BIBLE READING: John
20:1-18
SERMON (This sermon with a
few alterations are the thoughts of Prof. Rolf Jacobson)
Christ
is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
This
week, this year—in a time of pandemic and quarantine—the reality of both the
bad news of death and the good news of the resurrection seem so much more
tangible.
Our
nation and nations around the world are obsessed by daily news of staggering
numbers of deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One
of the first grim tasks of every morning is to see what work death has done. In
the last 24 hours, how many new lives has death taken? What is the new overall
total of deaths due to the pandemic? Has anyone notable died? (That is, someone
that everyone knows.) Has anyone personal died? (That is, someone that I know.)
What work has death done today?
Checking
in on the work of death was the first thing that Mary Magdalene had to do on
that first Easter Sunday morning. Someone who was both notable and personal had
fallen victim to death. Jesus of Nazareth was notable. Almost everyone in the
area knew who he was—the itinerant rabbi who did signs and wonders, whom some
said was the long-awaited Messiah.
But
Mary knew him personally. The Gospel of John doesn’t introduce Mary Magdalene
until very late in the story—until the moment of crucifixion, when we read that
Mary Magdalene was keeping company with Jesus’ mother and aunt at the cross.
But it is clear that Mary knew Jesus personally. She was up at first light once
the Sabbath was over to see the place where that had laid the one she called,
“my Lord.”
Mary
was up early, checking in on the work of death.
You
know what happens next. In the garden, Mary runs into one she thinks is the
gardener, but who in reality is the risen Christ. He surprises her with the
work of God, the work of new life and resurrection. The action takes place in a
garden—a reminder of the garden in Genesis and that the resurrection is about
new life for the whole of creation. Jesus simply speaks Mary’s name. The
resurrection is about relationship and reconciliation. And Jesus says he must
return to the Father. Why? To plow a path and prepare
a place for us. So that where he is we may be also.
Easter
is about new life, relationship, reconciliation, and the ongoing work of Jesus
Christ.
The
Easter message is about the power of Jesus’ gentle word to bring about the new
life in Christ, relationship with God and one another, reconciliation with God
and one another, and the ongoing work of being the hands and feet of Christ in
the world.
One
of the phrases that is echoing almost everywhere these last few week’s is that wonderful word from the book of Esther, “for
a time such as this.” In Esther, the words are from Mordecai, written to
Esther: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just a time such
as this” (Esther 4:14). For Esther, the “time such as this” was a time of
persecution. For Esther, the “royal dignity” meant her vocation—the specific
position to which she was called and in which she had authority to act.
For
us, the “time such as this” is pandemic. Pandemic, with all its uncertainties
and threats—the virus, illness, death. The economy, fear, recession, scarcity,
loss. The “time such as this” is a time when death is doing its deadly work
daily.
At
any given moment, only you might have “the word of eternal life” for a
particular person. In John 6, Peter said to Jesus, “Lord to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.” What a time to point people toward Jesus,
who is the Word made Flesh, the word of eternal life.