Called to Prophesy

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!


Mary Magdalene exclaims this to the disciples and to the World, saying indeed,
“I have seen the Lord.”


In her prophetic exclamation - we hear centuries of tradition, hope, and faith fulfilled in the anticipated messiah…the unlikely and almighty messiah:


“I will give thanks to you, for you answered me *
and have become my salvation.
The same stone which the builders rejected *
has become the chief cornerstone.…


(And today like then….)  On this day the Lord has acted,
we will rejoice and be glad in it!”
The prophetic voice of Mary rings out to us today calling us, the community, to awaken to this eternal reality that is always with us.


The resurrection is not simply pointing to Springtime as, the relief and blessing that life is renewed; that nature has its cycle. (Although it is - and it does.)


The resurrection is about human nature - the human spirit renewed.


This renewal doesn’t just arrive in Springtime in a natural cycle. It is a path - a spiritual that requires attention, discernment, the search for wisdom, and knowledge.


It asks us to develop a mind that is aligned with the heart.


This is what it means to grow into the stature of Christ.
The resurrection
wasn’t meant for Jesus alone. The resurrection is about community. It is about how we create new patterns for a world based in mercy, justice and truth.


Jesus shows us through his ministry how forgiveness transforms hearts, and communities. And his resurrection is the ultimate statement that God forgives.




“I have seen the Lord” is part of the prophetic tradition: a tradition that always signifies a divine message intended for the community.


The prophetic tradition is part of our tradition. In our outline of faith we say in the very first section on human nature…that God revealed himself through nature and “especially through the prophets of Israel.”
Mary is one of them.
Mary’s visionary experiences at the tomb in all four gospels identifies her as participating in this prophetic tradition.


Jesus tells her ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ This is a direct reference to the prophet Elijah. The Jewish community believed that Elijah would return at the coming of the messiah. It also speaks to the relationship between Elijah and Elisha as his direct disciple.. Here - it is Mary who receives the direct message from Jesus before his ascension…


It is Mary who receives - but importantly she is not meant as the sole receptacle. She is to go tell her brothers that they all share in this special kinship with God the Father.


This is a call to community.
My God and your God.
Prophets relay the voice of God to the community. They act as conduits for what we call Divine pathos. God’s pathos is concern for the world. In fact anguish for the World.


These prophets call us back into relationship with God. The breach we call sin as Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians…that word for sin here translated means “to not share a part of.” To be separated.


Throughout scripture, the separation between us and divinity is always remedied by the mutual returning of humans to God in love - and for God’s return through loving forgiveness.


Jesus’ resurrection is a proclamation to us that God Forgives: God identifies with the victim, the poor, the hungry, the marginalized. God identifies with all of us! And forgives us, “for [too often] we know not what we do.”
God Forgives in the Risen Christ.


As a Christian community we are living into this reality each day - it is not just something we commemorate on Sunday.


We are made in the image of God.


As we grow into that true identity along this spiritual path - I believe there is also a prophetic voice of our spiritual direction growing within each one of us.


How will it be revealed through us in our individual identities? - and in our communal identity?


Listen and discern the voices moving us forward in our journeys.




Paul in his letter to Corinthians mentions that Christ first appeared to Cephas (another name for Peter) - although every single account in the Gospels clearly convey that Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene (and in some versions along with the Mother Mary, Salome and the mother of James, Mary of Clopas, and Joanna and Mary of Jacob).


Part of our discernment has to do with listening for   where God is being revealed in people we don’t expect.


Today we still may have set ideas about who is the proper conveyer of God’s wisdom, truth, and love.


Every society has its scapegoats.
The Resurrection turns this scapegoat mechanism on its head.
The stone the builder’s rejected has become the Chief cornerstone!


Listen to the voices that have been silenced and rejected in our community, in our culture, and in our world.
Let us to stand with those unexpected voices who are seated at the table with Jesus….
Because
Jesus sat with everyone in order that he could raise us all up!


As Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper…
Unless you let me wash your feet you will not share a part in me. And you are to do this for one another. Essentially you are to be servants of humanity.


Because we are all called to share in God’s great renewal of life.


The Resurrection of Jesus takes away the sin of the World…exposes and demonstrates that we do share a part … we are not separated.


And that if God can overcome death, then God can overcome the cast systems, the divisiveness, the discord in our communities and through us. The human Jesus and the risen Christ show no partiality. God can - and will renew us.


The promise of the resurrection - is always with us …
Mary standing in the garden - in that juncture with the resurrected Jesus stands where we are all called to be: united in the share; recognized - called by name.


We commemorate this when we come to the altar to share in the bread and the wine.




We are raised through him who calls us to himself.


Let us participate in this eternal reality everyday (in the psalmists words):


“I shall not die, but live, *
and declare the works of the Lord.”       Amen. Alleluia!