3rd Sunday of Easter/Year B

April 18, 2021

It's been a long year, as we continue to measure our days, in covid-19 times… And most recently…it’s felt like a really long winter…But just when we were lamenting about how many more snowy, rainy, cold days we would have to endure…spring made her surprising entrance into the world, and the sun has finally burst forth once again, as she always does...throughout all of the seasons of the year…

Sure, we always know spring will come, we know the flowers will bloom, we know the warmer days will return…we know that there will be sunny days again…..but somewhere along the way…we forget for a time…and we fall into a rut that spirals into all areas of our lives, that only sees clouds, darkness, barriers, no way forward, no signs of hope for an ending to such difficult times…as we’ve been experiencing this past year…

Then, right smack dab, in the midst of our wonderings and disbelief, we get a glimpse of joy… there is something or someone who shows up to open our hearts and our minds again to the new life that is slowly unfolding all around us…Right smack dab in the midst of our wonderings and disbelief, hope awakens in us, in the most surprising and unexpected ways…

On this 3rd Sunday of Easter, that someone I am thinking about is Jesus.

In today’s gospel, a similar story to what we heard last Sunday, Jesus startled the disciples who were gathered together on the day of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. They weren’t expecting to see him. He had died. They had been to the tomb. The stone had been rolled away. He was not there.

They were starting to hear stories from others who said they had seen Jesus, and that he was risen from the dead, just like he said he would. The others were not sure what to make of all these stories. Yet, right there, in the midst of one of the stories being shared, Jesus appears to his disciples.

There he was, standing among them, in the flesh and blood, telling them to look at his hands and his feet, he shows them his hands and his feet, and assures them that it is He, and not a ghost.

While in their joy, they were disbelieving and still wondering, Jesus said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Jesus showed up in “real time”…in a very personal way…in the midst of fear and grief and uncertainty…in the midst of a time when he probably knew how much his friends were needing to see a sign of hope, to hear a reminder of all that he told them before about God’s love for them, and the whole creation…to be reminded of all the compassionate love and healing that they had been witness to when Jesus was with them…

It only took a few words, Jesus’ presence, Jesus’ love poured out for them…a moment of joy in believing that it really was him, that gave them a glimmer of hope, that indeed God was about to show them a new thing…a new way forward…as proclaimed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus….

Jesus appears to all of us in real time, too….in the midst of a long and worrisome pandemic, in the midst of a long year of grief and sorrow, death and violence, and in the midst of so many changes happening all at once….Jesus appears to us in “real time” through the hearts and hands and feet of all of us who show up in each other’s lives, right in the midst of our wonderings and disbelief, our doubts and our darkest moments…

Right smack dab, in the midst of our wonderings and disbelief, we get a glimpse of joy… when someone shows up, with a heart full of God’s love, to open our hearts and our minds again to the new life that is slowly unfolding all around us…

Right smack dab in the midst of our wonderings and disbelief, the love and actions of a beloved sibling in Christ, has the power to awaken hope in us, and one another, in the most surprising and unexpected ways…

You know what else can awaken joy and hope in the most surprising and unexpected ways?

Springtime and sunny days in Sitka…

Just last weekend, and the entire week before, we had snow and rain and sleet and hail…we were in those days of wondering and lamenting about how many more snowy, rainy, cold days we would have to endure before spring would finally come….

I’ve been watching the crocuses in the see house garden the past few weeks, as they started to push their shoots up out the dirt, and eventually start to flower…the new flowers were persistently keeping their heads above the snow that kept falling here…no matter how much snow was falling on them the past couple weeks, the flowers kept growing, they kept their blooms above the snow….that gives me joy and hope….

Now, when I take my daily walks, I see all kinds of flowers blooming, I see birds scattered around on the ground, looking for worms, I hear them singing in the trees, I see the skunk cabbage growing, I’ve seen a few slugs already, I hear the stories of the bears coming out of their deep winter sleep, I see the fisherfolk gearing up for a busy spring and summer, I see and hear the laughter of children and families spending a lot more time outdoors, I see the whales, and hear the eagles overhead…

I see signs of Jesus’ resurrection all around me, in creation, and in the people, all around me….that gives me joy and hope in the most assuring, and surprising and unexpected ways….

On this 3rd Sunday of Easter and throughout the week… I invite you to think about all the surprising and unexpected ways, joy and hope have been awakened in your hearts in the midst of this past year….Where and when have you been witness to it, in your own life, and in someone else’s life or in creation?

And today, on this 3rd Sunday of Easter, this sunny, springtime day in Sitka (or wherever you are today), let us take time to celebrate with great joy and abiding hope, that Christ has arisen, Alleluia!

Hymn after sermon: Christ Has Arisen – (LEVS) 41

Christ has arisen, Alleluia.

Rejoice and praise Him, Alleluia.

For our Redeemer burst from the tomb,

Even from death dispelling its gloom.

Let us sing praise to Him with endless joy.

Death’s fearful sting He has come to destroy,

Our sin forgiving, Alleluia.

Jesus is living, Alleluia.

Rev Julie Platson

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK