SCRIPTURE: John 20:1-18
TEXT: 17aJesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, …’” THEME: Jesus is still here, loose in the world. INTRODUCTION Mary is a remarkable disciple. Named in the gospel more than any of the other disciple. Delivered from several demons, she was there from the early part of Jesus’ ministry of teaching, healing, living and caring, all the way to the anointing of his feet, the crucifixion on the cross, his death, the committal in the tomb and now she is the first witness of the resurrection. This is not by chance, but by sheer devotion. SCRIPTURE When last we see Jesus, it is through Mary’s eyes, watching his body being laid to rest in a tomb, marking its location in her mind as a stone seals it shut. (Mt 27:61) It was the Jewish day of Preparation, getting ready to observe the Sabbath. After the death of Jesus, having to wait from Friday evening to Sunday dawn must have been excruciating; filled with worry, anticipation, grief, loss and anxiety. Preparing his body was to be her final act of devotion. So, Mary is the first to the grave site, probably somewhere in that gray area of keeping the Sabbath and breaking the Sabbath rule. Keeping or breaking it was not as important doing this work of honor, respect and laying Jesus’ body to rest, properly. Besides the Sabbath was over some place else in the world. When she gets to the tomb she sees that the stone that sealed the door was removed. That was all that she needed to run to tell the Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. The rest of the events of this part of this passage, was about what happens when we search for Jesus in the land of the dead. He’s not there, he is risen. What the resurrection proves is that Jesus is still here, Jesus is still loosed in the world. Jesus is a figure of the present, and Jesus continues to do the work of the Reign of God. The second part of this passage is the mental work we have to do, to have a paradigm shift. For us to open up the tombs of our minds to understand, Jesus being out in our world, in new ways and our lives, lived, unafraid of death. As my part of my Holy Week preparations, I watched the 1973 movie, Jesus Christ Superstar. I was wondering how they handled the resurrection of Christ. Taken from Judas Iscariot’s point of view, they tell the story of Jesus. At the end, when the cast is loaded up on a bus and drive away from the dusty location set, Jesus is left behind, but a lone figure is seen silently crossing the screen. Almost imperceivable, but moving across from right to left, human in shape, walking in our world. The message of the resurrection is not to look for Jesus in the land of the dead, but to look to find Jesus in the world of the living. Beyond the apparition of the Gardner, to the risen Lord. Mary moves from distress to joy, from a final act of devotion to living all of her days for Jesus, from seeking Jesus among the dead, to being a living sign of the resurrected Christ. Her grief has been transformed and her life has been changed. APPLICATION If we cannot find Jesus in the tomb, where do we find Jesus in the world? Jesus was experienced, after his death by many followers and even by a few adversaries. The resurrection was real, although we may not have any physical proof. We don’t need to have Jesus physically with us to have an experience that Jesus is here. We know that everything Jesus has said is true and as we live it, Jesus is still alive. Jesus exists with God and lives among us through the Holy Spirit. We live with a reality of death passing over us with resurrection. Our lives are informed with living and not dying. To live, concerned about life is transformative, from those who live waiting to die. Much of the way we have interpreted our Christianity has been about escape, rather than how we live in relationship with each other, fearlessly for God and walking in the garden with Jesus. When we live trying to escape, fear is our motivation not love and we tend to live selfishly rather than mindfully. The first thing Mary does after her Christ encounter, is go and share this good news with the disciples so they too can have their grief transformed to joy. CONCLUSION There is a thought that Mary was greater a disciple than we were taught. Magdalene may not be a reference to where she was from, (Bethany) but means ‘tower’, like Peter’s nickname ‘the Rock’, or ‘great’. Now it is thought that some early church fathers were uncomfortable with this much prominence and honor given to one woman, so they retold her story inventing an additional sister to Lazarus, Martha. So Mary Magdalene, could actually mean Mary the great, giving testimony to a remarkable woman who lived faithfully following Jesus, an authority of who Jesus was and what the resurrection means. So now, instead how being the one who did the final preparations of Jesus body, her tribute to Jesus, she her life being a living testament of the Christ and the resurrection.
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