“God Meets You in Your Tears” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

https://youtu.be/OdCLpZT7uIo

Easter is the holiest and most exciting day of the year.  We celebrate because this is the day in which we remember that Jesus Christ, who did die, came back. And that he has risen, and that is such good news.  That is essentially the essence of good news. And the good news of the Gospels is that even if death happens, life always follows. Now, it can be for many of us that we want to jump straight to the resurrection, and we forget the despair and the anguish that Jesus’ followers felt just before they found out the good news. But I want us to remember that, too. We hear the story of Mary Magdalene, who went to the tomb expecting one thing, and seeing the stone rolled away, and she didn’t know. She thought that they have taken her Lord. And through her tears she wept. The angels asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”  And maybe we would hear that story and think that we’re not supposed to weep at death. Maybe someone has told us before that we need to have enough faith and trust in God enough and trust in the the resurrection and we don’t have to weep. But the reason the angels asked Mary why she was weeping wasn’t because they thought she shouldn’t, but it was because they were waiting for this answer: that they had taken her Lord. Her Lord. One who hadn’t met the expectations of Messiah, but the one who rose. She thought that they have taken her Lord, and even though all these other people abandoned him, he was still her Lord. And it was only through her tears that she saw Jesus.  Those tears that we cry can give us the clarity to see God in ways we never could. And so, weep. But Know that God meets you in your tears. Weep, and see even more clearly than perhaps ever before, that sometimes when our hearts crack open, it lets the light in. Know that light now. Amen.

Pastor Kaji’s Easter sermon is here: https://youtu.be/53mf0VMTaL4