John 20:1-18Then, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb and she saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out and went toward the tomb. Now the two of them were running together but the other disciple ran ahead of Peter quickly and arrived at the tomb first. He stooped over and saw the linen wrappings lying there but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came also, following him, and he entered the tomb and saw the linen wrappings lying there and the face cloth which was over his head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up separately in another place.
So then the other disciples who had arrived at the tomb first came in also and he saw and believed, for they did not yet understand the scripture that it was necessary for him to rise from the dead. So the disciples returned to their own homes again.
But Mary stood outside in front of the tomb weeping. Now as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb and she saw two angels in white clothing, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them, "Because they have taken my Lord and I don't know where they have laid him."
Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?"
Believing he was the gardener she said to him, "Sir, if you have taken him, tell me where you have hid laid him and I will take him away."
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned to him and said in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," (which means 'Teacher').
Jesus said to her, "Don't grab hold of me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father and my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and she related all the things he had told her.
You can’t underestimate the importance of names. That’s what I want to talk about today. You can’t underestimate the importance of names.
So the story is told of a pregnant woman who was involved in a very serious accident. She is in a coma for six months but during the time of her coma she delivers twins, one a girl and one a boy. When she awakens from the coma she is very grateful for their birth and for their safety but after enjoying them for a while she wonders, what do I call them?
A nurse says, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, your brother came in and named them.”
The woman is distraught. She says, “Oh, no! Not my goofy brother. What did he name them?”
“Well,” says the nurse, “he named the girl Denise.”
“Oh, wow, that’s great,” says the woman. “A normal name. What did he name the boy?”
The nurse sighed and then said, “Denephew.”
Names. They can be so important. Especially when we hear our own names as if for the first time.
You know, what we are here for today is unbelievable. What the Church asks you to believe about this day is just so unbelievable that I'm surprised any of us came at all this morning. Sure it's a high, holy day - probably THE high, holy day of the Christian year. You can't be a Christian and not celebrate on Easter Sunday! But that doesn't make the thing we are supposed to believe on this day any more believable.
We might as well be hearing voices. That's what people would say about you if you tried to tell this Easter story to them with a straight face. "Empty tombs and a man raised from the dead? Encounters with angels and a risen Jesus? These Christians might be able to sell me on Christmas - I mean a baby with a special purpose, now that's not too farfetched. But this Easter story - a man who lets himself be crucified only to come back to life in three days? - now, that's a little much. I'll stick to the Easter bunny, thank you very much." That's what people would say.
But we're here, aren't we? Just the way that many of us have been for many Easters past. One more year with this unbelievable holiday. And one more time we hear that familiar story...
It's a story that begins before dawn. In the quiet darkness of a Sunday morning in Jerusalem, a lone woman makes her way to the tomb of the crucified man she had called, "Lord". But to the religious leaders and the Roman soldiers who had him done to death he was mocked as a king with no kingdom. When they pulled him down from the cross Joseph of Arimathea, a Jewish leader who had been a secret follower of Jesus had offered a new tomb hewn out of rock as a temporary resting place for the body - a place to leave it until the Sabbath was over. Little did he know how temporary it would be! Another secret follower, Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus in the night, provided the spices that were used for burial in those days.
By sundown on Friday it had all been done. The heavy stone that required several men to move was rolled in front of the entrance. Jesus' disciples had scattered. And the Sabbath, a time for remembering and respecting God's creation, had begun. The promise Jesus had given of a new creation seemed to have been buried in the silent tomb with his body.
The Sabbath ended at sundown on Saturday and the woman now making her way to the tomb had promised herself that she would go ... in the morning… to see the resting place once more. Perhaps she was going in hopes of getting one last glimpse. Perhaps she was just going to weep. But she could not wait for daylight. While it was still dark and quiet she went.
And in that dim, pre-dawn light she saw a sight that caused her to stop short.
She ran to Simon Peter and another disciple that Jesus had loved. Peter had not acted much like a brave leader in those final hours of Jesus' life. He had denied even knowing Jesus to save his own hide. But he was the one who had been Jesus' right-hand man all along. He had to know. So Mary went to him with the news, "They've taken the Lord and I don't know where they laid him."
Peter and the other disciple drew a sharp breath then they both raced for the door finding that it isn't wide enough for both of them to pass at once. "After you."
"No, after you." And they race to the tomb, the unnamed disciple reaching the tomb first. But he waits before going in. He leans over to peer into the tomb and sees the linen wrappings that covered Jesus' body lying empty. Why would grave robbers unwrap a body they wanted to move?
Peter rushes up behind him and they look at one another once again. "After you."
"No, Peter, after you." Peter goes inside and sees, not only the wrappings, but the face cloth as well, neatly rolled and placed in a separate spot. But there is no body. He feels the other disciple enter the tomb behind him.
"Let's get out of here. Something has happened. Something awesome. And it might happen to us." They believed Mary now, but their fear and their misunderstanding led them back to a safer place. They went home.
So once again there was a lone figure standing in the early morning light in the graveyard. Mary Magdalene once again. She weeps uncontrollably - overwhelmed by the grief of Friday and the incomprehension of Sunday. She stoops to look into the tomb as well and she sees something there that Peter and the other disciple didn't see. Through eyes bleary with tears she sees two figures in white sitting by the empty linen wrappings. What she didn't know is that they were angels.
"Woman," they say, "why are you crying?"
"Silly men! Why am I crying? Why am I crying? I've lost the one I called 'Lord'. That's why I'm crying. Not only have I lost him to death, I've lost his body now as well!"
And then she turned only to bump directly into another figure who has moved up behind her. He, too, asks the same silly question, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?"
"It must be the gardener," she thinks. "Probably thinks I'm intruding here. This is a graveyard for the wealthy after all - no place for a poor woman like me. Oh, well. Better to be polite instead of angry. -- Sir, if your have taken him, tell me where you have laid him and I'll take him. -- I'll take him. Take him off your hands. You've done enough damage to him already!"
But then the figure speaks in a voice she recognizes. For the first time in this whole confusing morning there is something that rings crystal clear. It is her name being spoken. "Mary," the voice says. And suddenly she remembers who she is and recognizes who he is. The figure in the garden is Jesus.
And all that Mary can say is, "Teacher." Because for Mary the teaching of Jesus has not ended, it has only just begun. And she bears the news back to the disciples. She becomes the angel they can see and hear. She tells them about the truth of the resurrection.
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. The thing no one expected. The thing we can't comprehend. That's what happened to Jesus on the first Easter morning. Those disciples, including Mary, still clung to the old ways, still hung around the place where their teacher had been buried, but it wasn't until he spoke her name that one of them was able to experience Easter for the first time.
Almost two thousand years later I don't think we're any better about recognizing the real meaning of this day. Words like 'resurrection' and 'Christ is alive' roll easily off our tongues but they mask our discomfort with what we say we believe. There are lots of folks who try to sell you a different story to make it more comforting to our ears. Maybe the Da Vinci Code or the Gospel of Judas can take away some of the unbelievability. Scholars debate the historical reality of Jesus' rising from the dead. There are lots of folks who would explain the resurrection away as a powerful fictional event.
But something within us still responds to this day. As unbelievable as it is - we are here. Some of us have been here for many, many years. And we cling to Easter like we cling to the hope of spring and the promise of a young child because they are all miracles that defy explanation. So we listen to these fantastic stories about Peter and Mary, we look for the thrill of recognizing that God was involved in all of this, and maybe, just maybe, we'll hear in this Easter something very familiar - something crystal clear in the midst of all of this mystery - the sound of our name being spoken by someone who has cared for us for a long, long time - since before we were born.
This morning we have a really important thing to do. We are welcoming in a new confirmation class. For the last three months seven of our youth have been meeting with mentors and walking beside them as they explored the most essential questions of our faith. They’ve talked about baptism and ministry, service and gifts, the life of the Spirit, crucifixion and resurrection. It has been a really important time and we know something holy has happened through this.
But confirmation is not just learning ABOUT something. More than that it is learning about yourself. It is knowing that God has not only called the whole world but God has called you. It is knowing that you, Ashlee, Alex, Emma, Daniel, Joel, Hunter and Zach, you are the person Jesus came to save. When you can hear Jesus calling your name this becomes more than an exercise…it’s the basic stuff of life itself.
Mary was used to hearing her name called, I’m sure. She had heard it called in anger and heard it called in love. She had responded to it throughout her whole life. But in a real sense her name was just a placeholder until the time she could hear the Risen Jesus say it to her for the first time. Mary was no longer the same Mary when she left that garden tomb that morning. She was Mary, the one called by Christ.
You came here this morning perhaps thinking that you know who you are. You came here knowing that the same things you were worrying about when you went to bed last night are still going to be there when you wake up tomorrow, despite the fact that Easter has come. You came here knowing what brokenness and confusion and struggle and grief and pain are all about. You came knowing that you are in situations that seem beyond your capacity to deal with and, worse yet, beyond your control. But we come because we need to hear the one thing that can remind us of why the brokenness doesn’t win in the end. We come because we need to hear our names, spoken as if for the first time.
Easter morning isn't always an epiphany. It isn't always a revelation that we are being called by God. Sometimes it's just a comforting reminder that another spring has come. But it can be a time when we can suddenly set aside the fear and confusion we live with most of the days of our lives. It can be a time when we hear a voice that's meant only for us. And when that voice comes and calls your name, Easter has truly come.
The sounds of Easter are the ordinary sounds of the world - wind blowing through a graveyard, weeping, hushed voices sharing unexplained wonders in an empty tomb - but there is one sound that is not ordinary at all - the sound of your name being spoken by one who experienced death in order to save the world and who conquered it to call you to share in the victory. Easter comes when it is accompanied by your name, as Mary knows.
Thanks be to God who conquered death and offers life. Thanks be to God.
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