People today seem to have a need for speed.

Hop on any highway, and you’ll see drivers hitting speeds that used to belong only to professional race-car drivers.  Or moonshiners.  Posted speed limits are now thought of by many people as minimums … not maximums.  Most disturbing of all is the rise in “extreme speeding” – defined as driving 15 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.  Membership in what police call “The Century Club” -- people driving 100 or faster – has tripled in the past decade.

What we need are some sofas in the streets.

This sounds bizarre, I know, but hear me out on this one.  The idea of moving furniture into roadways was born in a Dutch city in which citizens were sick of speeding motorists racing around their city streets.  In an effort to get cars to slow down and move through neighborhoods more carefully, residents strategically placed old couches, tables, and planters in the streets.  For a while, it worked.  Cars could still pass by, but only by slowing down.

This use of sofas as speed bumps is part of a larger international movement to make streets safer and more pleasant for pedestrians.  Writing in Utne magazine, Jay Walljasper points out that we Americans now depend on cars to accomplish just about everything.  Sidewalks are being phased out in many suburbs, and so-called traffic “improvements” have made many communities unfit for pedestrians.  The tragedy is that we miss a great deal of life when we race around in cars – we fly right past the chance to chat with people on the street, watch children play, and make connections with neighbors.

But times may be changing.  In response to all this speeding, we’re now seeing a fresh focus on pedestrian power.  People are now lobbying to have crosswalks painted, stop signs installed, speed bumps created, and, in some situations, streets even narrowed.  They want to reclaim their cities and towns for walking, talking, and making connections with one another.

There’s real merit in this movement, although I want to go on record as saying that I’m not recommending that any of you go home and drag your recliner into the roadway.  But as we look at today’s story of the resurrection, it is clear that Jesus wanted to slow down his disciples on Easter morning … slow them down and give them a whole new way to walk in the world.

He put a sofa in their street.

Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to see the tomb of Jesus at daybreak on Easter morning, and suddenly they are stopped in their tracks by a great earthquake, and by the appearance of an angel who rolls back the stone from the entrance to the tomb.  For fear of this heavenly creature, the Jewish guards at the entrance shake and become like dead men – they have hit a supernatural stop sign that prevents them from taking flight or putting up a fight (Matthew 28:1-4). 

But the angel comforts the women, telling them that Jesus is no longer here, for he has been raised.  The angel invites them to come and see the place where he lay, and then gives them the command, “Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him’” (vv. 5-7).

Go quickly, says the angel.  If they had driven to the tomb, he’d tell them to put the pedal to the metal.

So off they go, leaving the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and they run to give the news to the disciples, wishing they could join The Century Club and cut across the countryside at 100 miles per hour.  But suddenly Jesus meets them and says, “Greetings!”  Slow down.  Catch your breath.  Don’t race right past me.  I need you to make a connection with me (vv. 8-9).

Mary and Mary hit the brakes.  They screech to a stop, face to face with their Risen Lord.

Then they come to him, take hold of his feet, and worship him.  The fact that they take hold of his feet shows us that he is a real person in resurrection life – not a ghost or a spirit.  He is someone they can see, hear, touch, hold, and connect with, like anyone else they would meet as they wander down the road.  Once he has their full attention, Jesus instructs them to tell his brothers to go to Galilee – to the place where they will see him (vv. 9-10).

When you take a close look at this passage, you see that the message of Jesus is much the same as the command of the angel.  Both offer the women comfort, telling them, “Do not be afraid.”  Both steer the women toward Galilee, toward the place where Jesus will give the command, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (v. 19).  For both the angel and Jesus, Galilee is more than just a place – it is a place with a purpose.  “Galilee of the Gentiles,” as the prophet Isaiah had described it, is the perfect launching pad for a ministry that will “make disciples of all nations.” 

But there is a difference between them as well.  While the angel says, “Go quickly,” Jesus simply says, “Go.”  He puts a sofa in their street, so that they won’t race rapidly past the reality of the resurrection.

This is a message we need to hear today, in our speed-saturated society.  It is so important for us to slow down this morning, think about the events of this day, and reflect on how they touch and even transform our everyday lives.  Instead of revving our engines, racing out of here and speeding off to Easter dinner, we are challenged to put on the brakes and really encounter our Risen Lord. 

Like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, we are invited to come to Jesus, take hold of his feet, and worship him.  To come to Jesus means turning our lives in his direction, and trying to carry forward his love and mercy and righteousness in our own words and deeds.  To take hold of his feet means really grasping the rock-solid reality of the resurrection, and trusting that God has the power to overcome all the horrors and heartaches of the world – even death itself.  To worship Jesus means praising his goodness and his power, and making an offering of ourselves to the work of our Risen Lord in the world today.

Think of how significant it was that a young waitress named Ashley Smith took hold of Jesus down in Atlanta two weeks ago.  A fugitive named Brian Nichols, suspected of killing four people, shoved her into her apartment in the middle of the night, tied her up, and held her at gunpoint.

Ashley persuaded Brian to untie her, but she didn’t immediately bolt for the door.  Instead, she talked with him about God, and about the divine purpose in their troubled lives.  She read a passage from The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren’s best-selling Christian book, a chapter that begins with the words, “We serve God by serving others.”  Then she cooked him pancakes and eggs for breakfast.  A few hours later, Brian let Ashley go, and then he peacefully surrendered.

Ashley Smith took hold of Jesus and held tightly to him.  She turned her life in his direction, and tried to carry forward his love and mercy and righteousness.  This is not the kind of commitment that can be made on the run.  It requires slowing down, stopping, and making a solid connection with him.  You can do it in your home, or you can do it right here.  Right now.  In this place.  On Easter morning.

But wherever and whenever Jesus meets us – in a hostage situation or in a service of worship -- he never allows us to remain standing in one place.  He always calls us to move ahead, and to carry a message forward.  To the two Marys, he says, “Go and tell.”  To Ashley Smith, he says, “Serve me by serving Brian Nichols.”  To us, he might say, “Help and heal” … or “Fix and forgive” … or “Restore and reconcile.”  There are a multitude of missions to be carried out in the name of Jesus, and the challenge for us today, as it was for the two Marys on that very first Easter, is to listen – listen to what Jesus is challenging us to do.  Jesus wants us to grow inwardly as we look outwardly, and serve a world in need.

Maybe Jesus is calling you to offer some help to the frail and faltering widow who lives alone down the street, or to reach out with healing and hope to a misunderstood teenager who feels angry and isolated.  Perhaps Christ is calling you to fix a friendship that has been broken by a cruel or thoughtless act on your part, or to forgive a relative who hurt you very badly and strained your relationship to the breaking point.  Maybe the Lord is calling you to restore a house for a low-income neighbor in our church’s Christmas in April program, or to provide a hospitable welcome here at FPC to homeless people who need a place to stay on freezing nights.    These are rare and wonderful ways to respond to the call of Christ – ways that can surprise people, shock people, even stop traffic!  

Only you know what Jesus is calling you to go and do with the resurrection life that he has given you.  He has put a sofa in your street, to make you slow down and think.  Whatever you do, don’t run away.

We live in a fast-paced, ever-accelerating culture, and the temptation is always going to be to run quickly past those things that require us to slow down and walk.  Things like the questions of a child, the pleas of an elderly person, the anguish of a co-worker, the whisper of a spouse, the call of Jesus Christ.  More than anything else, today is the day to stop and listen.  Listen for what is being said to you.  Listen for what you are being asked to do.

After all, we’re supposed to be on a “walk with Jesus,” aren’t we?  No one ever talks about their “run with Jesus.”  We’re supposed to walk with him, walk beside him, walk in his footsteps … carefully and prayerfully.

Here’s a little secret about pedestrian power: It’s all about love.  Yes, that’s right.  The places you walk tend to be places you love, and when you’re in a place you love then it’s easy to love other people.  Think of close friends walking hand-in-hand.  Couples smooching on a park bench.  Parents and children playing in a park.

A walking place is a loving place.  And so is the place where we meet our Risen Lord, and listen for what he says to us.

So walk, don’t run, into the future that begins today.  Amen.

Sources:

Rick Hampson and Paul Overberg, “Speeders outgun new limits,” USA TODAY, February 23, 2004, www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-02-23-cover-speed_x.htm

Jay Walljasper, "Pedestrian Power," Utne Magazine, May-June 2004, 74f.