April 8, 2012 John 20:10-18
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 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.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 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 Shadow and Light of the Graveyard
I. The shadow of looking for a dead Lord
The sun was still coming out and it was dark in the garden. Everything must have been eerily silent as she approached the tomb, with a cold bite in the air. Mary had known what it was like to live in the darkness, for she had seven demons of darkness living within her at one time. Yet even in the shadows of the morning a graveyard was a scary place for a woman to be by herself.
She was expecting to find soldiers and to face military might. She was expecting to see a dead body and wrap spices around it, but what she found was worse than death and even scarier than a platoon of soldiers, for she found nothing – nothing but darkness and silence. The stone had been laid flat and no one was to be seen.
Tears came flowing from her eyes. This young lady who had seven demons once live inside her was beginning to feel the darkness again. Was it not bad enough that they had killed Jesus; the one who had freed her from her demons; the one she had hoped was the Messiah? Now, even in death, they couldn’t leave Him alone. They wouldn’t even let her grieve like she wanted to. She was sure that His body had been stolen.
There is nothing to necessarily ridicule in Mary’s attitude. What should she have expected or thought? She had seen Jesus whipped and beaten and crucified. She knew He was dead. She saw how beaten and blood His body. She heard Him scream His last. What else was she to think? Her conclusion was logical and realistic. Jesus’ body must have been stolen; it had to be. All she could do at this point was to sit there and cry.
Maybe you’ve been in that graveyard. Maybe you’ve lost someone in your life that made life happier for you; chased away your “demons.” Perhaps that person was stolen away from you by death. Perhaps that person changed on you and left you empty. Perhaps that person was God. There are those who deal with death by going to the tombs, laying flowers on the stone and talking to the ground. Others speak of their days of faith in terms of sorrow and let down, because God didn’t come to their rescue; leaving them alone and in tears. They are left with a void in their lives, claiming that this God never really even existed. Yet even such rituals and words do not deal with the emptiness inside and the hollow feeling that the loved one is gone, never to be held again. Alcohol doesn’t keep the pain from coming. Atheism doesn’t fill the void. Going to the grave doesn’t help replace the person that has left this world.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 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.”
You would think that two men sitting in white in a tomb in the wee hours of the morning might scare her. You would think that she would consider the two men to be an oddity. What are they doing there? Didn’t she recognize them to be angels? Was it the tears in her eyes that kept her from noticing the obvious? Or was it the overwhelming sorrow that made her unable to see the miracle sitting right in front of her? Either way, she was blind to the fact that these were angels. She answered them with no more pause than Balaam spoke with his donkey. It was as if they didn’t even exist; she was that lost in the empty tomb.
Even in her sorrow and despair there is something to admire in Mary. One thing is her single minded focus on wanting to see Jesus again. Even seeing two angels didn’t thrill her as long as she couldn’t see Him; even when she thought He was dead. Notice also what she calls Jesus, “my Lord.” She could have said, “I’m looking for Jesus,” but she didn’t say that. She still referred to Him as her Lord; even though she thought He would be dead and lying in the tomb. Maybe she didn’t even think through the implications of what she was saying; she probably didn’t. But she still spoke from the heart.
Might we learn how focused God wants our faith to be? It is interesting how many people come to church on Easter; and how many people get wrapped up in the Easter dress and the Easter baskets, the egg hunts and the wonderful music. How many people seek to find God in miracle healings and fantastic visions? They love the story of the angel coming from heaven and tearing down the stone. Mary didn’t go to the grave looking for angels. She went looking for Christ, and so should we. We really shouldn’t get wrapped up in the wrapping of the story. Forget about the angels sitting there; miraculous as they are; and just look for Jesus in the whole thing. The vision of the holy angels will not be able to comfort us in death. The angels were never meant to be the focus of this story. Jesus is.
Mary sought Jesus even when she believed him to be dead and still called him “my Lord.” A truly focused faith will even seek the Lord even when you think He’s dead and lying in a tomb. What I mean by that is sometimes it seems like God is dead, just as Nietzsche said. You look at death in this world and you see the darkness grow in our evil world, and it’s easy to feel like God must have died. It’s easy to feel like He has abandoned you and left you in a cold and dark tomb to grieve all alone. When you go to see him and expect to find a crowd, it seems the crowd has dispersed. That is when you need to seek Him most; when He seems to have died and been abandoned by all His “fans.” That is when God still wants you to say, “He is my Lord.” It is a true test of faith and a wonderful witness to your faith when you can say that in the darkest moments of your life; when you are willing to face an army in order to get to Him. It’s only when you come to God in the dark that you will ultimately see Him in the Light.
Even when Mary did ultimately see Him, she still didn’t see Him. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “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.” There is something innocently beautiful about her naïve words. She mistook the Second Adam; the Creator and Redeemer of the Universe, to be the First Adam; nothing more than a gardener. Then she asked for Him, suggesting that she would go and “get him.” Imagine the scene, poor Mary trying to pull and drag the dead body of Jesus back to the tomb! She was willing to try it; if only to give Him a proper burial. She didn’t care how much His body stank, how heavy it was or how unclean it would make her. She was willing to go and get her hands dirty, if only she knew where she could find it.
Oh, how this makes me ponder our own desire for the body of the Lord! Here Mary was willing to follow a gardener to an unknown place; perhaps miles away; just to drag it back to a tomb and anoint it with more spices. In the Lord’s Supper Jesus promises to come to us, not so that we can wrap Him in spices, but so that He can wrap us in His righteousness. Mary wanted to honor a dead Jesus and allow her self to become defiled. In the Lord’s Supper the Living Jesus wants to come to us in order to honor us with His righteousness! Yet how many of us crave to touch Him so? Oh that we would seek the body and blood of Christ as Mary did in the deepest and darkest night of the soul! Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness!
II. The Light of a Living Rabboni
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
When Jesus called her “woman” she didn’t recognize who He was. But when Jesus called Mary by her personal name, that was all it took to wake Mary up and realize that Jesus was alive and standing right in front of her. All it took was a name. The Rabbi was alive and well; teaching her that there is life after death; showing her what that she had a reason to hope in Him.
It makes me think of what God promised the Israelites in Isaiah 43:1
But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you are baptized in the name of the Triune God, Jesus also calls you by name, just as He did with Mary and the Israelites. You are no longer a sinner in God’s sight. You are no longer just a human. He says to you, “You are mine,” and just as importantly “I am yours.” In baptism your sins are His, and His righteousness is yours. The God who has a name for every star in the universe also knows you by name. He even has the hairs of your head numbered.
It is an amazing thing to think about. When Mary thought that Jesus was some random gardener asking her a cold and impersonal question, little did she realize that it was her Savior talking to her and listening to her. When you think God has coldly abandoned you and died, He is alive and well. He lives. “I am with you always,” He said . . . not some of the time; not only at your award ceremonies. I am with you always. Even though Mary was in the middle of a graveyard in a dark and empty tomb, Jesus and His angels were right there with her; and they are right here with you. He’s there in your life too; listening to your cries for mercy; desperately pleading for Him to show Himself. He sees you and hears you at your worst.
When you come to Jesus in the darkness, He turns out to be much more than a gardener of soil; He becomes the gardener of your soul, cultivating faith and hope in your heart. The fact that He is alive shouts to you a wonderful truth: your sins really were paid for and God really accepted the payment for your sins. He really was and is the Lord who achieved your salvation. His Word is true and reliable. When we see the living Christ through the eyes of faith, it is as if the sun rises and the water of the Word comes pouring into our souls; bringing life into the soil of our heart which seemed to be dying. Look at the difference it made in Mary.
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 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.
Mary ran to Jesus and must have given Him the biggest type of bear hug she had ever given. She wanted to hang on to Jesus forever. But Jesus told her that He didn’t come to be her personal teddy bear. This Soldier had finished His mission on earth, and He was returning to His Father soon. (The fact that He was RETURNING to the Father showed that He had come from the Father, being the eternal God made flesh.) Notice carefully how Jesus said to Mary and He said to us, “I’m returning to my Father AND YOUR FATHER, to my God AND YOUR GOD.” With these words Jesus was putting us all together as a part of the same family; different and yet the same; making us all a part of the same journey. Jesus had plowed the road and purchased the ride, and we are all on the way there through faith in Christ. He was pointing our eyes beyond this world and showing us that He had a bigger goal for us: a goal of eternal salvation through faith in Him. There’s life beyond the graveyard.
With a new light in her heart and her soul, Mary went away from the tomb with her soul having been fertilized with faith and hope in Jesus as her Living Lord and Savior. Not only did Jesus rise from the dead and not only was He returning to heaven, but so would she.
This is the same kind of hope and light that the message of Easter is meant to generate in your soul. If you’ve been spending your life in what seems to be a graveyard of darkness and death, Jesus is calling to you through your tears; He’s calling you by name; He’s saying to you, “I have died for your sins, but now I am alive and well. Your sins are paid for. Believe in me, and you will see me again. You will live!” Life is not meant to be spent crying in the shadows of a graveyard and acting as if Jesus were dead. With the resurrection we can live with hope and joy; filled with a message of light and salvation in Christ. That is the message of Easter; the lesson of our Rabboni. It is a message for all. Amen.
