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 towards 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 round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?" 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.
Today is Easter morning. Today is a day for rejoicing. Christ is risen! Hallelujah!
And yet, I’m finding it hard to get into the spirit of the day just yet. It feels as if my heart is still stuck back there on Good Friday. My brain knows it is Easter but my heart … my heart is still hurting from what feel like repeated attacks on our humanity. My heart is a little slow with catching up to resurrection.
For many of us it has been a brutal year with too much personal lose. And then the news of our world has been so bloody awful lately. The first attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act failed, but there are more coming, and the poor, as usual, are going to suffer. States have just been given the right to cut off access for the huge majority of poor women who use Planned Parenthood as their only source of medical care. Food programs are being threatened. Social Security is under siege.
Arkansas, in some grand orgy of self-righteous blood-lust, is fighting in the courts for the right to kill 8 men, right now, in assembly-line fashion, with a drug that has been proven to cause massive suffering – basically torturing people to death. And no matter how you stand on the question of capital punishment, is that really what you want?
I know am not anyone’s judge. Jesus told us quite clearly that is not our job. And I, for one, do not want to have to look at myself and see someone responsible for doing that to any other living soul. And I’m pretty sure Jesus, having been executed himself, is not ever going to advocate for it. It seems especially bizarre that this is happening at Easter. [Note: Since my first writing, this has been, at least temporarily, stayed by the courts]
And then there are the bombs. And most depressing of all, there are the people cheering because we are dropping said bombs. “Bombs! Yay!” And so, if, maybe, you too, are having trouble feeling like rejoicing right now, just know you’re not alone.
But – it is unquestionably Easter morning and even if I haven’t quite gotten to Hallelujah, I will … I know I will. Because the sun has come up; the tomb is unquestionably empty. And because I have lived with grief, off and on, often enough to know that my hesitations will pass.
Still, it is a weird sort of comfort to me that even Mary Magdalene herself didn’t recognize the risen Jesus right away – her broken heart could not be healed quite that fast.
Peter and John went into the empty tomb – but after seeing that Jesus’s body was gone – somewhere – they simply turned around and went back home – they didn’t burst immediately into loud hosannas. They didn’t seem to be able to process just yet what they had seen.
In the next few weeks we will hear various stories of the disciples, hiding out in an upper room, afraid to go out for fear they’ll be caught and punished, like Jesus. Or the one about the two men who walked along home to Emmaus without recognizing Jesus walking right there with them. And the final story of the disciples, weeping, as they tried to go back to their fishing – tried to go on with their broken lives and their broken hearts – before coming upon Jesus, unrecognized yet again, waiting for them on the beach, asking about breakfast.
And this will be the Easter story that will finally bring my heart up to date and allow me to experience the joy of a risen Lord. It is such a Jesus kind of story. It makes my heart smile…and I can recognize Jesus there … and here, among us now.
If those closest to him didn’t always recognize him right away – especially after they had watched him die – maybe we can be forgiven for being a little slow to recognize the risen Christ here in our midst, in this oh-so-messy-so-often-ugly world. But honestly -- hungry children, sick people without care, self-righteous judges, and bombs falling – where else should we even think to look for Jesus?
And so – maybe you are among those who whole-heartedly and joyfully greet the risen Christ today – or maybe your heart, like mine, is a little slower to get to rejoicing. It’s OK either way, because Jesus indeed does live, and death loses, and love wins – as love will always win.
I know this as surely as I know my own name – I have always known it – and because as I was preparing this message, as I was feeling down and discouraged by a world that seems to be growing uglier by the minute – God sent me a reminder, as God often does, and I “accidentally stumbled” on a quote I had at some point tucked away for future reference and forgotten. It is from Dag Hammarskjold – who, those of you old enough may remember, was Secretary-General of the United Nations in the early 50’s and a rare thinker. This is what he had to say:
And yet, I’m finding it hard to get into the spirit of the day just yet. It feels as if my heart is still stuck back there on Good Friday. My brain knows it is Easter but my heart … my heart is still hurting from what feel like repeated attacks on our humanity. My heart is a little slow with catching up to resurrection.
For many of us it has been a brutal year with too much personal lose. And then the news of our world has been so bloody awful lately. The first attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act failed, but there are more coming, and the poor, as usual, are going to suffer. States have just been given the right to cut off access for the huge majority of poor women who use Planned Parenthood as their only source of medical care. Food programs are being threatened. Social Security is under siege.
Arkansas, in some grand orgy of self-righteous blood-lust, is fighting in the courts for the right to kill 8 men, right now, in assembly-line fashion, with a drug that has been proven to cause massive suffering – basically torturing people to death. And no matter how you stand on the question of capital punishment, is that really what you want?
I know am not anyone’s judge. Jesus told us quite clearly that is not our job. And I, for one, do not want to have to look at myself and see someone responsible for doing that to any other living soul. And I’m pretty sure Jesus, having been executed himself, is not ever going to advocate for it. It seems especially bizarre that this is happening at Easter. [Note: Since my first writing, this has been, at least temporarily, stayed by the courts]
And then there are the bombs. And most depressing of all, there are the people cheering because we are dropping said bombs. “Bombs! Yay!” And so, if, maybe, you too, are having trouble feeling like rejoicing right now, just know you’re not alone.
But – it is unquestionably Easter morning and even if I haven’t quite gotten to Hallelujah, I will … I know I will. Because the sun has come up; the tomb is unquestionably empty. And because I have lived with grief, off and on, often enough to know that my hesitations will pass.
Still, it is a weird sort of comfort to me that even Mary Magdalene herself didn’t recognize the risen Jesus right away – her broken heart could not be healed quite that fast.
Peter and John went into the empty tomb – but after seeing that Jesus’s body was gone – somewhere – they simply turned around and went back home – they didn’t burst immediately into loud hosannas. They didn’t seem to be able to process just yet what they had seen.
In the next few weeks we will hear various stories of the disciples, hiding out in an upper room, afraid to go out for fear they’ll be caught and punished, like Jesus. Or the one about the two men who walked along home to Emmaus without recognizing Jesus walking right there with them. And the final story of the disciples, weeping, as they tried to go back to their fishing – tried to go on with their broken lives and their broken hearts – before coming upon Jesus, unrecognized yet again, waiting for them on the beach, asking about breakfast.
And this will be the Easter story that will finally bring my heart up to date and allow me to experience the joy of a risen Lord. It is such a Jesus kind of story. It makes my heart smile…and I can recognize Jesus there … and here, among us now.
If those closest to him didn’t always recognize him right away – especially after they had watched him die – maybe we can be forgiven for being a little slow to recognize the risen Christ here in our midst, in this oh-so-messy-so-often-ugly world. But honestly -- hungry children, sick people without care, self-righteous judges, and bombs falling – where else should we even think to look for Jesus?
And so – maybe you are among those who whole-heartedly and joyfully greet the risen Christ today – or maybe your heart, like mine, is a little slower to get to rejoicing. It’s OK either way, because Jesus indeed does live, and death loses, and love wins – as love will always win.
I know this as surely as I know my own name – I have always known it – and because as I was preparing this message, as I was feeling down and discouraged by a world that seems to be growing uglier by the minute – God sent me a reminder, as God often does, and I “accidentally stumbled” on a quote I had at some point tucked away for future reference and forgotten. It is from Dag Hammarskjold – who, those of you old enough may remember, was Secretary-General of the United Nations in the early 50’s and a rare thinker. This is what he had to say:
“I don't know Who — or what — put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone — or Something — and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.”
We are here because somewhere in our lives we answered that same question. We may be a little fuzzy as to who asked the question or why – but it was asked and it was answered. We surrendered. And because we surrendered, we believe. And because we believe, we rejoice in the Good News that Jesus lived among us to tell us and show us. Including the fact that love can never truly die. Even in those times when, like the disciples themselves, we stumble and bumble around a bit because it takes us awhile to figure out what the heck is going on – there is still Good News.
And we always have lots of opportunities – Easter is not a “once and done” affair. Somewhere in the world we crucify Jesus every single day, and somewhere we live for a while in the darkness, and then – glory be to God – Christ rises again and lives in us and among us again and death and hatred and greed are defeated one more time.
And love wins.
This I believe.
Christ is risen. Hallelujah!
And we always have lots of opportunities – Easter is not a “once and done” affair. Somewhere in the world we crucify Jesus every single day, and somewhere we live for a while in the darkness, and then – glory be to God – Christ rises again and lives in us and among us again and death and hatred and greed are defeated one more time.
And love wins.
This I believe.
Christ is risen. Hallelujah!
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