SETTING THE CONTEXT

There is a character in today’s story who goes by an odd name that I want to explain, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” this disciple in John’s Gospel is the role model disciple, the one who embodies the most appropriate way to respond to Jesus and his message.

Last weekend we celebrated Jesus entering Jerusalem with people waving palms praising him as a king. Throughout this week though much has happened in Jesus’ story, he shared a supper which was his last, a meal of remembrance. He was betrayed, arrested, trialed, and crucified, now he is dead, his battered body lying in a grave; amazing how you can lose everything in a week. This is where today’s story begins in the midst of grief, disappointment, despair.

Read John 20:1-18

THE SERMON

It began in despair early on that first day of the week. Peter had denied Jesus betraying their relationship. Jesus’ grieving mother was told by her son hanging on a cross, “this man is going to be your new son.” Can you imagine it? Mary Magdalene had stood at the foot of a cross and watched her savior die a humiliating death. It must have been a sleepless night as each person wrestled with vivid images of his birth, his life, his last week and his very public and brutal execution. How could this happen to the Son of God? How could one who could heal people who had leprosy, cast out demons, who could command storms in the Sea of Galilee to stand still, who could miraculously multiply bread and fish to feed thousands, how could one who could do all of this die a common criminal’s death on a cross? It is easy to imagine the tossing and turning throughout the night. Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way.

Far too many people today know too well that tossing and turning in the night. The other morning I was listening to my favorite country radio station as I was driving to work. The DJs asked people to call in and tell what thing they had had to give up that they really valued because of this tough economy. For some reason they thought this might be humorous maybe they thought people would call in who gave up bowling one night a week or they gave up a bag of chew (chewing tobacco), but what they quickly discovered was how painful it was for people. Many people called in and told about how they had to sell a classic car that they cherished. One man called in and said that he has been a stay-at-home dad for the last six years, but he had to go back to work, so he had to give up time with his children. Several people called in and said that had to give up their homes to foreclosure. The DJs wound up giving comfort to the people asking, “Are things better now? Hey, this is America, we’ll come back from this and things will get better.” Many of us know about hard decisions. We know about those nights of disappointment and despair. Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way.

The Easter story begins with a tomb, a dark, empty, cold stone tomb and something amiss. First it was the stone covering the tomb, then a lot is made of the linens that covered the body. As I read and reread this passage, it seemed weird to me that so much time was spent talking about the linen wrappings. Why was that so important? So I did some thinking and some digging. Since they were so neatly arranged, it was a sign that Jesus’ body was not taken by grave robbers. It also referred back to a story where Jesus raised another man, Lazarus, from the dead and when the resurrected man came out all wrapped up in his strips of cloth, Jesus told the crowd to unbind him (John 11:44). This time though since Jesus himself was resurrected he freed himself leaving his linen cloths and death behind.ⁱ The disciple whom Jesus loved, the model disciple, saw and believed. One biblical scholar asked the question, “How can the evidence of an empty tomb, just an empty tomb, lead to faith?” The beloved disciple believed because he already believed in Jesus and in the trustworthiness of his promises about himself and about God. The beloved disciple didn’t know the details all the whys and hows and whats, he just knew the evidence of the empty tomb and the burial cloths and that Jesus had defeated death.ⁱⁱ But the empty tomb is not the end of the story, there is more.

The climax of the story comes when Mary Magdalene meets Jesus. The expectation is like when someone you care about is opening a present you know they are going to love, you know what it is and you can’t wait for them to open it. We all know that Jesus is standing there next to her, the Scripture tells us, but she doesn’t know it! “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” (John 20:15) It’s almost comical the way the tension mounts. “Supposing him to be the gardener…” When she finally recognizes him as he says her name the relief, the release, the joy; the gift has been opened, all the weight of despair, all the agony, all the disappointment is lifted. Can you feel it? It’s gone, that stone cold emptiness is filled with light. “Mary!” But there is more. “Do not hold on to me because I have not yet ascended to the Father.”

Like Mary couldn’t hold onto Jesus, we can’t hold on to the past. We can’t hold on to that classic car we sold or that house we gave up to foreclosure, that relationship that died in the break up or divorce, that job we lost; the past is past. When we look behind us and see that place of despair, that empty tomb God calls us to open our eyes and see the journey beyond. The Easter story, Jesus’ story of resurrection assures us of the journey beyond, not only the journey beyond this mortal life, but the journey beyond our many losses in this life. Mary Magdalene shared the good news for the first time, death does not have the last word, “I have seen the Lord.” Despair, regrets, tragedy does not have to have the last word; there is a journey beyond the cross. God in Jesus Christ has shown us in the resurrection light of that Easter morning there is a journey beyond and that is truly something worth celebrating.

I once knew a man whose wife walked out on him and who lost his home to foreclosure in the same year. It was an empty, cold, dark despairing time. It was a time of those sleepless nights full of tossing and turning. But with faith he continued to walk for he was a man of Easter faith and he believed that Christ would walk with him as painful as it was and he would help him through it and there would be a journey beyond the agony of that time. God is faithful and new life comes in many ways. He did meet someone new, a soul-mat e, someone who cherished him and they married and started a new life together which included a new home and a new journey. Some things turned out differently than he expected, but that too is part of the journey beyond.

Today is a day of great joy and of great hope for in the face of despair, in the face of tragedy and death we see there is a journey beyond. Keep your eyes open – he is alive. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Sermon delivered by Rev. Nancy Cushman on April 4, 2010.