Easter Day 2008

John 20:1-18

Seeing is believing

Mary Magdalene early, before dawn, went to the tomb and found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. She ran to find Peter and the beloved disciple. They returned with her and also saw that the tomb was empty. Peter went inside and saw the grave cloths folded in a corner. The beloved disciple looked in and believed. They left and Mary weeping entered the tomb and saw angels who asked her why she was crying.

It is important to remember that Mary, Peter and presumably John had no expectation or category to conclude that an empty tomb meant Jesus had risen. Resurrection as a concept can be found in the Old Testament, but it is not prominent or well developed. Jesus told them he would die and be raised on the third day but few if any of the disciples understood what he meant.

These disciples have had a rough week. The one in whom they have put all their hope for a new world order has died a horrible death and the powers of this world seem to have won again. They are not only suffering their grief of having lost a friend, having their hopes dashed, but the fear of hostile powers of the ruling empire. They are in the dark in every sense of the word.

Mary has seen the empty tomb and the angels, but she is unable to understand what it means. Grief has a way of blinding us to the future. When a person we love dies we are so distressed and depressed that our vision of tomorrow is hidden. We are barely able to put one foot in front of the other and crawl forward. Our tears and our pain blind us. Mary is in this state when Jesus called her by name. Hearing his voice she recognized it was Jesus and she called him “Rabboni, teacher.” He did not want her to think that he was back in his former way of being their teacher, guide, and friend, because his form and being had been changed. He had not come back to resume his old life as their teacher, but to proceed on to the Father. They would go on too, but the eyes of their faith were opened by his resurrection.

Seeing the resurrected Lord, all the confusion vanished, the sorrow turned to joy, and Mary believed. Jesus commissioned her right then, right there: Go to my brothers and say, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary went and told the disciples: “I have seen the Lord.” By this simple act, Mary Magdalene became the first apostle.

In subsequent episodes others will also encounter the risen Christ: in each case the encounter led to a change of vision. They saw and believed. Further they saw and believed in a different way. Their lives were dramatically changed and these first apostles told their faith story just as Mary did. Their legacy is our Christian heritage as a church.

Encountering the risen Christ is what we all seek today. Maybe we have had a previous encounter but something even in culture itself says today is important. The celebration of Jesus’ resurrection draws us today – whether it will draw us again next week may depend on whether we experience the resurrection here and now.

What does it feel like, look like, to experience the resurrection today?

We bury our dead, cling to the hope that we will meet again in the heaven of God and be reunited with those we love and see no longer. We grieve and mourn our loss even as we put our faith and trust in God. We experience resurrection however in the community of faith who gathers with us at funerals, receptions, wakes, and afterwards in putting our lives in a new direction.

We experience resurrection in new life – as spring comes forth from the frozen earth, long dormant bulbs are pushing up green stems with fat buds promising a daffodil or lily or some other thing of beauty. Trees are taking on buds promising to turn green with life as the sap rises in their trunks and spreads to the branches. Fruit trees will soon be wild with flower. The birds know spring is near as they begin to build their nests and lay eggs of a future generation. We do Easter egg hunts because we are aware that in the egg is the potential for new life. Resurrection is new life. Even nature proclaims the truth of our God’s ability to bring life from death.

What does it feel like? Everything is brighter, sharper in focus, we see what we have ignored before, we feel what we have been resistant to and we know deep within us that life has value. We are not here to go it alone; we are made in the image of God, relational, reasoning, loving beings. Resurrection feels like love.

In this service of word and sacrament we come together in faith – few of us are certain we can explain the resurrection but we know it is the hallmark of our Christian hope. Like Mary we begin to see evidence of God with us, even as we take baby steps, stumble and fall, get up and try again. Mary looked and saw the tomb was empty. She did not immediately grasp that this meant Jesus had been resurrected. Mary saw the angels but not as messengers proclaiming the new creation of God. Progressively, slowly, as Mary worked her way through experience after experience of seeing she came to the point of belief. Jesus called her by name and she knew it was the Lord.

You too have been called by name, baptized in the name of our Triune God, father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With Benjamin and Elizabeth we are members of the risen body of Christ our Lord. We have met him in the breaking of bread, in the stirring deep within us. The resurrection of Jesus is a transformation of death into life, love over violence, new life and new promise. The resurrection of Jesus expresses the creation of new life. He is not a resuscitated dead friend but a living stranger with whom we must be reacquainted. The encounter with Mary is the opening of a new truth, a new way of being. If Jesus is not in the tomb, he can be anywhere, any time, in anyone.

We as the disciples of the first generation of Christians are no longer actors in a tragedy but a process of knowing that God is with us – everywhere – all the time – no matter what our circumstances. The first disciples formed a community of believers after they saw the risen Lord. They told others their experience and invited them to be part of their faith community.

Every time we gather in this place, around God’s table, celebrating Eucharist, we are forming an Easter community. We live in Christ, the one who is Risen!