Reading: John 20:1-18
We pray: Holy God, Risen Christ, we pray this day for
discernment, for our eyes to be opened and our faith to be strengthened as we
hear you word for us today and everyday.
Amen.
It is very early
in the morning, and Mary of Magdala was walking slowly down to the tomb to do
the saddest and most heart breaking thing –to anoint with sweet spices the body
of the one she, they all loved, the one they called Jesus.
But he wasn’t
there, the impossibly big stone had been moved, the tomb was empty. Not stopping to check the dark corners, she
ran to tell the others ‘they have taken him out of the tomb and we do not know
where they have taken him.’ And with
them she came back to the tomb only to fall to her knees weeping outside. John, the beloved disciple got there first
but didn’t go in, Peter not far behind, had no such scruples – straight past,
straight into the dark cavern, and then too John. One saw and believed, the
other saw and did not quite connect the dots.
None of the three understood the full potential of the open tomb and the
scattered grave clothes. Not yet anyway.
John’s account of
the early morning after the Sabbath gives us just one woman who came to the
tomb, one who was deeply disturbed by Jesus disappearance, unwilling to think
other than desecration even when the angels appear, only realising the full
implications of the stone rolled away when Jesus speaks to her.
Till then she
believed his body to have been moved by others - ‘They have taken him
somewhere’ she says, ‘they have taken him away.’
Jesus is there to
tell her that, no he hasn’t been taken, he has gone from the tomb. Purposeful
resurrection, not political expediency.
He was not taken, he had gone. Big
difference.
He has gone from
the tomb, as we are to go from whatever are our tombs of disinterest, apathy,
comfortable isolation, rigid thinking or self interest – not be taken by
someone else’s actions but to go ourselves – where God calls us.
We are responsible
for nurturing our own faith, coming to our own understanding of what Jesus
means to us and to be able to articulate that by word and deed. Each of the
three that came to the tomb had a different response, each a unique
relationship with God and each a particular way of coming to an understanding
of what had just happened. We can’t ride
on another person’s experience, we need to have our own. We can’t believe
because another has said it is so, we have to see for ourselves. And that means we have to listen, have our
eyes opened, as Mary did, realise the potential of the open tomb made known in
Jesus Christ and go tell the others what we have seen and known.
So we are to
go. But where are we to go? We are to go
where Jesus went.
The messengers
said – he is not here, he has gone on ahead of you to Galilee. Go and look for him there. Go, don’t wait to be taken. Look for him among the people.
(1) Look for him among the children – Jesus really
loved the children, like to talk and laugh with them, didn’t mind at all when
they made noise in church, he got very cross when people hurt children, and he made a lot of children
who were sick or sad feel better.
Remember the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter – an argumentative
desperate mother whose pleas were answered and her daughter healed. And remember the children he gathered round
him and the truth that children bring to our faith. So Jesus will definitely be found among the
children, especially those who have hard lives, who live with war or violence,
who have no one to look after them, who are hungry or cold
Look for Jesus
among the poor, those who don’t have jobs or not enough money to live on, those
who are homeless and who have to beg on the streets – remember blind Bartimaeus
– it must have been pretty scary when he could first see – he had only ever
known being dependent on others charity – but Jesus had healed him and he had
to learn how to be independent, to read and fish and be part of the community –
and follow Jesus. He might have wished he couldn’t see, that awful week in
Jerusalem. So we will find Jesus walking
along with people who are poor, helping them to speak out against a system that
doesn’t care enough to help them and helping them be brave enough to go on.
And we will certainly
find Jesus among outsiders and those who are discriminated against. Where people are treated unfairly, that’s
where he will go. He knows all about not
belonging, being accused and treated badly through fear and ignorance. He surely does – and so he seeks out the
outsiders or those whom others condemned
– like the Samaritan woman at the well – looked down by just about
everyone. She and Jesus talked,
properly, he gave her back her sense of self, enough that she was able to
convince those who had given her such a hard time that he was the Messiah. Today there are plenty of people who are not
treated equally, who are subjected to prejudice, bigotry, isolation – lonely,
afraid, bewildered – I definitely think that that is where Jesus would go –
making friends with them, treating them seriously, making them feel welcome and
at home.
And we should look
for Jesus among people who share – those who have a lot and those who have very
little – not just because then everyone would have enough but also it is just
really good to enjoy things together and not worry about someone missing
out. Remember the boy with the loaves
and fishes. Who could forget? No one went away hungry that day – imagine if
the world was like that – no one was hungry, everyone had the medicine they
needed, everyone had a place to call home and could go to school and everyone
felt like they mattered. Jesus cared for
those who were hungry, so that is where he would go.
And lastly we look
for Jesus among the sad. He didn’t try
and find them to tell them to stop being sad, he looked for them so he could
sit with them and comfort them and he would remind them that even if the person
has died or gone away then the love was still there. Remember Mary’s story – sitting outside the
tomb weeping that someone had taken Jesus body away. But then there was that moment when Jesus
spoke to her and she knew such incredible wonder and joy in the midst of the
ache. He was still going to go away but
he gave her a job to do – to go and tell the others the good news of
resurrection.
So our Easter Day
question – where are we looking for the risen Jesus. If we are looking among the respectable and
the comfortable we are unlikely to find him.
If we think he has been taken away from us, or we are still ensconced in
the dark tomb of dogma and fear and guilt, then we have haven’t looked and
listened and understood the meaning of the risen Christ.
But if we are
looking for Christ in the vulnerable, the lost, the needy and the sad then we
are very likely to have found the way to Galilee. Amen.
Margaret Garland
(1) Based on Look for Jesus…Fire and Bread Kathy Galloway and Ruth
Burgess.
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