The Most Beautiful Moment
Fr. Tim Nunez
This morning I had the blessing to preach at Bok Tower’s Sunrise Easter service. It was great for that service to be back. It was wonderful to be there in the still of the morning, with the sun coming up and all its natural beauty stirring to greet the new day; the trees, the flowers, the greenery, the birds and animals, even the insects. It is all so very, very beautiful. And it isn’t just nature alone. Florida woods have their beauty, but this is quite different.
A garden, any garden, is a fusion of natural and human design, where nature and humanity come together. And this isn’t just any garden. Edward Bok had a vision. He wanted to thank this great nation for all the opportunity it had given him by creating a place of exquisite beauty. He hired the best people he could find to make it real. They cleared away a lot and brought in a lot. They enhanced the native trees and plants with new plants and flowers. They designed the paths winding through them to encourage pauses to absorb the beauty. Those gardens have been carefully maintained, refreshed and renewed by gifted horticulturalists and grounds crew ever since.
We have that amazingly beautiful tower with its soaring pink marble, all the artistry in its colorful painted lattice work and sculptures, its gold door and surrounding ponds.
The beauty touches all of our senses. It is seen and heard as the sounds of the birds and insects meld with the music of the carillon bells drifting through the trees. Mix in the joyful sounds of children at play, the smell of the flowers, the touch of the breeze and perhaps an ice cream cone. Yes, it touches every sense, especially our sense of wonder.
It is a cathedral, set atop the highest point around and, like any great cathedral, and this church, it is designed to draw us up. Cathedrals draw our eyes up, whether you look at them from the inside or the outside, to raise our hearts, raise our minds, raise our spirits up, up, up to the One who created nature, the One who created us and the One who gifted humanity with the reason and creativity to conceive of all this and the skills and to bring it into being and maintain it all these years.
It is, in a word, glorious. All of this beauty, natural and human-designed, reflects God’s glory. It is good. And it stands as a glorious oasis of beauty in the midst of all in our world that is so very broken, chaotic and drenched in sin – to inspire us.
This morning we turn to another garden. It is cool. It is quiet. The sun has just begun to rise and like anywhere the garden’s natural beauty is stirring. I wonder if Mary Magdalene even noticed? Mary was devoted to Jesus. Luke tells us that she had been afflicted by seven demons. While he doesn’t tell us exactly what that means, it had to be terrible, a tortured existence that would have isolated her in every way. He had done so much for her.
Jesus healed her. Whatever was so horribly wrong, he healed her. He radically changed her life. She had no hope and he gave her new life. She suffered terribly and she had been healed. She knew he was special and she followed him. All four Gospels attest she followed him all the way to the foot of the cross. There, she watched this man who had truly cared for her die a slow and agonizing death. Now, she has come to grieve at his tomb and, with the help of some others, attend to his lifeless body.
In the depths of her sorrow, she comes. If you’ve been to a loved one’s grave, if you’ve touched their things, you know how it hurts. It’s hard, but it’s how we grieve. But Mary discovers what she assumes to be a crime scene. She runs to tell Peter and John who come running. After looking in, Peter just leaves. If someone had stolen the body they would have kept it wrapped, right? John says he believed, but he didn’t fully understand and he didn’t stop to discuss it with Mary. It clearly isn’t a crime scene.
And there is Mary, again. She stood weeping outside the tomb. She looks in and sees a most curious sight. In ancient Israel, they kept the tablets of the Torah, the Law, the written Word of God, in a box called the Ark of the Covenant. Its lid was the Mercy Seat, the place where God would meet his people. On either end were two gold cherubs.
Mary looks in and sees two angels sitting at either end of where Jesus’ body had been. Now we remember what John said at the start of his Gospel. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” (John 1:18)
Jesus is the Word of God incarnate, embodied, the fusion between God and humanity. Mary is despondent, she cannot even see through her tears. But then he calls her by name.
That is the most beautiful moment ever. It is beyond beauty, it is glorious. He had done so much for her. He had died before her eyes, and she knew beyond doubt he was dead. She had helped prepare his body for burial. This woman, who Jesus had healed from such terrible torment, is the first person to see Jesus alive.
Mary could barely see it through her tears. We come to this moment weighed down by the heartache of this world, all the pain and suffering we see and all that we endure. We come to this moment ever aware of our own mortality and we know deep down that so much of our life is vanity.
We have this beautiful morning in this beautiful church. We have beautiful music. And we have come together to rejoice in the Good News, the best news, the most beautiful news that the world has ever heard.
On that first Easter morning Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He burst from that tomb. He who was dead is alive! He who was down got up! He got up! And that is the most beautiful moment, the most beautiful moment.
With that Good News, God wants to literally inspire us, to in-Spirit us, to create beauty, grace, and glory in our own gardens, wherever we are. He wants us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to bind up the broken hearted, to be agents of his healing grace, to release people from the bondage of sin, and to proclaim that sure and certain hope in Jesus. He is the bright morning star upon whom we fix our gaze, we find our direction, purpose and true meaning. He leads us to a better life, yes, and to eternal life with him.
May we all come to know him and love him as Mary Magdalene knew and loved him. May our hearts be so filled with his beauty! May our hearts be so filled with his glory! May we always feel the joy of his resurrection, of his victory over sin and death. We cannot help but shout from the top of this mountain…or at least this hill.
Alleluia Christ is risen!
Alleluia Christ is risen!
Alleluia Christ is risen!
AMEN!