For some of you here today, it may feel a little bit odd reading this text and not seeing the church decorated for Easter. Sermons on the resurrection are usually accompanied by lilies around the pulpit, a wooden cross dressed with flowers with palm branches scattered around it, and familiar (and unfamiliar) faces that we don’t always see that are making their “annual” appearance at church. However, this text, although apt on Easter Sunday, is just as applicable each and every day of our lives. It’s fitting that this text should come before us on a communion Sunday as well. After all, we’re told to examine our hearts before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. I can think of no better examination of ourselves than how we received the words that were read only a few moments ago. If the words of this text immediately fill your heart with joy, then I think we’re ok. However, if the glorious news of the resurrection does nothing to stir within you any emotions, then let us hope that the Holy Spirit stirs something up within you between now and our partaking of this sacrament.
As we ended last Sunday, Jesus had just been laid to rest in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Here, we’re told that when Mary Magdalene (and probably some other women) went out to check the tomb on the first day of the week (Sunday) to add more spice and fragrances, she found that it was empty. Her and the other women around her, at first thought that someone had broken in and stolen the body, so she ran to get help. She comes to Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved (who we have said throughout is in fact John, the writer of this gospel), and she tells them that someone has taken Jesus’ body. The two disciples rush to the tomb to see for themselves. John arrives first, but waits for Peter. Now, it wasn’t uncommon for grave robbers to take a body in this day, but when they did, they took everything. As John waits for Peter, he looks into the tomb and notices that cloths which were laid across Jesus’ face and body at the time of his burial were sitting there in a pile. This would not have been the case if his body had indeed been stolen by common grave robbers. Once Peter gets there, he goes into the tomb. He goes in to see that the cloths are lying there in an orderly manner; definitely something that would not have been the case had grave robbers rushed in during the night to steal Jesus’ body. John then enters the tomb and as he walks to where Peter is standing and sees the cloths more closely, they both are puzzled by what is before them.
We’re then given this somewhat confusing statement by John. He says that “he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” The confusing part is that if they saw and believed, then what is there to not understand. Well, the answer is that believing and understanding Scripture are two totally different things. I think all of us who have ever taken part in any serious study of the Bible can attest to that. You see, John, after seeing the tomb open and the linens lying in such an orderly manner, truly believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. He believed in the resurrection, he just didn’t understand why it was necessary. John did not understand the teaching that the Messiah HAD to rise from the dead. Jesus had said several times that he would rise from the dead, but John was unaware that that resurrection was one of the prophecies of the Old Testament that must be true of the One True Messiah.
John then tells us that the disciples return back to their homes. Then, there is a shift in focus from the reaction of John and Peter, to what happens with Mary Magdalene. Who knows why the disciples left and went back or why Mary didn’t return with them, but we’re told that Mary remained by the tomb weeping at what had taken place. After all, she thought that the body of Jesus had been taken off by someone. After gathering the strength to gaze upon the empty tomb one more time, Mary looked in. However, instead of finding emptiness, this time she sees two angels at the places where Jesus’ head and feet had been laid at the time of his burial. They asked her why she was crying. Now, we would expect to find some words here about Mary’s reaction to seeing two angels, but instead we only find her response to their question. She tells them that she’s crying because someone had taken Jesus’ body and she didn’t know who it was or where they had taken it.
After expressing her reason for tears to the angels, Mary turns back the other direction and there finds a man standing before her. This man also asks her why she’s weeping, but at the same time, asks her whom she is seeking. Who knows if Mary can’t see through the tears or if the sun was in her eyes or what the case may be, but she doesn’t know that the man in front of her is Jesus. Even though she can’t see him, she just assumes that it’s the man tasked with keeping up the garden where this tomb is located and she answered his questions saying, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” She is distraught, she is in mourning, and she just wants some answers and some closure. We’re then told that Jesus simply says her name, “Mary.” She knew in that moment that it was him. It was as if she was blind and all it took was her Savior calling out her name and her sight was restored. She recognized him as a sheep recognizes its shepherd voice when calling out for it in the fields.
Now that Jesus had made it clear that it was he who was standing before Mary, he said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary runs to the disciples and proclaims to them that she has seen Jesus, she has seen the Lord. It’s pretty likely that Mary’s immediate response once she found out that it was Jesus before her was one of embrace. She could have run and hugged so tightly that they almost became one person. She could have bowed herself before him and clung to his feet. We don’t know, but we are told that Jesus tells her that she need not cling to him because this wasn’t permanent. Although Jesus actually spends about forty more days on earth, he is soon to ascend to the Father. Instead of her staying with him, he instructs her to go and inform the disciples as to the good news of his resurrection. Now, we will look at the reactions of the disciples next Sunday, but before we leave this text here today, I think that it’s important that we understand what Mary was commanded to do here and how it applies to us today.
Every Christian has had that “ah-ha” moment at some point in their life. By that I mean that every Christian has had that moment where they were struck by the power of God and moved by the Holy Spirit to where they were left knowing without a doubt that God is real and that Jesus is the Messiah and that every word of Scripture is true. And just as every Christian has had that moment, we’ve all had those points in our lives since then where we have be convicted or our belief reinforced. Sometimes it’s been by God’s working something in our lives, others it’s been just a stirring in our hearts. Whatever the case may be, how should we react to those moments, and does it differ from what we actually do or have done? Mary’s first inclination was to cling tightly to Jesus and almost keep him to herself. Remember, over the course of a few days, she has been dealing with the loss of Jesus; then his body had been stolen so she didn’t even have that, and now he is standing before her as if nothing had ever happened. However, Jesus doesn’t want her to cling to him. He doesn’t want her to stay there next to him, but he wants her to go. He wants her to take the good news of his resurrection out into the world. Jesus doesn’t want Mary to keep this wonderful news to herself as if it is her precious little secret, and he doesn’t want us to do the same thing either. When we are moved by God, when we hear the wonderful and glorious news of the gospel, God doesn’t want us to keep it inward. No! He wants it to go outward. He wants us to take that message out into the world and share it with all those around us. God doesn’t want us to leave here today, after hearing the wonderful news of Jesus’ resurrection, and go out to eat lunch or go prepare for the Saints game and keep this news to ourselves. This news is to be shared; it is to be spread across the earth. Before his ascension, we’re told at the end of Matthew’s gospel that, Jesus gives the disciples the Great Commission. He tells them to “Go!” and to “baptize ALL nations.” He doesn’t tell them to be careful who they tell. There no fear of them being seen as pushy about their faith. They are simply told, much like Mary in our text for today that this news is worth being shared. So my question to all of us, myself included, is what is your response? Do you keep this great and wonderful news a secret, or do you take this message out into the world for everyone to hear? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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