A Tale of Two Women
The Great Vigil of Easter A, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church,
April 11, 2020 Matthew 28:1-10
“Let us hear the record of God's saving deeds in history, how he saved his people in ages past; and let us pray that our God will bring each of us to the fullness of redemption.” BCP 288)
Back in Galilee. Mary, the mother of James adds more spices to the last of the lamb and mixes it with lentils for dinner, always better the third day. Joanna, Solome, and Suzanna direct the children as they clear the dishes. The full moon brings in a small amount of light through the front window. It is early spring, still cool, so we huddle around the fire for warmth and especially for each other’s company. Our after-dinner entertainment is story telling. All the chores are done, so tonight we have time for many stories.
“Who can tell the best bedtime story tonight?’
The men always go first and Mary’s husband, James the Older, picks the first story. “I will tell you the story of how God created the heavens and the earth,” James, the Elder, speaks slowly and deliberately. “God creates this world and every living creature out of darkness, out of emptiness, out of more darkness than the darkest night you can imagine when there is no moon. God creates all of us in his own image, even little James, the Younger, in the corner who is not paying attention to this story,// and then God blesses everything he made.”/
Peter chimes in when James the Older takes a breath. “My story is about how God saves all of us when we were slaves escaping from Egypt by parting the waters of the sea.” “I know this story,” pipes up James, the Younger, as he moves in closer to the circle. “Moses stretches out his hand and God drives the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turns the sea into dry land!”/
John speaks next. “My story is a song that I would like to sing about how God sprinkles clean water upon us and gives us a new heart and a new spirit and takes away our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.” John’s musical voice brings a stillness to the night air. But soon the men are telling boisterous stories about the flood, the valley of the dry bones,/ each man trying to top the other one’s story.
Mary Magdalene moves into the inner circle “Mary and I have a story to tell.”
“Women are not story tellers,” blurts out James, the Younger, back in his corner!
“No, wait,” says Peter. “We did not listen to Mary and Mary Magdalene the first time they told their story! We need to hear it every night!”
Mary Magdalene begins. “It is early dawn after the sabbath after Jesus dies. There is almost a full moon with as much light as we see tonight. Mary and I have traveled with all of you who followed Jesus from Galilee fixing meals, cleaning up just like tonight./ We are grief stricken, so we decide to honor our dead friend and take all the spices we have saved to anoint his body. We worry all the way to the tomb about how to roll away the stone,/ how to get past the guards we hear are there,/ but we don’t care, we’re going./
We silently arrive at the tomb,/ and suddenly the earth shakes violently,/ and then some Thing that looks like lightning with clothes as white as snow comes from out of nowhere and rolls away the stone/ and then sits on top of it! The guards appear dead! This White-being that we believe later is an angel tells us, “Do not be afraid,” but of course we are petrified!
The great White-light-being continues, “I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has been raised from the dead. Jesus has risen,/ come, look and see where his body lay. Then go quickly and tell the others to meet Jesus in Galilee!”
We hastily peek into the tomb which is empty and get out of there, as fast as we can./ But then.. this is soo amazing, we meet Jesus on the road! “Greetings,” he says. Now Jesus has never said anything like “greetings” before. We fall down and hold his feet to make sure he is for real.. He is real./ We worship him./ Jesus then says exactly what the white-lightening-being says, “Do not be afraid. Go tell the others to go to Galilee where I will see them.” /
We rush back to where we all are hiding, and no one believes us! They say it is an idle tale by women!”///
Peter cannot stay still another minute. “Yes, I was there when you came back. Yes, I did not believe you, but I ran back to the tomb, hoping beyond hope that it might be true. And yes, there is the empty tomb!” ////
“So what do you think,” says John, “of all the stories tonight, could this one be the greatest story ever told.” “Yes,” says James, the Younger. “Now tell us more about what happens after that!”
Mary Magdalene puts her arm around young James as Peter lifts him up to go to bed. “James, it is too late/ for more stories,/ but yes, you are so right./ The story is not finished./ So much more happens./ If you get up early in the morning/ and come back into this room/ after the big candle is lighted,/ we will continue the story.”
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com