John 20:1-18
There is so much chaos in today’s scripture passage.
We don’t like chaos.
We like our scripture to be neat, straightforward and tidy
Just how we like our schedules and our plans for the next great thing
Just how we like ourselves, smart and on top of things
Just how we like God, predictable and in control /
But on this Easter morning, in the story of Jesus’ resurrection
Our likes are challenged as we’re thrown into chaos and unknowing
We zoom in on Mary Magdalene and enter the messiness of her reality
Friday she witnessed the horror of the crucifixion of her friend, her teacher
Her beloved
He was cruelly crucified and discarded
Saturday she honored the Sabbath as best she could
Perhaps out of a chaotic mixture of obligation, fear, devotion and desperation
And this morning, while it is still dark, she leaves her home for Jesus’ tomb.
Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons Jesus cast out
Mary Magdalene, Jesus closest companion
Mary Magdalene, who’s been up all night with blood-shot eyes and tear-soaked bed sheets
She’s like us, wanting to create order in the midst of chaos
She’s like us, preferring to control situations
She has been waiting to DO something about this mess
So, she plows through her grief-laden, exhausted, and fearful fog
And goes to the tomb
Alone
In the dark
An act of resistance with great risk,
To anoint Jesus’ body. / /
When she arrives she sees that things aren’t as she expected
The stone is rolled away
So she runs to get some others – and they run to see… out-running each other
All this running adds to the chaos of this early Sunday morning
They run full-out and find the tomb empty
With the burial cloths left behind
We glimpse the perspective of “the other disciple” – who wasn’t even named here
He had faith, he believed – and went back home with Peter
His perspective would offer a much neater and tidier ending
The other disciple demonstrates the predictability we prefer
But the story plunges us back into chaos
with the perspective of Mary Magdalene
Who stayed \ \ and wept
She didn’t find faith in the empty tomb – she only found tears
When I think about Mary Magdalene, I wonder about the seven demons that Jesus cast out of her.
I wonder if they were like the demons we struggle with today?
The demons that hang out inside our minds and our culture
Demons like unworthiness,
Maybe shame
Fear
Maybe a bit of self-justification,
Control
Or the longing for power \ \
I wonder if these demons were gone forever
Or if maybe, like with us, they crept back into Mary’s mind when she was not at her best
I wonder if Mary believed that she was healed
Or if she gave all the credit to her incredible teacher and friend, Jesus
As she clung to him.
She followed him around, learning all she could, hanging onto his every word
Because he made her better
I wonder about these demons because we all struggle with demons
And, like faith, healing isn’t straightforward, neat or tidy
So this morning we zoom in on Mary Magdalene in the midst of this chaos and she seems stuck / / entombed
Entombed in her disbelief
Entombed in her grief
Entombed in her hopelessness
Entombed in the old, well-worn paths of those seven demons
It doesn’t seem like she believed that Jesus is God,
Who conquers all things, including death
As she sat and wept / /
She knew Jesus best,
She was one of his closest companions
And yet here she sits, crying and entombed in her old thinking / /
The chaos continues as Mary turns around and sees a man,
maybe the gardener
She doesn’t recognize him
He asks her – why are you crying? Who are you looking for?
Then Mary challenges him,
In spite of her tear soaked cheeks she finds a bit of courage and says
“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Mary wants Jesus back.
Mary is willing to do whatever it takes to be near him, to touch him one more time
To cling to him
This situation is so chaotic and she’s grasping for anything to regain some control
With Jesus things weren’t so chaotic
With Jesus her demons couldn’t take up much space inside her head
With Jesus it seemed she was on top of things
With Jesus Mary didn’t have to believe because the schedule was packed and they were on to the next great thing
“Mary!”
He calls her name
“Mary!”
She turns and says “Teacher!”
You can imagine the mixture of emotions in her voice
It’s him!
The chaos continues to swirl in this moment twisting tears, grief, joy, laughter, confusion and recognition into this single word
Teacher!
Mary longs to hold onto Jesus… yet
Jesus tells her “Do not hold on to me…but go”
But go
Jesus knows the society and culture Mary lives in, with its domination and oppression
Jesus knows the risk he’s asking Mary to take, as a woman
Jesus knows Mary’s past and present, all the things that hold her back
And he tells her to Go
Her healing is not about the person of Jesus whose every word she clung to and every act she observed
It’s about the One to whom Jesus pointed
It’s about the One Jesus reflected
It’s about the One Jesus embodied
It’s about God, Jesus the Christ, the Holy Spirit within which all things are possible
And in this moment, I think Mary Magdalene was truly healed of her seven demons
Because before she didn’t believe she was whole
She gave all that credit to her amazing teacher, Jesus
But now Jesus tells her not to cling to him
/ / Friends, we are Mary / /
We become entombed in our old thinking
We cling to ideas and people – things we think make us better
Things like power and control
Things like dependence and the limitations of the way things are
Our demons continue to race around inside our minds
As we hurry on to the next great thing
Today, we are Mary
We doubt that God heals us
We doubt that God frees us and raises US
We doubt that God calls us
We doubt that God sends us \ \
On this Easter morning God is calling us into wholeness
God’s love and grace and fullness are all ready with us,
all ready given to us, God has conquered our demons so they no longer define who we are
This is what it means to be Christian
The embodied church in the world
Easter people! \ \
So what are you clinging to?
It’s time to let go
This morning God is sending you out, in all of your beloved wholeness
“But go!” / /
Today Mary Magdalene believed
And she went, and risked and she proclaimed
In freedom, wholeness and authority given to her by God
She became the disciple to the disciples
“I have seen the Lord”
Happy Easter