The Glory in an Empty Tomb
Dr. Larry Thorson
Scripture: John 20:1-18
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the
entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one
Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we
don't know where they have put him!"
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running,
but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over
and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then
Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the
strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped
around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the
linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went
inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture
that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where
they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent
over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus'
body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know
where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking
for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said,
"Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I
will get him."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher").
17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the
Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father
and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the
Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Today’s New International Version Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
“If I could just see God, then I’d believe.” “Give me one photograph and I’d be a
believer.” Have you ever heard someone
say “Prove it” when talking to them about God?
Here
we have Jesus’ closest followers, the ones who have been through the thick and
thin with him for three years. Here are
the people who more than anyone else could probably tell you how many freckles
and moles he had. Here he is standing
right in front of them and they can’t see him.
I
think the reason this story was included in the Bible is because recognizing
the resurrected Jesus isn’t as easy as we think. That knowing Jesus in good
times, even knowing him well, may not help all that much with recognizing him
in crisis. That knowing Jesus in the flesh isn’t the same as knowing him in the
Spirit.
But
Mary, Peter and John aren’t the only disciples who blow
the "name that rabbi" contest. In none of Jesus’ other post-resurrection
appearances does his disciples recognize who he is.
Not even the two disciples who hiked with Jesus
all afternoon on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t get it. They hung out with Jesus all day on a walkathon
for sadness, unloading on him the whole sad tale of their crucified savior,
even invited him to stay for supper, and still didn’t recognize him.
Then
there were those disciples fishing off the coast of the
Laurie
Beth Jones in her book Jesus, CEO, writes about a ten-year-old boy
who once asked her, “Do you know what Jesus’ first words were after he came out
of the tomb?” “No,” she replied. “What were they?” Confidently, the boy spread
his arms, jumped forward with a grin, and said, “Ta-DAH!”
If
that kid is right, and I have a feeling he’s pretty close, then the
resurrection of Jesus Christ was hardly a subtle event. So how come his
disciples don’t get it? Maybe Jesus
looks different after his resurrection. Or maybe folks just weren't paying
attention. Or maybe there’s something else interfering with the ability of
Jesus’ followers to perceive his presence.
Coca-Cola
used to have a popular saying in their marketing
department that drove most of the company’s
advertising efforts: "Perception is reality." That is, whatever we
perceive to be real, for all intents and purposes, is real; an insight about
human nature that opens a universe of power and possibilities for Madison
Avenue.
From
the beginning, our open market system has shown that if we consumers can be
persuaded to perceive one person or product as better, bubblier, sweeter,
sexier or cooler than another, then that perceived "reality" will
prompt our buying decisions. That ‘perception is reality’ under girds
our whole free market economy. And, of
course, the reverse also holds true. Whatever we cannot or do not perceive, what
doesn’t cross our radar screens, has little or no reality for us. Whichever
realities we choose to ignore or avoid or are simply not exposed to - urban
sprawl, domestic abuse, teenage suicide, a homeless vet… . simply don’t
register.
And
then, of course, there are those realities we don’t pay attention to because
they fall outside our experience, but
outside our reason, outside our understanding
of the way the world works. Like, you know, sightings of the Virgin Mary. Most of us don’t assign any reality to those
kinds of things. In fact, if we have any respectful words for them at all, we
call them ‘mysteries.’
Maybe
Jesus’ first disciples weren’t so different from us. Even though they got directly
to hear and experience Jesus Christ in the flesh, maybe there was still no
corner of their minds, no segment of understanding, no category of reason
through which they could even register, much less grasp, such an outrageous
reality as his resurrection from the dead. No matter how many times they heard
it, even from Jesus’ own lips, nothing in their reason, nothing in their logic,
nothing in their experience, in their genetic programming, prepared them
genuinely to perceive it.
So
maybe it’s not such a surprise that Mary, standing at Jesus' tomb, hearing his voice,
looking right at him, looks right past him. Maybe it’s not so hard to
understand that those fellows traveling to Emmaus, when a nice stranger strikes
up a conversation with them, they see him as… a nice stranger. And those
fishermen, they were just going about their business as usual; someone wants to
shout advice from the shore – what’s new about that? It happens all the time.
Surely
those of us who struggle today with even the concept, never mind the reality, of
Jesus' resurrection, can see we’re in good company. Even those who walked and
talked
with Jesus in the flesh, who heard his voice
and sighs and snores, who observed the miracles that he wrought, who personally
felt his embrace as well as the sting of his correction, who witnessed his
passion with their own eyes, even those who experienced
Jesus face-to-face on that first Easter
morning, even they can not perceive, of their own power and resources, the
mind-blowing, rule-rearranging, death-shattering reality of Jesus’ resurrection
from the dead.
Until
Jesus opens their eyes. Until Jesus short-circuits their logic. Until Jesus unlatches
their hearts. Until Jesus perforates their reason, punctures their doubt and penetrates
their “reality” with a life-altering, death-denying power and grace beyond
their, or our, comprehension. Only then are Jesus’ disciples able to see,
perceive and believe who is standing before them.
To
reach the travelers on the road to Emmaus, Jesus breaks bread with them. To open
the hearts of the fishermen, Jesus shares their catch. To satisfy Thomas’
doubts, Jesus allows him to touch his wounds. To drop the veil from Mary's
eyes, Jesus calls her by name.
To
each of his disciples, Jesus reaches, opens, shares, touches, speaks, offers whatever
they need to shift their perception of the tomb as a symbol of death to a
testimony of the resurrection of life.
Do
you see? Jesus Christ is the One whom God sent actively, persuasively, and
finally to alter our perception that you and I and all humanity might finally
perceive God and God’s power of life over death. Whatever it takes.
For
Mary, it was speaking her name. Only then does her perception change and she
can see who stands before her. “Rabbouni!” she cries, as throws her arms around
her beloved friend. Only when Jesus speaks Mary’s name does the first witness
of the risen Jesus become the first witness to him. Only when Mary hears Jesus
speak her name does she return to the other disciples with an even more
farfetched revelation: "I have seen the Lord!"
For
Thomas, it was the touching of wounds. For the travelers to Emmaus, the breaking
of bread with Jesus. For the fishermen, a late morning fish fry. Whatever it
takes, that’s how Jesus will keep knocking of the door of his disciples’
hearts, that we might finally perceive the reality of God’s power over death.
The
truth is, the life-giving mystery of Jesus' resurrection can never fully be explained
to reason's satisfaction. It’s never going to "make sense" in terms
of the words and categories that you and I have to understand it. We simply
cannot “get it” on our own.
But
to those who seek the resurrected Jesus, he keeps reaching… through scripture,
through prayer, through relationships, through community, through disciples
like
Mary and Peter and all the rest of us who seek
to tell others about the Christ.
From
every corner of our lives, Jesus keeps reaching… through all our thoughts and actions
and experiences and dreams, and the risks we take to achieve those dreams. At
First Pres, Jesus keeps reaching… through our worship, through our mission,
through our relationships, through our traditions, and through all the
challenges to our tradition, indeed through every single sign of new life
that’s pushing its way through this beloved community.
If
you’re not getting it, if you’re not seeing Jesus try seeking him. Try honestly opening your heart, your
schedule, your wallet, your hobbies to him.
If you pray asking Jesus to come into your life, do you really think
he’s going to stand outside and complain about the accommodations? I don’t think so. No matter who you are and no matter how
messed up the inside of your life is, Jesus will not walk away from an
invitation to come. Even if you don’t
have it all figured out that’s ok, none of us do. Ask Jesus to come into your life and in time
you will see the glory of God.
Jesus
keeps jumping from his tomb, arms outstretched, with a God-given grin, and a
death defying, Easter morning “Ta-DAH!”
Can you not perceive it? The
glory in an empty tomb. Amen.