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One of my childhood memories is the year of the locusts. I remember the year that millions of cicadas came out of the ground. You could pick their shells off the bark of the trees, split down the middle where the creature had escaped. But the shells still looked so real, with legs and face and eyes. I tried to startle some girls with them, which was fun until Betty Fudge put them into her hair for decoration and took the fright away. At night the sound of the singing of the invisible cicadas was so loud, you felt like you needed to shout to be heard over them.

When Peter and the beloved disciple went to the tomb they saw an empty shell. All that remained was some of the old covering. Mary had not even seen that much. She had arrived earlier and seen the open tomb and run back to the others in grief. The two men looked and returned, but Mary remained at the tomb weeping. What Mary first saw was angels. Then, she turned and saw the risen Lord. That's when everything changed.

There were no witnesses to the resurrection. That was entirely between Jesus and God. No one can say what happened in that tomb. They all arrived after the fact. Two saw clothes, one saw angels. Most of the slept in that Easter morning. But that's okay. The tomb is not important. The tomb was just the shell of the cicada. The life that had been within it had disappeared. It was gone. It was singing elsewhere.

An empty tomb is too small an image for resurrection. Jesus was alive and had some singing to do. The real business happened the moment the unknown gardener said, "Mary!" and she knew who he was. And that's what continued to happen over and over. The risen and living one appeared to the disciples. John's gospel tells us of four more times. And every time he did, every time the risen Jesus appeared to them, his friends became stronger, kinder, wiser and more alive. They became more like him.

Whenever Jesus appeared to his friends, typically two things happened. First, he said, "Do not be afraid." Fear not. Don't be afraid. That's Jesus' first word from the new life. That's the first gift he would like to give to every person alive. Don't be afraid. There is nothing that you need be afraid of. What a gift. To be fearless. How different might your life be if you were afraid of nothing? What if you were entirely free from anxiety? That's what Jesus would like to give to each of us. He proclaims that word from his perspective of having gone through every fearful thing -- threat, abandonment, injustice, violence, shame, pain and finally death. He emerges from the other side of that tomb and says, "I've been through it all. You don't have to be afraid anymore." You get the feeling he knows something that we don't know.

And the other thing that happened when he appeared to them was that people received whatever they needed to be whole. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Completely failed him at the crucial moment. Jesus appeared to him on a beach and let Peter renew his devotion to him, three times. Two friends were walking down the road toward Emmaus perplexed about everything that had been happening. Jesus joined them as a stranger on the road and guided their understanding. When they saw him in the breaking of the bread, it all came together. Thomas felt isolated in his grief over watching his friend tortured on the cross. Jesus appeared to him and showed him the marks of the nails. They lost their power to haunt Thomas.

That's how Jesus appears to us as well. Whenever we receive whatever we need to be whole, it is Jesus the risen one appearing to you or to me in another one of his disguises. When we are in fear or despair, the risen Jesus finds a way to calm our hearts with a peace that passes understanding. When we are confused or frustrated, the risen Jesus brings understanding and confidence. When we are in grief or isolation, the risen Jesus reaches into our hurt and touches it with compassionate love.

A lot of times that happens through a friend. Someone says just the right thing to calm your heart. Or a teacher speaks a word of wisdom that brings you insight. Or a loyal companion reaches out with compassion that soothes in a time of loss. Each time that happens, that is the Spirit of the risen Christ, appearing to you, and doing what Jesus has always done, helping make life whole. That's why we call this the Body of Christ. You are the Body of Christ. Christ's spirit lives in and through you.

The essential gift that Jesus brings is loving acceptance. Whenever Jesus appeared to his friends, the quality of that appearance was an overwhelming loving acceptance of divine proportions. When Jesus met Peter on that beach, the love was so great that any ounce of guilt was washed away. When Jesus appeared to Thomas, his love overwhelmed both grief and doubt.

To my mind, that's the key. That's the essence of Jesus, and of the whole Christian thing. Jesus shows us that God loves us. God loves and accepts each and every human being with an unqualified, immense, eternal love. That loving acceptance is more powerful than evil and death. That's the message of Easter. All that awaits for us, is for us simply to accept the fact that we are accepted. To trust the reality that we are loved. Without strings. Without conditions. Without qualifications or ifs or buts. You are God's beloved child. All God wants for you is to love you.

That's the connection that can make us fearless. If you know you are beloved, no matter who you are or what you do. If you know you are absolutely loved without conditions, what is there to be afraid of, what can make you anxious? So what if you mess up? God loves and forgives you instantly. So what if you fail? God loves and uplifts you. So what if you are misunderstood and isolated? God knows, comforts and loves you. So what if you are threatened even with death? God loves you into resurrection.

In the adaptation of the story of Helen Keller there is a poignant moment of turning. Her tutor Anne Sullivan had been spelling words into the hands of the blind and deaf child, but they had no meaning. They were just a game of finger manipulation. She made no connection between the shapes in her hand and any other exterior reality. Until the moment at the well pump. As Anne Sullivan pumped water over Helen Keller's hands, furiously spelling with her fingers W-A-T-E-R, W-A-T-E-R, suddenly Helen stiffened. She slapped the water. She moved her fingers. W-A-T-E-R. She made the connection. These finger movements were the same thing as the cold, living stuff that was pouring over her hands. The world and mystery of language opened to her. Her life came alive.

The essential connection in the language that Jesus teaches is the realization that you are loved. You are accepted. You are God's child. There is nothing you have to do to earn that. It is your inheritance, your standing. It is pure gift. It is freer than water. God loves you, God accepts you, and wishes for you nothing but a fearless and abundant life. Let that water of new life pour across you and hear Jesus spelling that word into your soul -- you are loved. You are accepted. You are God's beloved child. You have always been loved. You have always been accepted. You have always been God's beloved child. You will always be loved. You will always be accepted. You will always be God's beloved child.

Don't be afraid. If you are loved so freely, there is nothing to be afraid of. Don't be anxious. You don't have to do anything to earn God's acceptance. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted with the same wonder that Helen learned that W-A-T-E-R with real water.