Read the Lectionary Texts

One of my favorite movies is the 1989 film “Field of Dreams.” Set among the cornfields of Dyersville, Iowa, the story is about a young farmer named Ray Kinsella who starts hearing a mysterious voice whispering, “If you build it, they will come.”

He hears the voice in the morning as he washes up. It comes to him during the day as he works in the cornfields. The voice even whispers to him at night, as he lays in bed – “If you build it, they will come.”

Those of you who saw the movie will remember that, through a series of events, this young man discovers that “it” is a baseball diamond – of major league proportions. And once he builds “it”, carving the diamond out of one of his cornfields, “they” do come! The ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and other Chicago Black Sox players banned from baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series. Out of the cornrows they come – these and other long-deceased major leaguers – alive again to the possibility of playing the game they loved. And on that baseball field smack dab in the middle of an Iowa corn field, play they do – much to the joy of the Kinsella family and others who come to watch.

And Ray Kinsella is caught up in the excitement and emotion of what he has been able to do for these players of yesteryear, and he delights to see these men enjoy their new life on the field of dreams.

But then one day, all of a sudden, a new figure emerges from among the stalks of corn. A man steps out onto the field. And in that moment, Ray recognizes who it is.

It is his own father!

The father he never really knew, except from pictures. The father he never had a chance to be with as a son, doing the things dads and sons always do.

And in that highly charged moment, his father reaches down and picks up a baseball. And he tosses the ball to his son. And Ray catches it. And then throws it back. And there, in the middle of an Iowa cornfield – while people like me in the audience bawled their eyes out – a son and his father are reunited over the distance between life and death to do what they’d never had a chance to do – they play catch together!

And the movie ends with an intriguing thought. All the while this young man believed the field of dreams was for the players of yesteryear, in fact, the field of dreams turned out to be a gift to him!

And so it is, my friends, with Easter morning!

Easter is a gift – a field of dreams – offered to you, and me!

How common it is for people to experience Easter merely as observers of something wonderful  that happened once long ago to someone else. Some of us, for instance, think of Easter as simply a happy ending to what otherwise would be the tragic story of Jesus. It’s sort of like the final scenes in the old Lassie TV shows where Timmy is finally saved from his own foolishness (boy, that kid got into more trouble in a few seasons than most of us do in an entire lifetime!). And in the last scene of every show – with Timmy finally rescued from his latest disaster – the whole family is together smiling. And Lassie barks! And everyone laughs! A happy ending!

Yes, some of us think of Easter as a happy ending for Jesus.

And many people are tempted to think of the resurrection as something that will really only factor into our lives somewhere down the road – in the future – when we die. Some of us are like that old Texas rancher who told the undertaker he wanted to be buried in his pick-up truck. The funeral director asked him why in the world he wanted to buried in his pickup truck. The rancher answered, “I ain’t ever seen a hole that ol’ truck couldn’t get me out of!”

Yes, for many, Easter is about a resurrection that will get us out of that future hole all human beings end up in.

But I dare say, these ideas about Easter, miss the point.

In our Scripture reading from John, Mary Magdalene is standing by the tomb of Jesus. And she is weeping. A man comes into the garden.  She supposes him to be the gardener. He asks her why she is weeping. She says someone has taken away the body of her Lord, and she does not know where they have laid it.

Just then, the man says, “Mary!” 

And she – just like Ray Kinsella – recognizes something about the man! Something about his voice. Something about His shape. Something about His presence!

And suddenly, she knows – it is Jesus!

Now, I hope you will notice something special about this Gospel story.

There is hardly a mention about the resurrection itself. In fact, we are told no details about Jesus’ victory over death other than the fact that it happened! Instead, the Easter story in John focuses not on what happened to Jesus, but on what happened to Mary! Jesus stepped out of the cornfields – so to speak – and came to her in love!

And the same thing happened to the disciples. Jesus came to them, too.

And a multitude of others experienced the same thing.

Jesus came to them in love!

You see, Easter is about this wonderful God of ours stepping across the divide between life and death to become present in these lives of ours. And when Jesus comes to us in this way, he offers to lead us from death to life, too!

There was Mary, and something in her had died. She’d lost the best friend she ever had. If you’ve ever suffered a significant loss, you know that it feels like something has died within yourself. Several members of our congregation are going through this experience right now. You can see it on their faces, and hear it in their voices. Loss comes to all of us from time to time.

And so does doubt. The disciples are full of doubt this morning. They hear the story about Jesus’ resurrection, but the Bible tells us they think it is an idle tale – something made up by the women.

I’ve never met a truly human person who does not experience doubt. In that moment when a tragedy befalls your child, or the doctor says the word cancer, or the news reports tell of a whole population gassed to death by their own government, it is the most natural thing in the world to wonder where God is. And to question if God is there at all. And if he is, why he doesn’t do something about it. If you are like me, the life of faith is like a raging sea. Sometimes you’re at the crest of the wave, and you see things so clearly and believe so easily. Other times, you’re in the trough of the wave, wondering if you’ll ever get out.

Doubt comes to us all.

And then, there is guilt. We see it in the story of Peter. He has denied Jesus three times. In my lifetime, I have denied Jesus many more times than that. And those times of denial have led me to decisions and behaviors that have been harmful to me and to others. And I’m not sure how I can turn those things around. We human beings make a lot of mistakes. And then we live with the consequences.

Grief. Doubt. Guilt. And all the difficult things that flow from them. These are the burdens around the shoulders of Mary, and the disciples, and Peter in the pre-dawn darkness of Easter. And these are burdens we carry too!

But just about the time the sun’s glow starts lighting up the Eastern sky, something wonderful happens! Jesus of Nazareth steps across the divide between death and life, and comes to Mary – and comes to Peter – and comes to the disciples – and comes to the multitudes!

And becoming present with them, Jesus starts leading them from their grief to new beginnings, from their doubt to new believing, from their guilt to forgiveness – from death to new life!

And that’s the simple message I want to share with you this morning.

Friends, Easter is God’s gift to you as you deal with life as it really is. Jesus steps across the boundary between life and death, and comes to you, right here, right now, as you bear the burdens of  your life!

It’s almost as if Jesus comes stepping out of the cornfields, and onto your field of dreams. He reaches down and picks up a ball. And he tosses it to you.

And all you have to do is catch it.

And throw it back.

And receive from God the gift He wants to give to all his children.

The gift of coming to us! The gift of His presence with us as we face life as it comes! The gift of leading us from the things of death to the things of new life!

Easter is not for someone else, long ago. And it is not for some day yet to come! Easter is God’s gift to you – today! 

I hope you’ll receive it, and – like Ray Kinsella – open your heart and your life to your Father who comes to you on Easter’s field of dreams!!

Alleluia!