Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

John 20:14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

 

            How many times do you find your self looking for something, you know it is there, but you just cannot see it.  Like in the hardware store when you are in the section for that part.  The shelf is full and you just cannot see the one you are looking for.  You ask the attendant who promptly reaches right where you were staring and picks up what you couldn’t see.  You needed someone to help you see what you could not see on your own. 

 

            It is early in the morning.  It was the day before yesterday that Mary Magdalene and the other ladies watched as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus carefully and properly wrapped and laid Jesus’ body in the tomb.  One can imagine the chatter amongst the disciples and those other faithful followers who were in Jerusalem for the Passover.  All of the events from the moment Jesus received Judas’ kiss in Gethsemane though the trials and finally the crucifixion.  Each person had bits and pieces of the happenings.  Then connect these things with the strange things Jesus had said at different times.  Nobody could be completely sure of all of the events.  What were the rumors or the “What if?” questions.  What if they are coming after the rest of us?  What if someone tries to steal the body?  What if this?  What if that?  What was Jesus trying to tell us then?  What would he want us to do now?  It is kind of like parking lot conversations after the meeting, isn’t it?

 

            Note that as Mary Magdalene is approaching the tomb very early, she does not go further when she sees the stone rolled away.  She hurries back saying what she thinks she saw, that someone had taken Jesus’ body from the tomb.  It is a worse case scenario indeed.

 

            Mary tells Peter and John who run at once to the tomb and even enter it.  They see the evidence of a body once there, but now not.  As they view the scene they note that the body was not taken in haste either.  John “saw and believed.”  It all made sense to him now.  Jesus, in foretelling all these things that had happened had also said that he would rise again.  That is what John believed.  Jesus had risen.

 

            Now, after John and Peter have left and not knowing what they have surmised, Mary approaches the tomb.  Although she saw two angels, they must have looked to her like attendants of some sort, and they spoke to her compassionately asking why she is crying.  Mary still is seeing what she expected to see, an empty tomb because someone had taken Jesus’ body as a cruel thing to do.  Not only was Jesus dead, but no one would let him rest in peace.

 

            Isn’t that like you and me, seeing what we expect or want to see in Jesus.  We regularly trust so much on our own ego, our own pride, our own ability to know what is going on and how to deal with it.  We are like Mary who cannot come to realize what has really happened on her own.  Then Jesus says, “Mary.”  It is like the floor attendant in the hardware store saying, “Here is your part,” and you see it right where you were looking but couldn’t see it before. 

 

            We are like Mary.  We cannot find a savior on our own.  We need to hear the words of Christ.  When we hear the words of Christ, we also need the Holy Spirit to convict us in our hearts that it is Jesus who saves us from our sins and now is preparing our places in his father’s house.  Like Mary, we cannot figure it out on our own.  But also like Mary, we hurt when we think that Jesus is not there.  Like Mary, we are overjoyed when we realize it is him all the time.  Like the poem, “Footprints In the Sand,” we might miss seeing him, but he is always there just the same.

 

            Today we come to the tomb kind of like Mary.  We envision in our minds what the angels look like, what Jesus must have looked like, etc.  What is revealed to us is, this Jesus who once was dead, has risen from the dead.  Death no longer has mastery over him.  He cannot die again as he has overcome death.  And for you, you do not need to fear death in any way, shape, or form, because Jesus will take these lowly bodies and make them like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subdue all things to himself.

 

            What are you looking for?  Look for Christ in his word, in your life, and in God’s eternal heaven both now and forever.  Amen.

 

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!