Mark 16:1-6
"24 Hours that Changed the World: Christ the Victor"
It's not a mistake, the way the author of Mark's Gospel begins chapter 16.
He says very clearly that "Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus' dead body."
They weren't looking for a Resurrected Savior.
They had come, mournfully looking for a dead man.
There isn't much hope to be found in a dead body.
There isn't much of a future to be found in a dead body.
Going to a grave, is really, in many ways, only a backward looking thing.
It is a time to remember the good times.
To pay your respects to the one you love and spent so much time with.
And, especially immediately following a gruesome and violent execution, as is what took place in the case of Jesus--for Mary Magdalene and the other women, it was a time of shock, dread, terrible pain, hopelessness and despair.
And so the women came looking for a dead man.
When we come to church this Easter morning, do we come looking for a dead man?
Do we expect to hear stories about a Jesus Who was a great teacher...
...a Jesus from the past Who loved people, taught us how to live, was terribly misunderstood and killed because of His convictions...
...but nothing much else?
Or do we come looking for the Living God?
There can be no doubt that much of what is happening in our world is frightening.
Several years ago Time magazine ran a cover story that carried this headline: "Be Worried. Be very Worried!"
We live in a time when the threat of terrorism is very real.
We live in a time when seemingly unstable governments are acquiring nuclear weapons and are threatening to use them.
We also have a global economic crisis in our world.
Sure, the rich are getting richer but most of the rest of us are getting poorer.
What does the future hold for you and for your children?
And life, well, it is so short.
Time flies like a flash in a pan.
It seems as if at one moment you are a teenager and the next you are about ready to retire.
What are we to make of this?
Is there any hope?
Or is this all there is?
So, on that first Easter morning, the women went looking for a dead Jesus.
And if that were all there is...just a dead Jesus...
...then this life would be completely devoid of all meaning and hope.
In John's telling of the scene at the tomb of Jesus, we are told that after Mary saw that Jesus' dead body was no longer in the tomb, she ran to tell Peter and John.
And when Peter and John got there they saw the linen cloths that Jesus' body had been wrapped in and nothing else.
We're also told that Peter "saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus' head. It wasn't with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place."
It makes sense, you know.
If you had a face cloth covering your head, wouldn't you take it off first and lay it down by itself.
Then, as you got up, wouldn't you unwind, pull and kick off the rest of the linen wrappings--leaving them in a heap somewhere down where your feet had rested?
The living body of Jesus was gone; only the telltale laundry was left to show Jesus' first actions when He was raised from the dead.
Anyhow, Peter and John see the dirty laundry and then head back to the place they were staying.
How many piles of dirty laundry are really angels, wanting to deliver us Easter messages?
John tells us that, "Mary stood outside near the tomb crying.
As she cried, she bent down to look into the tomb.
She saw two angels dressed in white, seated where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and one at the foot."
We might ask ourselves why Mary saw what was really there at the head and feet of where Jesus' body had lain?
Sure, Peter and John saw that the first thing Jesus did after He was raised from the dead was to fold the face cloth that had been on His head--His momma had taught Him well...
...but what Mary saw where two angels.
At a time in history when Women were not considered to be credible witnesses, when their testimony was suspicious at best...if you were writing about the events surrounding Jesus' Resurrection wouldn't it have been tempting to have Mary see the dirty laundry and Peter and John see the angels?
But that is not the way it happened, and so the Gospels tell us the truth.
It's been suggested that Mary did at least two things differently from Peter and John which enabled her to see angels rather than just grave clothes.
First, she stopped running and became still.
She waded into the midst of the chaos and waited patiently.
Second, she cried.
She entered the pain of her confusion and despair, and through the tears she saw what was really there in the dimensions of the divine, not just the earthly, the physical.
But as with Peter and John...and any of us...the only thing powerful enough to shake Mary free from her self-absorption and hopelessness is nothing less than Jesus Christ Himself!!!
In John's account, one of the angels asked her, "Woman why are you crying?"
She told them what had happened, and as soon as she said this she turned and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't recognize Him.
Instead, she thought Jesus was the gardener.
It wasn't until Mary heard Jesus call her by name, like the Good Shepherd calling His sheep, that she snapped out of her gloom and awakened to the miracle of Easter morning.
And isn't this the way it works for all of us?
As soon as Jesus called her name, Mary's eyes were opened, and she was converted.
"I've seen the Lord." she told the disciples.
No wonder this first messenger of the Good News is called "the apostle to the apostles."
Mary was a believer in an instant.
And sometimes salvation happens that way.
To be converted means to "turn back," to "return."
It implies a 180 degree turning.
And it's an involvement not just of the heart, but of the head as well--conversion includes a change of mind or an intellectual dimension.
Mary had gone to the tomb that morning looking for a dead man.
But in an instant, on that very same morning, she saw a very alive Jesus Christ!!!
For the disciples, their conversion took a little bit longer...
...but it did happen.
They turned or were turned from being uncomprehending to knowing a real faith.
And for other people down through the ages to today conversion comes about in many different time frames.
But at least one thing is the same; believers come to know Jesus as Lord and Christ when their eyes and hearts are opened to faith, hope and love.
And this isn't something that we can accomplish on our own or through our own strength.
Jesus is the One Who comes to us.
Jesus is the One Who pursues us.
Jesus is the One Who calls our name.
In the midst of the chaos and confusion of life have you taken the time to stand still and wait patiently for the voice of God?
In the midst of the violence and madness of life have you had the courage to enter the pain of your confusion and despair and through your tears see what is really there, what really matters in life...
...and what really matters in life is that Jesus is here, Jesus is alive, Jesus is with us at all times!!!
And when we come to realize this, open ourselves to this miraculous truth, and allow this to be the foundation upon which everything else in our lives are built--we find that Jesus is shaking us free from our self-absorption and hopelessness.
We experience a peace which transcends whatever mess may be happening around us, and a joy that makes no earthly sense.
We are also given the strength, the conviction and the motivation to move forward into a future that isn't anywhere near as bleak as what we had seen before.
Knowing that Jesus Christ has the final word gives us courage when we face the problems of this life.
And that knowledge of Jesus does not call us to hide in a room.
It doesn't lead us to bury our heads and say we don't care about what is happening in our world.
Instead we are able to face these things with hope, great courage, and a faith and love which enables others to hear and see the Resurrected Christ in their midst.
Someone once said, "Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing."
After years of trying to have children, a man named Jerry and his wife finally brought a little girl into this world.
Then, months later, Jerry was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
But Jerry had a remarkable faith in the midst of it.
He said, "I know God doesn't give us cancer. This is simply part of life.
Of course I am praying to be made well.
That is my desire.
But even more than my own healing, I am praying that somehow, in the midst of my battle with cancer, the glory of God might be revealed in my life."
"I know that Christ has risen; and because He lives, I will live."
Do you have that kind of confidence this morning?
Do you have that kind of faith, that kind of hope?
If not, are you willing to wait patiently amidst the chaos, to enter into the pain and despair of life and listen for the voice of God?
At first, Mary thought Jesus was the gardener...
...which is what the first human being, Adam, was.
She thought Jesus was just another ordinary guy.
But when Jesus called Mary's name she saw that this "supposed" gardener was really the "last Adam" Who had come to restore that which was lost.
And He became a "life-giving Spirit" as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 15:45, a "life-giving Spirit" Who breathes new life into all who will believe.
And as everyone who come to believe or who are converted are called to do Mary left to tell the world: "I've seen the Lord."
In His Resurrection Jesus raised, as well, a scorned woman, looked down on by both men and women, and perhaps sometimes by the disciples, to a place of honor.
She was the first to see Jesus after His Resurrection and the first to tell others.
Remember that, when Jesus was born, it was the lowly shepherds who were commissioned to be Jesus' first evangelists, now we have a lowly woman after His Resurrection.
What can Christ do with you?
What will Christ do with you once You see Him and believe?
What will the future look like?
As Mary and millions who have come after her have found out...
...the Resurrection isn't just some doctrine or dogma about Jesus.
The Resurrection is an ongoing victorious life with Jesus which has no end.
Praise God.
Amen.
