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John
20:11-17 But Mary stood weeping outside the
tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw
two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the
head and the other at the feet.They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’
She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they
have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing
there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman,
why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the
gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where
you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means
Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet
ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending
to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’
There are two stories within a story
in this text and my hope is that you will hear the message that God wants you
to hear. So often we see this story and focus on the empty tomb, the
resurrection consequence if you will of the story. But we need to focus on the
human consequences of the story and how I believe God intends us to see this
story in the face of His relationship with us over the generations. God simply
is. You have heard me say it a number of times. God is so much bigger than we
can imagine and so much greater than anything we can define. But all too often
we look for our answers in who God is by the standards we bring to the
discussion.
I heard a story once that I think
highlights this. It
was told by “Dear Abby” in a response to someone’s question. A young man from a
wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. It was the custom in
that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile.
"Bill’ and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week
before graduation, they found the perfect car. On the eve of his graduation,
his father handed him a gift wrapped Bible. Bill was so angry that he threw the
Bible down and stormed out of the house. He and his father never saw each other
again. It was the news of his father’s death that brought Bill home again. As
he sat one night going through his father’s possessions that he was to inherit,
he come across the Bible his father had given him. He brushed away the dust and
opened it to find a cashier’s check, dated the day of his graduation - in the
exact amount of the car they had chosen together. As I thought about this
story, I couldn’t help but wonder how many people in this world have done the
same thing to God. Literally tossed aside a wonderful promise, because they
didn’t understand it, or they didn’t believe that it was possible. In our
world, we are taught that; “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Mary comes to this place because she
is both distraught over the loss of her friend and mentor and also because He
told her to come. Maybe not in those words, but He told her that in three days
He would be raised up from the dead and would live again. So I can imagine that
she has come to this place to grieve her loss but at the same time to come and
see if He is risen indeed. But when she comes to the empty tomb her unbelief
overcomes her faith. She thinks that His body has somehow been removed from the
tomb and stolen. For many in our world today they are trying to reclaim an
ancient myth that in fact Jesus was either not dead or His body was removed
from the tomb to perpetuate a myth that He was resurrected. But what good would
His body missing have done for anyone. Certainly not the Romans who wanted Him
dead and gone. Certainly not for the Jewish leadership who wanted the same
thing. And if the followers had somehow done so to perpetuate a myth, someone
over time would have given up the lie. But our faith sometimes is full of
doubts. And Mary is no different than the rest of us. Where have you taken His
body she cries.
The second part of the story is for
Mary not to hold onto Jesus, the resurrected Jesus. Jesus tells her I have not
yet ascended indicating that there was something left to do before He has
completed the cycle that we call atonement. But He instructs her to go and
tell.
Jesus came into the world to do one
thing! Now most of you believe that one thing is to go to the cross and die and
then three days later rise from the dead. And it is true that all of that is
part of the one thing. But it is not the one thing. Whom did you come here
seeking this morning? Was it the essence of the story? Or was it the people you
haven’t seen in a while? Or maybe you are not sure of whom you seek so you
thought you come here and someone could explain it you! The reality is that
Jesus came to do one thing for all of us.
When Jesus walked the world around
Israel, He shared what God intended from the creation of the world. When we
think of Jesus in the terms of the cross and the empty tomb alone we miss a
great story of love that God would want us to know. Jesus reminds us in John
3:16 that God sent Jesus not to condemn the world, but to save it, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus reminds us
that the Kingdom of God is here with us right now in this place. Jesus came so
that we might have love in our hearts, not just at Easter and Christmas, but
throughout our lives. When Jesus says to us to let Him abide in us, He is
asking us to live lives in perfection, loving one another without regard to
heritage, language or past action. Jesus is asking us to find a way to become
Jesus to the world around us where we through the power of God provide healing
for the sick, feed the hungry and share love with those who feel unloved. Whom
are we searching for? Maybe we are searching for ourselves. Maybe we need to
listen to the special words that we can only hear when we open our hearts to
one another without regard to what we might gain by doing so. Jesus certainly
opened His heart to place Himself on the cross for us. What are we willing to
do for our neighbors if not living into that sacrificial desire of love?
I heard a story once about a teacher
in a faith class that encountered a student who clearly was an atheist. He was
very argumentative about everything that was said in the class. One day he
asked the professor, so how do I find God? The professor said to him, you
cannot find God, but God will find you. The student left the class and never
returned. Years later the professor heard that Tommy, the student’s name, had
contracted cancer and it was terminal. Before he could find Tommy, Tommy found
him. Tommy asked the professor if he knew how much impact that answer to the
question so many years ago would have on him. He said he spent many years
searching for God without success. And then the cancer came. He searched even
harder then, often screaming into the night demanding that God make His
presence known. One day he was sitting with his father who was reading the
paper. They had never had a great relationship. He said he needed to talk to
him and his father lowered the paper a little and said, well talk then. He told
his father that he loved him. His father dropped the paper and stood up and
hugged him, something his unemotional father had never done. His father told
him how proud he was with him and how much he loved him. Tommy recounted that
he had similar experiences with his mother and brother. Tommy said it was that
moment that he realized that God had found him through love.
Whom are we searching for? Or more
correctly this day, what are we searching for? Are you looking for a sense of
purpose and a sense of fulfillment? Have you come to this place desiring to
know what the truth of life is? Maybe you have come with baggage accumulated
over the years as you searching for God in all the wrong places? God is here
with us right now. Not condemning as many claim, but loving as God alone can
do. What we need to do then to allow ourselves to experience God is as simple
as loving one another. And in that loving relationship we will find God. Whom
are you searching for?
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