The Story Behind the Egg
John 20:1-18
April 24, 2011
INTRODUCTION
Pysanky -- Ukrainian Art of Egg Decorating
Pysanka is a Ukrainian Easter Egg.
Pysanky is a form of wax-resist dyeing using a kind of stylus called a kistka. Some kistkas are dipped into the hot wax, and others consist of a cone filled with hot wax that feeds the nib of the stylus. Kistkas are available at most major craft stores.
Red Pysanka are exchanged by the Ukrainian church as they celebrate Easter. This tradition of the Eastern Church of Jesus Christ is the earliest connection of dyed eggs to the Easter celebration.
So why and perhaps how did this all come to pass.
Well to explore that we need to turn to the story of one of those changed people that are chronicled and remembered in the John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel is filled with the stories of individuals who become seekers, who encounter Jesus and as a result are radically changed. So I invite you to turn with me to the most personal of all the resurrection accounts, stories, memories we have. John’s account of what occurred earlier on the first of day the week.
Turn with me to John 20.
The Empty Tomb
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!"
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don’t know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher").
17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ’I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’"
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
T.S. On that first Easter morning, the women didn’t come looking for resurrection either. They came "while it was still dark," with leaden feet and broken hearts. The dawn spelled doom for them.
These women had stood "a little way off" as Jesus hung on the cross, a public spectacle. Even ridicule and shame could not shake their loyalty. And so, on the first day of the week, they did what they could. They brought oils and spices to anoint the bruised and hastily wrapped body of their beloved master. Whether or not he was the Messiah, they could claim their love for him in this small way -- while it was still dark. The disciples were nowhere to be seen. Even the hapless Peter, shamed after his blatant lies denying Jesus, stayed away. But the women came. Mary Magdalene came. Mute. Blind with grief. Her very source of life destroyed.
And it will be her story that becomes associated with the egg.
Maybe some of us come to Easter morning that way, struck down by circumstances beyond our control-- by health problems, betrayal in relationships, job loss or simply by the futility that comes from looking ahead at more of the same. Not all of us come with hearts full of joy this morning. Some of us long for the dark to hide in, like Mary.
For some of us coming was all we could do today -- and it is enough to open space for a new life changing story of our lives to begin.
It is the story behind the egg.
I. It begins with an encounter.
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
We remember that Mary Magdalene joined the band of disciples traveling with Jesus because, according to Luke, she had been healed of seven demons.
So we know that Mary knew the power of God in Jesus in a personal, intimate, physical way because she had been freed!
Like the other women whom Luke names, Mary traveled with the disciples, supporting them out of her means. "been healed of evil spirits and infirmities," provided for Jesus and His disciples "from their substance" (Luke 8:2-3).
She may or may not be the woman caught in adultery, the woman who breaks and alabaster box in grief over her sinfulness, a woman who may or may not have been a prostitute. The city of Magdala had a reputation for prostitution. This information, coupled with the fact that Luke first mentions Mary Magdalene immediately following his account of the sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50), has led some to equate the two women.
But we know this. She was one of the changed ones. She traveled with the band of disciples. She heard him speak, dared to trust his words, and discovered new life.
Her encounter had been so extraordinary that even the horror of the crucifixion cannot dissuade her from staying near to Jesus right to the end.
Mary Magdalene witnessed the events surrounding the crucifixion. She was present at the mock trial of Jesus; she heard Pontius Pilate pronounce the death sentence; and she saw Jesus beaten and humiliated by the crowd. She was one of the women who stood near Jesus during the crucifixion to try to comfort Him.
She was a changed woman
A changed woman who was about to changed yet again.
That is one of the great truths of encountering Jesus, the change goes on. He meets us where we are, the beginning point and as we draw near, as the relationship grows, more and more we are changed.
For some today our journey is very like hers. The encounter began out of our need. With the need met he draws us in closer that his presence in our lives might change us further.
More change awaits each of us. We press on.
II. Goes Beyond the crisis of our faith.
Like Mary and Peter on Easter morning, we struggle with what the empty tomb means.
"They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!"
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
For nearly everyone in our journey with Jesus we reach those crisis of faith moments. Those moments when we struggle to believe.
Is it relay true? What about the Risen Christ?
What is the reality of Jesus in the Garden with Mary Magdalene. Is this just hallucination? Imagination?
Hearing from and angel is hard for our post modern minds to wrap around.
What emerges from the questions raised? Can this be true? Is this really how God chose to be at work?
"Woman, why are you crying?" the angels said
Almost a question of surprise. How could she not understand?
Should we be any more surprised that life presents itself with challenges that sometimes rock our faith? Challenges that force us to rediscover the Savoir, his power, his importance his significance in our lives.
In this moment. Everything she knows about him becomes more. Jesus will take here deeper. The
Change continues. No rebuke for her struggle.
He offers only himself.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don’t know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher").
Too often just like Mary we jump to the wrong conclusions, He doesn’t care, he is distant, he has abandoned. She feels all of those things as she stands before him. Her eyes darkened by the circumstance, he has become less that he is.
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
Struggling for answers she proposes her own solutions. She’ll take matters into her own hands. I’ll take care of it. I’ll fix this. I make it right.
So like us. In our crisis, we so easily want to tell God how to fix, how to change it. We tell him we’re okay, we’ll handle it.
Mary’s story is so much like ours. Now ripe with tension that comes with the crisis of faith, a deciding moment comes. In the crisis what changes everything.
III. Leads to Reconnection, Reaffirmation , Relationship
Mary!
And when the gardener speaks her name she knows it is Jesus.
The sound of her name awakens her from her grief. Her body remembers the bone-deep healing.
She knows the sound of God, the sound of Love.
"Mary," he says. "Teacher!" she cries, alive again.
We can go a long way on the fuel of that flame---that flare of recognition.
Nothing is so powerful and the personal encounter with Jesus and in the crisis moments of our lives and faith, what our souls longs form is to hear him speak to the deepest of our being.
We long to hear him speak our name.
He stood before, yet she needed more, she needed to know that she was connected to him. She needed to know that He knew who she was, that he understood her hurt, her pain, the challenge it was to believe in such darkness. She needed to hear him respond. To resonate in the deep place of her sould.
Mary!
And we need the same thing.
In our painful moment, in our seasons of doubt, the promise of the resurrection is that he is alive, he is there, he does care and he can be known. Hear him call your name.
IV. With the encounter comes purpose.
"Don’t hold onto me." were the words Mary heard.
What isn’t this about me, my needs, my hurts?
Yes
And No
Something he needs from Mary? Something . . .
Then Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, " 17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ’I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’"
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
The work is bigger, the event larger than just us. This has been about something the Father required and Jesus goes now to present his work finished, completed, approved.
And to her the charge has just begun.
Go and tell.
Give them your words. Tell them your witness. Stand before them. Speak your truth.
With his charge, Jesus gave Mary a way to belong to the post-Crucifixion band of disciples, but it was something she would have to do, something hard and unconventional.
We struggle with the same question today, alive in a disbelieving century, to voice those times when we encounter God. Changed we become speakers of the change. Do we make space for us to speak, to share those times when we meet God.
It is the calling of all those who embrace the belonging. The participation of the whole.
Like Mary Magdalene, having been changed we are charged to go.
V. Epilogue: The Egg Turned Red
We have no record of Mary Magdalene in the rest of the New Testament. There is only a fleeting glimpse in Acts l:14, which names the 12 disciples in the upper room and then says "Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other women were there also."
But story of tradition from the Eastern Orthodox Church picks up the story of egg.
Mary Magdalene gaining an audience with the Emperor of Rome shares her testimony of the resurrection and presenting the leader with a red egg, proclaiming the rising of Christ.
CHALLENGE
Where are you in the story?
Never begun the encounter?
Reached a crisis of faith?
Can you really trust that He is alive, that he can make a difference?
If today you’d like to begin that encounter I’d like to talk with you. Or if you are struggling in a crises of faith. Can you really believe it’s true, we’d like to give you book. A book that we think can encourage you to trust in the Jesus of this resurrection story.
Do you need to reconnect, reaffirm the relationship?
I want to challenge you to return. In May and June we’re going to seek to tackle some of those really difficult questions of faith that we stumble over. We’d like to invite you back and walk with you as you reconnect and reaffirm a relationship with Jesus.
