“Resurrection”

John 20:1-18

(NO sermon note)

¹Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. ² She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³ Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. ⁴ They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷ while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. ⁸ Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— ⁹ for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then they went home.

¹¹ Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. ¹² She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. ¹³ “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

¹⁴ She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. ¹⁵ “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

¹⁶ “Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

¹⁷ “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a transmission that NASA was getting from their moon mission astronauts. It read,

“Houston, we have a problem. Russians just landed on the moon.”

“It’s OK, continue your mission, ignore the Russians.”

“Houston, we have a problem. Russians started to paint moon red.”

“It’s OK, continue your mission, ignore the Russians.”

“Houston, we have a problem. Half of the moon is painted red and they continue.”

“It’s OK, continue your mission, ignore the Russians.”

“Houston, we have a problem. Whole moon is now red.”

“Now is our time. Open compartment 3B/C, it contains white paint. And start painting: Coca-Cola.”

I suppose long gone are the days of Soviet/American cold war tensions so it doesn’t have quite the effect it would have had in say the 80s. Good ole Americans turning that evil Soviet red into a universal symbol of cheer and good times! Other than a smiley face, I can think of a logo that elicits such joy as the Coca-Cola logo. I particularly enjoyed it when Coca-Cola’s marketing campaign included a polar bear in their brand advertising for a while. I mean, what’s there not to love about Coke AND a big ole lovable polar bear?! Yeah, they nailed it with that campaign!

But I want to continue with a theme I introduced on Thursday having to do with the mission of Christ. Recall when Jesus was on the cross and he looked down at his mother and said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son,” then turned to the beloved disciple standing next to her and said, “Here is your mother.” And for the longest time I simply thought Jesus was talking about himself when speaking to his mother. Like, “Look, ma, look at what they’ve done to me.” I completely missed the connection between his mother and the beloved disciple. I guess I just ignored what he said to the beloved disciple. But no, he was establishing a mother/son bond between his mother and a relative stranger, the beloved stranger. Why? To establish a relationship that would produce great love after Jesus was gone. And because Jesus is love, ultimately to keep him alive after death. Quite some powerful last words of Jesus!

I also proposed on Thursday that Jesus was given a three-fold mission to accomplish here in this world: first to save us, then to reveal God’s love for us, and finally to empower us to share that love with the world. In establishing the mother/son bond between his mother and the beloved disciple, Jesus in effect accomplished the third part of his mission to share God’s love with the world. Well, he didn’t stop with his mother and the beloved disciple. In fact, he had been empowering his disciples to share God’s love long before the crucifixion. Remember how he had sent his disciples out, two by two, to preach, heal, and cast out demons. His disciples had already been empowered to share God’s love. Evidently, they weren’t enough or what they were doing wasn’t enough because Jesus came back from the dead with a renewed purpose to fulfill the third part of his mission.

Outside of the tomb, Jesus approached Mary Magdalene and asked her, “Dear woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She came to realize it was Jesus and he told her, “Go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Now then, a rather simple interaction between Jesus and Mary but one with a profound impact on the world. You see, Mary was the first person to witness our risen Lord and the first person to talk about it. And if we consider the resurrection to be God’s greatest display of love for us, then Mary helped Jesus fulfill the third part of his mission. In talking about the resurrection, she showed she was empowered to share God’s love with the world! And that empowerment didn’t end with Mary. Recall how the resurrected Jesus went to his disciples and gave them the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20) Jesus clearly empowered the disciples, and US, in how to share God’s love with the world! By making disciples and baptizing them and teaching them obedience, that’s how we share God’s love!

The resurrection is the culmination of God’s love though. Nothing reveals God’s love so fully as life conquering death. It is a blinding love, an incomprehensible love. We can’t understand the resurrection because we can’t fully understand love. God is love in its fullest. Perhaps one day we’ll come to understand love in its fullest. In the meantime, we are called to simply share it. We are called to believe in it and trust in it. Friends, we are called to love and be loved. Let us boldly love…maybe paint the moon red and add some lettering symbolic of love. More importantly, let us give thanks for God’s love. Thanks be to God!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.