New Testament Reading
John 20: 1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Sermon
It was a stormy night. The wind was howling. And, twelve disciples sat in their puzzled, confused sorrow. Each was dealing with the tragedy in his own way. A few had gathered at a table where they considered the mystery that lay before them. Those at the table were Peter, Thomas, and the one known as the Beloved Disciple. Not far from the table, but listening was a certain woman, Mary Magdalene. At the table, the three disciples fumbled with their thoughts and emotions. The recent events had taken a toll. Before their very eyes, all that they once thought they knew seemed to be unraveling like a ball of camel hair in a desert storm. What they faced now was mystery, pure, unfathomable, miserable mystery. Little did they know that this would not be the only mystery they faced in the hours ahead, but that can wait.
This first mystery was what started it all. It was not a classical case of who-done-it. The perpetrators were known and well understood. The mystery was a mystery of meaning. Why? Why had someone who cast himself as the Messiah and the Son of God allowed himself to be killed? Previous to the event itself, the evidence seemed to speak against such a thing. Sure, Jerusalem had killed prophets before, but what prophets could walk on water, multiply loaves and fishes, heal the sick, and raise the dead? What prophets had the kind of knowledge, presence, and power that this one had? It would seem that one as special as this, one who seemed to be the very embodiment of God, would not have allowed himself to be killed.
Yet, the more pressing evidence came not from those miraculous events that now seemed so distant. The more pressing evidence that befuddled them was the evidence presented on the last night of the victim’s death. “My friends,” Thomas said, “I keep thinking about our last night with Jesus. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Remember when Jesus told us not to let our hearts be troubled and not to be afraid, because he was going away. He said that he had told us those things so that when it happened we would believe. I hate to say it, but I am having trouble believing. Why would Jesus have let himself be killed?”
With a remarkable calmness, the Beloved Disciple responded, “I think there must be something we’re missing. Think back to that night Thomas, and you’ll remember that right after he told us not be troubled, he then said that ‘the ruler of this world was coming’ and that this ruler had ‘no power over him.’ We now know he wasn’t talking about Caeser coming to Jerusalem. He was talking about the Romans coming to get him in the name of Caesar. I think the answer to our question is in finding out what Jesus meant when he said that the ruler of the world had ‘no power’ over him.”
Peter could hardly contain himself. He practically exploded, “Clearly, Caesar did have some power over him or else he never would have been killed. I think we should have listened to those who said there never would be a Messiah. That whole thing about the Messiah bringing a new age is all a big dream. Just think Micah said there would come a day when nations would ‘beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.’ I have trouble believing that the Romans are going to join us poor Jews in the field and use their swords to help us plow. I’ll tell you what they’re going to do. They’re going to use their swords to steal our food. That’s what they’ll do”
Again, the Beloved, with his calm, reassuring air, said, “It is difficult to believe, but I think there must still be something to hope for.”
“Let’s keep on hoping!” said Peter sarcastically. “Hope will save the world! But, did you ever consider Jesus might have been fooling us all along? Think about it. If Jesus planned to stir up as much trouble as he did by marching into Jerusalem at the same time as Pilate and by upsetting the high priests in the Temple, he would have known that he would become crucified. He was practically asking to be killed. He even told Judas to betray him by giving him that piece of bread and telling him to go and do what he had to do. Jesus planned to be killed, so he could then sound all prophetic and wise by predicting his own death. What a scam! I think Jesus just wanted to trick us into thinking of him as a martyr so that people would remember him forever and ever and think he was great. People love a good martyr.”
The Beloved was accustomed to defending Jesus against Peter, the hothead, and Thomas, the doubter, so he said, “Remember Jesus told us we couldn’t bear to hear all the things he had to say. He said we would have to wait for the Holy Spirit to guide us. I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions. Maybe the Holy Spirit will explain all this to us.”
“I wonder,” said Peter, “if Jesus said a lot of things just to get us to keep on believing. Remember how on the last night we were with him, he kept talking about how he would come back again, but none of Hebrew scriptures say that the Messiah will come twice. I am beginning to think that this was just another trick of his. We should have listened to the people who laughed at Jesus when he said that he had come down from heaven. They said, ‘Look, we know his father Joseph and his mother Mary. You can’t tell us that he didn’t come from them.’ Really, I think we were just a bunch of gullible fools.”
“I’m beginning to have lots of doubts,” said Thomas.
As the three disciples spoke, Mary listened in the next room. She could no longer bear to listen to what they were saying. She remembered how Jesus said that when a woman is in labor, there is pain, but when she has finally given birth, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought someone into the world. Surely, God would not have given them someone as great as Jesus and then have them experience all this pain for nothing. Surely, something new was about to be born. She just didn’t know what. Even though she knew Jesus was dead, she couldn’t overcome her urge to talk with him, to ask him what it was that was to be born. Finally, she got up, and, quietly, without letting anyone know, she left the house to go to the tomb.
It was still dark out, and Mary had trouble seeing far in front of her, but when she got near the tomb, she could tell that something wasn’t right. As she got closer, she could tell what it was. The stone in front of the tomb had been rolled away. Thinking that either thieves or soldiers had stolen the body, she quickly ran back to the disciples, and she told them what she saw. Peter was convinced that soldiers had taken the body. He cursed that they could disrespect Jewish people even when they were mourning. Although they knew they were risking arrest, Peter and the Beloved Disciple ran to the tomb. Thomas stayed at home. He doubted anything could be done.
The Beloved ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked into the tomb, but immediately, what he saw struck him as odd. There in the tomb laid the linen that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body. Peter, however, did not pause, he rushed straight into the tomb to inspect the matter close at hand, but soon he also paused as if stunned by something unexpected. The Beloved entered behind him and saw what it was that made Peter stop. The cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head was rolled up and placed off to the side. No thief or soldier would steal a body and take the time to roll up a piece of cloth like that. Soldiers would have desecrated the tomb, and thieves would have taken whatever they could get their hands on. Both disciples knew they had confronted something most unusual. It was a perplexing case of extraordinary dimensions. At once, they decided that they must tell the others what had happened and begin the process of solving the mystery of the missing body.
Mary was too struck by grief to be bothered with detective work. “She bent over to look into the tomb,” and there without fully comprehending it, “she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ and she replied, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’” She then “turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’” It then occurred to her that Peter and the Beloved had been foolish to wonder if soldiers or thieves had taken Jesus. Of course, it was obvious. The gardener had taken Jesus. She then “said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and as if seeing him for the first time exclaimed, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to heaven. But go to the others and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my God and your God.’’ Mary then “went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and she told them that he had said these things to her.”
The disciples, of course, were a bit slow. They didn’t believe her at first. They believed they had much more plausible explanations for solving the mystery of the missing body. Peter conjectured that the high priests wanted to make sure Jesus did not receive a proper Jewish burial and that Nicodemus must have caved into them and confessed where the tomb was located. The disciples all nodded their heads in agreement. This was certainly more plausible, but Mary persisted and said, “But don’t you remember how Jesus asked us what we would think if we saw the ‘Son of Man ascending to where he was before.’ At the time, we didn’t understand, but he tried to explain to us how his spirit would go beyond his body and continue to live. He said that ‘it is the spirit that gives life’ while ‘the flesh is useless.’ Jesus’ body has gone away, but his spirit is still with us.”
Thomas was not so easily persuaded, so he said, “Oh, really, Mary, you think Jesus is going to become some kind of Spirit without a body? What’s he going to do just float around like a cloud?” Mary replied, “Don’t you remember that Jesus said he would give us the gift of the Spirit and that the Spirit would abide with us and be in us.” Others were starting to see Mary’s logic, but Thomas was not convinced and would not be until much later, so he said, “Come on now, Mary, do you actually believe Jesus is inside us? I would think that you are a little too short for Jesus to fit inside of you.”
Mary, however, was not deterred. She said, “Don’t you remember that Jesus said he spoke in figures of speech. Why do you have to be so literal! When Jesus said he was the bread of life, do you really think he meant he was a loaf of bread? Just think what would happen if we took everything Jesus said literally. We would be a bunch of religious fanatics! Besides, Jesus explained to us what he meant. Those who abide in him abide in love. As long as we have love in our hearts, Jesus is with us. He is in us. So long as we live in love, Jesus shall continue to live. Jesus has arisen! He has arisen in you and you and you! Don’t mourn, Beloved, Jesus lives! Don’t despair, Peter, Jesus lives! Don’t cry, disciples, Jesus lives! Let us give thanks to God! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!