Acts 10.34-43; Isaiah 65.17-end; John 20.1-18
I wonder if you have ever had to do a really horrible job. Something you perhaps could avoid, but you know you have to do it. Maybe changing that very dirty and sodden nappy? Maybe feeding a person who is not able to feed themselves? Maybe cleaning up that mess of vomit or diarrhoea? Maybe visiting a relative suffering from dementia- will they recognise me this time? Or if you are younger it is your turn to clear the table and fill the dish washer!
Most of us have or have had tasks that need doing either by us or someone else which are not pleasant tasks but they need doing. Someone has to do them.
Our gospel reading is John’s account of the resurrection of Jesus and I love it. Each gospel account of the resurrection differ slightly in the details but they all state that it was women who went to the tomb early on the day after the sabbath. Mark and Luke wrote that they carried spices which they intended to use to finish preparing Jesus’ body for burial. Do you like spices? Grinding them in a pestle and mortar? Well they would have had a large amount of spices to put around the body of Jesus, finishing off the burial rituals which they had not had time to do before the Sabbath began on the Friday evening. Just think for a moment about that. Mary had known Jesus for probably most of his three years of ministry. She had followed him as he went from place to place and seen him do amazing miracles, and according to Mark had herself been set free from evil by Jesus, and then she had been there at his crucifixion. She would have seen the punishment that he bore.
Now she was going to wrap up the bruised, cut and cold body of Jesus with linen and spices. Would you have offered to do that? What an act of love, what a servant heart. I wonder if she was there at the last supper when Jesus washed his disciples feet, saying you must be a servant like me? She was now preparing herself to do an act of service that would have been heart rending, heart breaking, and there would have been buckets of tears. So it is not surprising that she wept outside the empty tomb, the grief and shock of the last 3 days being expressed.
Then she is asked the same question twice, “Why are you weeping? “ Firstly from angels - echoes of angel Gabriel speaking to the virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Then Jesus asks her the same question- “Why are you weeping? “
This question has so much in it. It is very clever on John’s part to include it. From Mary’s point of view, she is weeping because the man she came to love had been tragically and unexpectedly killed and now to crown it all his body is missing. From the angels’ and Jesus’ viewpoint they know the facts. Jesus is alive, there is no need to weep.
When we are distraught, bereaved, when our emotions are all over the place, because of something horrific that has happened, can we trust that Jesus knows something more? That if we could see what he knows we would not weep? Instead we would be singing for joy? Can we dare to ask that, to seek that, to believe that?
This is what the resurrection is all about. It changes everything. Everything. We have asked for forgiveness at the start of this service, we can do that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. So God now says to us, as far as the east is from the west, I have removed your transgressions from you. How far apart is that? Ten centimetres, close so I can still hold to that sin? A metre? I have to stretch a bit to grasp it. A kilometre- well that needs some walking or even running to catch that sin. If I am quick maybe I can catch it before lunch or perhaps tea. So many of us hang on to our sins because that is what we have always done, it is learnt behaviour. As far as the east is from the west, I have removed them from you, says God. My friends, east and west never meet. It does not matter how fast you are you will never catch up with the sins that God has forgiven, for God has taken them from you. So let go of them and while you are at it, do not hold on to memories of the faults of others. God has forgiven them and we must forgive them also.
The Resurrection of Jesus gives us life. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so we are raised from our pit of darkness into the radiant light and fullness of life in Jesus. Through the resurrection we are offered a relationship with God the Father and we are given the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, God living in us, helping us, guiding us, comforting us, strengthening us, drawing us closer to the Father. Through the resurrection evil has been defeated, and through the resurrection we are promised life beyond this life, eternal life with God in heaven when our time comes.
These are awesome truths, that if taken seriously mean we become followers of Jesus, offering ourselves to love and serve as he showed us. And with that comes the same power and authority that Jesus had, the same reliance and dependency on God. That is a different way of living. Saying God, “Your will be done, not mine. I trust you, I believe in you, I follow you.” Not sure you want to do that? Not want to surrender yourself to God? Not sure you can trust God? We do say that in the Lord’s Prayer - your kingdom come, your will be done.
To draw this together—there are so many wonderful consequences for us from the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, God’s Son - forgiveness of sins, a relationship with God the Father, empowering and guidance by the Holy Spirit, a dependency on God, the defeat of evil, and the promise of eternal life, life in heaven after this life. Is that not amazing? All of this through the death and resurrection of Jesus. What love God, almighty God, Jesus, shows us in this extraordinary act of sacrifice. I pray that just as Mary Magdalene came to see the resurrected Lord Jesus, so may we all see him, and be filled with the same life transforming wonder, thankfulness and joy. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Amen.
Happy Easter, Blessings ,
Graham