It''s That Simple

It was a cool morning, although the first rays of sun appearing were a sign it wouldn’t remain that way. I can remember thinking – wondering I suppose – where I might be walking to without the generosity of Joseph, the Arimathean – for a member of the Sanhedrin it was a dangerous act to provide us with a tomb, but who knows where I would have been heading if he hadn’t.

The first thing I felt was confusion – as soon as I entered the garden, I knew something wasn’t right – you get that feeling sometimes, don’t you? That first hint, the slightest perception, of things not being as they should be.

After the confusion, or maybe alongside it, was the fear, seeing that huge boulder moved from the entrance – something that took a dozen of us to put in place – I knew for certain then – thought I knew – that our Lord’s body had been taken, stolen away, only God knows for what end.

I was too churned up to look inside, terrified of what I might see, without knowing what any of us could do I ran back to where we were lodged (praise God for our protectors) and I saw Simon Peter and John speaking by the door.

I must have looked like a wild woman, completely incoherent, I no idea what I might say to them.

Peter asked “Mary, what is it, what’s happened?!”

Barely able to speak, something just burbled out between the tears. John of course wrote it down later:

‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ He reports I exclaimed, between the sobs.

Once they’d taken this in, they looked at each other with the same panicked expression that must have been on my face, touched my arm, and ran back in the direction I’d come from.

At this point I could barely catch my breath, but I turned and followed them back, my chest and calves burning, unable to keep up with them at all. I could see that John had got ahead of Peter, but when I eventually caught up, I could see John just standing at the entrance, finding himself unable to enter.

For once I was thankful for Peter’s impulsive nature, he overcame our collective fears to enter the tomb, whilst John and I seemed rooted to the spot, although in all honestly, I was so exhausted from running there and back that I’d sunk down to ground by this point, my breathing loud and laboured as my body recovered.

Peter emerged so quietly, a look of incomprehension on his face. He told us how the linen wrappings were just lying there, and that the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was separate, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.

This is where John had to see for himself, also entering the tomb, seeing that all was as Peter had said. Now, you must understand that despite everything we’d experienced with the teacher, everything we’d been told and witnessed, none of us yet understand the scripture that told us He must rise from the dead.

With no understanding of what this meant or where Jesus’ body might be, the men left, returning to the house.

And I sat, and I wept. I wept from fear, I wept from confusion and frustration, but mostly I wept from grief, and from love. I wept because I was confronted with the reality of Jesus’ death, and now I couldn’t even mourn his body, or honour him with our traditions.

Between my sobs, I felt compelled to look for myself, to see what the men had seen, to know with my own eyes that it was true. I heaved my exhausted body from the ground and stooped to look inside the tomb. But I didn’t see what Peter and John had seen.

I’ll probably sound like a mad woman – probably this whole story makes me sound like a mad woman – but I don’t care, I saw what I saw, and I believe what I saw.

When I looked inside the tomb, I saw what I can only describe as two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They must have been angels, there were certainly not of the earth. And they spoke to me, or at least I heard the words inside my head, it’s hard to explain when you’ve encountered angels!

They asked me: ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ and I’m sure I repeated the words John tells me I said to him: ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’

I often wonder what they might have replied if I hadn’t at that point become aware of someone standing behind me. Not knowing if it was of the men returned, another disciple come to grieve or a soldier alerted by our comings and goings, I turned sharply to see the gardener in front of me, or the person I presumed was the gardener by his appearance.

He repeated the words of the angels – making me think for a moment I’d imagined them and this man had been saying the words all along. ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ – a ridiculous question to a woman visiting a tomb! Before I could answer he questioned ‘For whom are you looking?’

Beginning to retain some semblance of rational thought – despite all I’d experienced before the sun was even fully risen – it struck me that this man may have seen something, if he tended to this place, he would maybe know who had come and gone, or maybe even he’d been paid or instructed to move Jesus by the authorities?

I took a breath, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ I looked into his eyes, silently pleading.

His response was just one word, ‘Mary’. And in an instant I knew. He said my name, as He had done so many times, but this time I felt it’s resonance through my entire body. With one word my eyes were opened, and I saw Jesus stood before me, and I knew more than ever that my soul and body would for the rest of my life be a living sacrifice to him.

“Teacher!” I exclaimed and dropped to my knees. I needed to touch him, to kiss his feet, to anoint them with my tears which were now tears of joy, but he stepped back from my reach.

“Do not hold on to me Mary, 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.”

And then, I don’t know if he was gone or if I turned, but I was running once more back to the town and to the others, still so confused but with a surety of what I needed to do for our Lord, our Jesus, our rabbi – our Christ, The Messiah! Oh my God, my God! It was all true. He is my God.

I’ll never know why He chose me as the first witness – as the first to share the news and make sense of his teachings. In three days he had risen again, he told us so many times this would be so but until this moment we had never truly understood.

I banged on the door of our lodging house – I didn’t care if I was seen or heard, not anymore. I told them quite simply “I have seen the Lord”, then recounted all these things I have told you here.

They heard my testimony, and they believed, and that belief spread. We told people the good news – that we have a God who knows us, who came to live alongside us, who has shared our joys and our griefs, who has shared our food, who knows what it is to strive - who knows no one is holy enough to obey all the laws of moses and so gives us the most simple instruction; to love.

To love God and each other. It’s that simple. Our God is the God of love.

Amen

Sermon based upon John 20:1-18

20Early 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. 2So 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.’ 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look a into the tomb; 12and 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. 13They 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.’ 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, b ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17Jesus 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.” ’ 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.