What Are We Waiting For?

“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them”.

Psalm 126:1-6

Every stage of life comes with joy and sadness. In telling the Easter story, we experience both the darkness of Good Friday and the jubilation of the resurrection. The good news is Christ Jesus conquered sin and death for our sake. So, by accepting Christ as our savior are we finished? Even Jesus said, “It is finished”. So, after salvation or Justifying Grace, are we finished too? What are we waiting for? And what should we do while we wait?

We go to an unusual place for the Easter message today. It is 538 B.C. and both kingdoms of Israel, the Northern and Judah, has been captured. However, as foretold, God promised after 70 years Judah would return to their homeland. That day had come. A new king, King Cyrus, opened the gates of captivity and allowed the people to go home. [Ezra 1:1-8]

That’s good news! Right?

Not necessarily. They returned to a mess. Through time, assimilation, and other distractions only a remnant of the nation of Judah returned. And there was much work to be done. First, they had to rebuild the temple and the altar of the Lord. Secondly, they needed to grow food and become sustainable. The land and everything that had once thrived now lay in ruins. They faced an overwhelming job of restoration. This would take long hours of labor-intensive work in the hot sun. Preparing the soil, planting grapes for their vineyards and sowing wheat for bread. I can imagine severe calloused hands, aching backs and sore muscles. Also, after 70 years, they were surrounded by unfriendly neighbors.

To restore their homeland, would be an uphill journey. But-

There is no place like home.

And they were home. Their hope was that rain would come and the seeds would grow to produce a harvest.

It’s spring here in the Appalachian Mountains and we too are preparing our gardens in hopes of a harvest. We, like many others, realize the hard work that is done season to season. I can only imagine how much more work is needed to prepare land that has been neglected for 70 years. I’m sure it came with lots of emotions. Joy, sadness, pain, and feelings of being overwhelmed. Faith is a large part of growing any garden.

With life comes emotions. Some emotions are good, some not so good. The work of gardens is much like life journeys. Life journeys come with tears of sadness, tears of joy, tears of pain and tears of frustration. Jesus opens his arm and whispers to us, “Crying is allowed”.

This morning reading the Easter story, I feel for Mary who is desperate to find Jesus. She is so upset and crying so hard.

Even today we struggle to understand the Easter story. It is a mystery of faith. We believe Jesus rose again. However, if we are honest it is hard to fully comprehend. We recite the Easter story, but it challenges our understanding. Yet we still struggle with the meaning. In Christ’s death, we live?

Jesus’s is unpredictable. Throughout Jesus’ ministry he turned norms upside down. How often does he leave us, like the Disciples, scratching our heads saying, "Well, I didn’t see that coming."

If you were to interview the disciples, one thing would be unanimous: Life with Christ is never dull and never predictable. Things never turn out the way you expect.

In Ezekiel 37, would Ezekiel ever believe those dry whitewashed old bones would ever live?

I bet Ezekiel didn’t see that coming.

We might not know what the Prophets, or the Disciples actually thought, but we do know, like us, they are human.

So, we laugh with Sarah when she overhears that she will have a child in her late 90’s. Sitting around a kitchen table with other women, I can tell you:

If you tell a woman in her 70s, she will have a child. Her answer might be:

“Please, don’t let it be so.”

If you tell a woman in her 80s, she will have a child. Her answer might be:

“Impossible.”

If you tell a woman in her 90s, she will have a child. Her answer might be Sarah’s answer recorded in the scripture [Genesis 18:12]:

“Now, that’s just funny.”

We see ourselves with Moses at the burning bush debating God that he is the wrong leader. God basically says, “Moses, put your shoes back on, get Aaron and go to Egypt.

I can see the disciples’ shocked looks at Jesus who is at the well with a Samaritan woman. Did Jesus not get the memo that Jews are not to talk with a Samaritan? Not to mention to converse with a questionable Samaritan woman.

But Jesus is like that. He turns everything upside down. He pitches the norms and established laws out the window. He loves the unlovable, teaches the unteachable, and forgives the unforgivable.

And now, on this first Easter morning he dies… But He lives? We live because HE died for our sins.

We, like the remnants of Judah, feel at times we have impossible tasks. We look at the world and say, how can I do any good here? How can I make an impact? But Jesus is with us. He turns things around. He does the impossible. He amplifies the love and good of people. He takes those of us who “… sow with tears” and turn it around that we “reap with songs of joy.

So, what was happening on Easter morning? In part God knew we could not save ourselves. God knew we could not restore what we had destroyed in the garden of Eden. So, God created a plan for a NEW garden. A new way for us to enter a relationship with God. An eternal relationship and with it to experience the fullness of life. To experience God’s gift of laughter and playfulness in a new playground.

What are we waiting for?

Let’s move, let’s get out there and live! Go and enjoy life’s adventures with Jesus who is by our side. To dance, to rejoice. To love our life partners and to experience life with its highs and lows. To embrace the darkness of Good Friday and to rejoice on Easter morning. He has risen indeed. And now we are to rise. We are to run like Mary and tell the good news. In God’s plan He creates a new covenant where God, through Jesus, has already prepared the ground for us. All we need to do is believe in Jesus and that God raised Him from the dead. To believe and have faith. To experience His outpouring Spirit of mercy and grace. Why? Because he loves us. Let us be Easter people and never grow tired of telling the Easter story. The good news.

Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again.

Yes, Oh Happy Day,

Christ has risen. Christ Jesus has risen indeed.