April 20, 2025
Easter Sermon Title: Perplexity and Idle Tales
Romans 6: 3-11
Luke 24: 1-12
Perplexed
Do you often use that word? I do. I like the word. To me, it just sounds like the sensation. Do you know what I mean? Perplexity, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, means “
inability to deal with or understand something complicated or unaccountable.”
Synonyms include “bewilderment, puzzlement, confusion, bemusement, and one of my least favorite words, since it sounds like it means the opposite of what it should mean, “nonplussed.” And on the other end of the spectrum, the fantastic word that is even better than “perplexed”, : bamboozlement.
I think I use the word fairly frequently because I FEEL it very frequently. I feel perplexed by the state of the world in our present time. Just listen to the news for five minutes, and you might feel bewildered, puzzled, confused, bemused, even nonplussed, bamboozled, and perplexed. Not in a good way, either. There is so much happening that we are unable to DEAL WITH and UNDERSTAND. The world doesn’t seem to be fair—good people suffer, innocent people are convicted, evil people prosper. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. It makes it hard for people of faith to explain our position in the light of such things.
Perplexity, says Luke, is how the women who visit the tomb on Easter morning feel when confronted with the empty tomb. It was grief and hope mixed together, it was must have been overwhelming. Could grave robbers have come to take his body? Is the whole world against us? Couldn’t they just let us anoint his body and grieve this man we loved—who showed us a new way—as Paul called it, “walking in a newness of life?”
INTO this perplexity come the heavenly angels: suddenly, and interestingly, they appear “beside them” not before them, beside them, they ask them “why are you looking for the living among the dead,” and I’ve always kinda heard that perjoratively, but maybe not. They’re shoulder to shoulder with the women, perhaps—maybe it doesn’t matter all that much where they are standing, but it was a new insight for me as I studied the text this week. Perhaps, they are asking the question in the way that someone “on our side” might ask us, well—remember what he said, ladies. No need to stand here messing with death, he’s done what he said he was gonna do! Go, tell the others!
Now, they’re no longer perplexed, instead they are terrified! Matthew describes the men standing there, (actually he only describes one man—and we’ll get into the differences between the Easter accounts and what they might mean this Wednesday at 5:30 at our usual “WAM,”) but he describes this man that Luke just says has “dazzling clothes—” like what, like Elton John? No, not that kind of dazzling, Matthew reports they have the appearance “LIKE LIGHTING.” Yikes, they certainly appear there suddenly light a lightning bolt, and what they tell the women must’ve felt like a lighting bolt electrocuting their hearts and minds—he is not here but has risen!
So, we can understand why the other disciples dismissed the women’s story as “idle tales,” but that’s kinda demeaning, isn’t it. These “women” aren’t that reliable, are they? With their “old wives tales” about what happened this morning, huh? But, really, how hypocritical, an “idle tale” is a tale cooked up due to “idleness,” isn’t it—and the women haven’t been idle that morning at all—they were the ones who went with Joseph of Arimiatha to the tomb, and they’re the ones who had prepared the spices to go and tend to his body. No idleness there….what have you guys been doing? They’re the ones who seem to be AWOL when the things got tough. They’re running, hiding, denying, and I dunn….sleeping? I mean, that’s the last time we heard from them….a few chapters back, falling asleep on the job when Jesus asked them to keep watch in the Garden of Gethsemene, so he could pray for the strength for what was ahead of him.
So, if you ever catch yourself doubting that women can take a leading role in church life, you’ll do well to remember that it is the women who stick by Jesus the whole time, who are THERE at the foot of the Cross, who are THERE taking his body to the tomb, and THERE in the morning when they find it empty, and it is to the WOMEN, that the angels entrust the FIRST sermon, “go and tell the others, he has risen, just like he said.” Go and remember—they couldn’t have remembered if they hadn’t been following with the OTHER disciples to hear what he had said in the first place, SO if you have doubts about women having the authority to preach, or if you ever have to explain our practice in the UMC to doubters-who aren’t willing to let women lead—just remind them it was women who preached THE FIRST sermon right here.
But, maybe Luke is on to something here—pointing out our tendency to confront perplexity with conspiracy theories. We struggle with incomprehensible information, and we want things to make sense, so if something baffles us, we tend to create narratives that would explain what has happened. We see it all around us. Almost every week, there’s some new happening that provokes conspiracy theories—Katy Perry can’t even take a rocket ship to space without us wondering….hmmm. And buying into “alternative facts” that seem more plausible.
Artificial Intelligence makes things even worse. I see people sharing AI on their Facebook frequently without realizing that what they are sharing isn’t real. The information age has mutated into the Artificial Information age. So, maybe we can cut the 11 some slack for being immediately suspicious of the women’s tale, even if it was tinged with the sexism, jealousy, guilt that was likely present in the male disciple’s feelings about the female disciples which Luke takes pains to name and count as being the recipients of that first mind-blowing gift of the resurrection.
So, Peter, representing all of us, as he often does as Luke tells the story, runs off to the tomb to check it out for himself. When he gets there, Luke tells us he “stoops” and looks into the tomb, and then he notices the empty clothes there and that seems to convert him—he goes home “amazed” at what had happened.
But did you catch that—why would Luke give us that specific detail that Peter “stoops” and looks into the tomb? I don’t think it is a wasted word. Peter has to transition from that incredulous, haughty disbelief that he and the other 11 had met the women with and instead must humble himself to look inside to see for himself. The empty tomb, God’s revelation of the resurrection of Christ, demands humility in order for us to perceive the reality of the event and “be amazed” on our way home.
If we approach the mysterious Easter event without humility in our hearts, we’ll likely not move from assuming its all just idle tales and conspiracy theories. Perplexity should lead to humility in order to achieve the enlightenment of the resurrection. Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. It’s “stooping down” that gives us the ability of being lifted up by the one who grabs us out of the sinking sea, as Jesus had also done to Peter. “Why did you doubt?” He asked at that point.
Even so, he presents himself in other ways to the disciples, the next chapter describes a strange encounter with two disciples who walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaus without recognizing that its Jesus—and then when they finally reach their destination and invite him in for supper, they finally see that it is him as he breaks the bread (as he had done just a few days before when he gave them a meal to always remember him.)
And then Luke speaks of another instance where Jesus presents himself to all of his disciples, and they are “startled and terrified” and so Jesus just asks them up front—why are you afraid, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Still discontent to believe in the idle tales—even if they see him with their own eyes, they need some tangible evidence. So he shows them his hands and his feet and seems to confront the “conspiracy theories” that they must have started creating in order to explain this miracle to themselves. Look— flesh and bone, go ahead and touch me, experience me. Let’s get on with this difficulty you’re having believing in what has happened, because I have some important stuff for you to do!
But, Luke tells us, even after all that, he says “in their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering.” The disbelief of the disciples was enough of an issue that Luke isn’t the only gospel writer to mention it, Matthew reports that even on the mount of ascension, there at the end of an extended period with Jesus, as he rose into the sky and baffled them once again, he says “when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.”
So, Jesus does try to convince them of what they’re witnessing, but it takes repeated efforts. Finally, he says, give me some fish to eat, and they give him a piece of broiled fish and he eats it in front of them—do ghosts eat fish? Look and believe—because there is something important that I’m entrusting you with—that message I started here.
Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins. I need you to start here proclaiming that, and take that message all over the world. And you’re gonna need someone to help you, so God is sending you the Holy Spirit to “clothe you with power from on high” and assist you in making that message stand the test of time, capture people’s attention and mind and hearts and realize—this is no idle tale. It’s God’s great gift. Be humble, see the empty tomb, and know what it means for your life. You can walk in a “newness of Life,” one unencumbered by guilt and shame and the hubris that we can know and understand every mystery that God puts in our path. Sometimes, perplexity is just a wonderful experience of being bowled over by God’s greatness. Live in it, see by the light of it, and Love your neighbors because of it.
Idle Tales-conspiracy theories?
Solid, tangible proof.
Still disbelieiving---but in their joy, says Luke
Reflection Questions:
- When have you experienced perplexity in your faith journey? How did you respond?
- The women at the tomb were entrusted with the first sermon—how does this challenge traditional views of leadership in the church?
- How does humility help us perceive God’s work in our lives, as Peter had to “stoop” to see the empty tomb?
- What “idle tales” or doubts have kept you from fully embracing the resurrection’s power?
- How can we move from skepticism to amazement in our faith, as Peter did?
Prayer for Humility and Understanding
Lord, in moments of perplexity, grant me the humility to seek You. Help me to stoop down, to look deeper, and to recognize Your presence in unexpected places. May I not dismiss Your miracles as idle tales but embrace them with faith and wonder. Strengthen me to share Your truth boldly, just as the women did on Easter morning. Amen.
Meditation on the Empty Tomb
Close your eyes and imagine standing before the tomb. You feel the weight of grief, confusion, and doubt. Suddenly, the angels appear beside you—not in front, but beside—as if standing with you in your uncertainty. Hear their words: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Let this question settle in your heart. What areas of your life need resurrection? Where is God calling you to step beyond doubt and into faith?
