O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
No one expected it - not one single person.
What we celebrate here today was totally outside of the frame of reference of every single disciple, and this even though Jesus had told them over and over again that it would happen, that he would be killed, and that on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
Yet not one of them believed it would happen. Not one of them took Jesus at his word.
On the day after the Sabbath - on Sunday morning - while it was still dark Mary Magdalene and some other woman went to the tomb of Jesus with special spices to finish the process of preparing his body for burial. Mary went out first - by herself - ahead of all of the others.
She went ahead of them - not because she was expecting a surprise, but because she wanted to be alone for a while in the graveyard. She went out alone because her best friend had been tortured and killed and because she wanted to grieve awhile before undergoing the ordeal of doing what needed to be done, before she touched the wounded lifeless body of Jesus and honoured him by treating his broken body with the dignity that the dead should receive.
When she got to the tomb, something was different than it had been when she had been late Friday afternoon. The huge boulder in front of the tomb had been rolled aside - exposing the entrance to the place where Jesus' body had been laid.
Mary is stunned by this, she was shocked - not because she suddenly figures out that it was true after all - not because she remembers that Jesus said that he would rise from the dead and at last believes it. No, she is shocked and stunned because she believes that someone has stolen the body.
And Mary turns and she runs and she tells Simon Peter and John the Son of Zebedee exactly that:
"They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" she tells them.
And they return to the tomb with her and they look in the empty tomb and then they go away - back to their own homes.
And when they go back, with the exception of John, none of them comprehend what they had seen - the strips of linen laying on the rock bench - and the burial cloth for his head, folded neatly and set apart from the rest of the linen, much in the fashion that a carpenter in those days communicated that a work was finished by placing a folded work cloth neatly on the piece.
The return home - still in mourning, for as John puts it in today's Gospel:
"as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead."
When they leave, Mary is again alone by the tomb - and she is weeping.
The body of the one she loved is gone. She cannot even do the little that she had come to do.
She stands there weeping - and, after a while she musters up her courage and she looks into the tomb. And when she does she sees two angels - two persons - dressed in white - seated on the ledge of the tomb where the body of Jesus was supposed to be.
And does she, who has heard the promises Jesus then believe those promises? Does she believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead?
She does not.
Rather, when they ask her why she is crying - she says to them: because "Someone has taken the body of my Lord and I don't know where they have put it!"
Then - still weeping - still in shock - still unbelieving - still not expecting or hoping for a single thing Mary turns around, and she sees Jesus standing there and she supposes he is the gardener.
Mary doesn't expect to see Jesus walking about - fully alive - and so she doesn't.
She doesn't see Jesus even when he talks to her, even when he says to her - as did the angels - "Woman - why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?"
Still thinking he is the gardener she asks him if he has moved the body. "Tell me," she says, "where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
It then that Jesus calls her by name, "Mary" - and it is then - suddenly - that her eyes clear - that her heart clears - and she realizes that Jesus is alive - and standing in front of her.
And she grabs hold of him and embraces him - and clings to him - until finally - Jesus tells her to let him go - and to go tell the others what she has seen - to tell them that he has risen just as he said he would.
And she does as Jesus has asked.
The scriptures record that they do not believe her - nor do they believe the other women who encounter the angels at first.
Indeed each of the first disciples has to go through a process of being convinced - of being convinced either by Jesus himself or by the overwhelming testimony of others who have seen him.
The reason I have laid so much stress upon Mary's disbelief this morning, and upon the disbelief of the other disciples - is because we are like them.
We hear the message that Jesus proclaimed. We witness the miracles that he performs in other people's lives. But when it comes to the hard times - the times of trial - the times of loss - the time of mourning, it can be oh so very hard to believe in what Jesus has said about being raised on the third day, so very hard to believe that not only was he raised - but that we too will be raised, that death does not in fact have the last word.
Why do you weep?
There are many ways to answer that question. Indeed there are many good reasons to weep.
But today - Easter Sunday - the empty tomb, the angels, the lilies, Mary's encounter with Jesus - the testimony of Peter - and indeed the existence of the church itself is a reminder to us that while there are many reasons to weep, there is also a great reason to rejoice.
Jesus was crucified - he died - and he was laid in the tomb, but that tomb could not hold him.
And because of him - it cannot hold any of those whom God loves.
Death is not the end of the story of Jesus. Nor is it the end of our stories.
Why do you weep?
Look around you - the signs of God's love are all about us in the midst of our world's troubles and turmoil.
Listen - listen for the voice of the one who called Mary by name in the garden is here to speak to us.
It is not over.
If were over - if Christ was not raised - the church would never have come into existence for the disciples would never have gone on in the face of the opposition they encountered to proclaim that God raised him from the dead on the third day and that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
They would never have passed to us their testimony, for they would have had nothing to testify about, for on that first day they did not believe despite all that Jesus had said and done before he died.
I thank for God today.
I thank God for Mary - and for Peter and for all the other disciples who did not believe.
I thank God for them because their faith tell me that there is hope for me when I weep; hope for me when I do not believe; hope for me when I face the cross and the tomb and feel despair rising up within me.
But most of all I thank God today for the living Christ - for Jesus of Nazareth - God's anointed one - for the one who was raised up on the third day and who - for me - and for you - has broken the power of sin and death.
Let us Pray...
Great God in heaven, hear our prayers of gratitude today! Hear our songs of joyful thanksgiving and praise! Despite our mortality, despite our disobedience, despite our lack of faith, you sent Jesus to die on a cross and be born to a new life. And because of that, everyday is a hope filled day, filled with that which makes for wonder, joy, and peace. Touch us now with your Easter love... Lord, hear our prayer....
O God of love and life eternal, as Jesus appeared and spoke to Mary and to the disciples - calling them by name, restoring their faith and giving them the reason that is above all other reasons to proclaim your saving power, so come unto us and make us witnesses to the resurrection. Indeed we pray that you might enliven your whole church and cause your light to shine through us upon the whole world. Lord, hear our prayer....
Eternal and everlasting Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Shepherd and Saviour of your people, we acclaim you and we praise you and we render you all honour and majesty. Pour out now, we pray, on us and upon all those we hold before you at this time, your healing and redeeming love..... Lord, hear our prayer...
We come before you O God with our praise, our thanksgiving, our prayers and our petition through Christ Jesus, our risen Lord, he who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, both now and forevermore. Amen!
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