Wednesday, November 18 –
It’s
mid-week and we get to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord! Our reading today is from John 20:1 –
18. After reading the passage, please
come back and we’ll take another look at it together.
I’m always excited to read this chapter in John’s Gospel. Having preached from John 20, dozens of
times, I especially love it that we’re reading it at a time other than
Easter. John writes with a marvelous
sense of poignancy in creating the scene.
It is “the first day of the week”, i.e., Sunday morning. “Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early,
while it was still dark”. I got up
this morning while all was still dark outside.
I could make out something, but most things are wrapped in the mystery
of “what is that?”. “She saw the stone
had been taken away”. John does not
mention that others were with Mary Magdalene but hints at it in verse 2 when Mary
ran back to tell Peter and John about the open tomb, and said to them, “we
don’t know where they have laid him” (20:1-2). We who have listened to many Easter messages
know the beginning well. There’s a
sudden drama of mystery, concern, and unexplainable “what is going on?”. All was lost on Friday, and now Sunday has
come, but no one knows what to make of what has happened.
Mary
Magdalene was part of a group of women who had traveled with Jesus’ band of
followers – which at times may have been as many as one hundred people or more. We recall that at one point Jesus sent out
seventy of his followers to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Luke 10). Mary Magdalene had a troubled
background. Without going into detail,
we find out in Luke’s Gospel, that Mary had been healed by Jesus, and seven
demons had been cast out of her (Luke 8:1-3). She begins the Easter
story when she, and other women, find the stone rolled away from the tomb where
Jesus was laid. There’s a rather
interesting set of pictures that John presents to us in telling the story of
that first Easter morning. Mary ran back
to Peter and John (20:2), and they ran back to the tomb.
“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.” So Peter went out with the other
disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running
together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did
not go in” (20:2-5).
The
first picture is of Peter and John running to the tomb…John the faster one
reached the tom first, but not going in.
John says “he saw” the cloths but no body. The Greek language (of which the Gospels are
written) has six verbs to indicate “see” (present tense), or “saw” (past
tense). The word “saw” that John uses of
his own first look was “blepo”, which means “to see, but not
understand”. John looked in, but
couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing.
Anyone who witnessed Jesus’ death, and the body being carried away by
Joseph and Nicodemus knew that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in linen strips of
cloth. John “saw” what didn’t make sense
– cloths without a body.
The
second picture follows as Peter arrives – “Then Simon Peter came, following
him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face
cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but
folded up in a place by itself” (20:6-7). Peter arrived at the tomb but went into it,
and he “saw” the same linen cloths that John had, folded up. The word that John uses of what Peter “saw”
is “theoreo”, from which we get the word “theory”. In other words, Peter went into the tomb to
do a sort of examination…what happened?
How could this have occurred? Who
did this? Peter is doing his own
investigation, but not because he thinks a miracle has occurred. It didn’t make sense to him that someone
would elaborately unwind the body and leave the cloths behind while taking the
body away.
The
last picture is from John who writes – “Then the other disciple, who had
reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed” (20:8). John now entered the tomb, and he “saw. The word “saw” is another verb, “eidon”,
which means “Ah, now I get it” seeing.
John understood that the cloths were lying there because Jesus had been
resurrected from the dead. He makes his
own commentary on the event at the end of this first visit:
“for
as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples went back to their homes” (20:9-10).
What
follows gives us a tender moving moment of a faith that loves Jesus. Mary Magdalene was one of several women who
had gone to the tomb that morning. She
had run back to tell Peter and John about the empty tomb. Even though John was excited in understanding
what had happened, Peter, probably Mary, were not sure. Peter and John left to go back to the Upper
Room. Mary stood still at the empty
tomb, grieving what she didn’t know.
“But
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into
the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of
Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 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.” Having said this, she turned
around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus” (20:11-14).
Her
grief was such that even though angels came to ask her the question, she was
not afraid, and answered them! The
poignancy of it is tender as they use the honorific phrase, “woman”. John does not tell us of their response but
instead wrote that “she turned around” and “saw Jesus”, but did
not recognize it was Him. John uses the
very same verb that he used of Peter, “theoreo”, a perplexed, not
understanding look at who was standing before her. Jesus now asks her the
question of the angels and she similarly responds the same – “Jesus said to
her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” 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” (20:15). There’s a lovely innocence to Mary’s
response. She loved Jesus and wanted to
do nothing more than give him the dignity of a proper burial. Then it all changed:
“Jesus
said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which
means Teacher)” (20:16).
Savor
that moment…pause, stop, put yourself there.
Jesus called her by her name.
Where she could not “see”, she heard.
What she could not comprehend, was changed by the sound of His
voice. She had not been looking at him,
but “turned”, when she heard his voice. Jesus had once said – “my
sheep hear my voice” (John 10:4).
Jesus went to Mary first. He gave
the “knowing” first to her, before the disciples themselves. Her grief was the language of her love. He rewarded that love, and he spoke her
name. Mary was so elated she threw
herself at his feet.
“Jesus
said to her, “Do not cling to me, for 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’” (20:17).
I
smile because Mary was so happy to see him, she hung on so as to make sure he
could not lose him again. Jesus' words
are tender as he told her, I will come back, but first there are some things I
have to do. It was not her “clinging”
that was the issue. Later Jesus would
allow Thomas to touch him, and then he also hadn’t ascended into heaven. Jesus knew that there were weeks ahead for
Mary to be with him before his ascension (forty days to be exact, Acts 1
says). Jesus had a task for her to do – “go
to my brothers”. That is what she
did next.
“Mary
Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that
he had said these things to her” (20:18).
Did
they believe her? Would you have? Peter was skeptical, thinking, pondering what
happened, because it didn’t make sense.
John was certain something happened, but he didn’t know what. Mary was absolutely certain, and unafraid to
tell them what she saw and now knew.
Jesus is risen from the dead – he is risen indeed!
It all
began that morning because Mary went to see an empty tomb. With uncertainty came grief. With grief came a desire to know. With the desire to know came the questions of
the angels and Jesus. With the questions
came Mary’s love – and Jesus spoke her name.
What will be like when we finally have our uncertainties, doubts, fears,
questions all resolved? What will it be
like when we hear our Savior say __________ (your name)? The resurrection of Jesus is not merely a
matter of faith, it’s personal for all who believe and know Jesus is alive and
one day we will meet him face to face.
Peace
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