Risen to New Life

John 20: 1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,  Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  

Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.  The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.  Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.  As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?  Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away,  tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).  Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because 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 Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

SERMON     Risen to New Life

We hear this story, and we know the punch line. We know how it ends up.  Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

But Mary and the disciples had no clue, as they woke up that Easter morning. And what’s more, they had no clue what life was going to be like from the moment of the crucifixion. No doubt they had spent the past three days hiding, weeping, grieving, and hardly able to imagine what they should do next. All they had was what was right in front of them – that Jesus was dead and gone.

And so when Mary finds the tomb empty, she assumes the worst based on whatever logic there was to go on – someone must have taken the body. She runs to find Simon Peter and the other disciple with this news.

And they run back with her to see.

What they find offers a bit more evidence, but still very little in explanation. With the gravecloths left inside, it does not seem reasonable to conclude that the body was taken. They know that he is gone. The gospel says that one of them sees and believes – but believes what? It also tells us they still don’t understand the words Jesus had told them, that he must die and rise again. And so, wordless, they back away from the tomb and head for home.

Mary stays. Mary weeps. And Mary bends over to look in the tomb for herself. And she finds something more – besides the gravecloths, there are angels in the tomb, asking why she weeps. When she turns around, she encounters someone there in the garden whom she does not recognize – at first. Assuming it’s the gardener – who else would be there at this hour of the morning? – she again speaks to him on the assumption that the body has been taken away some where. And then, when he speaks her name, she knows. Her ears are opened, and she recognizes him – her rabbouni, her teacher. Jesus, her Lord.

But as she moves toward him, he tells her she can not cling to him – that he is ascending – to his Father and hers, to his God and hers.

Craig Barnes, who is currently the President of Princeton Seminary, once wrote this about Jesus’ words to Mary:

“This is not my favorite part of the Easter story. If I were writing this drama, I would have included a long tearful hug, followed by Jesus saying, "Find the others and tell them I’m back. We’re getting out of here and going home." But Jesus doesn’t say that. He says, "Don’t cling to me." 

Following Jesus is a never-ending process of losing him the moment we have him captured, only to discover him anew in an even more unmanageable form. Every expectation of Jesus is only another futile effort to get him back in the tomb. But Jesus just won’t stay there.  [And so] we get the feeling that Mary was never the same after Easter. Neither is anyone who has learned that what matters is not that we be confident in our hold of Jesus, but [rather that we be] confident in his hold of us. Seeing that, we are ready for anything.”

 And so, as Mary goes to tell the others who she has seen, what he has said, somehow she knows that everything has changed, because Jesus has risen to new life, and has brought them all to new life.

What does it mean to us here today, that New Life has come to the world this Easter morning?

 Well, first, this New Life is unpredictable. None of them had any idea what to expect. There are no game plans to follow. Jesus reveals New Life to them, and to us, one step at a time. The only game plan we have is love, and to trust, to be confident in Christ having hold of us.

Also, this New Life is not going back to the way things were. Just as Jesus tells Mary not to cling to him, we cannot cling to the way things used to be. Jesus is not the same after the resurrection, and his relationships would never be the same as before. The Holy Spirit would come to be the connecting force from this time on. We must be always looking forward, listening through prayer and scripture for the Word of God to reveal to us, step by step, the plans God has in store for each of us, and for all of us together. We cannot rely on the way we’ve always done things to be the way we should keep going. New Life is resurrection life, not recycled life.

New Life is “out there”. The tomb is empty. Jesus is on the move. His followers encounter him all over the place in the days to come. So we, too, must recognize that Jesus is out there, spreading the seeds of New Life across the neighborhood, across the community, across the world. And Jesus calls us to come and see, to follow, to move out of our comfort zones into the places where New Life is happening. People who are hungry for New Life, who are seeking and experiencing glimpses of the kingdom, are not coming to us; we are called, individually and as the body of Christ, to go to them.

And most importantly, New Life is grace-filled life, redeemed life, a life as forgiven people. We have not, could not, do anything sufficient to earn this.  God has taken our sinfulness all the way to the cross, and has emerged victorious over death. Death will never have the final word, and we all are invited to live the New Life here and now, because –

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Early this morning I received the final devotion for Lent that have been sent to me daily by a Chicago pastor, Rev. Jan Richardson, and it contained this poem I would like to share with you in closing. It is called The Magdalene's Blessing.

 -------

 You hardly imagined

standing here,

everything you ever loved

suddenly returned to you

looking you in the eye

and calling your name.

And now

you do not know

how to abide this ache

in the center

of your chest

where a door

slams shut

and swings open

at the same time,

turning on the hinge

of your aching

and hopeful heart.

I tell you

this is not a banishment

from the garden.

This is an invitation,

a choice,

a threshold,

a gate.

This is your life

calling to you

from a place

you could never

have dreamed

but now that you

have glimpsed its edge

you cannot imagine

choosing any other way.

So let the tears come

as anointing,

as consecration,

and then

let them go.

Let this blessing

gather itself around you.

Let it give you

what you will need

for this journey.

You will not remember

the words --

they do not matter.

All you need to remember

is how it sounded

when you stood

in the place of death

and heard the living

call your name.

References / citations: Savior At Large, Craig Barnes: Christian Century March 13-20, 2002 p. 16. Beloved: An Online Journey Into Lent and Easter, Jan Richardson: Week 7 Day 7 of Easter.