Mary Magdalene’s View of the Resurrection
4/12/2009 Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Audubon, Iowa
You just heard your Pastor read to you Mark’s account of my visit to a cemetery. It was a visit unlike any other. You all have made similar visits to the graves of loved one’s. You know the sadness and the pain that you feel when you visit. In fact, it may be that the sadness of the separation is too great for you to visit your loved one’s grave. Today, I want to tell you about my visit to a cemetery, and how I could leave that day with great joy.
It was the third day since my Lord Jesus had died. I saw them whip him, mock him, beat him, spit on him, and force him to carry the instrument of his own death up the hill to his place of execution. Those of you who were here on Good Friday heard His Father tell you about what he saw and what he felt as he watched His Son suffer and die. It was the worst day of my life. You see, Jesus had mercy on me, a poor, sinful being. When He met me, I had been possessed by several demons, the good that I wanted to do, I was unable to do, and the bad that I didn’t want to do, I did. People were afraid of me. People looked down on me. I was one of “those women” people told you to stay away from. But Jesus took that sin, death, and the power of the devil away from me, and gave me new life. No longer did I have to walk around doing the will of an evil master, I was set free to do the good things that God would have me do. That’s why I followed Jesus. He was my way, truth, and life.
And it was heart-wrenching for me, and for the other women, his mother Mary, Salome, and Mary, the mother of James, to watch what happened to our Lord and our teacher. We had followed him throughout Galilee and cared for him and his disciples, we provided for their physical needs, so that they could continue to do the Father’s will. When the previous week began, Jesus was being given a King’s welcome. People were running to the entrance of the city to greet him, waving palm branches, laying their cloaks on the road, and crying out “Hosanna”, meaning “Save us now!” But, as that week continued the cries of the crowds changed. Judas, someone we thought we could trust, someone we thought Jesus could trust, had betrayed Jesus, so that His enemies could have Him arrested. He had done nothing wrong, yet, he stood accused of crimes He had not committed. The crowd wanted him dead. The same crowd that just days before were welcoming Him into the city with open arms, crying out for Him to save them, now were crying out “Crucify Him!” It was hard enough to see our Rabbi treated like this. It made us sad. We saw the nails be driven into His hands and feet. We saw him hang there on the cross. We saw Him put others before Himself when He asked His Father to forgive them. We heard him utter the words “It is finished!”, and bow his head and die. We were there to see His end. It was the most difficult thing I ever had to watch. I shed many tears over His death. I never felt so much grief, sadness, and fear, as the day My Redeemer died.
Not only that, we were afraid. If they treated our Lord like this, and wanted Him gone so badly, what would they do to us, his followers? Because of that, I can understand why the Disciples ran away in fear and hid. They were afraid for their lives. They were afraid of being the next to be arrested, tried, and executed. Maybe that’s why they didn’t want to come with us to the tomb that Sunday morning, that first day of the week. Perhaps they thought I and the other women were crazy for wanting to go to the tomb that Sunday, out of fear of what would happen to us. But, I was determined. Just as I cared for my Lord during His life, I would care for His body in His death. I had to go to that cemetery that morning.
You see, we had to come to prepare Jesus’ body for a proper burial. Because He was executed on a Friday, and we were not allowed to properly prepare His body for burial on the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea made arrangements to take Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrap it in linen cloths, and lie it in a tomb in a garden near the place where He was crucified. I saw them roll a large stone against the entrance. It was clear once they put Jesus’ body in there, it wasn’t coming out. And no one was going in, either.
You’ve all experienced that. Especially those of you who have lost a loved one. You’ve stood at their graveside, as the Pastor says the words “We now commit the body of this person to its resting place, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” It doesn’t get much more final than that. While you may not have been there as the casket was lowered into the ground, the vault sealed, and 6 feet worth of dirt piled on top of it, you know that when you leave that grave that day, your loved one’s body will be staying there. And it hurts, doesn’t it? You know that the next time you visit the grave of your spouse, sibling, child, or friend, that their body will still be there.
That’s what Mary and Salome and I expected as we made the early morning journey out to Jesus’ tomb. We deeply loved our Lord, and as a final act of that love, wanted to prepare his body for a proper burial. We were carrying our spices, and other things we needed for his body to properly care for it and clean it up. We had seen how savagely He was beaten, we saw Joseph take His body down from the cross. We expected to find a body wrapped in linen cloth. But there was one problem. You see, when they put Jesus’ body in the tomb, they rolled a large stone in front of the entrance to the tomb. Not only that, but the day before, the chief priests and Pharisees had remembered that Jesus had said something while He was still alive about rising after three days. So they went to Pilate, and told him, out of fear that one of us women or one of the disciples would come and steal His body on the third day to make it appear as if Jesus had risen, and then go out and tell everyone that He had risen. Pilate didn’t want to deal with all the craziness of that, so he ordered that a guard be placed outside of the tomb until then to prevent us from going in there.
So we had two obstacles to face. The first was the stone. Who would roll it away from the entrance so we could get inside and prepare Jesus’ body for burial? Not only that, but how are the guards going to treat us when we get there? That might have been one of the reasons why the Disciples chose not to come with us that morning, they were afraid of what might happen to them during this visit to a grave. That and, they had all ran and hid in fear that Friday. Their grief may have been too much for them to come to the graveside of someone they loved so dearly.
You know that feeling, don’t you? When you’ve lost a loved one, and you can’t bring yourself to living each day, because your so overcome by grief and sorrow, you just’ can’t get over it? It seems like everyone else has gone about their daily lives, and you’re sitting there, wondering how everyone can seemingly go on when someone so precious to you has gone? All of those thoughts went through my mind as I went to the tomb.
Fearful as I may be, as unknown as my future may be, I decided to go anyway. Some of the other women went with me. We talked about the injustice of it all, the sadness, the grief, and the sorrow we experienced. We didn’t talk much about the future that day, because we had put all our hopes in Jesus. But it appeared that those hopes had died with him. Between the tears, we walked for what seemed to be an eternity to the grave of our Lord.
As we approached, we expected to be met with some of the guards that Pilate had ordered to watch over the grave. What would we say to them? Would they even let us close to the tomb, let alone, to Jesus’ body? Would they force us to leave? Would they perhaps help us roll away the stone so we could prepare His body for burial?
That’s when the most amazing thing happened. We saw some guards all right, but they were unconscious, laying there on the ground. Something inside of me told me that something had happened, but I had no clue as to what it may be. There’s no way those guards would have just decided to fall asleep on the job, after all, if anyone had snuck in and done anything to the body, let alone walk off with it, these guards probably would have been held accountable with their lives. Just a moment ago, we were concerned about who was going to roll the stone away from the tomb. Now, we didn’t know what to expect.
I walked past the guards, and approached the tomb. Lo and behold, the stone was rolled away. Chills started going up my spine, wondering who it was that had done this? Not only that, but why? What did they want to do? None of this made any sense. I walked into the tomb, slowly, not knowing what to expect.
Over to my right, there was a young man dressed in a white robe. This wasn’t any young man. He was an angel, his clothing a brighter and purer white than I could ever imagine! He had come straight from the presence of God himself in heaven. But what was an Angel doing there? The Greek word that you get the word Angel from in your language means “Messenger.” He had a message from God to give to us. What could it be? I was, in the words of your text “Alarmed” because I didn’t know what to expect.
I’ll never forget the Angel’s words. “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” I couldn’t believe it. I looked and saw where Jesus’ body had been laid. It wasn’t there. It was too good to be true. Jesus, risen from the dead? It couldn’t be? Could it? Was this some sick joke? The only thing I could think to do was weep.
Until, I saw a man standing there. He asked me why I was weeping. I told him “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.” I was willing to do what I had to to care for my Lord. But this man wasn’t the gardener. He said my name. “Mary”. I looked at him, and I recognized Him. It was the One who had driven the demons from me. It really was Him! Right there. In the flesh. I saw the wounds in His hands and side. My tears of mourning and sadness turned into tears of joy. He told me to go tell the others that He had risen, and was ansending to His father.
And that’s what I did. I went back, with the other women, and told them what I had seen. I told them that the Lord of Life was alive! The grave couldn’t hold Him. He was alive! Just as He had told us before His passion. He had defeated the power of sin, death, and the devil. I knew that I would have eternal life, because Jesus had given it to me.
So what about you, the people of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church? Through the eyes of faith, you have been taken to the empty tomb today. I know many of you have lost loved ones to death in the past year. I know what it feels like to lose one you loved so dearly. But, today, I am here to tell you that your Savior, Jesus Christ, has risen, he has risen indeed! Because He lives, so will your loved ones who have died in the faith. You have the assurance that death has lost its sting! The curse of sin has been destroyed, and death is now a mere vehicle that takes us into eternal life with Jesus in paradise. We also know that when Christ returns, He will raise our bodies up out of the grave. We know that “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:4-5) You have hope for the days ahead. You have the hope of eternal life. You have the hope that your loved ones who have died in the faith have died and risen in Christ. Your sickness, grief, and hardships of this life are just temporary. You have been forgiven of all of your sins, and the wages of sin has been left in that empty tomb, never to scare you again.
Christ is risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
