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We
all know exactly what we were doing on September 11. And we
know what we felt when we heard about the rescuers who were
going in before the buildings went down, and then when they
crashed down on those rescuers—who hadn’t been there, who
had no business being there, except to help people get out and
to help people get through that situation. I don’t know if
you’ve ever felt or seen a fireman’s suit. My
brother-in-law, Sean, is a fireman in Plainfield, Illinois,
and when we visit, the kids always like to go to the
firehouse. How incredible it is to see everything so clean and
prepared. Have you ever felt how heavy the helmet is? Have you
ever felt how heavy the coat is they wear? Have you ever
thought about how little protection the helmet and coat might
offer them (especially in the face of what happened on
September 11)?
What
would make someone be willing to go back in for a perfect
stranger? What would make someone willing to go into a burning
building for someone who didn’t even know who they were? It
has to be more than that helmet. It has to be more than that
coat. What is it in a person’s make up that calls them to go
in and rescue somebody?
It
wasn’t until after Jesus’ death that we realized what it
was that called him to go into the sad, sorry situation where
people didn’t know who he was and didn’t like what he
was—and still he gave up his life to rescue us. He died for
us. And he was buried in a tomb. And that’s where we find
ourselves in this account.
It
had been a long weekend. Jesus died on an early Friday
afternoon. They wanted to bury his body before sunset, because
in the Jewish calendar, the day begins with the darkness. So
Friday night begins the day. The day of the Sabbath began when
the sun set. They kept the Sabbath very holy, and didn’t do
anything on that day. Sometimes I think we need a little more
Sabbath in our lives.
So
they got Jesus’ body down from the cross and laid it in a
borrowed tomb. And then they waited out the Sabbath, as was
their custom. So it wasn’t until Sunday morning, after the
Sabbath had been taken care of, that the women came to the
tomb. The women went back to ground zero, where Jesus had
given up his life and had been laid to rest.
The
world had beaten righteousness and truth to death. Jesus was
all that, and the world beat him to death. And that’s where
he was. And so Mary, returning to the tomb, was going back to
ground zero. She saw the tomb’s stone was rolled away. Her
first thought was “grave robbers!”
It was darkness moving to dawn when she arrived. And
Mary, upon entering into that ground zero, never realized she
had left the old world behind. She had left the old world
where “might makes right.” She had left the old world that
says “look out for number one.” She had left the old world
where people kill one another because they are different.
Where people write off other people because they don’t fit
the mold. She didn’t know she had left the old world, where
you do what you feel when you want to. She couldn’t even
bring herself to look into the tomb and face her fears.
Instead
Mary ran back. She ran to the disciples—at least those who
hadn’t scattered—and told them about it. It’s
interesting that the women were the first ones to go back to
ground zero. I think that says something about the strength of
women. Then Peter and John ran to the tomb. You have this
great image of Peter falling behind while they run. John
reaches the tomb first, but waits outside. When Peter
(impetuous Peter) got there, he barged right in. It’s one
thing to go to the tomb. It’s another thing to go in.
And
Peter does. And they see that it’s not how it was. They see
that something has happened.
When John sees this, he believes. Though they don’t
understand the scriptures.
So
the disciples went to their home and left Mary there, weeping
over all that had happened. This was Mary Magdalene, the
prostitute, the one possessed by demons, the one who Jesus
loved into life again. She was standing outside of the tomb
weeping, and when she saw Jesus, she didn’t know who he was
because of her tears. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you
weeping?” God asks us today, “Why are you weeping?” What
is it that has grabbed you and gotten in the way of seeing
God? What is it you are weeping for?
God
calls us to weep sometimes. God calls us to rejoice at times.
And he asks us why are we weeping today. Is it over the things
that break God’s heart? Or is it over things we ought not to
be weeping for? Are we weeping because we don’t have the
sight of God and who He is and what He’s already done for
us? I think many of us are blinded by our tears. And there
comes a time when we need to set those tears aside, so that we
may see God clearly and what God is calling us to.
Of
course Mary sees the gardener, which would make sense, until
Jesus says her name, “Mary!” How many of
us have tried to read the Bible and gotten bogged down in the
names? All the “begats,” they used to call them. They get
old after a while, and it becomes tempting to skim through
them. Yet how good it is that God is interested in names. God
knows your name and God knows my name. How good it is that God
enjoys writing names into his book. Whenever we come and put
our faith in him, Jesus writes our name in the Lamb’s Book
of Life. And God knows your name. Jesus said “Mary.” And
it is in that naming that she recognizes him. It is in that
personalization that God reaches her so she can hear and see
that it’s Jesus. It’s her Lord calling to her.
Since
the beginning of time, since the beginning of humanity, it is
God who calls us. After Adam and Eve sinned, they didn’t go
looking for God. They hid in the bushes. And God went looking
for them. “Adam, where
are you?” God has always desired a relationship with us,
his creation. Even today, God—the omnipotent God—cares
about you deeply and personally. It’s a real dichotomy that
Jesus, who desires to be our friend and our brother, is the
same one who lives in holiness and righteousness and is
unapproachable apart from having our sins washed from us.
Jesus
came and showed Mary the life at ground zero. He came and
said, “I’m alive and I’m here for you, and nothing will
be the same.” Jesus showed Mary that the old world was left
behind. Don’t get trapped in it. I’ve come to show you a
new life, a life that involves love, a life that involves
caring (for your enemies!), a life that says the more you give
away, the more you receive. This new way is a real
upside-down, earth-quaking, shaking up of the kingdom of this
world in order to show us the kingdom of our Lord and Christ,
the way God calls us to live.
Mary,
after this encounter with Jesus, goes back to the disciples
and says, “I have seen the Lord.” In order to do that, she
has to go back to ground zero. She has to go back to the place
of emptiness, to the place of death. And she realizes, once
she gets there, that God has taken care of her.
In
the same way, God has already taken care of it for us today.
What are the tombs that you are hanging around in your life?
What are the empty places you are dwelling in? What are the
old world ideas that you are hanging onto, realizing that God
came to show us, by raising Jesus from the dead, that that old
world is gone. That old world needs to be left at the tomb,
and the new one brought with you and me, wherever we might be.
Worship doesn’t just happen on Sunday nights, but is a
response to life at ground zero every day of our lives. We
come to church to worship publicly and corporately. But every
day we need to worship God for the new life He has given us.
It’s not just new life that happened almost two thousand
years ago. It’s new life daily. I don’t think we spend
enough time thinking about our new position in Christ. We
talked about being in the old world, being dead in our
trespasses and sins, following the prince of the power of the
air, being subject to our lusts and desires, but God…emptied
the tomb. But God brought us out of the old world into the
new.
Our
position in Christ means that he lives in each one of us who
surrenders his life in order to go from the old world to the
new world when we encounter him at our ground zeros.
He lives in us. This week, remember that you don’t
live in the old world anymore. We’ve been to the tomb, and
it’s empty. The new world that Jesus is calling us to is
available to us because he lives in us. Remember the
bracelets, “What would Jesus do? WWJD.” It almost sounds
past tense. The real question is, “What will Jesus do
through me today?” For you it might be coming to ground zero
for yourself, realizing the new life available there through
God’s Son, Jesus Christ, sharing it wherever you might go.
It may mean being Jesus, allowing him to work through you at
work, at home, at school, or wherever he has led you. He’s
calling you to live in him, in his new world, offering that
new life where you find yourself. He’s available for us here
and now.
Let
us pray. Almighty God, Author of all life, of all creation.
You didn’t leave us alone, but you offered your Son. And you
lived among us. You gave up your life for us, and showed us
how to live. Forgive us, Lord, because we go to the tomb and
we don’t leave, and we live in that place of death. Forgive
us because sometimes we ignore your new life available to us
and we live in the seeming comfort of our old lives. Forgive
us, Lord, because sometimes when we come to the place where we
need you the most, we don’t enter in. Help us, Lord, to face
those tombs in our lives so that you may clean them out for us
anew. We thank you, God, that you’ve called us today to live
in you because you live in us. Help us not to be blinded by
our tears but to see you in our situations.
Help us not to keep it to ourselves, but to be bold as
Mary was bold. Help us go back and tell other people, “I
have seen the Lord, and that has made all the difference.”
We pray these things in the name of our risen Lord. Amen.
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