Alive and Present (John 20:1-18)

 She thought he was the gardener!

Have you ever not recognized someone that you should have recognized?

It happened to me once. Actually, it happens to me all the time. But the worst, most memorable time, (I don’t know if I want to tell you this!) happened at a funeral.

This was years ago in California… A few days before the funeral, I had met with the daughter of the person who had died. She wasn’t a church member, and I had never met before, but she was the one who seemed to be organizing things for the family.

She arrived for our meeting in her jeans and a casual shirt, which was fine; and we met and talked about her parent, the one who had died; and we talked about what she and the family would like in the funeral… and then our meeting ended.

A few days later the funeral took place, and she arrived, but instead of jeans and a casual shirt, she was dressed very nicely, and she had had her hair done, and she had put makeup on…

(And, yes, in this story I do need to emphasize that she didn’t look exactly as she had the first time we met, in order to lessen my embarrassment somewhat…)

And I saw her and greeted her and welcomed her… but I did not recognize her.

And let me tell you, that was as close as I’ve ever come to a major catastrophe in my ministry.

Fortunately, after a few minutes, I realized: Oh my gosh! It’s her! The daughter! How did I not recognize her!

And I quickly replayed, in my mind, the things I said to her since she arrived, to see how badly I had embarrassed myself… but fortunately, while my tone may have come across as awkward, nothing in what I had said had revealed my utter incompetence and absent-mindedness. I was able to recover… but just barely. I think.

I wonder how Mary Magdalene felt when she realized that it was Jesus standing right in front of her, yet she had failed to recognize him.

Was she embarrassed? She had known him well. It was different from my situation at the funeral. They hadn’t just met once. They were close…

Or was her joy at seeing him alive so great, that her embarrassment at not recognizing him didn’t matter?

And how did Jesus react?

The only thing he said to her, at first, was her name. Mary.

But how did he say it? 

Did he say it with laughter? “Mary! It’s me!”

Did he say it with annoyance? “Maryyyy…”

Was he disappointed? (Imagine going through all that Jesus went through, and then not being recognized by one of your closest, dearest friends.)

Or was his voice filled with gentleness and compassion? 

I like to think it was with gentleness and compassion. Mary had been through a lot herself. She was still going through a lot. The grief. The shock. 

Jesus, at this moment, already knew that there was reason for joy and celebration, but Mary didn’t yet realize that. She was still deep in her despair. 

“Oh, Mary…”

And then, imagine her face, as she realized that the one she had come to mourn, 

was in fact alive and speaking to her! 

In fact, if you had met Mary as she made her way to the tomb, while it was still dark, and then you went off for a little bit, and returned right after Jesus had appeared to her, you probably would not recognize her as being the same person you had seen earlier. Imagine how much her countenance would have changed! Her posture, her expression, her voice—everything would be different! She would look like a whole different person!

I guess the joy and hope of Easter does make us into different people. We are weighed down by so many burdens, by personal struggles, by news headlines of war and corruption and lack of compassion and lack of justice shown to those who are poor and vulnerable…

And our bodies and our expressions reflect the weight of all we are carrying.

But on Easter morning, we are reminded that all the bad news, all the negativity, all the oppression and injustice and lack of compassion and lack of love in our world, is not the final answer. 

Because the final answer is life. The final answer is love. The final answer is joy.

And when we are full of life and full of love and full of joy, our posture improves, and our face brightens, and every word we speak becomes a song of joy.

And we have this joy even though there is still so much darkness and injustice and death in our world, because we know that hope and love and life are also present, and that they are stronger, and that life does, in the end, triumph over death and all the death-dealing ways of this world.

We know this, because of the resurrection.

Mary wasn’t the only one who didn’t recognize Jesus that day…

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Later that day (according to Luke’s gospel), two of Jesus’s closest followers were traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus, which the scripture says is about a seven mile walk. They were discussing all that had taken place during the recent Passover festival; how Jesus came to Jerusalem, flipped the tables of the sellers and money changers in the temple, got arrested, and was crucified. 

And while they were talking and discussing these things, another traveler came near and started walking with them. It was Jesus himself, and yet… they did not recognize him.

Between them and Mary, I’m really starting to feel not-so-bad about my embarrassing moment at that funeral…

Anyway, Jesus says: “What are you guys talking about?”

And at first, they don’t know how to respond, and then one of them says: “Are you the only person who doesn’t know what happened? How Jesus of Nazareth, a mighty prophet, was handed over to Rome by the chief priests, and was crucified? We had thought he was the one to set Israel free. 

“Yet some of the women…” [for, in Luke’s gospel, Mary did not go to the tomb alone] “some of the women went to the tomb this morning and came back claiming that Jesus was alive.”

And then Jesus said, “Don’t you get it?” And he started going through the scriptures with them… 

It says he started with Moses, which is too bad. I would have loved for Jesus to have gone back even further, and to start talking to them about Joseph and his brothers, and how the brothers came to Egypt and met with the prince of Egypt, not realizing that it was actually Joseph himself they were meeting with… for they did not recognize him.

Wouldn’t that be funny?

But he didn’t. And the two disciples he was traveling with still didn’t recognize him. 

And when they reached Emmaus, those two travelers extended hospitality to Jesus, who they still thought was just some random stranger who had joined them on their journey. They offered him dinner and a place to stay for the night. 

And while they were eating, when Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and offered it to them, then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. 

And they ran back to Jerusalem, rejoicing, to tell the other disciples what had happened.

Now, maybe these stories made you chuckle: my story of not recognizing someone, Mary’s story of mistaking Jesus for the gardener, or the story of the two disciples not recognizing the traveler journeying with them as Jesus.

But how often do you forget that Jesus is alive, today, and that he dwells among us? How often do you remember to look for Jesus? How often have you encountered Jesus, and failed to recognize him?

How often have you failed to recognize our risen Lord?

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In Matthew 25, Jesus tells his disciples that when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. And he will say to those who are righteous: “Come, you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 

“For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you gave me clothing; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.”

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”

And they will be told, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”

We have a hard time recognizing Jesus in the hungry, in the thirsty, in the immigrant, in the sick, in those who are in prison. We have a hard time recognizing Jesus in the least of these, those who are most vulnerable in our society.

But when we treat them with compassion, with mercy, with empathy, with love, and with hospitality, our eyes will be opened, and we will see the risen Christ in our very midst, and we will then understand that he has been with us all along.

Christ is risen. Christ is risen, indeed!

And he dwells among us, in the people we sometimes overlook… the people we sometimes cast aside…

But when we serve them, and minister to them, and work with them to create a community where all are able to live lives of wholeness and abundance…

Then we will know that not only is Jesus alive… but that he lives right here among us; and when we serve the least of these among us, then our eyes will be opened, and we, like Mary, will be able to announce to those around us: “We have seen the Lord!”

Life in All Its Fullness (Luke 24:1-12)

 On Friday, I joined with a dozen or so other religious leaders for a Good Friday worship service, which was held this year at the Mennonite Church in Normal.

At that service, I mentioned that we are living in a hard season. I said we’re living in a time when the poor are being shown little mercy. The “stranger” who we are commanded to welcome is being denied refuge. The weak and vulnerable are being given neither help nor compassion.

That’s how things are today, and that’s how things were in the first century—even more so. The Roman Empire was an empire of great prosperity, but only those at the top of the social hierarchy—the rich and powerful—benefitted from that prosperity. Everyone else, though they worked hard to make that prosperity possible, struggled just to survive.

So “life in all its fullness” was not something most people were able to enjoy. It was a fearful, anxious time of toil and tribulation.

But a few courageous dreamers dared to imagine a better world; a world more in line with God’s intentions. A world where everyone was free to enjoy the fruits of their own labor, and live in love and harmony.

But the reordering of society they imagined was a threat to Rome. It was dangerous to be a dreamer. Most of the dreamers didn’t last long before they were imprisoned or crucified.

Jesus stood out among these dreamers. There was something about him and his vision that was so compelling. Many saw the world he envisioned as the hope they had been longing for.

Jesus called this world that he envisioned “the kingdom of God.” It was, in many ways, the exact opposite of the world under Roman rule. 

In the kingdom of God, good news was proclaimed to the poor. Those imprisoned were set free. Strangers found welcome. Those who were oppressed found comfort. The hungry had all the food they needed. The lonely found companionship and friendship. The sick were healed, and the broken were made whole.

In the kingdom of God, every person would be able to live life in all its fullness. They’d live lives of wholeness and abundance.

Jesus went around, proclaiming this kingdom; and he worked to make it a present reality, wherever he went. He healed the sick. He welcomed and embraced outcasts. He treated everyone with love and respect. He especially treated well those who were the recipients of others’ hate and vitriol. He dined with people no one else wanted to dine with: sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes.

Through his actions, the kingdom of God really became a present reality. It was a kingdom for everyone, an inclusive, welcoming kingdom that embraced the entire spectrum of human diversity.

Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God was rooted in the Torah and the prophets. Which means that the religious leaders of his time should have been right there with him, proclaiming God’s kingdom with him, and working with him to make it a present reality. 

But many of the highest ranking religious leaders were under the influence of power and wealth. The Bible describes their longing for power and wealth as demonic; they were possessed by their desire for power and wealth. And it led them to side with the oppressive Roman government, instead of with the people. 

Jesus condemned these leaders for their hypocrisy. These leaders are the only ones he ever routinely condemned, because they turned religion into a weapon against the poor and the vulnerable. He said to them: “Woe to you, hypocrites! You make your offering, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice! mercy! and faith!” [Matthew 23:23]

Because Jesus exposed their hypocrisy, these religious leaders turned against Jesus. They worked with government officials to spread rumors about Jesus. They said Jesus was aligned with the devil. They said Jesus was an enemy of the empire. They called him a traitor. 

Eventually, because of these rumors and reports, Jesus was arrested and brought to trial. The Roman government, responsible for passing a just judgment, instead condemned this innocent man, and sentenced him to die a traitor’s death. 

And thus, on Good Friday, Jesus was crucified. Another dreamer put to death by Rome.

Did the dream of a new world die with him? 

Did the hopes for a new kingdom, a kingdom of God, vanish when Jesus took his last breath on the cross?

That’s what those who followed him thought. That day, they didn’t just lose their friend, their companion, their teacher; they lost the hope they had been holding on to; the hope that “life in all its fullness” could be theirs. They lost the hope that they and their children and their children’s children would finally be able to live lives of wholeness and abundance.

Their grief was overwhelming. They had pinned everything on Jesus: their hopes, their dreams, their love and friendship; their very lives. There could be no worse tragedy than this.

After his crucixion, a group of women  felt obligated, out of love and loyalty, to perform the traditional rituals to honor Jesus’ body, and they prepared to do so, just as soon as the Sabbath was over…

Scripture: Luke 24: 1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 

The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 

Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

“To those who were not there, these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” 

When I was younger, I used to think: How could they not believe? Those silly disciples…

But now, I realize: sometimes it’s very hard to believe. And sometimes, it’s very hard to hold on to hope.

When the world seems bent on death, when compassion is in short supply, when the leaders of the world are still favoring the wealthy and the powerful over the poor and the vulnerable… 

It’s hard to believe, and to hold on to hope.

When the world Jesus envisioned still seems so far away—when strangers are sent away rather than being welcomed, when the hungry have what little they have taken from them, when the sick are denied care, when innocent people are being imprisoned, when rights are being taken away from people because of their gender identity, when history is being erased, when racism remains a threat (a growing threat, at that), and when efforts to include people, and work for justice, are ridiculed…

It’s hard to hold on to hope.

When “life in all its fullness” seems to be slipping away, giving way to a life of limited freedom, limited opportunity, with greater anxiety and fear about the future…

It’s hard to hold on to hope.

When the dreams of a better world have all but died, it’s hard to hold on to hope.

So I understand why those disciples found it hard to believe. They had seen Jesus die! They had seen all their hopes die, too! It was all gone! A new and better day wasn’t coming. Life in all its fullness was just a dream, an unfulfilled dream. 

That’s what they believed.

But when Peter heard the excited proclamation made by the women, something reawakened in him. The women’s words were not spoken quietly and gently. The women spoke boldly, with conviction. The tomb is empty! Jesus is risen!

So Peter went to the tomb. He had to see for himself. He “ran” to the tomb, the scripture says. What was he looking for? Was he looking for hope? Was he looking for a reason to believe?

When he got there, he saw things just as the women described them. Thank God these women did not keep silent; otherwise Peter never would have come!

The tomb was empty, except for the linen cloths. Peter didn’t quite understand what he was seeing, but he was amazed. 

And in that amazement, Peter took a step back up the staircase of faith, and began believing once again; believing that the dream, the vision, the hope of a kingdom of God, might just still be a very real possibility.

Over the coming days, Jesus would reveal himself to all of his closest followers. They would see with their own eyes—and in some cases, touch him with their own hands—and know that he really, truly, was alive, that life had conquered death, which means that the kingdom of God, the kingdom where life is lived in all its fullness, was more than a dream. It was real.

It is real.

We may live in a world bent on death, a world that denies life—especially life in all its fullness—but the kingdom proclaimed by Christ is not dead. 

And in that kingdom, God is working to bring life out of death, to bring people into a life of abundance, a life of fullness, a life of wholeness.

God is working through the ministry of First Christian Church, and other communities of faith here in BloNo and around the world, to make life in all its fullness a reality for all the people of the world. 

We’re feeding the hungry. We’re healing the sick. We’re fighting for justice. Just as Jesus did.

And we won’t stop, and we won’t give up, because we believe in the resurrection, we believe what those women said about the empty tomb, and we believe in the kingdom of God, and we know who holds the future.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. I hope and pray that you experience life in all its fullness, today and everyday. 

The God who created you wants only the best for you. Our God is a God of compassion, mercy, and grace. There is no condemnation for those who seek God’s kingdom. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be made whole through him.

You are loved by God. And nothing will separate you from God’s love. Not even death can separate you from God’s love. Because God is stronger than death. God conquered death, and God’s love will be with you forever.

So don’t think that anything you’ve ever done could stop God from loving you. Are you stronger than death? Not even death can stop God’s love, so certainly, nothing you do or have done could ever stop God from loving you.

The world may try to make you forget this. The world may try to convince you that death has won, that hate has won, that fear has won. The world may try to convince you that there is no hope for tomorrow.

But Christ’s resurrection assures us that that is not the case. Love will prevail. And we are blessed with life in all its fullness, now, and forever.

Where Have They Taken Jesus? (John 20:1-18)

 Mary Magdalene went looking for Jesus. She needed to find Jesus. 

She knew he was dead. She had watched him die on the cross; watched, as his dead body was lowered from the cross, carried away, and placed in a tomb; watched, as a stone was placed over the entrance to the tomb, shortly before sunset.

She knew he was dead, but still, she had to find him.

She knew he was dead, but it was a hard thing to accept. He had done so much for her. Her life had been broken—I’m not sure why, or how, but the Bible says that she had been possessed with demons. She was tormented…until Jesus made her whole. Made her alive. Gave her a life worth living.

So she came, not even waiting for sunrise; she came while it was still dark. 

She came, looking for Jesus.

She needed to find Jesus.

But when she got to the tomb… she couldn’t find him. The stone had been removed; the body wasn’t there.

She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved… Scholars don’t know who this “one-whom-Jesus-loved” was; some think it might have been John, the author of the gospel, while others think it might have been Lazarus, over whom Jesus had once wept…

She ran to them and said: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.”

These two disciples ran to the tomb, saw that it was empty, and left, confused.

But Mary stayed. She needed to find Jesus; but his body wasn’t there, and she didn’t know where to go, or where to start looking for him.

Like Mary, we come today looking for Jesus, hoping to find him, seeking his wisdom, and the life he offers. 

Like Mary, we know—or at least, we hope—that Jesus has the power to heal us and make us whole. We come, broken, disillusioned, and robbed of hope, because of all the ways this world has worked to tear us apart, to make us lose hope, to make us doubt ourselves, and doubt that we could ever, ever, be loved completely, unconditionally, just as we are. 

And yet, that is exactly what Jesus does. And that is exactly who Jesus is. 

Jesus is God’s radically inclusive love, drawing all people in, casting no one aside. Jesus is the one who overcomes all barriers, the one who knows us inside and out, and who keeps on loving us anyway. Jesus is the one who restores us to wholeness.

A man appeared in the garden. Mary thought he was the gardener. She said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him…” 

All he did was speak her name. “Mary…”

And Mary knew that it was Jesus. When she heard her name, she heard the same love and affirmation that she always heard, before, whenever he’d speak her name. The way he spoke her name, she knew that he saw her—really, truly saw her, saw the person she was, saw all her failures and mistakes, but also her beauty; her beauty that was nothing less than a reflection of God’s own glory, the image of God, that is in every person.

If you come seeking Jesus, he’ll do the same for you. He’ll call your name. He’ll call you “beloved.” He’ll see who you really are, your true self. He’ll take your brokenness, he’ll take your wounds, he’ll take whatever it is that is tormenting you… and he’ll make you whole. 

He’ll see in you the image of God that is in every person, even though you might not see that image in yourself.

He’ll let you know that whatever you’ve been through, and whatever others may have said about you, will never change the fact that you are a beloved child of God, precious and beautiful in God’s sight.

When I was a substitute teacher, I encountered many students who could not see how holy, how precious, they were. They could not see the beauty within.

They had been torn up and beaten down by the sometimes cruel social structure of the classroom and playground. They had been made to carry burdens far too heavy for their young shoulders. They had come from broken families, and had been made to feel broken themselves.

And even though I never mentioned God or Jesus to them, I realized that it was my task—perhaps my most important task—to help them see the beauty within, to know that they are worthy of love and acceptance. Because that, I knew, would make a world of difference.

And in that way, even though I never mentioned God or Jesus, I made God and Jesus visible in their lives. I helped them find Jesus.

Sometimes, we in the church do mention God and Jesus, yet fail to manifest the love and affirmation that Jesus demonstrated with Mary Magdalene and with everyone he encountered. Instead of that love and affirmation that makes people whole, we speak words of judgment and condemnation; we threaten people with punishment and eternal damnation, even though people are already tormented and torn apart and carrying heavy burdens in this life. 

And I can only wonder that, as people listen to us talk about Jesus, they can’t find him. They need to find Jesus, they need to be made whole, just as Mary Magdalene needed to find Jesus, and needed to be made whole, but even though we keep talking to them about Jesus, Jesus himself is not to be found.

And they wonder where we have taken him.

Because the Jesus that was being described to them does not resemble the Jesus of hope, of life, of love, that they so desperately need. 

As Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove asks in his book, Reconstructing the Gospel:  “What happens when, like Mary… you realize they’ve taken away your Jesus and you don’t know where they’ve laid him?”

Frederick Douglass, a former slave in the time of Lincoln, went to the church looking for Jesus, but was disappointed that Jesus could not be found there. Douglass said that he went to the church looking for “the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ,” but when he got to the church, he found only a “corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity.”

The church had taken Jesus away, and he didn’t know where they had laid him.

Gandhi, though not a Christian, was inspired by Jesus. Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha was inspired by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. But Gandhi had a hard time finding this Jesus in the church. “I like your Christ,” he once said; “But I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

The church had taken Jesus away, and he didn’t know where they had laid him.

Lisa Sharon Harper is an African-American theologian who wrote one of my favorite books, titled: The Very Good Gospel. Much of her personal life as well as her professional life has been spent looking for Jesus.

And she, too, has had a hard time finding Jesus in the church.

She points out that the message of the gospel, the message of Easter is good news. By definition, it is good news! Yet, she asks: where was the message of good news for the indigenous people of this country who were forcibly removed from their homelands? And, she asks, where was the good news for her ancestors, who were enslaved in South Carolina?

Lisa Sharon Harper writes that the message of the church to so many people throughout history did not have any good news in it for far too many people…

And a church that doesn’t have any good news doesn’t have Jesus.

The church had taken Jesus away, and she didn’t know where they had laid him.

There is so much that keeps Jesus hidden away in this world…There’s so much judgment. Condemnation. Hypocrisy. Politics. Nationalism. Scandal. Racism. Sexism. Homophobia. Transphobia. Greed. And tearing each other apart.

And what a shame it is, when these things appear in the church, and work to keep Jesus hidden away, in the one place where people expect to find Jesus…

We at First Christian Church are working hard to remove such things from God’s church. Because every person deserves to experience the same love and affirmation that Mary Magdalene experienced from Jesus. Every person deserves to find Jesus, to see the risen Lord, and experience his presence in their life, to know his love, and to experience that affirmation.

It really does make a difference, to know that God loves you and that God affirms you. To be made whole in this way is to have your life saved. 

That is my prayer for Tara, Caden, Jeremiah, and for every one of you here today on this Easter Sunday, including those of you worshiping with us online: that you are able to find Jesus, experience Jesus; that the risen Lord is revealed to you, and not kept hidden away; that you come to know God’s love that is for you.

Jesus sees you the same way he saw Mary Magdalene. Jesus calls you by name, and says your name with love. Jesus knows you as who you really are: God’s beloved child, precious and beautiful in God’s sight. 

When God created you, God pronounced you very good, and Jesus sees this goodness in you just as he saw it in Mary, even if you don’t see it yourself.

And together, our task, as the church, is to see God’s goodness in one another, and in our neighbors; and to make Jesus known, to not keep him hidden away, but to make known his love and the life he gives to each and every person.

And we’ll continue our work until every person sees their own God-given goodness, and until every person experiences God’s love, and until every person is made whole by the amazing love of our risen Lord.