It was Paul who included the great Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5-11, stating that there is coming a time when, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That is our future. Our Lord will come again and set all things right.
Remarkably, however, the very first news of Easter was not good news at all. It was terrible news that Mary Magdalene brought to the Apostles Peter and John when she came running with the announcement that the body of Jesus had disappeared. What a shock that must have been.
When the body of Abraham Lincoln was almost stolen back in 1876, some years after his death, to be held for ransom, our entire nation was shocked and dismayed. Thankfully, the plot to steal the body was uncovered at the last minute. But it caused his son Robert Lincoln to make sure his father’s body was put in a permanent tomb, buried ten feet deep under 4000 pounds of cement in 1901, so that no future plots could disturb his dad’s remains..
We can only imagine the shock of these disciples of Jesus, smitten and numbed as they already were at the unexpected death of their Lord, when they heard Mary's hysterical announcement.
On hearing this, both Peter and John immediately left for the tomb, running through the streets of Jerusalem and through the Damascus Gate to the tomb. John, the younger of the two, outran Peter and, stooping down, he looked into the tomb. They both saw that Jesus was not there. And they did not understand the full meaning of it all. The New International Version renders that verse: "They still did not understand from the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead." That suggests that Peter and John did not believe that Jesus had risen.
That brief account focuses first upon the sobbing of Mary, standing outside the tomb, still convinced that her Lord was dead and his body had been stolen. Then, looking in, she saw two young men, "angels" we read, sitting inside. "Woman, why are you weeping?" they asked her. In the early light of dawn they seemed to be looking not at her, but at someone behind her. Turning, she saw a man standing there whom she took to be the gardener, who asked her the same question, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
There is a gentle rebuke inherent in that twice-asked question. It is saying, "This is no time for weeping, but for rejoicing, praise and thanksgiving." It implies that she could and should have known that. Jesus had clearly said several times, as the Gospels record, that he would rise again on the third day. One of the striking phenomena of the Gospels is the deafness of the disciples to the consistent revelations of Jesus concerning his resurrection. He had great difficulty convincing them that he was going to die in the first place. It was only as they saw the opposition closing in on him that they realized his words were true. But even then none of them seemed to grasp that every time he mentioned his death he also added that he would rise again on the third day.
This is a legitimate part of the message of Easter. It does indeed give us a glorious hope when we face death's door. You know, there are three questions we all ask of ourselves at one time or another, "Where do I come from?" "Why am I here?" and “what happens when we die/” We Christians have the answer to that, but still we often ask the question. "Is it really necessary to leave?"
Most of us wish we didn't have to say "Yes" to the third. But that is not what comforted Mary or any of the disciples at this point. It never crossed their minds that this event would give them a hope in the hour of death. What brought them deliri But Mary was just like us! Have you ever found yourself in a distressing circumstance, when the sky seemed to come crashing down on you, and Christian that you are, sometimes you temporarily forget all the promises of God? You felt sorry for yourself, you became anxious and upset. I have. We so quickly forget the promises of God.
Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. And he had lots of things go wrong. On the third day his wife Katie came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes, all dressed in black. "Who's dead?" he asked her. "God," she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, "What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die." "Well," she replied, "the way you've been acting I was sure He had!"
Many of us have been caught in that trap. We forget who is in charge. We forget whose children we really are. This is also what had happened to Mary.
But Jesus has to speak but one word to her to open her eyes. With indescribable tenderness he simply uttered her name -- not Mary, which is what the account here says, but "Miriam," as he reverted to their native Aramaic. Mary instantly recognized his voice, just as any one of us would recognize a loved one's voice on the telephone. Responding in Aramaic, Mary flung herself at his feet and cried, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher"). She seized him by the feet and began to weep tears of joy.
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. She was the Apostle to the Apostles. She told them that Jesus Lives. He lives!
I believe this is the first and the chief "good news" of Easter. Most celebrate Easter as a reminder that there is hope on the day when they have to leave this earth -- that Easter means because he lives we shall live also. The hymn says,
Jesus lives, and so shall I,
Death, thy sting is gone forever.
ous gladness of heart was the realization, "Jesus is back again! We haven't lost him! He is here with us, and he will always be with us!"
That is the truly good news of Easter. Through two thousand years of Christian witness what has sustained the hearts of millions is the realization that Jesus can enter one's life and go with you through the trials, pressures, tears and joys of life right here on earth. He will be with you at the hour of death, yes, but not as a stranger just then entering your experience. He will already long have been a trusted Friend, not merely a comforting Companion, but as Lord, Sovereign, authoritative and able to work through the difficulties you face. No one wants to face pressures all alone; it helps to have someone with you. And not only someone like yourself, one who can understand how you feel, but if it can also be someone who has authority and power, one who can work out solutions to your seemingly insoluble problems, what a comfort that is!
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