John 20:1-18
Easter
An interesting news story caught my attention the other day. I must say, It warms my heart for a three-year-old to want to know more about Jesus and the Easter Story. Isla was having this deep theological conversation with her dad. “I just don’t understand what Easter is all about. Why do you give me chocolate?” “I don’t get the Easter characters either. Are Easter Bunny and Jesus best pals?” Isla wants to know. “Is Easter Bunny in the Bible?” “Does he carry a large basket of eggs?” Isla asks. A woman after my own heart, Isla comes to her own logical conclusion. “Does Jesus totally love chocolate then?”[1] Yes, he does, Isla. Yes, he does.
Isla isn’t the only one who is confused about Easter. Mary and the disciples had some difficulty, too. Mary Magdalene was the one from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. Jesus had loved Mary back into life, and she followed him. Mary was one of a few women who had stood at the foot of the cross, watching Jesus slowly die.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ lifeless body along with spices in linen cloth, and laid it in a new tomb. It had been a few dark days. While it was still dark, Mary went to the tomb. All her hopes and dreams were locked up in that tomb, and she went there to grieve. That’s what you do when someone you love dies.
As she approached, Mary saw through the early morning shadows that the stone sealing Jesus’ grave had been moved. The first to discover the empty tomb, she ran to get Simon Peter and the beloved disciple. Then the two men ran to see. They were neck in neck for a while, but the other disciple got there before Peter. There’s nothing like competitive discipleship! The beloved disciple bent down to look inside the tomb, and saw the grave cloths lying there and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head rolled up and put aside. Peter went into the tomb, and saw for himself.
When the beloved disciple entered the empty tomb, he believed. Peter would come to believe when he resurrected Christ came into the house despite the locked doors and showed the disciples the wounds on his hands and feet. Our Gospel writer, John, tells us that neither Peter or the beloved disciple understood. Mary didn’t either.
While the two disciples returned home, Mary stood crying outside the tomb. Finally, she bent down and peaked in. She saw two angels, and confessed that she didn’t know where Jesus’ body was. Turning around, Mary saw someone she presumed was the gardener. It was when Jesus called her name that she recognized him. “I have seen the Lord!” she proclaimed to the disciples.
When Mary finally recognizes Jesus, she calls him, “Teacher,” which was who she understood him to be. Jesus responds immediately, “Mary don’t cling to me; don’t hold on to me.” This is what Easter says to us. Whatever it is that you think you know about Jesus, don’t hold onto it because it is not enough. Whatever you think you know about Jesus, there is more. The Gospels don’t ask us what we understand about Christ’s suffering and death and resurrection, or how we would formulate it into a systematic theology. What they ask is, “Have you encountered the risen Christ?”[2]
We cannot nail Jesus down for good. We cannot keep him in a tomb. We cannot hold onto him. We can only surrender when Jesus calls our name. We are to let go so that he can take us where he is. Don’t hold onto me, Jesus tells us. Don’t lock me inside your church. Don’t box me in with your creeds. You didn’t expect God to become flesh and blood, but I did. You didn’t expect a savior to enter into human suffering, and to be nailed to a cross, but there I was. You did not expect the tomb to be empty, but it is. I am where you least expect me to be.
I am at the hospital holding the baby crying out in pain as the chemotherapy drugs swarms through his veins. I’m whispering words of love into the ear of the husband who is washing the feet his wife who no longer knows who he is. You can find me at the homeless shelter. I’m the one whose entire belongings fit into a backpack. I am where enemies become friends, and war turns into peace. You will experience me in forgiveness you don’t deserve, and in love that surprises. I am grace in the wilderness. I am light in the darkness. I am in the dying and in the rising.
Where have you encountered the risen Christ? “No one is ever ready to encounter Easter,” writes Craig Barnes, “until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we are expecting. And that is why it terrifies us. This day is not about [chocolate] bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It’s about more hope than we can handle“.[3]
Easter is only the beginning. Because the tomb is empty, everything is possible. There is no need to hold on to the past, and the future is full of hope. I have seen the Lord! And you know, he wasn’t where I expected he would be! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen!
~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin
[1] http://www.today.nhely.hu/news/confused-3yearold-has-some-serious-questions-about-easter-traditions accessed April 13, 2017.
[2] I am indebted to Craig M. Barnes for this insight.
[3] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/april1/3.46.html?start=2