Why Are You Weeping?

 

Text: John 20:1-18

Focus: Easter

Function: To help people see resurrection in their own circumstances.

20:¹Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, ⁹For as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes.

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, ¹²and 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. ¹³They 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.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” 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.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not touch 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.’ ” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.

He is risen!

Happy Easter everyone.

This is a day of celebration as we consider what it means that the resurrection has come and death is no longer the fear of human existence.

I want to focus on how the Christ reveals himself to Mary, who then becomes the first witness to the resurrection according to John’s account.

Someone said that if we wanted to be Biblically accurate this morning then we should also have a woman proclaim the good news to us today.

And to focus on Christ’s revelation to Mary, let us look at verse 13. The story, according to John is that Mary is at the tomb and the stone is rolled away and Jesus isn’t there. So, she leaves and runs to tell Peter and John who then run to investigate. They find the tomb empty and begin to believe Jesus rose from the dead. And then, according to John’s account, the men leave Mary behind who is just standing there weeping.

She glances again into the tomb and this time it is not empty, but two angels are there and they ask the salient question of Mary: “Why are you weeping?”

And the answer is obvious to me. She is weeping because she loves Jesus and she misses him terribly.

Indeed, Jesus has come into her life and has changed the story for her.

She was an outcast, probably forced into human trafficking in order to just survive and therefore, she was impure according to Jewish social and religious values.

And again, Jesus changes the narrative of her life. He restores her miraculously and completely accepts this so called outcast into the community of those who follow Jesus’ teachings.

It is important to me to emphasize the significance of Jesus’ relationship to Mary. He changes the social order by bringing into the group of followers, along with he 12 chosen disciples a woman of whom all the religious officials of the day would object to on the religious grounds of their purity culture.

At the time, they believed that accepting such a woman would certainly bring the wrath of God on the nation since they were appearing to tolerate evil.

And Jesus changes the story. It was upsetting to the religious leaders because he is sending a message to them about the value of their purity culture verses the value of a person who needs restoration.

They are interested in the power and control that their religious standards give them. Jesus is interested in a relationship with the woman. And Jesus lives again to have a relationship with us through his Spirit.

Jesus looks at the woman and sees her need.

And now she is reborn, from above, by the power of the Holy Spirit and she is extremely grateful that the one who had once been an outcast is now a valued member of God’s community.

And the religious folks have a hard time with God’s mercy and they resent the Lord for it.

So, the answer to the question, why are you weeping, as I mentioned is obvious.

But these are angels talking to her and they are messengers of God conveying, as God often does, in mysterious language designed to get them to think, a message to her to get her to believe.

So they question her and ask her to look into her heart.

I find that encounters with the divine lead me to the kind of questions that increase and build my faith as I look with God at my own heart.

She again emphasizes that she misses Jesus and will be comforted by seeing him, even if he is dead.

And then the Lord reveals himself to her.

And again, I love how the story unfolds:

Outside of the tomb is now a man standing there who wasn’t there before.

It is Christ but she supposes him to be the gardener. And then he speaks her name and she is familiar with the way he speaks and she realizes that it is indeed Jesus in a different body, but indeed risen from the dead.

And her sorrow is turned into joy and she becomes the first evangelist.

And it seems to me that this is the second time she has experienced resurrection in her own life.

First when Jesus sets her free and now, when Jesus comforts her in her time of sorrow.

What I see in the resurrection is that it happens for all of us. Hope happens for us even in the face of death because God changes the story and restores life.

In the midst of our suffering, at our lowest point sometimes, the Lord shows up to comfort us.

She loved him and he did not abandon her even though they took his life.

For in the power of the resurrection, we see the continuing love of God for us manifest in our own experiences of suffering, a form of death, and resurrection, a new life.

We no longer let the fear of death control us because we rest in Divine love.

So, Happy Easter, everyone!