Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with
Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you
died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
John 20:1-18
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. So
she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved,
and said, “They have taken the Teacher out of the tomb, and we don’t know where
they have put him!”
So Peter and the other disciple started
for the tomb. Both were running, but the
other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked
in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came
along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen
lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The
cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached
the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed (They still did not
understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the
disciples went back to where they were staying.
Now 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 Teacher 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.
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.”
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 ascended to the Creator. Go instead to my brothers and sisters,
and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Creator and your Creator, to my God and
your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples
with the news: “I have seen the Teacher!” And she told them that he had said
these things to her.
Message:
Will you pray with and for me? Loving
God of good surprises, open our hearts to your Easter joy; give us grace to
recognise you in the everyday, to hear your voice calling our name. May all
that we speak and hear bring us closer to an understanding of your love for us.
In all your names, amen.
I love John’s version of Easter morning.
The two disciples, running to the tomb, afraid that what Mary said was true,
confused, maybe even panicking. And then—nothing! Just the empty graveclothes,
and an empty tomb. John says, “and they believed—“ but he doesn’t say what they
believed…that the tomb really was empty? That maybe Jesus wasn’t dead?
But Mary—she stays there, crying, afraid
of what it means—that someone has stolen Jesus’ body, and she and her friends
can’t even mourn him properly. She is wrapped in her sorrow, grieving her
teacher and friend.
And then—someone is speaking to her, she
doesn’t know who, but it doesn’t matter because Jesus is dead and even his body
has been taken…she has nothing left of her hopes; so what does anything else
matter? Unless perhaps this person knows where Jesus’ body was moved to—maybe a
different tomb? Maybe Joseph of Arimithea had second thoughts and decided it
was not a good idea to let them use his tomb for Jesus…
And then the person calls her by name,
and she recognises Jesus.
Do we miss the joys of life because we
are too focused on the sorrows? Yes, there is a lot of grief in the world—we
have all lost loved ones, friends, partners, siblings, parents; there are
earthquakes, wars, hungry children, murder, theft, lies and deception, greed
and corruption. But there are also joys—the relationships we shared with those
who are gone; the relationships we share with those who are here; simple
enjoyments such as good food, a walk by the river, the lovely sights of animals
and birds and fish in the parks and in the woods, the sheer pleasure of a good
book or movie; of conversation with friends.
We can become too focused on the grief
of Lent and Easter—we can become stuck on Saturday afternoon, mourning Jesus,
wrapped up in the great sorrow of his crucifixion. It is easy to forget,
sometimes, that there is joy in the morning—the sad walk to the tomb to anoint
a dead friend becomes a dance of joy for a resurrected Saviour!
Mary couldn’t see it at first,
either—her heart broken, she was so immersed in her grief she couldn’t
recognise Jesus when he stood before her. But there he was—all her sorrow
turned to joy in a moment, seeing her beloved teacher and friend, hearing him
call her name.
This is the moment that most moves
me…when he calls her by name, speaks tenderly to her, in the voice she finally
recognises—he calls her by name and she sees him, really sees him.
We all have had Good Fridays in our
lives—none of us has had lives without grief or terrible loss. It can be hard
to remember a time without that sorrow; and it can be hard to let go of it,
because it feels like letting go of the sorrow is letting go of the one we
loved, or the work we miss, or the health we no longer have, or the
relationship that has ended. But when we let go of our mourning, when we look
up from our sorrow, then we can hear our name, spoken in love and promise—of
all that still is, even though we thought it was gone.
I am not Pollyanna—I know sorrow can
tear your heart apart. I know there are no easy answers; no magic wand. But
that is the other side of love—without love, there is no grief. Our very love
makes the grief deeper. But that same love can carry us through those days of
pain; that same love is what made days bright for us before, and it can do that
again.
Don’t stay with Saturday afternoon—step
into the Easter light of the morning and an empty tomb, and a beloved voice
calling your name.
In all God’s names, amen.
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