Sermon: Easter, Year A (John 20:1-18) Christ Church Riverdale, 27 March 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Lamborn, Rector

John 20:1 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. 2 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." 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 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. 13 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." 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 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." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 17 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.'" 18 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. (NRSV)

“The resurrection of Jesus,” Walter Brueggemann writes, “like every life-giving act of God in the Hebrew Scriptures, provides a model for all the surprises of new life that happen among us, just when we think things are settled and closed. The surprises of the resurrection concern the emergence of expected new life in persons, in institutions, in social arrangements. And they come just when we think there are no more reasonable expectations.”

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.” These are the first words Mary Magdalene says on Easter morning, to Peter and the disciple Jesus loved, as she catches her breath from the long run back to tell them. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Mary has visited Jesus’ tomb first thing in the morning, while it’s still dark, although in John’s gospel, darkness and light aren’t just about whether or not the sun is shining, but how well people are understanding. She is being completely logical, though–seeing the tomb empty leads to the reasonable expectation, in Brueggemann’s terminology, that the body has been stolen. My hometown in Georgia is just a few miles away from the infamous Tri-State Crematory, where a few years ago hundreds of bodies were discovered not having been cremated or even buried. The grief of death absolutely mushrooms when family and loved ones learn that the deceased has not been treated properly. Yet Mary Magdalene is willing to walk into the very teeth of her grief and anguish by going back to the tomb, even when she believes that Jesus has suffered the final indignity of having his body stolen.

Yes, it’s Easter morning, but there aren’t any alleluias yet. It’s still dark, at least in the theological sense, as Mary continues to weep alone at the tomb for the second time. I guess she decides to see for herself, to peer inside the tomb at all that’s now left of her Lord--a few burial cloths. But when Mary looks, she sees two angels: “Woman, why are you weeping?” “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Ironically, and maybe even a little bit comically, the next person Mary sees is Jesus, but she doesn’t know it, and the first thing she calls him is, “Lord,” without realizing it. Now our translation of the Bible renders the word, “Sir,” which is appropriate, when you think it’s the gardener, but it’s the same word in Greek as “Lord”-- Kurie, as in Kyrie eleison–Lord, have mercy. You can translate it both ways. “Sir, Lord, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

John’s resurrection account is intensely personal, because the whole story turns on one word, on a single personal name: “Miriam.” “Mary,” the risen Christ says, and immediately she recognizes him: Rabbouni! Teacher! It’s you! Mary Magdalene, who has come to the tomb twice now, who is in no hurry to leave, no rush to stop weeping:in Mary’s honest and courageous facing of death, she becomes the first to see death conquered, defeated, done with, over.

“Teacher! It’s you!” Mary now sees the risen Christ. Just as darkness and light are about more than sunshine for John, so is seeing more than physical vision. Believing is seeing, we might say for John, and this is belief that is not just from the neck up, but a trust that penetrates our deepest selves. And it all comes together when Mary, seeing the risen Christ, is called on to do something about it, to respond. “Don’t hold on to me,” Jesus says, “because I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers . . . .” This experience is not to be kept to oneself, but shared.

“I have seen the Lord,” she tells the disciples probably even more breathlessly than her first report to them. From that point on, the male disciples get most of the publicity, but the first Easter morning is one of those situations like the sign that you sometimes see in offices, “Do you want to talk to the man who’s in charge, or the woman who knows what’s going on?” For her role in telling the disciples about her experience of Christ’s resurrection, the church gave Mary Magdalene the title, “apostle to the apostles.”

“The resurrection of Jesus . . . provides a model for all the surprises of new life that happen among us, just when we think things are settled and closed, . . . the emergence of expected new life in persons, in institutions, in social arrangements . . . just when we think there are no more reasonable expectations.” The importance of the first Easter day didn’t stop with discovering the empty tomb, or even with Mary’s encountering the Risen Christ. So Easter won’t stop when this service is over, or when we’ve finished Easter dinner and chocolate bunnies. Yes, Easter is a season of fifty days, but Easter is also every Sunday, and Easter is the rest of our lives. We may want to linger in the glory of lovely flowers and beautiful music, in the wonder of Mary’s recognition: “Teacher!” Jesus says, however, “Don’t hold on to me, but go and tell.”

This telling, I would suggest, begins with reorienting ourselves toward resurrection living as Brueggemann describes it: just when we think things are as settled and closed as a grave, just when we think there are no more reasonable expectations, seeing, believing, trusting, expecting that God will cause surprising new life to push its way out of the dusty soil of people, institutions and social arrangements.

Resurrection living knows that the tomb is no longer closed and that the world isn’t, either. So it’s still worth it to keep working & praying for the new life of peace, in situations where political or ethnic or religious or racial hatred have made violence seem inevitable. Resurrection living takes the chance that it’s still worth it to keep trying to contact the family member who’s cut him- or herself off and hasn’t responded in years, or to take the risk of vulnerability to restore intimacy in Christ when close family members have been drifting farther apart. Resurrection living knows it’s still worth it to hope and trust that Christian love will trump even serious disagreement on important issues and will show itself in reconciliation and even stronger unity. Resurrection living trusts that it’s still worth it to build bridges, when the growth industry seems to be in building walls. Mary Magdalene, whose first words on Easter morning were “They have taken the Lord,” also gets the last word that morning: “I have seen the Lord!” By believing and seeing and sharing the unexpected good news, she has been reoriented toward resurrection living. So may we offer to God the compasses of our expectations to be reoriented in a new direction, that however we are buffeted and beaten down by grief and pain and disappointment, we may always return to the true north of the empty tomb and its promise of surprising new life to be shared with God’s world.