Easter is the pivotal event in the Christian faith, and the women who followed Jesus are instrumental to the Easter story. They went to prepare his body for burial after the crucifixion. Luke names some of them: Mary Magdeline, Joanna, Mary the mother of James.
It seems that Mary Magdelene led them. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
In the gospel Easter accounts, Mary sees the empty tomb and describes the scene to Peter and to the disciple Jesus loved. Knowing this, we can leave the story for a moment having pointed out the fact of that remarkable morning. Or we can take what we see happening a step further, just before sunrise, just light enough to see that the stone has been pushed away from the entrance to the tomb. And then Mary Magdalene steps into the world of the resurrection and meets the living Lord on Easter morning.
If we do wish to go further the next step is to ask, “Now what? Where is this headed? Do we resonate with Mary’s experience?” It’s difficult to duplicate the experiences of another group or individual.
But if the meaning of Easter is expected to carry us past sunrise services, family meals and colored hard-boiled eggs, it may be helpful to consider Mary’s experience more closely. What did she encounter that morning?
She encountered the empty grave and the shock Is evident. It was the inhalation of resurrection reality that got her attention, much as if someone had broken into the house and absconded with her mother’s jewelry. Did Mary remember she was speaking to men, a boundary seldom ignored?
In this conversation one can feel the anger in Mary’s voice. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Was she shouting? She may have been gasping for breath. Can you relate to her anger? Was she in tears? On the surface it’s a simple statement: “The tomb is empty.” But on the interior of her soul her eyes flash. Perhaps she thinks, “Someone did this, and I’ll find out who.” Suffice it to say Mary and the others seemed a wreck by the time they reached the apostles.
Fear, too, permeated that morning and the following day. This had gone past the fear of arrest. They hadn’t been picked up on the street for fomenting a riot. The authorities seemed content with the crucifixion that had already taken place. If the guards suspected what was occurring the gospels make no mention of it. No one was harassing the women or the men. Evan Judas had disappeared. Yet here was a need to stay out of the crowds, and perhaps that was to give themselves some space to clarify what was taking place. It seems to have been a time for rest. They could stop to think because the last harrowing events -the parade into the city, the Last Supper, the arrest and the trial before Pilate, and the verdict of guilt, the crucifixion, and now the missing body of the Lord - were over. As Jesus said, “It is finished.”
But they weren’t over. And as the followers of Jesus found out, this was to be the most consequential step of all – believing Jesus. It meant to step out of grief and disbelief and anger and seize on the one core value that prevailed, one value of consequence that would cause them to stand firmly in the Kingdom. It was to believe in God’s messenger in the world who told them, “I will be with you always; I go to prepare a place for you; I will send the Counselor in my place.”
Mary needed a counselor to bring her peace, and she needed to become a messenger with good news. She took up the call of the Spirit to believe in Jesus and to be the bearer of trustworthy reports to the disciples.
Can you relate to that calling as a Baptist, or as one seeking to share the growth of your faith and your desire to help bring about peace to your community and your neighbors?
Taking this step isn’t contingent just on family leaders and their children. Yes, many pastors and youth leaders claim belief in Christ. Yes, many lay leaders believe, as do ministers of music and missionaries, health care providers and children’s workers. It also includes phone scammers, the homebound, the seamen and farmers, students of chemistry and engineering, the poor and wealthy. As they – and we - do so we begin to hear God saying, in that still small voice, “It is good, and it shall be very, very good!”
Pastor Mike
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