An Easter sermon

 

EASTER SUNDAY SERMON

prepared by Revd Moses Agyam for you to use at home 

 

GOSPEL READING – John 20:1-18 

The two angels at the tomb says to Mary Magdalene, 

“Woman, why are you weeping?” 

It has been quite a tumultuous week for Mary. She had witnessed the public humiliation, and the execution of the one she loves and calls ‘teacher’. The shocking spectacle of the last few days still reverberate. 

On the first day of the week, that is, three days later, on this Sunday, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb. John doesn’t say why she came. It is for the readers to wonder. She came to the tomb while it was still dark. 

“Woman, why are you weeping?”

It is because of the darkness. This is how John started his gospel:

“In the beginning was the Word, And the Word was with God. 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.” (John. 1:1, 4-5). 

And now, at the end of his story, he takes us back, like T. S. Eliot: 

“the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” (Four Quartets, p. 43) 

John the poet says,
The darkness has struggled to quench the light, but it has failed. As light returns to earth, it brings with its new life, the dawn of a new creation. The darkness that has laid heavily on Mary’s world, Good Friday, the darkness of life, have been defeated. 

But how is Mary Magdalene to know about this liberating news? It will come gradually in wonder and surprise. When Mary first comes to the tomb, she sees that the stone has been removed and the body of Jesus is gone; but “it was still dark”, and so misinterpret what she sees. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him”. Later she sees two angles, but she still fails to grasp why they are there. 

By now, day has dawned, but Mary is still in inner darkness. Then she sees Jesus himself! Still, she fails to see the light. A Living Jesus was the last person Mary is expecting to see. Her feet are planted firmly on the ground. Dead people don’t go walking about in the garden. So naturally, she assumes him to be the gardener. 

Is this perhaps symbolic? John’s way of signalling to the creation story, of God walking in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, at beginning of all things? 

Jesus’ first word is to call her by name. “Mary”.
Only at this stage does Mary recognise Jesus. 

“My sheep hear my voice”. (John 10:27). 

“Rabboni,” Mary responds. John explains. It means “my Teacher”. 

But Mary has still not fully grasped the significance of what is unfolding before her. She knows only that Jesus has come back, the old Jesus, the Jesus she knew and loved, she supposes that in spite of everything, life will go on just as before. Distraught with grief and relief, she flings herself at Jesus, clings to him, rejoicing that the old Jesus has been restored to her– the one she knows as “Teacher”. But this is Mary’s mistake. 

Jesus’ second words to Mary strikes us as harsh and puzzling. “Don’t touch me.” I have not yet ascended to the Father. But how could Mary touch Jesus after he ascends? She will not be able to touch him then, because he will not be present in the flesh– but why should she not do so now? It is because in ascending, Jesus is leaving the world below for the world above. 

But Mary is clearly thinking in terms of her old relationship with the earthly Jesus. When she holds on to him, she is wanting to perpetuate that relationship. But the time for that is past. A new era has begun. From now on, Mary must learn to ‘touch’ and ‘hold on’ to Jesus in a new, spiritual, way. Mary is told that there is no longer ‘old normal’ only ‘new normal’, a new future with Jesus. 

Jesus’ final words in this passage to Mary are one of sending and commission. Even this is a surprise. We expect Jesus to say, 

“Go...and tell them that I have been raised from the dead”.

Instead, Jesus says, “Go...and say to them [the disciples], ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’”. 

Jesus has been raised to a new kind of life, to which there is no end–
and he is returning to God. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension begins a new kind of relationship with God. From now on his followers will regard him, as Jesus does, as “Father.” 

Mary obeys Jesus’ instructions, rushes off to find the disciples, and declares– not “I have seen the teacher”– but “I have seen the Lord”. 

And it is not unsignificant that it is a woman who is the first to see the risen Jesus, and the first to acknowledge him as “Lord”. Clearly, things are very different in this new era! So, 

Naming, Reprimand, Sending, 

These are the first three transforming actions the risen Lord performs on this Easter morning. They unlocked the resurrection for Mary. But what about us? What have we learned? The story invites us to make the Easter journey with Mary Magdalene. 

Firstly, we start off by recognising our own darkness.

“Woman, people, why are you weeping?” Like Mary, we have had a tumultuous year. The darkness of the pandemic, of lost – lives, incomes, stability, of grief, isolation, mental health etc. We recognise too own personal darkness, which we can name before the risen Lord. For us, this Easter is about resurrected lament, even as we hear the Easter news today: We feel the struggle with darkness, battling hard to quench the light of life. 

But this is Easter day. As light returns to earth on this resurrection dawn, we find that it brings new life, the dawn of a new creation and a new beginning, but not in spite of the scars we still bear, but because of new possibilities. What signs of new possibilities are you experiencing this Easter day? 

Secondly, it is highly likely that like Mary, we too have been deeply numbed and scared by the darkness of life and the pandemic. 

In such state and place, we are struggling to see newness, to experience resurrection joy. 

But we find with Mary that this is precisely the point where the risen Lord is seeking to restore us by calling each one of us by name. Jesus is calling you by name today, right now. He calls with clear and unequivocal voice: “I am risen for you today”. Can you hear your name? 

Thirdly, what Jesus says to Mary, he says you today,
“Don’t touch me.”

This is Jesus’ brand of physical distancing– but not as you know it! 

Jesus says, do not touch me physically, touch me spiritually, in faith and love. It means that Jesus is desiring a deeper and closer relationship with you, no matter how long you’ve known him. like Mary, Jesus says there is no longer ‘old normal’ only ‘new normal’, a new future and a new way of relating and being. 

Listen to these words from the philosopher Slavoj Žižek:

“Christ says he will be there whenever there is love between his believers. He will be there not as person to touch, but as the bond of love and solidarity between people–so, ‘do not touch me, touch and deal with other people in the spirit of love.’ 

“Today, however, in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, we are all bombarded precisely by calls not to touch others but to isolate ourselves, to maintain a proper corporal distance. What does this mean the injunction ‘touch me not?’ 

"Hands cannot reach the other person; It is only from within that we can approach one another–and the window onto ‘within’ is our eyes. These days, when you meet someone close to you (even a stranger) and maintain a proper distance, a deep look into the other’s eyes can disclose more than an intimate touch”. 

(Slavoj Žižek, Pandemic! Covid-19 Shakes the World, p. 1-2). 

What is Christ saying today? How will your relationship with him and others be different? How would you touch Christ and others today? 

Finally, from this new risen existence, from this new normal, Christ is sending you, ‘Go...and tell’ that everybody can call God “Father” 

because Jesus is risen in love for all. 

Who would you “tell” this news today? 

Mary says, with a heartfelt joy and exuberance, 

“I have seen the Lord” 

How will this come true for you today?