Encounter: Mary Magdalene
He is Risen
John 20:1-18
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. April 8th, 2023
Today is the most important day in the Christian year. It is the day where it all comes together. Where it all makes sense. It is the day where we move from the darkness of ignorance and sin into the light of the gospel. It is the day we remember each Sunday. The day that changes everything for us. The day that changes the world, because it is the first day of the new creation.
It was still dark when Mary Magdalene got up and went to the garden. It was still dark as she wove through the streets of the city. It was still dark as she made her way through the garden trails. It was still dark when she got to the tomb, and to her shock witnessed the stone rolled away and the cave empty.
It was still dark when she ran to Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved. It was still dark when they witnessed the empty tomb in wonder. And it was still dark when Mary wept outside the tomb. This is how Easter Sunday begins. In darkness, grief, wonder, and fear. Mary sees two angels seated in the tomb, but she does not recognize them as angels. They ask her, "Woman, why are you weeping?” She tells them they’ve taken away her Lord, and she doesn’t know where they put him. In all the pain of watching him die, must she lose the body too?
But as she turns around Jesus is standing in her midst. She doesn’t recognize him at first. Perhaps because of his resurrection body. Maybe it looked slightly different or could only be recognized in faith. Maybe because it was yet dark and, not expecting to see her Lord she couldn’t place him. For whatever reason Jesus stands in her midst and she does not recognize. He asks her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
And in one of the most beautiful passages in all writing she begs him in her fear and in her grief, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
He offers only one word in reply, “Mary!”
And she recognizes him. “Rabbouni!" Or Teacher!
Mary weeps in the darkness before the empty tomb. She alone remains. And for that hope beyond hope, that faith beyond faith, she is the first witness of the resurrection. She is also made the first to proclaim the Gospel, "Do not hold on to me,” Jesus says, “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.'"
What is this good news that Jesus deputizes Mary to deliver? What is it she is called to proclaim? And, by extension, what is it that we are to deliver? What are we to proclaim?
She proclaims two things. The first is that “I have seen the Lord.” This, too, is what we proclaim. He is risen. He who has died is alive and will never die. He shares with us his life. We who die in him will be raised in him. We who trust in him know eternal life. And we may see him and know him. It all hinges on “I have seen the Lord.”
But there’s another part of what she proclaims that I really want to dig into this morning. Jesus tells her to tell the disciples, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” It’s easy for us to pass over this line, especially with everything else that is going on in the account. But it is pregnant with meaning. Indeed, it contains the gospel in so many words.
At the beginning of John’s Gospel he tells us, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” That is, Jesus was born that all who would have faith in him should become children of God not by blood but by the adoption of God.
Jesus unites himself to our humanity, he takes on our flesh, that we might take on his divine life. Jesus becomes a human being that we might become the children of God.
John leaves this promise hanging throughout his gospel until we come to Mary’s proclamation. Jesus tells her to tell the disciples that he is going to “my Father and your Father, my God and your God.” That is to say, that through his resurrection we may become children of God.
What an astounding promise Christ makes to us. What an extraordinary gift is given to us through the Spirit. That God claims us has his own. And more than that, God grants us his life. That we may know that great inheritance of eternal life.
Jesus is risen that we might become his brothers and sisters. Jesus is risen that we might share in his life. This is the gospel we proclaim. This is why we celebrate. No longer in the darkness of our own sinfulness and ignorance, we experience the light of life. No longer bound in our own fears and griefs, we may be carried in hope. Let us celebrate today the awesome things God has done.