Faith and life meet in a story
We often live like it’s Saturday.
Jesus was crucified on Friday.
Saturday was fear-filled, anxiety-ridden, and steeped in uncertainty.
But it’s not Saturday.
Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, so we’ll never have to live through a Saturday like that again.
We live in a post-Resurrection day. A Monday.
We have hope. We have victory. We have proof God keeps His promises.
Now, let’s live like it’s Monday.
This time of year highlights one of the toughest aspects of Bible study. Reruns. Not to take away from the wonder and glory of the Easter story, but I know from teaching my boys on Sunday morning that it’s a challenge to come up with a new angle before they glaze over. My ten-year-olds have studied this lesson at least four times in their young lives, twice with me. So how can we breathe new life into the old, old story?
Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? John 20:15
The risen, but yet unrecognized Jesus Christ asked this question to Mary Magdalene. Now she'd just answered this question for a couple of angels. She told them it was because the body of Jesus was gone. She answers Jesus with a request to tell her where the body was. Mary grieved because her brain was locked on the limits of her own experience. Jesus' questions invited her to rethink things.
Why are you weeping?
Jesus had died, a brutal torturous death, and Mary had stayed until that last dreadful moment. She worshipped Him and after two days of 'this CAN'T be happening', there was no body. There was no place of reflection, no tangible memorial to go to for comfort.
But there was.
Whom are you seeking?
Mary was searching for a dead Jesus. She never expected to find a risen Christ. In her grief, she limited God's abilities, and discounted His promises. She assumed this Savior was just like her, only better, more righteous and godly.
But He wasn't.
Mary wept because she missed the truth about who Jesus IS. Not just a man, righteous enough to call himself the Son of God, but GOD HIMSELF, utterly different from us, unbound by the constraints of time, space or even physical life.
Do we grieve because we don't grasp who Jesus is? Are we seeking a dead rabbi or a risen Lord? It makes a difference.
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Often our familiarity with Biblical events and truths causes our wonder to fade or be lost entirely. Unfortunately, the two greatest events in human history are the ones that suffer the most from this casual indifference. The birth of Christ is so well known; even ten year olds glaze over at its retelling. The resurrection elicits the same response. We need to remind ourselves that the story is not about the empty tomb, but really about the Risen Lord.
Consider John 20, which begins with the account of Peter and John running to the tomb to check out Mary Magdalene’s claim that Christ was gone. They investigate things carefully. The Greek words translated “saw” or “looked” give the idea that it was a thorough examination of the scene. John even says that he saw and believed. Jesus was gone. They could not deny that. However, verse 10 is the kicker. After seeing, verifying, the truth of the empty tomb, they went home! They were convinced Jesus had risen from the dead, and it was no big deal. Nothing changed. Their lives were not affected by that knowledge or belief.
Mary Magdalene hung around the tomb after Peter and John left. She was privileged not only to see angels, but also to be the first person to see the glorious, resurrected High Priest on His way to atone for all our sins. He spoke her name, assuring her that He was the same Jesus she had known, the Jesus that loved her in spite of her sins, her past, her very self.
Christ was on His way to establish our full access to the Father. We can now approach God, as one of His children, just as Christ does. Atonement means reconciliation, theologically speaking. The covering of our sins by Christ’s blood means a restoration of the broken fellowship of man with God, which came after Adam sinned. Christ’s resurrection means that the offering was accepted, the price paid, the wrath of God appeased.
After seeing the risen Lord, Mary became the first to proclaim the Good News of Christ and her listeners were the disciples themselves. Later that evening Jesus appeared to them. Once they saw Jesus, their lives changed as well. Eleven simple, small-town boys became world changers. Not because of a hole in a rock, mind you, but because of the Lord who rose again.
When the fact of someone rising from the dead becomes a little mundane, I have to stop and think, not about the tomb left behind, but about the Christ who went to His Father and your Father, to His God and mine. Rising from the dead was the easy part. Reconciling me to God… now that was something!