"All About Love"
Sermon Presented March 27 , 2005
Easter Sunday
John 20:1-18
In Reynolds Price's story The Foreseeable Future, Whit, the main character almost loses his life in World War II. He spends the years following the war trying to discover why he was spared. He's in a desperate struggle to come from death to life when he enters an Episcopal Church and becomes distracted when a woman comes in and sits several rows in front of him. He stares at her - not knowing why.
And then he sees. The stained glass window behind her shows the risen Christ, stepping from the tomb. His hips are barely covered with rags; his palms are outward, displaying their mutilation. His side is covered with blood, but his lips are almost smiling. That hint of a smile comes as a shock to Whit. It's the first smile he'd seen in a hundred pictures of this moment. The risen Christ looked glad!
Whit's own struggle was depicted in that window, and he saw he could now experience joy at just being alive. His struggle is our struggle as we make the transition to new life in Christ.
Whit's experience and that stained glass window remind me of a story I heard last week from a Catholic Sister. She told it as a true story. In a Catholic school in the Chicago area there is a young priest who teaches first grade. In his class is the niece of Cardinal Francis George. Having her in his class makes the young priest most nervous because he doesn't want any bad reports about him going to the Cardinal via his student. He's always on guard.
One day recently a child in the class asked him what Jesus' first words were when he came out of the tomb. He thought and thought and couldn't come up with an answer. He decided to ask the class if anyone knew and Mary Margaret shot her hand into the air. When the priest called on her, she stood up - spread out her arms - and proclaimed: "Ta da!" With a smile on his face, Jesus proclaimed the resurrection to new life.
It's Easter Sunday and we celebrate the risen Christ.
Let's look at our text - a familiar one that will be preached in most
Christian churches today and almost every Easter. John 20:1-18 (read
text)
The Easter story begins in darkness - and it begins at Jesus' burial site. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb with spices to anoint his body - a task that was hurried on Friday because of the onset of the Sabbath. Now the Sabbath is over and daylight is approaching. Mary has no expectations for that morning other than to perform one last loving act for her beloved. She comes because of her love for him. She remains grief-stricken after watching the crucifixion, death and burial of the one she loved more than life itself. Her Sabbath was filled with anger toward those she believes are responsible for his death. That anger may have even extended to God for not interfering and saving Jesus - or toward Jesus for not saving himself. The violence of Friday brought grief on Saturday and this early Sunday morning.
What is loss but the experience of love? If we don't love, there's no sense of loss. But when there is great love, absence can become a kind of presence. On this Sunday morning absence becomes real presence for Mary.
As we know, people grieve differently and they express love differently. Mary's grief and expressions of love differ from those of her male counterparts. She comes to the tomb early with embalming spices as her act of love. When she discovers the stone moved from the entrance to the tomb, she assumes the body is gone, and without looking inside she runs to tell the disciples. When Peter and the other disciple arrive, the other disciple looks in and sees the grave clothes, but doesn't enter. Peter then enters the tomb, sees the grave clothes and the head wrap rolled up by itself. The gospel writer says that he believes and both men go home. We don't know what they believe, but it seems the belief is that Jesus' body is indeed missing.
Nothing about the events of Easter morning makes sense to those visiting the tomb because they don't understand that Jesus must rise from the dead. The disciples see the empty tomb and go home. The rest of the story belongs to Mary Magdalene who reappears still shrouded in grief, weeping and not believing. To her, the angels she encounters aren't a sign of God's presence but an outlet for her grief. Then she sees Jesus but doesn't recognize him, thinking he's the gardener. According to John's gospel, Mary is the only one to see the angels and the risen Lord that morning.
Mary Magdalene has received a great deal of attention recently from Dan Brown's novel The DaVinci Code. Before that, it was the musical Jesus Christ Superstar that brought her into the limelight. These fictionalized works have caused people to consider Mary a major player in the Easter story. Even though the description of Mary Magdalene is fictionalized, the authors did bring her out of the shadows to a place of prominence that she rightly deserves. They sparked debate and study that didn't exist before.
When Mary recognizes Jesus, she wants to hold onto him. But to her dismay, Jesus tells her no. "Don't cling to me!" We don't like to hear these words. They may come from our children, parents, spouse, friends or grandchildren - those we love, and the words are unwelcome. We often hear them spoken by loved ones on their deathbeds - those who are ready and wanting to move on to a better life and who implore us to release them. But things aren't the same. Jesus won't resume his ministry as before. Mary can't pick up where she left off.
Mary is transformed in this early dawn from desolation to life, from inertia to action. She moves from one whose purpose is to prepare a dead body to one who proclaims the resurrection message. She comes to the tomb because of love, and love meets her there.
When we lose something or someone that we love, we long for what we lost and sometimes even beg God to give it back to us. But it's gone. Easter doesn't change that. For that reason we can't cling to the hope that Jesus will take us back to life the way it was. The only way out of our darkness is to move forward to new life. And the one who can lead the way is Jesus. But we must discover a new vision of Jesus - not the teacher we once knew but a Savior who continues to be revealed to us when our hearts and minds are open.
Let's face it, it's not easy to decide to leave our darkness and follow Jesus into the light. Most of us don't want to live the radically new life that the resurrected Christ offers. Light can be blinding when we leave the darkness. We don't want the struggle that comes from changing both our lives and our theology.
Many think of Easter as a warm fuzzy - with baskets and bunnies and family dinners. The struggle of Good Friday is forgotten because we'd rather not remember that cruel crucifixion. But if we don't remember the darkness, then Jesus' resurrection brings no light.
Today we emerge from the darkness of Lent. The Faith Journeys of our Leaders embrace us and encourage us on our own journeys. We're relieved that everyone's journey is different and each person comes to faith differently. But the important question that Easter asks each of us is: "Have you encountered the risen Christ?"
We are certain that Mary was never the same after Easter. Even though she couldn't cling to Jesus, she was confident that he had a hold on her, even though she must now come to a new understanding of him. The same holds true for us. We can't cling to an old understanding of Jesus that is locked in at a third grade level. As we mature in our faith and understanding, we need greater light.
Mary initially sought light through remembrance. She went to the tomb to honor Jesus and remember his impact on her life. She went in darkness, and there she met the risen Christ and was saturated with light.
If Mary hadn't gone to the tomb, she wouldn't have seen him. If she hadn't gone, her darkness would have been prolonged. If she hadn't gone, she would have had no message to give to the other disciples. Mary's victory came because she sought Jesus. She was in the right place at the right time - looking for him. She was there because of her great love for him.
It was love that caused Mary to ask the burning questions of the angels and of the man she believed to be the gardener. Love caused her to probe the mysteries she confronted. When her questions were answered, she became a source of enlightenment for others. When we affirm what Jesus has done in our lives, our lives are brighter and we help others out of their darkness.
When a member of this congregation shared her faith journey with me last week, the idea struck me that we could all benefit from hearing the faith journeys of our people. We may begin this after Pentecost - possibly once a month during our regular morning worship. I won't give you 30 minutes as I gave the guest speakers, but if you prepare carefully you can say a lot in 10 minutes. Besides, you won't have to listen to me as long on those Sundays, so this may be an enticement. Our stories can positively impact one another.
On this Easter Sunday, I invite you to again meet the risen Lord. You may not hear him say: "Ta da!" but you will experience his loving embrace as he offers you renewed life and faith. Then, like Mary, you can share the news that Christ is risen and brings new life!
