes from:
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. . . . [T]he men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.”
This is Luke.
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
This is John.
. . . he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. . . . After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. . . . Later he appeared to the eleven themselves . . .
This is Mark.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid . . .
This is Matthew.
It’s Matthew’s version of the Easter story that we have today. Earthquakes and lightning and guards falling to the ground. Then, an angel telling Mary Magdalene and another Mary who was there, too, “Do not be afraid.”
I love how the Mary’s interpret the angel’s words. It’s not like their shoulders relax and feeling that they can finally put their feet up, they put the kettle on and sit down for a cup of tea.
“They told us not to be afraid. Settle yourself, Mary. It’s all good.”
No; the scripture tells us they “left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy.” The adrenaline is pumping—but unlike the guards who became like dead men and fell to the ground, Mary and Mary turn their fear into fuel and high tail it out of there to go and tell the other disciples what’s happened. In the face of fear, they do not hesitate to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.
Izzy and Olivia - today is your baptism day. The instructions the angel gives to the Mary’s are instructions now given to you. Do not be afraid. In the face of fear, do not hesitate to share the good news of the resurrection. The instructions the angel gives to the Mary’s are the same instructions Jesus gives them moments later. Did you notice that? Mary and Mary meet Jesus on the road as they’re running from the tomb. They fall down and worship him, grabbing hold of his feet. But Jesus does not hesitate to keep them moving.
“Do not be afraid,” he says.
“Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
The same confidence Jesus had in the Mary’s, Jesus has in you, Izzy and Olivia. Anglican theology says that baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. God has already said that you are equipped and worthy and capable of bringing good news into this world based solely on who God has created you to be. Nothing and no one can change that. Your baptism today is a celebration of that indissoluble truth.
For the rest of us, well, our job is just to try and ride the coattails of these two incredible people. I’m speaking not only of Mary and Mary, but of Izzy and Olivia, too. As you may have seen in the news, Sarah Mullally was recently installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. In her sermon on the day of her installation, she said something that’s really stuck with me. She said, “May we have the audacity to believe in the promises of God.”
So, for the rest of us, as we celebrate the resurrection today with these outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, may we like Mary and Mary, may we like Izzy and Olivia, have the audacity to believe in the promises of God. Amen.
Photo credit: Jason Rajan