John 20:1-18
THE WONDER, THE CELEBRATION, THE JOY OF RESURRECTION!
A SERMON FOR EASTER SUNDAY: We experience with Mary, Peter and the beloved disciple the disbelief, then the belief and joy in the reality of the resurrection! And, with Mary, we encounter the Risen Christ, and can exclaim (through the eyes of faith) “I have seen the Risen Lord!”
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So, this is Easter – (arguably!) the most important, most joyful celebration of the Christian year. The day when (more than any other) we celebrate the victory of life over death – the power of the Light of the Risen Christ, which even the darkness of death could not master. Today (more than any other!) we relish the Light of Easter Resurrection: the Life, the hope, and the fulfilment of God’s promise.
But to fully appreciate the wonder, the joy, and the celebration of the Resurrection we really need to accompany Jesus’ disciples and friends from where we left them on that first Good Friday, and the burial of Jesus in that borrowed tomb in the nearby quarry / garden, just before the Sabbath began.
The disciples had fled and scattered for fear of being arrested and interrogated, as Jesus had been, and accused of being his followers. Mary (the mother of Jesus) had gone to the house of John – the ‘beloved’ disciple – and there (we imagine) they comforted and consoled each other, as a mother for her son, and as a son for his mother, having witnessed the horrors of Jesus’ crucifixion and death.
Now we pick-up the story as the Sabbath is about to reach its conclusion, and we see Mary Magdalene making ready to return to the tomb to finish what she and the other women, had begun so hastily on the Friday evening.
It was early in the morning, between three and six, when Mary began her lonely way to the desolate quarry / garden tomb. We might imagine her to be completely exhausted – physically and emotionally – after two sleepless nights and from being in so much grief. It was still dark, even as she entered the quarry / garden and approached the tomb, the entrance to which she expected to find sealed from the outside world by that great, heavy stone that had been placed there. She must have been wondering how she was going to move that stone, so she could carry-out her duties. Maybe she would have to await the arrival of the other mourners who would soon come to give the last rites.
Then, as Mary nears the tomb, imagine her sense of anxiety, then her utter astonishment and alarm, as she peers through the darkness to find the great stone rolled away from the mouth of the tomb.
Immediately, and deeply troubled in spirit, she runs to the home of Peter and John (the ‘beloved’) to break the news. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him” the breathless Mary exclaims. In their shock and disbelief, the two men run out of the house and make haste to the quarry / garden tomb – John racing ahead of Peter, being the younger and faster of the two.
John arrives first, and hesitantly stoops down and peers into the darkness of the tomb. He sees the funerary shroud lying on the floor – the shroud that covered Jesus’ body. Then Peter gets there and (characteristically!) without hesitation rushes straight into the tomb and quickly glances around. He also notices the shroud on the floor, and also the small cloth that had covered Jesus’ face. This was neatly rolled-up and placed to one side. John then plucks-up the courage to follow Peter inside, and he sees what Peter has seen. Now they UNDERSTAND and BELIEVE in the TRUTH of what Jesus had told them. HE WOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD IN THREE DAYS. Even though they had not understood what Jesus had told them about the scriptures, they now believed him because they saw the empty tomb and the discarded shroud cloth. In wonder and awe they return home.
But what of Mary? She had been left behind as Peter and John had run. While the two men had been inside the tomb, she waited nearby once she had arrived, deep in her grief and shock. Then, through her tears, she sees Peter and John emerge from the tomb, in stunned silence as they walk away. Again she was alone in that desolate, apparently God-forsaken place.
Still weeping, Mary enters the dark coldness of the tomb, to see what those disciples of Jesus had seen. Imagine her surprise to see two white-clad figures inside, shining as angels, standing either end of the ledge where the body of Jesus should have been. And (as one) they say to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” The reason for her open expression of grief, she thought, should be obvious! But she answers anyway, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him.”
Then, gradually, Mary becomes aware of a presence behind her, and she turns to look. A third person – a stranger (she thinks) – stands there. Mary assumes he is the gardener – maybe he has opened the tomb and moved the body of Jesus. “Woman, why are you weeping?” he says; “For whom are you looking?” “Sir” Mary responds, “If you have carried him away tell me where, and I will take him.”
Something deep inside Mary was stopping her from recognising that this man, whom she thought might be the gardener, was in fact Jesus! But suddenly her eyes are opened and she sees, at the precise moment that he calls her by name, that it is him! “Mary.” In the whole of the Bible there are few other single word utterances charged with such emotion as this! With deep compassion and feeling Jesus calls her, “Mary” and, in ecstatic joy, she reaches out to touch his feet exclaiming, “Rabbouni!” “Master!” Jesus resists her approach because he has not yet been re-united with God – their God – but he instructs her to go and tell their brothers and sisters what she has seen and heard. In great joy and celebration, Mary runs back to share the good news.
This, then, is the climax of the Easter Story. This is what the wilderness of Lent, the painful separation of the Last Supper, and the horror of Golgotha has been leading to. Yet let us not rush too hastily through this Story to our encounter with the Risen Christ because, like Peter and John, we might miss something of great importance.
Firstly, and as we look at John and Peter’s arrival at the place of Jesus’ burial, we can see a process of growing in faith. We find John, first of all, cautiously peering into the darkness of the tomb. He simply ‘notices’ the burial-clothes of Jesus lying on the ground inside but, initially, goes no further. Peter goes rushing headlong in and, in his great passion to get to the truth, he sees in more detail what it’s all about. Then ‘cautious’ John takes the step to full understanding – he goes into the tomb and ‘Sees and believes.’ At different times, the truth dawns upon them about the reality of the resurrection as they step out of the darkness and into the light of dawn that Third Day. And they were stunned into a silent sense of awe and wonder as they return home to reflect upon this revelation. So, and taking Peter as our example, sometimes we need to be aware that inspiration and spontaneity in our lives of faith can lead to revelation of the truth. At other times, and taking John as our example, we need to be aware of the benefits of exercising caution as we search, lest we overlook the truth and lose our way.
But, perhaps more importantly, we need to be aware of the personal implications of the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst, as experienced by Mary. For her, Christ’s resurrection is a personal discovery that is a LIFE-CHANGING event. Mary was a woman deep in grief and shock, weeping openly over the death of one she dearly loved. But she found herself in the presence of the Risen Christ – Jesus was there for her in the midst of her distress, and he transforms that distress into great joy in believing.
The whole point of the Resurrection Story at this level is that WE can encounter the Living Jesus in OUR lives today – perhaps not in the sense that we can see, then reach-out and touch him, but rather through the Holy Spirit and by faith. Christ Jesus is risen, and present with us, and our encounter with him can be no less life-changing for us as it was for Mary.
Jesus overcame the darkness of death, is alive forever, and as such is with us. He is still with us to transform broken, sorrowful and fearful lives, even though at such times our faith may be weak and faltering – when we can be consumed by fear and doubt.
So, in this, our celebration of Resurrection joy, this Easter Day let us search for, and be comforted and encouraged by, the presence and embrace of the Risen Christ. For as he burst out of the darkness of the tomb on the Third Day, so he stretches-out his hand to guide US out of the darkness of OUR despair, into the light of eternal hope and joy that is in faith. For it is indeed in faith that we encounter the Risen Christ, and can exclaim, with Mary, “I have seen the Risen Lord!”
Thanks be to God. Amen
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Disclaimer: I have been privileged to share with God’s people, for more than ten years since my Ordination, many, many sermons and Bible studies. As so often, preachers ‘absorb’ words and other insights without knowing or remembering their original source. If any of the above seems somehow ‘familiar’, please accept my humble apologies – I have not wittingly reproduced any writing as my own that should be otherwise acknowledged.
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