Hearing the Voice
of Hope
Scripture
1Early 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. 2So 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!"
3So
Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both
were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there
but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind
him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head.
The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally
the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw
and believed. 9(They still did not
understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10Then the disciples went back to their
homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she
wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two
angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the
other at the foot.
13They
asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They
have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have
put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw
Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman,"
he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said,
"Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I
will get him."
16Jesus
said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17Jesus
said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go
instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.' "
18Mary
Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the
Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
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As Father Paul spoke of those times in
all our lives which are so powerful that we can do nothing but stand
back and watch... trying to absorb that which we may never be able to grasp
with our minds today; as Father Paul painted once again this picture from Luke’s
Gospel, what was going though my mind was simply how shocked.... how surprised
those followers of Jesus must have been.
Perhaps it is hard for us to grasp that,
for the story is too familiar to us these days. Perhaps because we have
Easter to rush on to, we don’t stand and watch and even try to relate to
those who actually stood and watched Jesus’ crucifixion.
-
Can we imagine
their respect for this One whose teachings had grabbed their minds and hearts
like no others?
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Can we imagine
their awe of this One who had power, and used that power to heal disease and
free people from demons?
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Can we imagine their
love for this Holy One who associated Himself with them despite their
sinfulness?
-
And can we now
imagine their utter surprise, that a week after they welcomed this special One
into
What
an awful surprise. Can you imagine?
My guess is that all of us have tasted
that awful surprise, albeit it is smaller portions. For as we have lived our
lives we have seen people die. When someone who had chosen a hard and wild
lifestyle suddenly dies we may grieve if we know them, but we probably won’t be
surprised. But when someone who is young, or someone who has lived a righteous
life; who has bless many through actions of mercy and a generosity of time
rarely offered, suddenly dies, we again grieve but this time we are surprised,
aren’t we? We say things like “Why him?” or “Why did God allow this to
happen to her?”
I imagine that such was the case for
those who had followed their Lord all the way to
It is difficult enough to live in this
world when things make sense, but it is at times like this when the darkness
overwhelms us that we are even surprised at just how dark that darkness can be.
And when those times of surprise come, so too comes the waves of chaos and insecurity.
In that light, maybe we can better understand
those first disciples of Jesus who scattered when He was arrested. After all,
if their world could arrest and execute Jesus, what would stop it from coming
after them?
I really doubt that the passing of their
Sabbath, from Friday night to early Sunday morning, changed much in the minds
of Jesus’ followers. I appreciate the honesty of the Gospel stories which
describe Jesus’ disciples cowering in fear behind locked doors. I would too... wouldn’t
you? The past few days had brought such an awful surprise.
So I appreciate how today’s scripture
passage begins; “while it was still dark”,
and yet it speaks of a follower’s devotion to her Lord even amid that darkness.
Despite the surprise of the past few days, Mary Magdalene ventured out to
Jesus’ tomb... can we acknowledge her courage? Perhaps her sorrow was so great,
or her love for Jesus so strong that all the fear she experienced melted away
in singular devotion to Him. Other Gospels tell us that she was going to the
tomb to finish the burial process interrupted by the Sabbath. Perhaps there was
more anointing to finish; perhaps Jesus body needed to be moved from a stone
preparation table traditionally found in the entrance chamber of the tomb to an
alcove on the side, as would have been customary in Jesus’ day.
But whatever her anticipated mission,
Mary’s love for Jesus gave her courage to brave the situation and do what
needed to be done. She even set out not knowing who would move the stone away
so that she could get to Jesus’ body.
But soon Mary would experience a new
surprise, for just when you believe that life couldn’t get worse, or any darker;
after all, what could be worse than watching Jesus die; you come to the surprising conclusion that
someone had stolen Jesus’ body!
Why God? Why would they do that? And who
would do that? Who would be so malicious as to steal a dead body?
Mary
races back, and finding Peter & John she says “They have taken the
Lord out of the tomb...” They? Most scholars believe that Mary though the
temple authorities had taken Jesus’ body, because “they” would have been most
unhappy that Jesus had been honored with a decent burial, rather than thrown
into a common grave with thieves, frauds and vagrants.
Mary’s dark world had surprisingly
become even darker; but not for long. For as she ran to tell Peter &
John and then followed them back, the sun was rising ; it was no longer “still
dark” as it was when she first saw the open grave. The new light allowed Peter
& John to see Jesus’ grave clothes; strips of linen lying there, myrrh and
aloe-infused wrappings which had been quickly wound around Jesus before the
Sabbath had begun. Also, they saw in the empty tomb a burial cloth; a rolled up
piece of fabric tied under the chin and over the head of Jesus, to keep his
mouth closed in death.
Grave robbers would not have left these
behind in their haste to steal a body, certainly not “undisturbed” as described
in this text. This was not a robbery scene... something unusual yet something
non-chaotic, even purposeful, happened here.
According to our text, John was the first
to “believe”; to see hope of something great in the evidence left in the tomb,
though he admits in his own Gospel that together with Peter, he did not fully
understand what had happened. But with this sense of hope, and verifying Mary’s
news of an empty tomb, Peter & John go home.
But, we are left with Mary crying
outside the tomb. And can’t we almost hear her heart; can’t we relate? “Please
God, no more surprises. Please! No more... I can’t take any more surprises.
But God had a big one in store just for
her, and it began when she bends over and looks into the tomb... a tomb
increasingly lit by the sunrise, and there she sees two angels in white seated
where Jesus’ body had been.
There is an irony here I don’t want us
to miss. Please recognize that it was to Mary Magdalene that the angels
appeared, and not to Jesus’ formally-appointed disciples; those who would have
considered the testimony of a woman unreliable. As angels first revealed God’s
good news of Jesus’ birth to the least an lowly shepherds of
“Woman, why are you crying?”.
But Mary is still in her darkness, and as
she tries to answer them by offering her perspective of the despair that has
surrounded her life, suddenly the light of God shines even brighter. Mary
unexpectedly notices someone she believes to be the caretaker of the tomb
gardens. Her hope can only stretch as far as the possibility that the gardener
can take her to Jesus’ body. But this gardener reiterates the message of the
angels “Why are you crying?”... but then pushes God’s surprise even more by
asking a very telling question, “Who is it you are looking for?”
In asking that question, God is taking
Mary’s focus away from the problem of the tomb, and focusing her attention upon
the One who will dispel all the questions of the tomb, and the awful surprises
that have darkened Mary’s life.
It is noteworthy that God’s surprise finally
breaks through her darkness when Jesus calls her by name.
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, "Rabboni!"
It
is noteworthy that Mary recognized Jesus when He spoke her name because faith
is a very personal thing, and it comes out of having a relationship with God,
where we know His voice and can see his real presence, his living presence when
He speaks personally to us.
Last summer a story was published in Decision
magazine about a man born in 1950 in the
"Who is your God?" the elders asked the missionary.
"He's the God of Heaven and earth, ......
He's the Creator of the universe. He created you, too."
"Is he powerful?" the elders probed.
"More powerful than the spirits that have controlled our lives from the
beginning of time? Is he more powerful than our ancestors, the
head-hunters?"
"Yes, he's more powerful."
Trusting in the power of this God, this tribe
started teaching the missionary their language. Maybe, they thought, this God
could free them from the spirits that darkened their lives.
Seven years later, Dick Row had to return to
the
But the further he read, the more distressed
he felt. A mob of people came to get Jesus out of the
But suddenly, God surprised Nard by reaching
down into his heart. Nard heard God say to him "Nard, don't you
understand?.... That's how much I love you. I gave my Son on your behalf."
All those years with the missionary had helped Nard to know God’s voice!
For the first time, Nard understood grace. God
had spoken to him and Nard understood how much God loved me.
"God, if you love me that much,"
Nard prayed, "I want to give you my life, my heart. It's all yours."
He went back and picked up his Gospel, brushed it off, and sat back on that
rock to see what happened next. It was an incredible moment as Nard read that
Jesus rose from the grave on the third day. Nobody in all of Dibagat, nobody
from among the Isnag people, had ever risen from the grave. The resurrection
story changed his life. Citation:
Nard Pugyao, "Penetrating Power," Decision (July-August 2006), p.
18 (modofied); ©2006 Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, used by permission,
all rights reserved
Perhaps you are here today well-acquainted with the God of
Love in Jesus Christ, but do you know the all-powerful God of surprises.. good
surprises, great surprises, awesome surprises, the God of surprises who know
your name? Hear him when He calls, and live life with hope because Jesus is
Risen, He is Risen Indeed. AMEN
Scripture taken from the HOLY
BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).
Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984
by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan
Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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