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St. Andrew's Church
An Anglican Church • Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Preached by
Stuart Pike
Rector
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Easter C - 2008
John 20: 1-18
St. Andrew's Church, Grimsby
23 March 2008
There were 18 of us, including our tour guide. We were mostly clergy-types. We had already visited throughout Galilee and we were doing our tour of Jerusalem and the area around it. We had already been to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane (or at least a garden full of ancient and gnarled olive trees which might have looked like the Garden of Gethsemane did 2000 years ago). We stopped at the Church across the Kidron Valley, west of Jerusalem, where Jesus would have stopped and wept as he was entering Jerusalem at his final return.
And then, just a little further down the valley, a little closer to Jerusalem we could see the thousands of stone structures all around us, so white as to seem cold even in the heat of the midday sun. Exotic and beautiful from a distance, the sudden realization of what they were seemed to send a chill down the spine.
The Kidron valley is the place, according to Jewish prophecy, where the Lord would come to judge the world. Because of this the faithful of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam have buried their dead here. It is here that you can see an example of what the tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea looked like.
Many of these tombs stood open. At one time they would have been closed off with great stone doors to prevent access. But this day, we wandered into one of them, the noise and silliness of a clutter of clergy, far from their parishes, was stopped and we each mused in our own thoughts.
It is amazing how dark it is in these tombs, as soon as you enter - especially after your eyes have been used to the strong sun reflected off those white stones. From a distance, the tombs themselves looked skull-like with their white exterior and their black openings.
Imagine the chilling experience of Mary Magdalen as she approaches the tomb so early in the morning that it was still dark. She finds that the tomb is standing open and the body of her Lord is nowhere to be seen. How empty she must feel. There is no light left in her life.
Of course the story of Easter, and all that came before it is not only a story of 2000 years ago. It is the story of people in every age and every place. Mary's emptiness is echoed in our own lives. We have felt something of it in our own experiences of loss: loss of youth, loss of a loved one, loss of a job, loss of dignity, loss of self-respect, loss of all the sunlight in our lives. Loss is emptiness.
Mary, runs to Peter and John and tells them of the tragedy, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."
John outruns Peter to the tomb and he sees the grave-clothes through the opening, but doesn't go into the tomb. Peter goes in and sees that the cloth which would have covered Jesus' head was neatly rolled up in a place by itself. This is strange: why would someone stealing Jesus' body take the trouble to do that?
John finally goes in and sees what Peter saw, and the Gospel says, "He believed." What is it that he believed? We don't know. The Gospel says that as yet they did not understand the good news that Jesus must rise from the dead. So they're not really understanding what it all means intellectually. But, at a much deeper level, John knows that he believes something. He is, I think, filled with hope.
Sometimes, far beyond reason, we are filled with hope. It is much like the peace of God which passes all understanding for which we pray. Our faith is not always a terribly reasonable one - despite what we might say about it. Reason will only take us 1% of the way - it's an important 1% - but the rest of the way is through faith and experience.
Peter and John leave Mary at the tomb where she is still grieving her loss. As she looks into the tomb, she sees a vision of two angels asking her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" Mary doesn't understand the vision. She is weeping because someone has stolen Jesus' body. Even when she turns and sees Jesus, her eyes are kept from recognizing him. Is the depth of her grief and are her tears keeping her from seeing?
Often our eyes are kept from seeing holy things too. Our sense of loss can be so profound that we can actually believe that emptiness is the ultimate reality, and perhaps our ultimate destination.
But notice the other disciples. After John believed ‘something', he and Peter don't hang around. If Jesus is not here, there is no use sticking around. Likewise, Mary only sees Jesus after she has turned away from the tomb - even when the tomb has angelic visitors, she knows that life is not here. Yet, even when she sees Jesus she doesn't recognize him until he calls her by name, "Mary."
Sometimes we spend to much time loitering around the empty tombs of our lives. We don't know enough to leave them behind and to look for life beyond the tomb.
Immediately as we left that tomb in the Kidron valley I remember being blinded by the brightness of the sun once again and at the same time clearly hearing the beautiful song of a bird. It seemed to me to be such a symbol of life amongst all of those dead tombs.
Jesus broke out of that tomb - that place of enclosure, to walk freely among us. That's the most exciting thing which happens in the days following Easter. Jesus shows up - suddenly - without warning. Jesus is out there - walking amongst the living. He calls his friends by name. He comes at any moment, and transforms a people shattered by their grief and loss, into a courageous people filled with hope and peace.
The last thing which Jesus says to Mary is to not hold onto him - he obviously has places to be - but he says that she is to go and tell this wonderful news to the others.
"Go and tell others:" that is Jesus' command to us as well. We are an Easter people and we must share this wonderful news with so many people who are still wandering around in the tombs of their loss and grief. Alleluia, Jesus is Risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Amen.
