Weep No More
John 20:1-18
by Jim Westmoreland
As Vice President, George Herbert Walker Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the USSR for 18 years from 1964-1982. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow, Victoria Petrovna. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross and whom God raised from the dead.(1)
For the early Christians, every Sunday was a mini-celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and, for them, the beginning of the Christian year began, not with Advent, but with Easter. "The resurrection of Jesus Christ is historically the foundation of the Christian church. It is presupposed in every part of the New Testament and is appealed to as a most certain fact which can confirm other truths."(2)
In our reading from the gospel of John this morning, Mary had gone to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark. The RSV reads that she went toward the dawn (as the day was dawning). It was still dark. The dark oppression of the night still ruled, but there was a faint glimmer of a new day. It foreshadowed what was to come. Friday was the shock and horror of Jesus' death. Saturday was the sickening, suffocating awareness that it had really happened, and all the joy of being with Jesus was over . . . gone . . . forever.
When we grieve over lost relationships that gave us life and joy, it is almost as if we have to make our heart keep beating. Mary had wept for Jesus. Not only had he suffered through the trial, the beatings and execution by crucifixion, but Jesus was no longer with Mary or the other disciples. It was over. The brooding darkness of Jesus' death on Friday had extended through Saturday to the early darkness of Sunday morning. Now, Mary came to the tomb toward the dawn.
When she saw that the tomb was empty, she supposed someone had taken the body, and she ran in tears to tell Peter and John. They came running back to the tomb, saw that it was empty, but left and went back to their homes.
But not Mary. She couldn't bring herself to leave this place. His body had been here, at this very spot. So, in an unconscious effort to be as close to Him as possible, she lingered near the tomb.
She was still absolutely convinced that somebody had stolen the body. Her tears continued to flow. By now her garments were wet with her tears. Once more she bent over to look into the tomb. She wanted to look once more just to convince herself that He was not there.
But this time she saw someone there -- two people, all dressed in white. She had not seen them enter the tomb. She was still crying so hard that she didn't look very closely at the strangers. She was in no mood to strike up a conversation.
The strangers said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She didn't want them to talk to her. She was in no mood for anybody to talk to her. "What a question," she thought. "Can't they see that I am a friend of this one who died so tragically." Most folks don't have to ask why there are tears at a funeral.
Perhaps, Mary didn't trust these strangers. So with a tone of anger, she spun on her heels and spoke over her shoulder as she walked out, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
As she left the tomb, she noticed the gardener standing there. She thought, "What are all these people doing here all of a sudden?"
Still not ready to talk because of her tears, she ducked her head beneath her hood and started home. But the stranger spoke to her anyway saying, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" That's twice she has been asked this question in just a matter of minutes. What's going on here? Could he be involved in taking Jesus' body?
She was too afraid to turn or even look at this strange man. With a mixture of profound grief and anger spilling over her grief, she snapped, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
Imagine how she must have felt in the darkness turning to dawn. Both her mind and body must have felt the terrible knots of fear in her stomach and the paralyzing weakness of fear in her legs. She stood there shaking and trembling and crying, afraid to even look at this thief who may have been ready to kill her.
The gardener was silent for a long time, but then he said one word, "Mary."
At first she wondered how this stranger knew her name, but then her mind slowly allowed itself to register the sound of that voice. It was familiar, so familiar. What a cruel joke! This man's voice sounded just like His!
That's when she turned for the first time, lifted the edge of her hood and looked at the man. Her mind raced as it thought: "It's Him! He's dead. It's him. It can't be him. It's him. It can't be. It is Him!!!
An involuntary shriek escaped her mouth, it was her favorite affectionate term for Jesus - "Rabboni!!" She ran to him and fell on his feet, grasping his legs firmly in her arms. The tears still fell from her face dripping on his sandals, but now she was laughing, and joy came crashing through the grief in her heart.(3)
Do you know what the empty tomb means for your life? It means we don't have to live with Friday's defeat and despair, but we can be transformed by Sunday's resurrection. The resurrection means that I have hope for my life. It was also a cosmic event where all that is evil and all that holds us back, symbolized by the power of death, was ultimately defeated when Jesus was raised from the dead.
Little Philip, born with Down's syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in Leadership Magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.
The Sunday after Easter, the teacher brought L'eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh.
Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, That's stupid. That's not fair. Somebody didn't do their assignment."
Philip spoke up, "That's mine." "Philip, you don't ever do things right!" the student retorted. "There's nothing there!"
"I did so do it," Philip insisted. "I did do it. It's empty. The tomb was empty!"
Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but, with their Sunday school teacher, each one carried an empty pantyhose egg.(4)
Don't let your life get stuck in Friday tears and despair. Weep no more. The tomb is empty. He is risen! He has conquered death and He can conquer whatever grips our lives and holds us back. When our hearts and lives are broken, let us go ahead and shed our Friday tears, shout our anger and feel our emptiness. But, when Sunday comes and Christ has risen, we need to let Sunday come into our lives and feel the power of the resurrection. Oh, when Friday came, my eyes cried out and my heart sobbed, but when Sunday came, the light of the risen Lord filled my life with hope and faith and joy. Little Philip understood. We have Life because the tomb is empty! Weep no more! Praise God! He is risen!
Century Christian Church, March 27, 2005 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
1. Gary Thomas, Christian Times, October 3, 1994, p. 26.
2. Sherman Johnson in his exegesis for Matthew for the Interpreter's Bible Commentary.
3. Dr. Mickey Anders, "I Have Seen the Lord," sermon April 4, 1999.
4. Unknown.