Mary
Sermon for Easter Sunday, year B
Bible reading: John 20:1-18
The Lord is risen: He is risen indeed.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
And so do most people on this morning of the resurrection.
Has this resurrection morning stopped the weeping of those who lost their homes and loved ones in the bushfires? Has this resurrection morning stopped the weeping of those who have lost their investments and jobs through the financial crisis? Has this resurrection morning stopped the weeping of those crippled by the drought?
Has this resurrection morning stopped the weeping of those who have lost loved ones on the roads, or those who suffer from broken families, and often in them, or those who have no family, and those who have no home? All the Easter bunnies, and Easter eggs, and Easter parties, cannot wipe out the weeping of the world on this resurrection morning.
The Lord is risen … But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
Mary Magdalene had been the last to leave the tomb on Friday. She was the first to arrive on Sunday.
While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb, so she ran to tell Simon … They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.
Mary Magdalene loved Jesus deeply. She had been a deeply troubled woman, and Jesus had rescued her and given her life back. Jesus had cast seven demons out of her, and made her whole. From then on she devoted her life to following Jesus and caring for him. Jesus was her life. As Jesus suffered and died, she was there. As John took Jesus’ mother into his home to care for her, Mary Magdalene stayed at the cross. She stayed at the tomb. She returned to the tomb. She ran to report that the tomb was empty. She returned to the empty tomb, and now she breaks down and weeps. While Jesus was in the tomb she had a place to visit him. Now he was gone. Now she was all alone. Now she just stands and weeps … alone.
And maybe you do too! Life is so hard. People and things have let you down. You feel all alone. People ask how you are, and you say, ‘OK’
, but the pain is too much to bear. When nobody sees you, you weep. You take a drug, sneak a drink, you weep in solitude.
Woman, why are you weeping?
Suddenly she sees two angels in the tomb, and they ask this most painful question? Why are you weeping?
She sobs out her story: they have taken away my Lord ...
Then she turns around to see a man standing there and he asks the same question: woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?
The man is Jesus, but she doesn’t recognize him. Her grief blinds her to reality. She thinks he is the gardener. She thinks he might have taken Jesus away. She appeals for his help. And she receives it. Jesus said to her: Mary.
And immediately she knew it was Jesus. The moment Jesus called her by name she knew it was Jesus. Life and hope returned.
On this resurrection day you might wish that you could see Jesus. You might even be skeptical. You say: ‘I’d believe in the resurrection if I could see Jesus.’
Mary Magdalene saw Jesus, but she did not believe. Seeing is not believing. Jesus called Mary by name, and she recognized Jesus, and believed in Jesus.
Faith does not come from learning and believing facts about Jesus. Faith is a personal relationship with Jesus. Faith comes from Jesus loving you on the cross, and in the resurrection and then coming to you and calling your name. ‘Mary… David… Kathy… Bob… Mandy… Simon… I am … for you’
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It’s not seeing that leads to faith. It’s hearing. Martin Luther reminds us that Mary Magdalene has no advantage over us. She believed by hearing Jesus speak, by hearing Jesus call her name. Jesus calls his sheep by name.
And today Jesus speaks to you, and calls your name.
On this resurrection day Jesus comes to you and says: ‘see what I have done for you. I have died on the cross in love for you… I have taken away all your sins, all your guilt, all your hopelessness, all your tears, all your loneliness…I’ve taken it all to the cross. I’ve buried it all in the grave. I am alive forevermore. And I have done all this for you. For you who believe. For you who do not believe.’
I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes will not die, but will have eternal life.
Jesus was alive. Yet Mary stood at the empty tomb weeping … not believing. There is no sadder day then a resurrection day without believers in the resurrection. There is no sadder person than an unbeliever on resurrection day.
There is no need to weep today, except with joy, that Jesus lives, and gives us new life.
Mary’s response is to hold on to Jesus for dear life. Mary held on to Jesus in love, and devotion, and worship. We hug one another a lot at funerals. Here we see the joy of a resurrection hug, a desire to never let Jesus go, to never be parted from him again.
In Matthew we read that the women took hold of Jesus’ feet and worshipped him.
Mary shows us that nothing and nobody is more precious than Jesus. We can lose all else and survive, but to lose Jesus is to never be satisfied, to always be searching, always be weeping: to lose Jesus … is hell. To hold Jesus, to trust in him and follow him, to love him and worship him … is eternal life.
But Mary Magdalene cannot hold on to Jesus physically forever. He must still ascend to the Father from whom he came – to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
Jesus is much more than an earthly man for an earthly woman, or an earthly friend for a few earthly friends, who can see and touch him, and eat and drink and talk and laugh with him together.
Jesus must ascend into heaven to fill the whole earth with his presence, to be the resurrection and the life
for all, to be the Saviour and life giver for all the people of the world whom he made and loves. He will still meet with his people – now in bread and wine, now in words that create faith and love, now in his body, the church, where people are called to love one another, to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.
But there is more for Mary and for us. Go and tell my brothers…
and she went and announced to the disciples: I have seen the Lord.
As Martin Luther says: The risen Lord Himself makes a preacher of her that she must be a master and teacher of the dear apostles.
All who have heard Jesus call their name, and met with him in worship, are called to go and tell those who still weep.
Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene went to tell Jesus’ disciples of the resurrection while they were mourning and weeping.
We cannot sit in church or at home, and hold Jesus to ourselves. Jesus is the Saviour of the world. Jesus died for the sins of the world, and rose from the dead to give life to the whole world, to those who weep with the sorrows of life, to those who doubt like Thomas, to those who won’t believe like the rest of the disciples. On this day of resurrection, we cannot hold Jesus for ourselves, but we must share Jesus with others. Amen