For Those Who Might Have a Foggy Memory About How We Got Here, I Think Its Worth Quickly

I think sometimes in the midst of all the pastel colors and family feasts, it can be easy to forget that Easter starts in a graveyard. Mary Magdalen wasn’t looking for Easter Eggs when she wandered into that Garden, she was coming to visit the grave of her friend and teacher, Jesus.

For those who might have a foggy memory about how we got here, I think its worth quickly summarizing the events of Jesus’ final week.

On the Sunday before the Passover he arrived in Jerusalem, greeted by the crowds who placed palms on the ground before him and hailed him with cheers of “Hosanna”.

As the week moves along the crowds disperse and the religious authorities plot to kill Jesus.

After a final meal on Thursday with his disciples they arrest him under cover of darkness, line up false witnesses against him,

1 convict him, and send him to the Roman governor who eventually sentences him to death by crucifixion on Friday. Before the day ends Jesus has died and he has been buried in a tomb.

Easter starts in a graveyard with grief, confusion, and accusations.

Mary was coming to visit the grave of her friend and teacher; she finds an empty tomb. And she runs. When I see someone running – not jogging or exercising, but running – my hair stands on end and I immediate assume something, somewhere is wrong. People run from things – to escape from something that will cause them harm. People run to help – rushing into a problem as fast as possible before it is too late.

She runs to the disciples and tells them what she believes: someone has taken the body.

2 In turn, Peter and the other disciple run to the tomb.

3 The other disciple gets to the tomb and looks inside but doesn’t go in. Peter arrives and steps into the tomb. The burial clothes are rolled up and placed to the side.

At this point we are told that the Beloved Disciple believes – but what does he believe? – does he believe the Scriptures that he doesn’t yet understand? Or does he believe what Mary Magdalen had told him – that someone had taken the body. I think it is somewhat ambiguous for the first time reader of the Gospel, but if you’ve read the story before you know the Beloved Disciple will become the witness upon whose belief the Gospel is based.

At any event, the two disciples eventually go home.

At some point Mary finds her way back to the tomb weeping.

4 She steps into the tomb, sees two angels and when asked why she is weeping she repeats what she assumes has happened: they have taken Jesus’ body, and I do not know where they have put him.

For reasons that are never explained she doesn’t seem fazed that there are two angels in the tomb. She wanders off into the Garden and runs into Jesus.

Things in John’s Gospel often happen in threes, and this is no exception. Assuming he’s the gardener she repeats for a third time what she believes, but this time it is an accusation: “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him.”

And then he says her name. Mary.

He tells her to go and tell the others what she has seen, and she does.

5 Jesus Christ is risen today. He was crucified, he was buried in a tomb, and on the Sunday after Passover the tomb was empty and Jesus was alive.

I’m a big fan of Easter dinner and Easter egg hunts, and as much as I love wearing all black all the time, I can’t wait to get my pastel shirt on too. But Easter isn’t about any of those things. Easter is about the tomb being empty because Jesus has risen from the dead.

That’s the starting point.  Mary announces that the tomb is empty because Jesus has risen from the dead.  Because Jesus has risen from the dead, Saint John writes a Gospel “so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”  Because Jesus has risen from the dead, Saint Peter preaches to the people and testifies

6 that Jesus is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.  Because Jesus has risen from the dead Saint Paul is convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Because Jesus has risen from the dead I am in the pulpit today testifying that I believe this news and I think that it is very good news, and I pray that you do too.

The empty tomb is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus. How the story of Jesus is told is up to you, but however you tell it and whoever you tell it to, remember that the joy of Easter is that Jesus was lost and was found, he was dead and then he lived, and in Christ the same is true of you and me. I was lost and I have been found. I will die, but in Christ I will live.