SCRIPTURE: John 20:11-18
TEXT: 18aMary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; THEME: Redefined relation with Jesus. INTRODUCTION This is the second part of the account of the resurrection found in the Gospel of John. The first part from verse 1 to 10 are filled with emotions, a wide range of intense feelings, but mostly an inconsolable grief. In John’s gospel we witness the resurrection through the emotions of Mary. But a key perspective was given by Dr. Liew during the last PSR CELT class, where he talked about the Centurion’s proclamation at the crucifixion of Jesus where at his death, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me” and dies. Dr. Liew asks, “What did the centurion see that would make him draw the conclusion, ’This truly is the Son of God?” He says God does not revel in our suffering. Jesus was experiencing excruciation pain and suffering, so much so he felt abandoned, alone, forgotten. The Centurion heard Jesus’ Prayer and witnessed the answer to that prayer as God takes his life to end the suffering. A crucifixion death usually takes 6 days, but after 6 hours Jesus prays and upon hearing Jesus’ cry, God responds with mercy saying “its enough” and ends the suffering. This is the miracle that makes the Centurion believe. SCRIPTURE Mary’s grief is compounded because not only has Jesus died, but his body has been stolen. Disrespected, no proper burial according to their culture and everything Jesus believed in. Insulted, angered, bewildered, sorrowful all at the same time. Those knuckle heads, Peter and John were no help running around like chickens. “Good! Go home!” She stands out side of the tomb, building up the courage to look inside. When at last she bends down to look inside, through her tears she see two angels sitting where the body of Jesus was lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They ask, “What is the reason for your crying?” All she could think about was where Jesus’ body was. In desperation she says, “Where is his body?” Can you feel the intensity of her desperation increasing but now it is Jesus standing next to her who asks, “Why are you crying? What is the reason for your grief? There is a new story to understand, there is a new story to hold onto, There is a new story to redefine your future” She assumes he is a gardener, and with even more desperation says, “ If you have carried Jesus’ body away, show me, no questions asked, I can take it from here.” Then Jesus says to her, “It’s enough. You have suffered this grief long enough, it has consumed you. The reason for your grief has is here, the body of Jesus is here, resurrected from the death you grieve, by the power of God.” And Jesus calls her back into relationship with himself, by calling her name, “Mary”. “Rabbouni!”, She quickly turns and enters back into her student teacher relationship, but Jesus says to her, “our relationship can not be exactly as it once had been. I am different, I will ascend to be with the Father and so our relationship will be redefined.” “It not you, it’s me”. Jesus is Lord and ascending to the Father. Her relationship with God is being redefined to Father, as Jesus’ God is also her God. There is a whole new orientation of Mary’s relationship with Jesus, with her relationship with God and with who she is as a daughter of God. Jesus is Lord and her siblings are disciples. She leaves the garden, transformed, to tell the Peter and John, that she has seen the Lord. APPLICATION At the resurrection Jesus is made alive again. But Mary’s relationship with Jesus can no longer be as student and teacher. We imagine what Jesus is like, and form our relationship with Jesus around those images. How does the image of the resurrected Jesus add to who Jesus is to us and redefine our relationship? For Mary there was a shift from Rabbouni to Lord. From human to eternal. From fan and super star to, resurrected, heavenly. Deeper reverence, profound love, accepted, called, empowered. Whose version of the resurrection story would you want to hear, Mary’s or John’s? “Mary woke us, early in the morning, Peter and I ran to the tomb, I beat him there. I looked inside, Peter went in. I did too, I believe what Mary told us is true. They have taken the body of Jesus away. There wasn’t anything more for us to do there, so we went home.” Thank goodness Jesus had women disciples who stuck around to try to figure out what was happening even though there was not plausible explanation. Our relationship with Jesus is familiar at first, and then it becomes complicated when it is revealed that he is not just human like us, but holy. Jesus’ divinity comes with hopes, confidences, promises and certainties that out weighs our fears. We have a sense of Being love, accepted and belonging to God. Jann and I have been binge watching TV. We watched an investigation into the Hick’ babies taken at birth and sold for adoption around the the 1950’s. This one 70 year old was raised by adopted parents who never made him feel accepted. He had to fight for everything in that family and was always excluded by his parents and their children. When he was able to meet a half sister these investigators discovered, they fell into each other’s embrace knowing that they belonged together. This is what being love by God is like. Finding each other knowing that we belong together. This is how Mary’s relationship with Jesus gets redefined. Our relationship with God is for fellowship, Our relationship with God is for participations in each other’s life, Our relationship with God is for enjoyment, challenges, growth, participation in Mission. Our relationship with God makes a positive difference in other people’s lives, Our relationship with God helps our communities to grow, mature, correct injustices, move forward, Learn to love, evolve and enjoy each other, and accept diversity instead of homogeneity. Having everything and everyone all the same is over rated. My doctor has put me on a No Carb Diet. Yes another diet. And this ‘life style’ change is just like it sounds, no carbohydrates. No sugar, little variety. It is like Keto, or South Beach or Flat Belly Diet. Added to intermitted fasting, which I sort of do. I am craving heterogeneity in my foods. The strain we are having in our society, admitting our history of enslaving, dehumanizing, and disrespecting treatment of Africans is God’s movement to bring awareness of the evil we have participated in. We now have a chance to be God’s agents for justice, dignity, reconciliation and reparations in these relationships. Evil pushes back against God’s liberation and healing. Evil finds other targets to blame for their fears and commits acts of cowardice upon the unarmed and vulnerable. These attempts to suppress only cause people to rise up and display our diverse majority over, small minded sameness. Evil uses words like heathen, menace, Red, Black, Slave, Communist, Socialist, immigrant, to justify their treatment of others but in the resurrection we use words like sibling, welcomes, differently abled, beloved, inclusion, accommodate, valued, and community. CONCLUSION We all look for evidence of God’s love for us. Answered prayers reveal God’s merciful heart. Jesus among us reveals how we can live in relationship with God. Jesus resurrected establishes a new reality for us that takes us from worrying about death to living in loving ways. The suffering we have endured or inflicted is enough, resurrection, means we can get on with living in a different way with God and each other.
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