Easter Day: John 20:1-18
It was in darkness that Jesus was born.
It was in darkness that Jesus rose from the dead.
It is often in our own darkness where we meet God.
Today’s gospel begins, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.”
We don’t know exactly what brought her there – we aren’t told. We just know that for some reason she came at an early hour.
Perhaps she had woken up early unable to sleep, full of the darkness of loneliness and sorrow at the loss of her Teacher – her friend – her Lord.
Perhaps she came to Jesus’ tomb to sit quietly outside,
to listen to the world waking up,
to feel comforted at being near his body.
Yet when she arrived the stone guarding the door of the tomb had been rolled away.
She didn’t even bother to check and see if his body were inside.
She just knew, as a woman sometimes knows things.
The comfort she sought in being near Jesus’ body turned into panic. Now he really was gone. Where was she to find peace and consolation?
She ran and told Simon Peter and the other disciple that the body of their Lord was gone. They ran to the tomb with Mary, and looking inside saw only the linen wrappings lying there.
Only one of the three understood what had happened. That disciple, the one never named, the one we know only as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” – he was the only one to understand the scripture.
Jesus’ body was gone yet the linens remained.
Jesus must be raised from the dead!
Apparently, though, these three disciples remained in silence.
They didn’t discuss the issue.
The two men went back home, and Mary remained at the tomb, weeping.
All she knew was that she had come here for comfort, and there was none to be found.
Mary again peers into the tomb, perhaps hoping that in the darkness of the morning, she had just missed his body. Or perhaps, she thought that in her grief her eyes were playing tricks on her, that maybe he really was there after all.
Yet, instead of Jesus’ body she saw two angels sitting where his body had been. When asked why she is weeping, she tells them that they have taken away her Lord, and she does not know where his body has been laid now.
Then she turns and sees Jesus standing there, yet she does not recognize him. He speaks to her, but she is so distraught that she doesn’t really see who it is.
It is not until he calls her name, “Mary.”
Then her eyes are opened.
“Mary.”
That name that he had called so gently before.
That name that had pierced her soul, delivering her of the darkness of evil spirits.
That name, which in its calling, had brought her wholeness and healing.
“Rabbouni.”
“Teacher.”
Her Lord! He is risen!
Now that he is here, she reaches out to grab him, to hold him as tight as she can so that he won’t go away from her again.
Mary, “Do not hold on to me… I have not yet ascended to the Father.”
She cannot contain him. He is free and must continue to ascend to the Father.
But she is at peace now. She knows his words are true and that his love remains.
Mary is given a new mission – to announce to the disciples that the Lord is risen.
The light has come.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
