Early on the First Day of the Week
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.
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.”
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 hearts 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, early on the first day of the week, Mary came to the tomb as the day was dawning.
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? For whom are you looking?" 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."
The gardener was silent for a long time, but then he said one word, "Mary."
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.
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 also was 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!" one student said in a “put-down” whine. "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.
Don’t let your life get stuck in Friday tears and despair. Weep no more. Early, on the first day of the week, come to church and find God’s Good News for you for this week! Every week, it starts like this: “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 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! It all began because Mary left her house and left her everyday routine and, early on the first day of the week, she came to where she met the risen Lord.
Her life was changed! She ran and told the disciples, and their lives were changed! And, your life can be changed too! And it all began on the first day of the week. Amen.
Century Christian Church, March 23, 2008 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland