Sermon for the Resurrection of Our Lord
Witnesses to Christ: Mary Magdalene
In the Name of the Father, & of the + Son & of the Holy Spirit
Grace to you and peace from the One Who Is & Who Was & Who Is to Come!
Christ is Risen. He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Our text this morning is the resurrection account as recorded by St. John: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.1
When you think of victory, you may think of overcoming some obstacle in your life. It could be as complex as rising to the top in your career and successfully retiring. It could also be as seemingly ordinary as finally getting something to grow in the corner flower bed that doesn't die as soon as you turn your back on it. It can be a new personal best in an exercise regime. It can be something good for you, like quitting smoking, or something good for everyone by beating substance abuse. It can be as severe as beating cancer. It can be as silly as getting a recipe to turn out edible.
There is another type of victory, though. Victory over an enemy in a battle or war. If you string together a series of wins in combat, your side most likely wins. Formal surrender by Germany and Japan made the victor of World War II obvious. In wars like those in the Middle East, it was not black and white. Looking at developments in Eastern Europe and Asia, we do not know what to think. What will victory by one side or the other bring?
We experience the same difficulty, the same confusion about a victorious outcome in our personal lives and relationships with our neighbors. We need to keep our enemy in our sights and keep our vision focused on what the victory we seek is all about. But just as in a war against flesh and blood enemies, we struggle to understand our mission parameters: what it takes to win the war. But who is our enemy? Certainly, it cannot be our neighbor!
We use our interpersonal interactions to get what we want, losing sight of what God wants for us in those relationships. Instead of seeking to serve others, we seek avenues of exploitation. Then, when those relationships do not bear the fruits we want to harvest, we make our neighbor our foe. When that happens, victory starts to look like you standing alone in the center of our own little world. Would that excuse us even if the other party were actually our enemy? Paul begged to differ! "To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.’”2
In times of poor health, we may sometimes see the affliction as coming from God and make Him out to be the enemy. Or, we may draw closer to God, seeking Him out for a cure. In either case, are we using our relationship with God in the way He established it? Where is the victory here? Is our idea of a victory nothing short of a full recovery?
Then someone dies. For many, death is the ultimate defeat. It seems as though our inevitable end is simply a reminder that there is no victory, no winner in life. We may all succumb to these kinds of dark thoughts at one time or another. Jesus dead upon the cross certainly looked defeated.
The problem with protracted war for those on the sidelines who are not actively fighting yet must live in the war-torn countryside is disengagement. When the war goes on, slow and steady, like the conflict in Northern Ireland, it just becomes a part of life. We understand disengagement. Even we become disengaged from our own relatively comfortable lives. Life becomes a checklist of things to do. We undergo behavioral changes. Even strangers see that something is wrong. Our survival strategies become unhealthy: too much internet, too much eating, too much sleeping, too much shopping, too much insert your favorite vice here. We just go through the daily motions. We play the part, we put on a face, but we’ve got nothing in reserve. We hit bottom. We internalize. We don’t talk. It feels as though we’ve got at least seven demons. And we lose sight of our enemies: sin, death, and the devil.
Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out by Jesus. That is a lot of enemies! We can not imagine what that must have been like, but the result of meeting Jesus and being healed should not be. We see how she was always there in the background wherever Jesus went, and she was among the women who supported Jesus and the disciples in His ministry. In fact, some historical sources say Mary was quite a wealthy woman and had the means to do so. Yet she clung to Jesus because she knew her true enemy.
We are all like Mary at times. We can all get down and depressed. Twenty percent of all people on disability are on it because of severe depression. Despite being the wealthiest nation on earth, the United States is also the most depressed. In the last decade, depression among American teenagers has increased two hundred percent!
Mary had been down in a pit of seven demons, but Jesus lifted Mary up. That’s why Mary Magdalene follows Jesus all the way to the cross to watch her Savior bleed and die. Mary’s Messiah is your Messiah.
But now Jesus is dead. There had been so much hope and promise. But now, it had all apparently come to nothing! Mary Magdalene gets up early on Sunday to anoint Christ's dead body. But the body isn't in the tomb! Mary bursts into tears. She tells her story, first to Peter and John, and then to the angels, and now, for a third time, to a man she thinks is the gardener. “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
“Mary.” The voice is unmistakable. “Mary.” No one else has ever called her by name like that voice. “Mary.” She looks up and, in sudden recognition, cries out! It’s Jesus! He’s not dead!
Emotions flood Mary’s heart. Can’t you just imagine the incredible feelings that must have paralyzed her? She goes from the depths of grief and sorrow to the heights of pure joy. Just when it appeared as though it was all over when it seemed as though Jesus was defeated and His followers truly lost, Jesus defeats the enemy of death!
Mary tells the others, “I have seen the Lord.” Her message is that simple. Nothing more needs to be said. What does it all mean? It means that there’s more to our lives than what we think. It means that there’s more to our story than what we see. It means that there’s more than just death and the humdrum day to day we become so disengaged from. Christ's resurrection means that we have an inherent joy and a simple message to convey, just like Mary Magdalene.
The enemy is clear, and so is the victory! Isaiah foretold the outcome of the war with death: “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.”3 Because of our fallen nature, we were trapped in our sins. Because of sin, we had no other destiny than to die. Death and all of the evil effects it causes in this world were waging war with mankind. And death was winning.
On the cross, Jesus defeated death. Because His life was perfectly sinless, He was the acceptable substitute sacrifice for you. By His death, He not only removed "the shroud that enfolds all peoples” but actually destroyed it! “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”4
But the victory still does not seem very clear, does it? We still watch those we love die. We may still be confused about Jesus' victory over death because we still see the sin and death at work in the world. There is still crime and corruption. Hatred, destruction, decaying moral values. Immorality. All these things continue to tear down society. Even within the church worldwide, there is jealousy, greed, division, and a dilution of God's Word. In fact, the Word is under a seemingly more potent attack than ever. Men seek to rewrite the Bible to serve their own ends. How can a defeated enemy still so active and effective at inflicting harm be considered truly vanquished? But there is more to the Easter story than what human senses and reason can relate. The story doesn’t end with confusion and doubt.
That tomb is empty! He is not here. He has risen! We know that the victory over death was won on the cross by Christ because He rose from the grave on the third day. And Christ’s victory is your victory. Because you are baptized, you are joined to His death and resurrection. Death no longer has dominion over you because you have died with Him in those baptismal waters. "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”5 And Jesus invites us to the victory feast! Jesus tells Mary not to cling to Him, not to be mean but to teach her how things will be from now on. Jesus will not be here like He is now, but He will be here in a new way. When we eat the bread and drink the wine that is the Lord's actual body and blood, we proclaim His victory over death until His return, when the last vestiges of the evil consequences of sin and death will be eliminated, and we will rise victorious with Him to eternal life. That is how Mary will cling to Him and how we cling to Him. Jesus conquered death. Victory is ours! Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
May the peace which passes understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus