By the Revd. Dr. D. Stuart Dunnan

Saint James Chapel

April 4, 2021

 

“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” (Mark 16.8)

 

In nomine. . .
I speak to you on what is now our second COVID Easter.

Last year, I had just returned from a wonderful ten-day trip to Spain at the beginning of spring break with Mr. Camp and Ms. Sherman which Ms. Sherman had carefully planned and arranged for the three of us.It was a great success, but we did notice at the end of the trip when we were in Granada that the Alhambra was strangely uncrowded and there seemed to be a “different tone” in the Paris airport as we progressed to our connecting flight to Dulles.

We came back to discover that Spain was fast becoming the second epicenter of the pandemic, and
it went into “lockdown” just two days later. We of course went into “crisis mode” at school and decided to go “virtual” with only the faculty and a “righteous rump” of seven international students left on campus.

The COVID experience was new for all of us: confusing, frustrating, and terrifying. And all that we could do was respond as best we could in the moment to what was happening around us. And we were of course in no way able to predict the future or to guarantee any outcomes, which put me as headmaster in the “hot seat” as I often had no legitimate answer to give parents and colleagues and students who expected me to have one.

And the pandemic has continued with all its twists and turns. Later,
it was America’s turn to be the epicenter, not once but twice: last fall and then this past winter. And now, poor Europe is getting hit again and South Africa and Brazil with more rapidly spreading variants of the virus. Our hope is that enough of us have been infected and enough will be rapidly vaccinated that we can avoid a third spike, but many Americans are not willing to be vaccinated and many more are no longer willing to continue with the proven protections, most especially wearing masks in public.

So, as a country and as a society we are struggling with our usual conflict between freedom and responsibility, which are the two mutually supporting aspects of liberty on which the dream of America is founded. And back and forth we go: “blue” states one way and “red” states another and “purple” states looking for the elusive “middle ground,” just as we have tried to do here as a school: not to endanger anyone, but also to function as best we can with reason, generosity, self-discipline, and courage.

And I would argue that Easter has much to teach us in this regard, especially now that the stone is beginning to roll for us, letting light into the tomb.

The gospel passage assigned for this Easter is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, which is the oldest and therefore most accurate account in the New Testament. You will note that it ends without hope. The three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, have come to the tomb with spices to anoint the body of Jesus. The men interestingly, and some would say typically, are hiding.

As they arrive, the women are wondering who will roll the stone for them so that they can enter the tomb, but they are shocked to discover that someone already has. When they enter, “they see a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they are alarmed. But he says to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’” (16.5-7)

But they flee the tomb “because terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.” (16.8)

Now, biblical scholars pretty much all agree that this is the end of the Gospel according to St. Mark, which creates something of a narrative problem: the disciples and Peter are in Jerusalem, so if the women do not tell them that Jesus is in Galilee, then how will Jesus appear to them?

A shorter version added by a later writer says that they told Peter, which is most probably what happened, and a longer version by another writer lists Jesus’ later appearances to Mary Magdalene, the two disciples in the country, and then to the eleven in the upper room, combining the accounts in the other three gospels, thereby “fixing” the problem.

But I believe that Mark ends his version where he does for a reason: he wants us to assume the challenge; he wants us to be brave.

And this is exactly the lesson that we have learned in our year of COVID: we need to be brave because fear gets in the way.

For surely, those who have helped and are still helping to get us through this pandemic are brave: doctors and nurses who care for the infected, politicians and civic leaders who make unpopular decisions to keep us safe, frontline workers who feed, guard, help, and take good care of us at their own risk, teachers who teach the young not just safely over a video link, but actually in a classroom, and all the people who have the courage to be vaccinated not just to keep themselves safe, but to keep all of us safe, and to free the hospital beds and medical resources they will now not need to be used by someone else who does.

For the courage that triumphs in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the courage of his crucifixion, so

| chapel talk | not the courage to get what he wants, but actually quite the opposite: the courage to be what God wants, the courage to lose his life for us.

And this is exactly the courage which we have needed in this COVID time, not the selfish fear that masquerades as courage, but real self-giving courage. So, not the false courage which begins with “this is my right,” or “you can’t make me,” or “I need,” or “I want;” “but real courage that begins with “I can help,” or “let me do this,” or “not a problem,” or “where do we start?”.

Because this is the courage and these are the statements which
have kept Saint James alive and on mission and all our community safe for these last twelve months, and this is the courage that we will need to win this fight for all of us: on this campus, in this country, and around the world.

So yes, St. Mark is right: we cannot be afraid.

Happy Easter!