Scripture/Sermon of the Day. April 17, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18

The Resurrection of Jesus

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.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

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.

Reflection/Sermon:

I. The more I read the Bible, the less I know. Even as recently as last year, I read this passage above and understood it. Not now.
Mary was first at the tomb of Jesus and she thought he wasn’t there because the stone was rolled away. She told Peter and another disciple that “they” — someone — took Jesus’ body out of the tomb and she didn’t know where.

II. What does this tell us? You can’t believe anything that anyone tells you about religion. Don’t take another person’s word for it. Mary was wrong — “they” — whoever that person or group is — did not take Jesus' body away. Mary made a wrong assumption. She was starting a conspiracy. Like the people who say “they” stole the election.

III. People have a million ideas about what Christianity is and what is the right way to practice it and what is the right way to believe. And as our lesson tells us this morning — we are often mistaken. As the apostle Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, even the best and wisest of us barely can make out what is going on — we “see through a glass darkly” — which means that even the most visionary of us are almost blind.

IV. The other thing I see this morning — darkly — is the disciple who went in the tomb and saw no body there and “believed”. I used to think it meant he believed that Jesus was the Christ. Or he believed that Jesus was the son of God. Could he have just looked in there and believed that yes — someone did steal the body? The passage says no-one understood the scripture that Jesus would rise on the third day. So what did he believe? John doesn’t tell us. And don’t ask someone — don’t ask me! We have to find these answers ourselves.

V. Easter is a day we celebrate, and that's nice. I like to have things to feel good about. And we say things like Jesus rose from the dead. Which is also a nice thought. But we have to find out what that means — no one can tell us.
I’m going to talk about sports and martial arts again. Someone can tell us how to play tennis or how to throw a punch. But only by putting in hours and years of practice will we finally get an idea of what tennis or Tae Kwon Do is.

VI. Mary had spent years getting to know Jesus. She traveled with him, ate with him, camped-out with him. It’s no accident that John tells us that Mary was the first at the tomb and the first Jesus appeared to. She was probably closer to him than anyone else. And yet when he appears to her, she doesn’t know who he is. This happens over and over in the Bible. God appears in some form, and people have no idea who they are looking at. Look at * the two men on the Road to Emmaus. * the Apostle Paul who worshipped God every day and didn’t know he was also persecuting him. * the disciples who thought Jesus walking on the water towards them was a ghost. * Pontius Pilate asked, “Are you king of the Jews?” * the people of Nazareth who grew up with him said: “What’s the big deal — it’s just Jesus — the carpenter’s son”.

V. The big question we need to ask this Easter is: WHERE IS JESUS NOW? He rose from the dead, but where is he?
The big clue is in our reading this morning — the person we thought was the gardener, the mother, the father, the friend, the family member, the stranger — is really Jesus, looking at us through another’s eyes.
As we PRACTICE BEING WITH HIM EACH DAY — WE WILL SEE HIM — as Mary did.
AND THAT SEEING WILL CHANGE US AS WE REALIZE THAT HE IS LOOKING THROUGH OUR EYES AND, MORE AND MORE, CHANNELING HIS LOVE THROUGH US.
JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD.
WHERE DID HE GO? LOOK AROUND — WHEREVER YOU ARE — THERE HE IS.