1 John 20:1-18 Psalm 118:1, 14-16, 21-24 April 5, 2015 Easter Day B Recognition The night has been long. In her solitary chamber, on the narrow bed, the minutes creep by ever so slowly. She tosses and turns. Images of all that she s seen flood her mind. Sorrow lies heavy on her heart. And sleep won t come. She gets up and begins to pace. No sound breaks the stillness. It seems like hours before she comes to an awareness of where she s being drawn. When she goes there, when she goes to the place where they ve laid him, perhaps she ll be able to find a few moments of peace. And so, in darkness, on the morning of the third day, Mary of Magdala makes her way to the tomb. In the shadows, her breath catches. The great stone at the entrance has been rolled away! Grave robbers must have taken the body. Running like the wind, she goes to tell Peter and the beloved disciple. The two men come, look inside, and leave. But at the tomb, Mary s tears come. Her Lord is dead. His body is gone. She believes herself to be utterly without hope. And at that very moment she sees someone standing nearby. She hears him say, Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for? But she doesn t recognize the One who asks.
2 Who are you looking for? On this Easter Day, this is a question I invite you to ask yourself. It s a significant question. In this Gospel according to John, these are the very first words on the lips of Jesus. And here toward the end of John s Gospel, the very same question is put to Mary Magdalene. Who are you looking for? The way you and I answer this question determines whether we ll recognize the One who speaks to us today. There are a number of reasons that Mary doesn t recognize the risen Lord. And these reasons apply to us today, too. Mary doesn t recognize Jesus because she s looking for a corpse. All four gospels place her near the cross. She s witnessed the crucifixion. She s watched Jesus die. She s looking for someone in a tomb. Is that the way it is with us, two thousand years later? We re citizens of a rational age. If something can t be proven scientifically, twenty-first century people may be reluctant to believe it. Don t inexplicable events like the raising of the dead fall into this category? Many lift a skeptical eyebrow at the miraculous. And insist on reasonable explanations. If you had that mind-set, wouldn t you like Mary be looking for Jesus in a cemetery? Or relegating him to the dusty pages of a rarely-opened book?
3 A book in which the gospels fall silent at the moment of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are no words. Human eyes can t see. Human ears can t hear. Nothing in Mary s world has prepared her to believe that Jesus has been raised. She interprets the empty tomb to mean that someone has taken him away. She doesn t recognize him because she s already concluded that his body is somewhere else. Have you ever arrived at such a conclusion? Was there a time in your life when you decided that the Christ was too far away? Too distant to be bothered with you? Was there a time in your life when you decided that his body the church had been appropriated, taken over by others? And that you didn t really fit in or have a place in it? These kinds of conclusions can prevent a person from recognizing Jesus. And so can a person s orientation. Mary doesn t recognize Jesus because she isn t facing him. She has to turn around, to turn toward him before she can recognize him. If you re going in another direction, if your life is heading in another direction, you won t be able to recognize him either. Until you turn toward him. But even after Mary turns toward Jesus, she doesn t recognize him because she s blinded by tears. It s not easy to discern his presence in the midst of grief and loss. When it feels as though
4 you ve wept so much that you have no more tears left. When all you can do is cry, God, how could you let this happen? when you feel utterly without hope it s really difficult to see that at that very moment, Christ is right there with you. And it s difficult to recognize him when he doesn t look the way you expect him to look. Mary mistakes him for the gardener. Now you and I can understand why she does that. In the place where Jesus was crucified, there s a garden, and in that garden is a new tomb where they ve laid him. So it s certainly not unreasonable to suppose that there would be a gardener. But the One speaking to Mary doesn t look like she expects Jesus to look. So she doesn t recognize him. He doesn t look the way we expect him to look, either. The risen Christ may take on a different form. He might resemble a starving child. A homeless man. A destitute woman. Someone struggling with illness. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who knew this, prayed a daily prayer: Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and whilst nursing them minister unto you. Though you hid yourself may I still recognize you. Mary Magdalene doesn t recognize Jesus right away. Because she believes that he s dead and his body s been taken away. Because
5 she hasn t turned toward him. Because she can t see him through her tears. And because he s taken on a different form. But I have good news for you this morning. Stupendous news! The crucified One has left the grave cloths in the tomb. The crucified One has transcended death. The crucified One has been raised from the dead. Jesus lives! His body isn t missing. It hasn t been taken away. It s right here. It s all of you. You have a place in it. You are the church. You are the body of Christ! And he invites you today to turn to him. To turn away from whatever in your life is keeping you from recognizing him. Even though he doesn t look the way you expect him to look. Even though he s taken on a different form, the risen Christ is with you. Beside you. Before you. Offering you grace to see him clearly. To recognize him. When you do, even through your tears, you understand at last what Jesus has promised: You will weep, but your pain will turn into joy I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. On that blessed resurrection morning, joy comes when Mary hears her Lord call her by name. In that poignant moment of
6 recognition, Mary s life changes. Mary s Lord, our Lord has spoken by the prophet, saying I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Mary s Lord, our Lord is the Shepherd who calls his own sheep by name. You belong to him. You are his. He is the One who knows you. He is the One who s known you since before you were formed in the womb. He is the One who knows you fully and completely. Even before you can recognize this risen One, he recognizes you. And today he calls you by name. Christ calls you by name. And he invites you to his table where he meets you. Where, lovingly, he greets you. In the breaking of the bread and in the sharing of the cup, may you experience the surprise and the delight of recognizing this One whom the grave couldn t hold. And may you have exceeding great joy in that recognition, the recognition that changes your life just as radically as it changed Mary s. For you, too, have come to believe the truth of the resurrection, the gospel truth Christ calls you to proclaim. Easter people, go forth from this place rejoicing like Mary to tell the world, I have seen the Lord! For faith has given you eyes to recognize Jesus Christ who was in the beginning, who became incarnate, who was crucified, who through the power of almighty God has been raised from the dead.
7 Jesus Christ, who has triumphed over death and through whom death is swallowed up in victory! Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior, lives and reigns forever. And we shall behold him in all his glory. Alleluia! In the name of God the Creator, God the Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.