“The First, But Not the Last” - Easter

Scripture: John 20:10-18

A 13th century poet wrote:
The gloom of the world is but a shadow behind it. Yet within reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look. Life is so generous a giver: Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, the angel's hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They too conceal diviner gifts. –
- 13th-century poet Fra Angelico

Early on that first Resurrection morning, the few remaining faithful, men and women alike, could only see gloom and shadow. It was a dark day for them - their Lord and Teacher had been torn from their lives. The terror of these last few days blanketed their lives and hid the radiance and glory of God from them, and it would continue for a while longer. They were in hiding behind locked doors, they were filled with sorrow, and life as they had known it, even though they had great difficulty in understanding it, was forever changed. It would only be later that they would come to see just how radically it had really changed, but they knew that it had changed, just the same.

And the first who would experience the full impact of that change was no other than a woman called Mary.

Read John 20:10-14

John’s Gospel is the only one with such a minimal comment from the angels. In the other gospels, we read of the angels’ words being more of a resurrection message than John’s account, but the intent is unmistakable, just the same. “Why are you crying?” they ask Mary, as if to say “Why do you only see the gloom of this day? Can’t you see the Glory? Can’t you see the beams of heavenly light that have been shining through the darkness since Friday?”
John’s account is also the only one in which the angels’ are placed at specific locations in the tomb – that is, where Jesus’ head and feet had been. The angels were more than just God’s messengers of Hope – they represented the beginning of a new day, a new age, a new way, and while we might think that one such awakening should be enough, God would give these forlorn men and women many such messages over the next few weeks.

What would keep these folks from actually believing that Jesus had risen from the dead? They had seen his power in the past – he taught with an authority unlike anything they, or anyone else for that matter, had ever seen; he had taken a stand against the Jewish authorities and a stand with the poor, the oppressed, and the outcasts; he healed diseases and infirmities; he even raised some from death into new life. And yet, when “push came to shove”, he did nothing to save himself!
Why would he do that? He had the power of God within him, the mantle of Elijah was around him, but he never used any of it for his own benefit! What good was it all if he couldn’t use this authority for his own benefit?
And what about their lives? Now that Jesus was gone, who would lead them against established thought? Who would teach them the true way? They were, I believe, blinded by both fear of what may be coming their way, and by confusion over what might not be coming! It was going to take more than one angelic announcement to restore their “Godly vision”!

Read John 20:15-16

What was it that gave Mary this new vision? It was the Lord’s calling her by name! The man in the garden didn’t look like Jesus, and he didn’t act like Jesus, but apparently his voice was that of Jesus. Others would “recognize” the Lord in different ways – some would know him when they saw the piercings in his hands and feet, others in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus, Thomas would lose all doubt when the Lord invited him to touch him, and others after a night of unsuccessful fishing.
Jesus will come to anyone who seeks him in a way that will help them understand. He wants us to see him for what and who he truly is – not our desired image, not the world’s image, but his true Godly self. For some of us, it may be in a word, for others a vision, or a selfless act by another person, sometimes a passage of scripture. But the answer always seems to come after we respond to Jesus’ question “Who are you looking for?” And when we say “Jesus”, that is when it all begins.

For me, it was a word that was given in a moment of overwhelming frustration during an hour or so of unanswered prayer. There were several times that I tried to get up and run away, but I was unable to stop asking him for the answer I had been looking for during the previous 15 to 20 years. For all who seek his face and word, it will always come in a way that we can relate to and can accept, but seldom anticipate!

Read John 20:17-18

Now here, at least for me, is the important issue of this entire passage. First, the Lord tells Mary that she shouldn’t hold on to him. Theologically speaking, this is odd, in that we should all hold fast to our Lord and all that he stands for. So there must be some other, deeper, meaning to Jesus’ words.
Some think that they were intended to interrupt a physical act on Mary’s part – that of throwing herself at Jesus’ feet. But it could also tell us that we aren’t to keep Jesus all to ourselves. Note that Mary is told to go and tell the others about what she has seen and heard, beginning with the disciples. And this is probably the most important thing we have to learn from the Lord. It isn’t enough that we claim Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior – we are to carry his name and message to the entire world, beginning with those who are closest to us, and spreading out from there.

The truth of Jesus should never be limited to our future rescue from apocalyptic destruction. Jesus is about the here and now.
The fullness of Jesus isn’t limited to spending eternity with him in glory. It must include our life in him today.
A life in Christ isn’t just about a relationship with him – it brings us into union with the Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit!
And above all, life with Jesus can never be seen as singular in nature! The Body of Christ is about living within a family – the entire family of God.

“Don’t keep me to yourself”, Jesus said, and to paraphrase John Wesley, “share my words and story with as many other people as you can, in as many ways as you can, in as many places as you can, at all the times you can, for as long as you can!”

Mary would be the first to receive the post-resurrection command to go and tell others, and quite honestly, she would be a strange choice. She was a woman who had no standing in Jewish culture. She had been demon possessed by, not one, but seven demons, until Jesus freed her from their control. She was a faithful follower of Christ, but she would never be seen as part of his inner circle of disciples.
She wouldn’t be the first to doubt the truth of that Resurrection Day, but she would be the first to claim its truth, and to be called to share the Good News of that day, and to go and begin telling all who would listen about the Risen Jesus.

And just think about where that led? She told many of the disciples – at least all who were still in town, and they would tell the others, and all would go out into the surrounding areas and towns and tribes and nations to share the glory of Jesus with anyone who would hear. Notice that she wasn’t told to convince anyone of who Jesus was and what he could be for them – all she was supposed to do is to tell them about him.

As the story goes,
A monk found a very precious gemstone. He put it in his knapsack and carried it with him. One day he met a traveler in need who asked the monk to share some of his provisions with him. The monk opened his knapsack to share his food, when his fingers found the gem. So he lifted out the stone and gave it to the traveler.

Overjoyed by his good fortune in the valuable stone, the traveler went on his way. A few days later, however, the traveler caught up with the monk. He begged him again: “Please, give me something more precious than this stone,” he said. “Please give me that which prompted you to give the stone to me [in the first place].”
--As told by Donald T. Shelby, Santa Monica, California, 2 August 1992.

We can carry out every commandment that we read about in Matthew 25:31-46 – we can feed the hungry, can give a drink to the thirsty, we can welcome the stranger, clothe the needy, care for the sick and visit the prisoner. But the thing that is far more precious than all of this is to share the power that is behind our desire to even do them. Jesus will always be that greater gift.
Just as Mary was called, we, too, are called to share the grace and glory of Christ with all who we come in contact with. She may have been the first to respond to his call, but can any of us afford to be the last?

Each of us must simply be the next!