A TIME TO. WEEP AND A TIME “TO LAUGH
April 19,°1987, 9:00 a.m. and 11:00’a.m.. Worship Service
John M.. Buchanan
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago
Scripture
Isaiah 25:6-9
John .20:1-18 -:
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whor do you. seek?"

~-John: 20:15. (RSV)

"For everything there is a season, and a time for. every matter ander.

-heaven" the ‘preacher of antiquity: taught. -

sav time:to-be born and a-time to:-die.
a time ‘to plant and-a time.to pluck-up. what is - planted...
a time to weep-and a time to laugh.": :

It was.a time to weep for the devastated followers of. Jesus of
Nazareth...'For three years the dream had lived. -For :three years a:small
group of them had followed him,. around Galilee mostly.... They had. watched
and then helped as Jesus of: Nazareth taught.-in synagogues and healed the
sick. :

As they: watched and helped they had experienceda new reason for”
living: - their own lives bepan-to make more sense,..they found that they.
were being healed. and. made. whole as. ‘they. participated-in- the new -life lived
by Jesus.: -At first, skeptical, they: had-come:.to believe that..what.he said:
was the truth, and. tentatively: at/first, .but.-then with: growing: conviction;
they had ‘experimented: with it: They had -actually:tried.to-forgive.one
another. They had actually tried-to serve one another. They had actually
put into practice some of. his more unlikely suggestions: for instance -
“it's happier..to give ‘than to receive." > And.-it--had worked! It was true!
They were-becoming new people....The.more they did -it, .the-more-natural. it.
felt... It was almost as if. their old personalities: had-died and that they:
had become: new..people.

_ They laughed a- lot... They Jaughed .in..the way conly-those who are -free
from pretense, from. self-consciousness.and:.from:fear, are:able -to laugh...
They laughed at the funny things .that. happened,:at. amusing anecdotes: he
shared with .them,.and at. the sheer, rich goodness of -their experience...
They laughed easily. because. out of .their relationship with him they had
come to understand that God - the mysterious, majéstic, holy Lord. whose
name they did not even say out loud, had a human: face, a face that looked
like a parent, a face quite capable of smiling and laughing.

They were becoming new people. They liked what they were becoming.
Some of them had changed gradually. Some of them argued with him everyday.
“Turn the other cheek?... Blessed are the poor in spirit...?” You've got to
be kidding: And some of them had come to him with no strength left to
argue, with the life beaten. out of them. Some had come to him out of need
so utterly desperate that ‘change ‘was radical. Mary Magdalene was one of
them. ‘fradition has -tried.on occasion to make her out to be a reformed
prostitute. There is no evidence for that other than the fact that
Magdala, her home, was a wide-open seaport which had a thriving
prostitution business. “What we do know about Mary is that she had changed
radically. She was made well, healed from a condition her contemporaries
knew as demon possession and which we might call psychosis, severe
emotional disorder. People used to be afraid of her, stayed clear of her,
never -came near her, in fact. In the company of Jesus of Nazareth she had
become whole. A miracle had happened. In the love and acceptance and
strength of this man and the company’of-his friends,: the old self. had died
and a new person had been born.

And so when he decided to go to Jerusalem for the Passover, and his
friends. began to object and: seemed actually to:drag their feet and fall
behind on the way to the city, she stayed withshim.: And when the-worst
thing that could happen began to happen - as the authorities made their
move. and arranged for his. arrest.‘on: trumped-up:charges including. a night—
time trial and a public humiliation,: and:as the others shrank back .further
from him, one by one, abandoning him: to: what appeared:ito be his. fate - she
stayed with him. And as he was executed at mid-day in the bright glare of
the merciless sun‘in full) view of soldiers and’ jeering, laughing. onlookers,
she —-alone — with his mother and.a few other: women, stayed with him.

“A -Yot. more than Jesus of Nazareth died on’ that Friday afternoon.
What do you make of the blessedness of the meek, of turning the other
cheek, of the proposed happiness of giving rather than getting,. when the
one who:said it :ends up on’ a-cross? ~-A lot’ more than Jesus died: that
afternoon. What do you make of his’suggestion that you love one another so
the worid will know who-you are when nothing could be:clearer than that the
world: doesn't give a damn, frankly; about who you are or who he is. What do
you make of it - when the whole: wonderful dream simply disappears as if it
never existed and the harsh realities of life impose themselves: in the: form
of-a Pontius Pilate, and. a screaming mob and a crucifixion.

There is-a time to weep and.a time to laugh. “And this was weeping
time. She came alone to the place where he was buried. The sun was not up
yet. It was that gray paleness before dawn when seeing is difficult and
shapes can be mistaken. She came to weep. As the light increased she
noticed that the tomb was open. She looked in. The body was gone. . She
ran’ to report it to his: friends, John and Peter: John and Peter ran to the
tomb and confirmed it. .The body was gone. -Mary returned to the place:of
burial and resumed her-weeping. A man she assumed was a gardener was
there,..She asked a logical question. “Where: have. you taken: him?" ”> He
said,"Mary:" -She recognized him as Jesus, now alive. She tried -to-hold
him. He told:her not to cling to him, but: to-go to the ethers which she
‘did. She said, "I have-seen the Lord." wo en

And the laughter began. Her laughter because his truth was. true.

4~19-87

His truth had met the harshness: and unbelievable. cruelty of the worid>*and..:
was victorious. It. was not naive foolishness. It was true... And. for, her
it meant: that the new person she had become was the real’ person... The
laughter: began. because. something had transpired so utterly unexpected,:so
utterly astonishing, that the only thing left.to:do was laugh.. The.
laughter began because death had-been defeated...

And we are rendered speechless. Ralph Waldo Emerson: said somewhere:
that when people begin to talk about immortality they automatically start
to quote other people. It is.because the topic is so huge, so astonishing,
so outside the realm of the believable that. with no little desperation we
iook around:for some company,-for some-assurance :-that-.we: have ‘not
altogether ‘taken leave of.our-senses in actually contemplating ‘the: truth of
this suggestion. °-So here is‘a fresh one from.this week's Christian
Century. Ursula Niebuhr, widow of the late Reinhold: Niebuhr, after his
death in-1971, wrote Easter Letters to him full of reminiscence and lots -of
witty integrity. Ursula, it turns out -was- a bit of: a:skeptic... In-a-
charming reflection on Easter: morning at Riverside Church in New York.:.:
"engulfed :-by throngs: of avid: church goers, all: dressed -up:for: the:
occasion," she:remembers- screwing up her..courage ‘and expressing her doubts:
to Harry Emerson Fosdick, the popular preacher: at Riverside: and a friend-of
the -Niebuhrs'.*.. To her surprise, Fosdick .shared = with her the problem.of
trying.to:preach on Easter, of trying to:.say something sensible about -it::
And she remembers fondly :what Niebuhr, the distinguished. theologian said:
“Why don't we let the liturgy take care of what.-we°want to say and cannot -
say?. It's°better to sing thesé hopes, especially “if you’.don't understand
what is being sung." [Christian Century, 4/15/87, P. 357]

What. the Christian Church has been shouting and laughing about.on
Easter morning: for: these 1,900 plus years may °not, Niebuhr-realized;. “be
able to be understood objectively. ~The resurrection does not yield easily
to scientific. analysis...-It cannot, that: is to say, be proved... The: camera:
man wasn't there and the New:Testament is absolutely silent on the subject
of what actually happened. . Those who come to church-on Easter’ morning.
hoping this time to hear a water-tight case which will demonstrate beyond
any doubt that Jesus rose from his grave and that:-we:can know that in the
same way we can know that the grass in green-and. the: daffodils are-blooming
- will be. disappointed. The debate has gone on’ for-twenty centuries and
will go on.forever. It is not going to be proved... -The most ‘sophisticated
analysis of the Shroud of Turin will not prove it... I am always amused to
be reminded that. one of the-early church fathers, Tertullian, poked gentle
fun at one of the first. objective explanations:of? the empty tomb, namely
that the gardener moved the body because he feared the crowds of. people
would trample his. cabbages: :

It. is helpful to hear from the New Testament accounts that what.
objective data the friends of Jesus had wasn't persuasive. The empty. tomb
didn't persuade them at all. Mary locked right at him and didn't recognize
him. .The- reality of this-matter,> the truth of ‘the: Resurrection, is going
to make: its case at-some other level, that is to -say.. It is: when it gets
personal:: when Jesus calls her name:. when-the Risen Christ shows up in
the context of life, that Mary ‘believes.

That. is how it should be. - What, the Christian Church is shouting and

ae)

| 4-19-87

laughing about on Easter morning is-not essentially.an event: that happened
twenty centuries ago.. It is about“a reality in-our world; our time, our
lives:°:a Christ, risen and present:and. powerfully, redemptively,::at: work
inthe: world. -We laugh. and. shout. because resurrection keeps happening.
"Don't cling to me, Mary," he, said which surely: means = don't celebrate.
Easter at all - if it-is only the sentimental anniversary. of an:event’ that
happened long ago. Easter is.a time to laugh, because it celebrates a
reality-which | Keeps happening inthe: life of the world...-Jesus Christ is
alive: EY

“There -is,;: after all, plenty.of reason to::weep. Part: of what the©.
Christian: faith. announces on: Easter-weekeend*is the reality of evil.
William Willimon, preacher to: the: University.at:Duke,: suggests: that::there
ought. to be a sign. out front. ‘of: every. church on-Easter morning::which reads,
"No one gets.in who. wasn't: here Friday." “And:while he doesn't mean: that:
seriously,:.nor -do--1,what we do mean. is thatthe Resurrection. of: Jesus
makes sense and: has power only. in light: ofthe’ crucifixion of Jesus. What
we do mean is that Easter is not about human: immortality: and. the loveliness
of. the soul.and:- beautiful flowers blooming in*the-springtime. For those of

uswho: live in the northern hemisphere: the confluence: of spring ‘flowers and
the Resurrection-is a happy but. essentially irrelevant: coincidence. | What
Easter remembers first is that. the world has a:way of crucifying its best:
that» reality is: not. always cheerful..and..pleasant: >: that the-life span-of
idealism in history is: astonishingly brief, that: tragedy comes to everyone
of-us.. What. Easter celebrates is that. it isin the: middle of evil that
resurrection happens: that. facing death. squarely. in.:the face, Jesus Christ
lives. “If it won't.preach in a:cancer ward.or in a shoddy nursing home,
it isn't: Gospel," .someone observed.

There are plenty. of reasons to weep. -One-.of. them: is that’ to-be human

‘is:to:know about the power-of. death. . Every death: is.a:reminder of ‘our own..

The poets Know that. and say it when we: cannot: bring ourselves to. say it.
Gerard: Manly. Hopkins: -

“Margaret,..are you grieving

‘Over Goldengrove. unleaving?...
It-is:the blight man ‘was born for,
-Et.-is-Margaret you mourn: for.”

oe There is a delightful Carlyle Marney vignette about. the futility of
discussing the Resurrection with young. people..

"I will not discuss that with people like you,"-Marney said toa
college audience. "EI never discuss such matters with anyone under. thirty."

"Why?" a student .asked.

"Look at you," said Marney, “prime of life, potent, never: have known
honest--to-God failure, heartburn, impotency, solid defeat; brick walis,
mortality. - Sa what-in God's name can you. know.of a-dark world which-only
makes sense if Christ is raised?” [See William Willimon.. On A Wild and
Windy Mountain, p. 90]

4-19-97

egeaeth

I find that theological quandary posed with great skill in Woody
Allen's: deceptively simple movies. - Throughout. them all. Allen poses -the
question: with great integrity - "How can we laugh when there are so many
reasons for weeping?” And when you do laugh in a Woody. Allen movie itis
frequently because you recognize the melancholy, the poignant sadness even
in the laughing. —

Tt is as.old as our humanity. .Someone tells.us that the power of...
death is not. the final power... There is a "veil-.spread over all nations”
Isaiah, the prophet, observed. “Tell us, please,".the entire human family
has asked, “that there will be a great feast, that death will be swallowed
up and the tears on every faee will be wiped away."

Tellus please -:> show us°= as. the Psalmist-promises. that....

“Weeping may tarry for the night
but joy comes in the morning."

Dear God, turn our mourning into dancing.

What. the Christian Church has been shouting and sometimes whispering
for twenty centuries is that there is reason: ..that death did not hold.
God's son: that evil did the best it could and: it-wasn't enough... What the
Christian Church has been saying on Easter morning for more than 1,900
years and what. I respectfully proclaim to you on-this Easter morning;:-is
that Jesus Christ rose from death. Whoever you are, wherever you. are on
your pilgrimage, whatever the status of your religious experience - whether
you come to church every Sunday because every Sunday is: the day of
resurrection - or whether you come only on this day - to try one more time
to believe what alludes you the rest of the-year:... whoever you are. and
wherever you are... what I proclaim to you is that.it is time to laugh, and
though you will weep again, .though evil and tragedy and death will-happen
in the world and in your life - something else has happened, which is. more
powerful, more real, namely the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What. I] proclaim to you.is that the power. of death in the: worlid-has
been broken, and that while it may appear that the: world still does not
care about love and justice, mercy and compassion, and sometimes even
crucifies those who seriously advocate and work for their establishment,
nevertheless, the power of :evil has been broken.

Desmond Tutu bears witness to that truth. In his country. —- the
government is keeping in prison ~ without trial; hearing or due process,
25,000 of its own. citizens, many of them children; There has been an...
international] clamor. . And:so the government last. week said it is illegal
to object to that incarceration of these children:..to.wear t-shirts,
bumper stickers, to talk abont it and it is an act of treason to encourage
protest. Bishop Tutu's response was to call a prayer meeting to do. just
that... He knows that Christ is-risen and that the power. of evil.-is
broken. ;

What I proclaim to you is that the power of death in your life has
been broken, and thal those you have had to give up to death, have died in
the Lord, and are safe in God's eternal love.

a

4-19-87 _

What I proclaim-to you is. that nothing will separate you from: God's
love: net- even your’ death, ‘and -so “you are free = and you: may laugh’ the laugh
of those who know they -are-free. ;

- What I proclaim to you is that Jesus Christ is. alive and present in
the world and in your life.-And that while you may net ever be able to
prove that:-to the satisfaction of -your own: intellect.let: alone: anyone
else's;1/ proclaim to you*that the risen’ Christ.will> call yeu by name and
that -in the: modest, mundane context of your life: the Resurrection will
happen:- pa 7 tie : : ; :

The story itself is short on dramatic, incontrovertible resurrection
experiences: and long.on. the-ordinary,: the: everyday,:-the unspectacular. The
Risen Christ comes as men walk down a dusty road, or cower in fear, or fish
from: their boat, or as a woman weeps alone in’.the ‘hours. before::dawn.

What I proclaim is that the Risen Christ will be present to you ~ the
power:of the Resurrection: will-be:in the ordinariness ‘of: your ‘ife;: when
healing happens and redeeming and loving and forgiving and renewing.

“Why are you: weeping,. Mary..." he asked: And-why are: you”
weeping...? Where are you weeping? ss

The places you: are weeping. are: the places where the risen Christ will
appear. ‘with: power and: with new life... :

Where. are you struggling with the power of death?
“Where is is: your “life being hemmed in?
“Where is fear, anxiety, worry, diminishing your life...?
Where is illness, emotional distress pressing in on you?
Where in-your relationships —~‘are you under. the power: of death...?
“Where have you given in = .or given up?

Those are the places where the Risen:Christ will appear. to call you
by name,.and to wipe tears from your face and to give you new life.

What-the Christian-Church has: been saying. on Easter morning for more
than 1,900:years and what I proclaim-to’ you is.that-this: may be. the day of
your: rebirth: © your-renewal;. your recreation, This: is the day of -
resurrection: and: though there is:-

“a time to be born and a ‘time to die,

a time to plant. and.a time to pluck up what is planted.
and though there is a time to weep,

there is, by the power of God's lave,

a time: to-laugh.” ...:And this-is it.

4-19-37

Praise to you great God, for truth
that challenges our imagination.

Praise to you, great God,. for truth
so true we can only weep and
Sing and laugh at its goodness.

Praise to you, great God, for people
everywhere today singing: and
laughing together.

Praise and adoration and glory and honor
to.you, great Ged ~—-for Jesus Christ

who was dead, but is alive, forever.

Amen. -

4-19-87