EASTER DAY – THE RESURRECTION
MARY MAGDALENE AND JESUS.
People often speak about ‘decisive moments’ in their lives. Some of you are old enough to remember the day John F Kennedy was assassinated – a decisive moment they say. For this generation it may well be September 11 that is described as a decisive moment. Decisive moments in life change our lives direction in a decisive way. Such moments are etched on our memories. Some are surprising moments:
‘uh, dad about the car…’ or ‘honey, I am pregnant’. Some moments are painful; ‘I am afraid it is bad news…’ or ‘the test was positive…’ or ‘I do not want to see you again.’ Some moments are expected, anticipated and even celebrated: ‘ congratulations, it is a boy/girl’ or ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’ or ‘you have got the job’ or ‘you have passed your driving test.’ Though I am not sure that last one is not a mixture of all three. Such things are decisive moments in the life of an individual. I want on this Easter Day to look at just such a moment in the life of a woman in the Bible – Mary Magdalene. The moment in her life was not just decisive for her but for all of humanity throughout all of history.
We know really very little about this woman Mary of Magdala. Magdala as place was notorious for paganism, prostitution and immorality. It was not the sort of place you would readily admit was your home. The sort of place you omitted to write on your C.V. This we do know about her. Luke tells us that Jesus had cast 7 demons out of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8.2) and that from that moment on she became a close follower of Jesus. John records that she was present at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. Mark says that she was one of the women who came to the tomb of Christ early on the first Easter Day in order to anoint his body as a last act of love and devotion. In John 20 John records for us that she was left at the tomb when everyone else had left. He records for us the depth of her despair and grief at the loss of Jesus. She is distraught at his death and even more so at the removal of his body from his burial tomb.
This was truly a decisive moment in the life of Mary of Magdala. Turn with me to the beginning of chapter 20 of John’s gospel. John tells us it was early in the morning, probably around 3am. Mary and other women are making their way to the tomb of Christ. A few days before they had stood at the bottom of his cross watching their Lord die. They had taken his body down and prepared it for burial. They now come back to the tomb to do this last thing for him – to anoint his body with spices and ointment – a bit like the way we leave flowers on a grave. As they walk along the road they wonder how they will move the stone that they had witnessed the guards place across the entrance to the tomb. When the get to the tomb they see the stone rolled away and immediately Mary Magdalene runs to get Simon and John. The Greek implies that they were not together and Mary has to go two errands to get them both. Why these two?
Even though Simon had denied Jesus he is still seen as the leader. John is known as the beloved disciple and the one who is closest to Jesus. These two disciples run ahead of Mary to the tomb. John gets there first but for whatever reason he just peeks in. Maybe he was frightened, maybe he did not want to be ceremonially defiled, after all it is Passover. He looks in and sees the tomb is empty – he notices folded grave clothes and the linen head cloth lying where Jesus head would have been.
Simon, ever the impulsive, races on into the tomb and finds it empty. Luke tells us in 24.12 that Simon went away wondering what had happened to Jesus. Isn’t that amazing? Simon goes away wondering. Verse 8 of chapter 20 simply tells us that John, the other disciple, went in and believed. Simon went away ‘wondering’ and John leaves ‘believing’ – both having seen the same thing – an empty tomb and empty grave clothes.
Verse 9 – tells us why this was so – they were yet to understand the scriptures and how they applied to Jesus – Emmaus helped to clarify that. Verse 10 tells us that the two disciples go home. Isn’t that amazing also? They go back home – again this may have been due to fear of the authorities. But to have witnessed what they had witnessed and just to turn and go home – well?
A Story of Grief.
Look at verse 11. Here was Mary Magdalene – a social outcast, a sinner, and Christ comes and meets her where she is at. She had nowhere to go but to this empty tomb. Her home was 65 miles away in Magdala – but there was nothing there but her old life of sin and demon possession. The road back to Magdala was no place for a lone woman to be travelling, it was too dangerous. There was nowhere else her heart wanted to be other than near Jesus and at this moment the only place to be was at his tomb, even if it was empty. Is this not a sad verse? Mary is left outside the tomb weeping for her Lord Jesus. She is left alone with her grief. Mary is at this moment in her life experiencing all that we experience when someone we love dies. She is confused and no doubt angry. Angry at death. Angry because the body has been taken away. Angry maybe even at Jesus – how could he let this happen? Why did he have to go to the cross? Why did he have to trust Judas? No doubt she is confused and disorientated. No doubt there is disbelief – how could they do this to his body? Was it not enough to whip him, mock him and crucify him? She is totally unable to move on – she comes to the last place where her Lord was – the tomb and she weeps from the depths of her heart – she weeps bitter tears of grief at the pain of her loss. What will ever fill this void of pain in her soul? But she is about to have another decisive moment in her life.
The first was when Jesus cast out the demons. The second was when Christ died before her eyes on the cross of Calvary. The third begins when she decides to look into the tomb. What was it that the disciples saw when they went into the tomb? So with a broken heart and tear filled eyes she looks into the tomb. She sees two angels. John tells us one was sitting where Christ’s head would have been and the other where his feet would have been. In between are the folded grave clothes. Her tears flow even more. The tomb really is empty. His body is gone. Then one of the angels speak ‘why are you crying?’ (v13). Mary answers ‘they have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have laid him (13). You see at this point Mary still thinks someone has stolen his body. How else do you explain ‘I don’t know where they have put him?’ She turns away from the angels and she sees Jesus, though she fails to recognise him. Verse 15 Jesus asks her the same question and adds ‘who is it you are looking for?’ She thinking he is the gardener asks what he has done with the body of Christ. ‘Please tell me and I will go and get his body and bring it back to the tomb.’ That is what Mary says. She wants Jesus back in the tomb. She wants him in the tomb so that she can come and grieve. So that she can come and remember.
THE STORY OF HOPE.
Verse 16 ‘Mary’. Now things are about to change forever. ‘Mary’ – Jesus speaks only one word – her name. She replies with only one word ‘Rabonni (Master).’ The one she has been grieving for. The one she saw die on a cross. The one whose body she had come to anoint with oils and spices is now standing before her. Her grief gives way to joy. A heart that was breaking with the searing pain of loss is now breaking with the joy of life. She runs to him and clasps hold of him. But we will come to that in a moment. I want to linger for a moment on these two words ‘Mary’ and ‘Master’.
Mary – it was her name. She did not recognise him when she turned to face him. Her eyes were filled with tears. Her sight was clouded with grief and her heart was dying with the pain of loss and separation. But when Jesus spoke her name she recognised him. She recognised his voice and she recognised his voice calling her name. In John 10 Jesus said that he called his sheep by their name and they recognised his voice and they followed him. Her is the fulfilment of that. In the midst of despair. In the midst of searing loss. In the midst of the pain of separation Jesus only has to speak her name and her heart is overwhelmed with joy, with hope and with love. What seemed hopeless to Mary. What seemed to be a helpless situation to her needed only her name called by her Lord for it to be transformed, renewed and restored.
All she could do in reply was to fall at his feet and cry ‘Master.’ Friends I have no doubt her tears flowed even more at that moment. Do you remember the joy of finding someone who was lost? Do you remember the tears when you were reunited with someone you thought you would never see again? I remember the tears in the eyes of Janet’s aunt Joan when she saw David again for the first time in 17 years. Mary can only reply ‘Master’ and clasp him tightly to her.
Grief had dulled her heart and mind but the voice of Jesus calling her name restored hope to her soul. He speaks her name. He knows her. He calls her personally. She wanted him back in the tomb – tell me where he is and I will go and get him. She was seeking him with all her heart – little did she know how God would answer the promise ‘I will reveal myself to you when you seek me with all your heart.’ She wanted a body in the grave to remember and to grieve over. He came resurrected to bring hope and new life. Which was better? Which do you think Mary would have preferred?
OUR STORY
So friends on this Easter Day 2003 what is our decisive moment? We stand today before an empty cross, outside and empty tomb wherein lie empty grave clothes.
The Empty Cross
What does the empty cross of Christ say to us?
The first thing it tells me is that Jesus died there. He died. The Roman soldiers knew it. The disciples knew it. The women knew it. The Jewish leaders knew it. The bloodstains on the wood of that cross proclaim a man died here. He died as a public spectacle, to some as entertainment. He died. The empty cross tells me he died. But what does the empty cross promise?
It promises me that my sin is atoned for and my penalty paid. God’s Word tells me that the ‘wages of sin is death.’ When Christ died on the cross he paid the ‘wages of sin.’ When wages are paid there is nothing more to pay. You see as the Scriptures teach ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ – all – that includes you and me. We have fallen short, we have sinned and the wages, the debt owed is ‘death’. But the empty cross promises me that the wages have been paid. God’s wrath has been satisfied and my sin atoned for by the death of Jesus. God by his love for us showed his love that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. When he said ‘it is finished’ – he proclaimed the penalty has been paid. In the book were it once read ‘guilty of sin’ it now reads ‘forgiven, paid in full.’ So though the cross is empty it is full of the promise of forgiveness.
The Empty Tomb.
Illustration: Philip, little boy with special needs, teacher gives out eggs to be filled for Easter. He returns his empty, class laugh. He explains the resurrection. At his funeral they lay empty eggs beside his coffin in the church.
You see the empty tomb speaks of resurrection life. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15.20 ‘Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruit of those who have fallen asleep.’ You see his resurrection promises our resurrection. Because he is risen we also will be raised from the dead. Therefore death has lost its power over me. I have no need to fear death any longer. As Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15 – death has lost its sting and grave has lost its victory because they have been swallowed up in Christ and his resurrection. The empty tomb is full of promise – the promise of resurrection life for all who believe and trust in Christ Jesus.
The Empty Grave Clothes.
We read in the gospels that when Peter entered the empty tomb he saw the grave clothes where the body of Christ was. John is very vivid in his description. He speaks of the linen cloth which would have been over the head of Christ lying separate from the strips of cloth that embalmed the body. If the grave had been robbed and the body snatched then such care would not have been taken to remove and fold the cloths around the body. In fact the body would have just been lifted, clothes and all. The empty grave clothes speak to me of the promise of fellowship with Christ.
Friends here is fellowship with Christ Jesus. Note will you it is not until she hears his voice calling her name that her eyes are open and her immediate response is to cling to him. That is his desire – for you and I to hear his voice call out our name and for us to cling to him. The empty grave clothes speak of his fellowship with us. He is no longer dead. He is no longer limited by an earthly human body. While he walked this earth only those who were physically and geographically close to him could have fellowship with him. Until the resurrection he could not be in two places at once. Once rise n from the dead he is able to fellowship by His Holy Spirit with all men, in all places and at all times.
CONCLUSION
Friends here it is this morning. We all have had decisive moments in our lives. We have had those life changing experiences and we know that life has changed. We find ourselves this morning standing once again before the empty cross, the empty tomb and empty grave clothes. The question is not Is this a decisive moment for you today? But it is actually a statement of fact: This is the decisive moment of your eternity! Today the risen Christ calls your name – he calls your name and the choice is yours. Are you going to remain blind and unseeing or are you going to turn and recognise him? Are you going to turn to him today and as Mary did clasp him to yourself and know the power of his resurrection life flood your life and change your for all eternity.
This is Easter Day. I declare Christ is risen from the dead. I declare before you – He is risen! He is here and He calls each of us by name. How are you going to respond?
Little Philip – his classmates laughed when he brought before them an empty egg, but at his funeral they knew he had heard Jesus call his name and that for him death had lost its sting and grave its victory. What would you bring in your egg? Have you heard him call your name? Today on this resurrection day why don’t you invite the risen Lord Christ into your heart and know the joy of salvation? Amen.
