“I Have Seen the Lord!”

March 31, 2024
St. Andrew Church
Rev. Anne McAnelly
Easter Sunday

First Lesson:                                                    Acts 10:34-43

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵ but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶ You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. ³⁷ That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ³⁹ We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; ⁴⁰ but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, ⁴¹ not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Second Lesson:                                              John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴ The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷ and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples returned to their homes. ¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹² and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³ 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.” ¹⁴ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” 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.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because 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.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

The Stylite tower was built for a monk to live in isolation and prayer to be closer to God, both physically and spiritually closer. I visited this 5th cent. stone tower in Jordan. A monk would sit alone atop of this tall tower, trapped with no way to get back down, dependent upon neighbors to bring water and food. I envision this tower when I think about Mary Magdalene as Mary the Tower for its strength, its endurance, its closeness to God. I pray we all now believe, or at least are open to believing, that Mary Magdalene is truly the woman who proclaims Jesus the Messiah, anoints Jesus for burial, is there at the cross, the tomb and at the resurrection of our Lord. As we experience the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene this. Easter, I will be calling her “Mary the Tower.” John 20:1-18 This is my favorite resurrection account. The energy, the running disciples, us knowing it is Jesus before Mary recognizes him. But spending all of Lent thinking about Mary Magdalene also helped me see this is the only personal account of the risen Lord. It’s between Mary and Jesus. The other gospels have a variety of women present. John has only Mary Magdalene, Mary the Tower. Yes, she runs to Peter and the beloved disciple, but Jesus reveals himself to Mary alone. Not to the disciples, not in a great cloud of glory, but in a personal, relational way to Mary.

So, this Easter let us consider the relational nature of the Resurrection. The relational nature of place and theme, the relational nature of emotions, and the relational nature of the resurrection.

First, resurrection happens against the background of Creation. The resurrection of Jesus harkens back to the Creation story; the same way John’s gospel begins: In the beginning… ” Here, the first day of the week, is the first day of creation when God separates the light from the dark. Mary Magdalene arrives while it is still dark, while things remain hidden. But it is only when Mary meets the gardener that the fullness of the light appears, and we meet the risen the Lord. “Mary assumes that Jesus is the gardener because this is taking place in a garden. In this gospel, the arrest, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus take place in a garden” (Working Preacher, Karoline Lewis). “Gardens are the place when heaven and earth collide. Jesus approaches her with the humility of the divine taking on human flesh” (Working Preacher, Joy J. Moore). The parallels within creation and resurrection continue. In Creation, Adam was given a helpmate, a woman. At the resurrection, Jesus was given a helpmate, a woman, Mary Magdalene. Paul proclaims, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam, (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit” (lCor. 15:45). Jesus gives us life. Jesus gives us hope. Jesus gives us new life. One commentator writes, “Themes of creation (and) new creation… extend our sense of what the resurrection can mean beyond simply eternal life or some heavenly reality beyond our death. Resurrection is nothing short of re-creation… Death is the reality of life, but resurrection points to the reality of abundant life” (Working Preacher, Karoline Lewis). Today we celebrate our reality of abundant life!

Secondly, let’s consider the relational nature of emotions within the resurrection. Mary remains in the garden, alone, weeping. Her grief and fear are palpable. The disciples are gone, Jesus’ body is gone, but she remains, mourning Jesus. This also echoes back to weeping for Lazarus, mourning a friend, a brother. Mary’s weeping reminds us that for the incarnation to be taken seriously, being human must be taken seriously. When a friend dies, we cry. Jesus was Mary’s Lord, her teacher, and her friend. Mary loved Jesus and Jesus loved her. But I wondered why the disciples don’t cry, with so much attention to Mary’s weeping. Yet what does Mary the Tower do? After the men leave, when she is alone in the dark at the tomb, Mary finds the courage to look inside the tomb. Mary has the strength to face her fears and grief. Mary has the forbearance to continue seeking her Lord.  This strength leads to her meeting two angels, a terrifying event! Think of all the times we have heard, “Do not be afraid!” when an angel appears. But not so for Mary. The angels do not address her fear, rather her crying, her emotions. The angels ask her, “Why are you weeping?” Yet Mary’s purpose remains to find Jesus. That’s the strength of Mary the Tower!

Finally, the relational nature of the resurrection. The resurrection is personal. Mary says basically the same thing to the two disciples as she does to the angels, “They have taken away my Lord, and WE do not know where they have laid him” (2,13). Speaking to the disciples she says, “we do not know.” But when the angels ask Mary, she says, “I do not know where they have laid him” and “I will take him away.” Mary is claiming her power. Mary is making strong “I statements.” Mary has a personal relationship with Jesus, with honest emotions and connections. Is your relationship with the resurrection personal? Does Jesus’ resurrection affect your life and your relationships? It does for Mary.

While Mary still thinks Jesus is the gardener, Jesus asks her, “Whom are you looking for?” “(These) are (Jesus’) first words to the first disciples, with the only difference being “what” instead of”whom” (Jn 1:38). To ask this question of Mary here takes the reader back to the calling of the disciples and implies that Mary. too, is considered a disciple.” (Working Preacher, Karoline Lewis). This question from her risen Lord reinforces her relationship as a disciple. Jesus revealing himself by calling her “Mary” and her responding “Rabbouni!” solidifies this Teacher/disciple relationship. The resurrection is personal.

The resurrection also changes our relationship with God, with Jesus. After Mary falls at Jesus’ feet, or throws her arms around him in joy, Jesus tells her to not hold onto him because he will soon ascend. His ascension will bring the incarnation full circle. Jesus’ commissions Mary to tell the disciples, not that Jesus is risen, but ascending. I had never noticed this before. Jesus is “ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (17). Here “Jesus speaks the whole purpose of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The one he calls, ‘Father’ is not his abba alone. In his ministry, and in his death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus is opening the way for humanity to have the same relationship with God that he has. The resurrection means that the way Jesus knows God and is known by God –  even the way Jesus is one with God- this “at-one-ment” (his atonement) is for us. Jesus’ relationship with God is ours through the resurrection and ascension.

It may help to think of someone bringing his friends home after schooI. The house, the food, the video games: all of them are shared as if all the kids belonged to the same family. Jesus says he is going ‘to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Like that kid bringing his friends home, Jesus means to share the relationship he and God share with his brothers and sisters. Being sons and daughters of God: this relationship is open now to everyone the Son brings home, and he wants lots of brothers and sisters” (Jn 17:24, Rms 8:29) (Working Preacher, Mary Hinkle Shore). Jesus is sharing his relationship with God with you. Jesus is making his resurrection personal for you so that your relationships change.

Mary Magdalene whom Jesus healed of seven demons, who had the courage to seek her Lord, who told the disciples Jesus is ascending, does one final thing. “Mary fulfills her mission. She announces, ‘I have seen the Lord.’ In John, to see (horao) the Lord is to know, believe in, receive and trust the Lord. It is to have power to become a daughter of God” (Working Preacher, Mary Hinkle Shore).

The resurrection of Christ is personal. It is about your relationship with God and Jesus. Jesus sharing his Father with you. Jesus’ resurrection gives us the strength to endure the emotions of life, trusting in our closeness with God, because we are sons and daughters of God. Easter is our time to know, believe, receive, and trust the Lord, saying with Mary the Tower, “I have seen the Lord!” Amen.