2025.04.20 | Freedom to Move Forward
“Freedom to Move Forward”
Luke 24: 1-12
Preached by
Rev. Dr. Marvin Lance Wiser
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, CA
20 April 2025
This past week at Eden we have had a host of Holy Week activities, from a Palm Sunday protest parade to pruning our courtyard for the Easter egg hunt, to gathering around a sacred meal this past Thursday, to finally a guided Labyrinth meditation on Good Friday. Many thanks to the Estudio Bíblico for planning and leading our Maundy Thursday service around the greatest command and Jesus’ communion meal as portrayed in the Gospel of John, the feeding of the five thousand.
Muchas gracias al Estudio Bíblico por planificar y dirigir nuestro servicio del Jueves Santo en torno al mayor mandamiento y la cena de comunión de Jesús como se describe en el Evangelio según Juan, la alimentación de los cinco mil.
Yesterday, Holy Saturday was a time of liminality, a time to sit with the loss, to allow oneself to experience anguish and anger whether alone or in community. Many thousands were able to embody and vocalize just that in the streets yesterday. Today though we ponder Luke’s account of the empty tomb. Now, did anything peculiar stand out to you in this morning’s reading from Luke?
What about verse eleven? “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” The New English Translation reads, “But these words seemed like pure nonsense to them, and they did not believe them.” And the New International Version reads, “But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.”
Well. You mean to tell me that the male disciples discounted the women’s message? The very women who stood to lose the most, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them. Their truth-telling, sharing of good news, was met with skepticism, disbelief, ridicule.
Now doesn’t this still ring true today? Can I get an amen? When women warn or bear good news, that’s nonsense. Men gonna mansplain. I mean come on, it wasn’t until Peter got up and tested the veracity of the “idle tale” that nonsense transformed into amazement. Then Peter and Paul explain it all. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
Florence Nightingale promoted handwashing to the ridicule of male British military doctors. Nonsense.
Rachel Carson warned about the effects of DDT and pesticides while the chemical industry called her hysterical and unqualified. Nonsense.
Ida B. Wells was among the first to decry the state of lynchings in the South, while many white journalists said she was too radical. Nonsense.
Fannie Lou Hammer, spoke out about voter suppression and racial injustice, but the DNC in 1964 said ”nope.” Nonsense.
Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers with César Chávez and yet she is often sidelined in textbooks. Nonsense.
And just when it seemed that society was beginning to listen to women and rightly recognize their contributions, for example, giving credit to Rosalind Franklin in her role for discovering the double Helix, one of the twentieth century's greatest scientific discoveries, rather than Watson and Crick who took the Nobel Prize, we have the reversal of Roe v. Wade, we have the passing of the SAVE Act; backwards men try to take us all. “Of course the candidate is not going to do what the candidate says he will do. That’s nonsense,” many parroted. And so, here we are finding out, like Peter, jaws touching the floor. If we had only. . .
Yet Christ gives us the freedom to move forward, despite and inspite of all the atrocities that Friday and its aftermath throws at us. We have Saturday to breathe and grieve. And Sunday we rise, we break free. But we don’t get to Sunday without going through Friday and Saturday.
Ayer, el Sábado Santo representó un momento de transición, un espacio para enfrentar la pérdida, y el dolor. Hoy, al reflexionar sobre el relato de Lucas del sepulcro vacío, llama la atención cómo los discípulos varones no creyeron el testimonio de las mujeres —María Magdalena, Juana, María madre de Santiago y otras—descartándolo como un cuento sin sentido. Esta desvalorización de la voz femenina resuena aún hoy: desde Fannie Lou Hamer y Dolores Huerta, mujeres que hablaron verdades fueron ignoradas o ridiculizadas. Pero en la narrativa cristiana, después del dolor del viernes y la tristeza del sábado, llega la esperanza del domingo: un llamado a levantarse y seguir adelante con fe y resiliencia, y fueran las mujeres que compartieron esto.
Holy week is a time when we remember an innocent man part of a marginalized group who is arrested, given a sham trial without due process, and then violently executed by the state. To follow Jesus is to separate oneself from the masses decrying due process, and rather demand it.
This Good Friday just so happened to be the 250th anniversary of the ride of Paul Revere and the ringing of the bells in Old North Church, an Episcopal church in the North End of Boston, still active today. You might remember it for the saying, “One if by land, two if by sea.” Revere’s quote, “Let the warning ride forth once more: Tyranny is at our door,” was displayed across the outside of the church Friday night, as the constitutional crisis that so many warned of, and so many decried nonsense, is now at our door. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was abducted by the state and forcibly removed without due process, violating all of our constitutional rights. Since, other U.S. citizens have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s very simple, if the rights of non-citizens are not secure, then the rights of citizens are not secure. I implore us to see the freedom of others as part of our own freedom. It is due process, and due process alone, that allows one to demonstrate that they are a citizen. If all are not free, none truly are.
La Semana Santa nos recuerda la historia de un hombre inocente, perteneciente a un grupo marginado, que fue arrestado, juzgado sin garantías legales y ejecutado violentamente por el Estado. Seguir a Jesús implica no unirse al clamor popular que desprecia el debido proceso, sino exigirlo firmemente. El caso de Kilmar Abrego García, secuestrado y deportado por el Estado sin ver a un juez, representa una grave violación de derechos para todos. Cuando los derechos de los no ciudadanos no están garantizados, hasta los de los ciudadanos tampoco lo están. Si no todos somos libres, entonces nadie lo es realmente.
Like the Psalmist in Psalm 116, even when overcome by distress and sorrow, like that experienced on Friday and Saturday of Holy Week, we will lift up the cup of freedom and call upon the name of the Lord. Christ extends the cup of freedom, and at the communion table we replace sacrifice and scapegoating with loving neighbor as ourself. Empire, however, thought that it could snuff that out. We’ve seen this before. As the Preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us, there’s nothing new under the sun. Empire thought it could kill us, but it just buried seeds. As it turns out, Christianity was a mustard seed, spreading good news beyond empire, in both space and time, declaring freedom to move forward from all things tyrannical.
Como el salmista en el Salmo 116, incluso en medio de la angustia y el dolor —como los vividos el viernes y sábado de la Semana Santa— alzamos la copa de la libertad e invocamos el nombre del Señor. Cristo nos ofrece esa copa de libertad, y en la mesa de comunión sustituimos el sacrificio por el mandamiento de amar al prójimo como a uno mismo. Sin embargo, el imperio creyó que podía apagar esa luz. El imperio intentó destruirnos, pero solo sembró semillas. El cristianismo, como semilla de mostaza, creció y se extendió, proclamando libertad frente a toda forma de tiranía. Seguimos proclamando esa libertad hoy. Esta es la verdad: el amor siempre vence. Las fuerzas de la muerte y la destrucción no pueden contra la persistencia de la vida. Esta verdad nos rodea por todas partes. Mirar al caminar por la acera: el concreto que vertemos no puede contener al diente de león que brota buscando el sol. En la resurrección de Cristo encontramos la libertad de renovarnos. No importa si no tienes las palabras perfectas, ni importa tu raza, etnia, identidad de género u orientación sexual; si estás dispuesto a compartir la copa de la libertad y extenderla a otros—incluso a quienes no conoces—eres bienvenido aquí. Somos un pueblo de resurrección, que busca reconciliar relaciones rotas y poner en el centro el bienestar, la voz y la agencia de quienes han sido más marginados, exigiendo equidad y la justicia restaurativa.
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. This is the truth: love wins, each and every time. The forces of death and destruction are no match for the persistence of life. This truth is all around us. Behold the colorful perennials. As Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park says, “life always finds a way.” Just look outside the next time you are walking along the sidewalk. The concrete that we pour and set is no match for the dandelion that rises up with the beckoning of the sun. In a world of demagogues who would be that concrete over progress and ways forward, be a dandelion.
In Christ’s resurrection, we have the freedom to move forward. To rise anew. Those in power say that people with no power can never have power. Now that’s nonsense! When we keep sharing the Good News, and when we organize, we can change things. Dandelions unite! ¡Si sé puede! ¡Si sé puede!
So, I want to tell you, if you have been thinking, gee, I’m unsure if I belong here, I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to rise up, I'm still broken, I’ve got more mending and polishing to do. I want to say that you do belong. The resurrection doesn’t erase our past—it empowers our future. We move forward, not because everything is easy or already made whole, but because Christ goes before us. Easter invites us to rise, to leave behind the tombs of our despair, and step boldly into new life. No matter if you have all the right words to say, no matter your race, ethnicity, gender expression, sexual orientation, if you are willing to share in the cup of freedom and extend that for others, even those you don’t know, you are welcome here, part of this movement toward wholeness. Here all are valued, and we stand together, hand in hand, moving forward, even when the world wants us to stay stuck in Friday. We are a resurrection people, an Easter people, reconciling broken relationships, mitigating harm, and centering the wellbeing, voices, and agency of the least and most marginalized among us, demanding equity, due process, and restorative justice.
But you might say, “Pastor, I get resurrection, but what exactly does the word Easter mean?” The etymology or origin of the word “Easter” is Old English for the cardinal direction “east” also meaning “dawn.” So then, Easter is the dawning of something new, a new life, a new you. We might then consider Easter the beginning of a symbolic “new year,” a fresh renewed start. What would you like to move forward from, forward to? If you could leave something behind, what would it be? Easter did not just happen back then with the resurrection of Jesus, but it is also about what Christ is doing within us now; Easter is like the dawn, occurring daily. And so today, I invite you to take a moment and fill out the cards at the ends of the pews with your Eastertide New Life resolutions or intentions. I’m sure something will dawn on you. We’ll pray over them during our time of prayer today and then we invite you to take them home with you and place them where you can see them so that they can be a daily reminder to you of what is dawning within you this Eastertide. Yes, Eastertide, it’s a whole season, not a day, but 50, culminating in Pentecost, the dawning of the church itself.
La Pascua marca el comienzo de algo nuevo: una nueva vida. Podemos verla como un “año nuevo” simbólico, una oportunidad para un nuevo comienzo. ¿De qué te gustaría avanzar? ¿Qué te gustaría dejar atrás? La Pascua no es solo un acontecimiento del pasado con la resurrección de Jesús, sino también una obra continua de Cristo en nuestro interior; es como el amanecer, pasando día tras día. Por eso, hoy se te invita a tomar un momento para llenar las tarjetas al final de las bancas con tus propósitos o intenciones de Vida Nueva para este tiempo pascual. Oramos por ellas durante nuestro momento de oración y te invitamos a llevarlas contigo a casa, colocándolas en un lugar visible para que te recuerden cada día lo que está naciendo dentro de ti en esta Pascua.
Friends, today we woke up to an empty tomb, the linens that were used to bandage wounds were left behind. Freedom to move forward can be hard to imagine when you are faced with loss. But the invitation to do so is not nonsense. The women in today’s Scripture reading knew this in their bones, they persevered in both message and action. May we too leave the tombs that we have made for ourselves, leave behind our bandages, and persevere in our journeying with Christ toward healing and wholeness, individually and collectively. Amen.