...To Them

Text: John 20:11-18

Focus: Resurrection

Function: Worship

Form: Story

Intro:

John 20:11-18 (GNT)

¹¹Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb ¹²and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³“Woman, why are you crying?” they asked her.

She answered, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!”

¹⁴Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵“Woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who is it that you are looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This means “Teacher.”)

¹⁷“Do not hold on to me,” Jesus told her, “because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.”

¹⁸So Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and related to them what he had told her.

As my faith grows into more and more community, I realize that the nature of salvation is much more than an individual salvation.

God wants to save a culture as well as save the individuals inside of it.

God rejoices when governments own the responsibility of making sure that the least of these has a fair chance.

But, this event between Mary and Jesus gives me great pause about all that.

I grew up believing only in a personal salvation that emphasized heaven and sort of neglected the reason why God left the church on the earth, which is to bring God's Kingdom of love and forgiveness which is already here, not merely one to come.

And I realize that this does not fulfill the three years that Jesus taught us how to live, it merely fulfills the three days where Jesus atones for our sins.

But at this point, the pause is that now is the time to focus on just that.

Jesus died and rose again to purchase our salvation.

I don't understand that mystery. I don't understand why it happened that way.

But in my Bible study, as I see the history of people in their recordings with God, I see that God loves symbolism.

And there is great symbolism in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Today, we focus on the resurrection.

Death no longer has power over us.

I love to say that phrase and let it sink in.

We no longer have anything to fear because Jesus has been beyond the grave and has came back to assure us of His final victory.

Finally, God will bring everything to right.

And those are our marching orders.

But again the beauty of this moment was not the big plans that God had for the Church.

The beauty of this moment was not the meaning of the resurrection.

The beauty of this moment was not especially the wonder of the atonement.

The beauty of this moment was the way Jesus said: “Mary.”

He knew her.

And the beauty of this moment is that although history is made and we have changed our marking of history from these events, the beauty of this moment is that it happened to Mary.

And Mary believed that although this salvation is huge, global and world changing, it was also intensely personal and at this moment Mary allowed herself to experience the fact that that was happening to her.

I think of Jesus dying for the world. And I think less of Jesus dying for me, personally.

But that is the beauty of this moment, Mary herself acknowledges that this happened to her.

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

¹Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
and his love is eternal.
²Let the people of Israel say,
“His love is eternal.”

¹⁹Open to me the gates of the Temple;
I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!

²⁰This is the gate of the Lord;
only the righteous can come in.

²¹I praise you, Lord, because you heard me,
because you have given me victory.

²²The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
turned out to be the most important of all.

²³This was done by the Lord;
what a wonderful sight it is!

²⁴This is the day of the Lord's victory;
let us be happy, let us celebrate!

²⁵Save us, Lord, save us!
Give us success, O Lord!

²⁶May God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.

²⁷The Lord is God; he has been good to us.
With branches in your hands, start the festival
and march around the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I give you thanks;
I will proclaim your greatness.

²⁹Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
and his love is eternal.