Growth and Change

The New Revised Standard Version Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

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.

Intro: Uncle Rico

There is a movie that is unwaveringly weird, which is probably why it’s one of my favorites.

It’s called Napoleon Dynamite, and it follows the exploits of a bunch of nerds in Iowa.

And one of my favorite characters is Uncle Rico, because he’s just patently absurd.

Rico has one absolutely fatal flaw, let’s see if we can find it in this clip together:

<Play Uncle Rico Video> (2:00)

Rico is totally suck in the past.

If only the coach had put me in!

If only we had won the state championship!

Then my life would be totally different than it is today!

Try to find relevance with a character stuck in the past and resistant to change with us as Presbyterians.

We are the frozen chosen after all!

And so given the news we’ve all been working through this week, I find myself trying to name the most important 5 things we need to know as Christians and followers of Jesus.

Today, I want to talk about how we are resistant to change, and how that resistance can actually get in the way of growth.

Bible Breakdown

This is right after the resurrection at the tomb

It’s hard to imagine the amount of emotions that are going on here.

And we sometimes loose track of how quickly this all happened for Jesus.

On Thursday, he had dinner with his disciples on Passover, one of the highest holy days of the Jewish faith.

On Thursday night, he’s arrested and kept up all night in a sham trial.

On Friday morning he’s before Pilate.

On Friday by noon he’s on the cross.

And by Friday afternoon, he’s dead.

A lot has happened very very quickly.

So this story starts with Mary standing outside the tomb, and to her shock and surprise, she looks in the tomb and finds no Jesus, but instead two other guys.

They ask why is she weeping, which is like an adventure in “duh.”

And she starts spiraling.

Who is Mary?

Seven Demons

Mark 16:9 “Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.”

We have so many hang ups around this word “demon.”

Whatever this is, Mary has a past, and Jesus had a hand in setting that past straight and bringing about healing.

Whatever is good and noble and true about Jesus, Mary hasn’t just heard about it, she’s experienced it.

The DaVinci Code

I blame the DaVinci Code, but Mary doesn’t have the seedy reputation that so many of our world try to put on her.

Nowhere in scripture does it say that Mary was a prostitute.

Nowhere in scripture does it say that Mary had a reputation.

Nowhere at all in scripture is there even a hint that she and Jesus shared a relationship.

A Disciple

While the scriptures never outright call her this, Mary was a disciple.

She followed Jesus from town to town on his journey.

She listened to the teachings he offered.

She tried to live her life the way that he demanded.

And she was close enough that she followed him all the way to the grave, quite literally.

And now, out of nowhere, there are two guys sitting in the tomb where Jesus is supposed to be, and she is confused.

Who is this guy?

She turns around and finds someone standing there, but doesn’t know who it is.

Dead People Tend to Stay Dead

Some folks have asked me how it’s possible that so many people don’t recognize Jesus after the resurrection.

The truth is that dead people tend to stay dead.

If I came across someone that looked a lot like my Grandma Mimi at the food court of the mall, I would come up with a lot of answers before I assumed she was back.

In fact, so much in life we find what we’re looking for, and miss what we can’t see.

The Gardener

Mary in this moment takes a stab in the dark, and makes an assumption.

She thinks he’s the gardener.

John is doing something interesting here with the story.

There’s a way of studying the Bible called the principal of first mention, which is where you take a word that seems out of place, and try to go back to the first time you heard that word in scripture to see what it has to tell you.

So the first time in scripture that we come across a garden...

John is telling us exactly what Jesus did here in the resurrection.

It’s a restoration.

It’s a undoing of what was wrong.

It’s redemption.

Maybe he is the gardener after all.

All it takes is a name

At this point you have to assume Mary is pretty close to losing it.

Hyperventilating through the tears, she begs the gardener to tell her where he took Jesus’ body.

And all Jesus has to do is say her name.

Names are so valuable, aren’t they?

When someone knows your name, there’s a deep degree of knowing and vulnerability there.

When the creator of the world knows your name, it carries a deep and lasting weight in the heart, doesn’t it?

How many galaxies are there?

How many stars?

How many planetary bodies?

How many humans on this one?

And he knows us by name? Wow.

When she hears Jesus Christ say her name, Mary snaps back and understands what’s going on.

She knows her savior who knows her.

And so she flings her arms wide open

She runs toward him.

She screams out “teacher”

She’s ready to embrace him, to hug him, and then we get this weird response from Jesus.

Do not hold on to me

Jesus has personal space issues?

Social distancing Mary, please!

Gentle Jesus meek and mild doesn’t want a hug from one of his closes disciples?

You’ve got to imagine though what Mary is communicating through this hug.

Things can finally go back to normal

He’s back!

That means we can get the show back on the road.

That means we can start going out and healing folks.

That means we can get back to sticking it to the people that did this to him.

That means we can have those late night campfires.

That means things will be back…to…normal.

And Jesus stands at a distance and says...

Don’t hold on to me.

Because things are not going back to normal.

In fact, they never can.

There’s an ascension coming

Jesus brings up this idea of the ascension.

I’m here, I’m resurrected.

But I’m also on my way to something new.

We as Christians have come to believe the Ascension of Jesus is the way that he lays claim to this world, asserts his Lordship over it, and leads us to where we ultimately will ascend too.

If Mary holds on to Jesus, to the way things were, then the ascension can’t happen.

Jesus can’t claim his throne.

The story can’t move forward.

We would get stuck.

Jesus is committed to make sure that the work he has before him gets done.

In other words…there’s more work to do

Jesus offers those same words to his disciples through Mary.

Fun fact: The first person to EVER preach the good news of resurrection, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was a woman.

I know our congregation and denomination have long ago made peace with women in the pulpit, but that just felt like something that needed to be said again.

Jesus tells the disciples that they need to anticipate what’s coming.

Jesus is about to ascend.

Jesus is about to take charge of the world.

Jesus is about to bring about a beautiful new future, one of love and grace and acceptance and peace.

And if you’re going to be a part of that future, dear disciples, you need to make sure of one thing:

Don’t get stuck in the past Uncle Rico

If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ in this story, you have a choice:

You can glory in the way things used to be.

You can wonder what would have happened if the Romans had never killed Jesus.

You can wonder what would have happened if you would have just spoken up and defended him.

You can wonder what would have been if the old days could come around again.

Or…you can prepare for a beautiful new future.

You can start to wonder how you are going to aid in the indwelling kingdom of Christ.

You can start to wonder how his ascension is going to affect you.

You can start to wonder how Jesus is going to use you to make something new and beautiful come about in the world.

Application

Celebrate the Past Without Getting Stuck There

When I was in high school, I think I’ve mentioned once or twice, I was a drummer.

And one thing I always wanted to do was make county jazz band.

It was a grueling process. Every drummer in Westmoreland County would try out, but they only had 4 spots.

I tried the first time in my freshman year, and got 10th place.

Then my sophomore year, I finished 6th.

My junior year, I finished 5th, and all four of the kids ahead of me were seniors.

If you do some quick math with me, that means I was pretty much a shoe in the next year.

But I didn’t want to risk it, so I practiced and practiced and practice.

I poured every moment in to getting ready for that audition.

And then the day of the audition came and...

I had mono.

I couldn’t audition.

I never made the band.

I can do a couple of things with that story.

I can pull an Uncle Rico.

If only I had avoided whatever water fountain gave me mono.

(I hadn’t started dating Sarah at that point, so I sure wasn’t kissing anyone!)

If only I had practiced a little harder my junior year.

If only they had given me a make up audition.

Or…I can celebrate the past I had.

I can look back fondly on the different bands that I did get to play in.

I can look back fondly on the friends that walked with me along the journey.

I can celebrate the skills that are some how still buried in my subconscious, every time I sit down behind a drum set they come to life a little bit.

We can celebrate our pasts without getting stuck there.

We can celebrate what Jesus has done in our lives without holding on to them.

We can celebrate what Jesus has done through our church without freezing it as it always was.

We can celebrate the twists and turns of our own stories without crystalizing them.

I was walking a labyrinth a few weeks ago on a retreat, and there was a massive mural on the barn that came in to view every few steps along the journey:

The only constant is change.

Recognize that Growth Requires Change

Last night, Sarah and I took the boys to a birthday party at Sky Zone.

First of all, I don’t know what sadistic mad man came up with the idea of a birthday party at a crowded trampoline park...

But secondly, it was one of those days that some of you who are parents in the room know all too well.

It was one of those days where I kept looking at these young men in front of me and wondering when they had grown up?

They didn’t need to hold my hand on the trampoline any more.

They didn’t need me to walk them through the obstacles.

In fact, after a quick moment of reassurance, they didn’t really need me much at all.

They’ve grown.

And when I’m not being a sentimental father, I recognize how vital that is for them, right?

If they stayed the same way they were when they were infants, there’d be some pretty serious trouble.

I want them to grow.

Which inevitably means I want them to change.

Jesus Christ is always calling us to growth.

We are never meant to be the same people tomorrow we are today.

We should never, ever get complacent with our faith journey.

We should every day be more and more like Jesus.

AND if that’s true, that means every day we should leave behind more and more of who we used to be.

Presbyterians are allergic to change, I get it.

We don’t want people messing with the church as we know it.

We don’t want things to be different.

We don’t want new and fancy.

We don’t want change.

But we have to have growth.

Jesus tells tells Mary not to hold on to him for the simple reason he knows she can’t!

She can try all she wants, but growth and change are inevitable.

He’s going to ascend.

And it’s going to be very, very good for her.

How will you grow in these coming days and weeks?

What do you need to lay aside to be more like Jesus?

Where can you change not just for the sake of change, but because something new and beautiful is being birthed in you?

This is all centered in resurrection

Resurrection is so very central to our faith journey it’s crazy.

And yet I don’t think we give it the time and attention it deserves.

To be sure, there will be a grand resurrection of the saints, where all of us who pass from this life will be resurrected into the life to come.

But there are also little resurrections every day.

There are times where our self esteem takes a beating, and Jesus restores us by speaking our names over us.

There are times where we fail at what we’re trying to do, and Jesus picks us up and dusts us off for round two.

There are times where we wound each other by what we say, and Jesus gives us words of healing and restoration and apology.

There are so many little deaths that we experience every day, and Jesus is quick to offer us a little resurrection to go with them.

So don’t hold on to what used to be.

It may have been great!

It may be the best you’ve ever seen.

It maybe something that you can’t imagine moving past.

But Jesus says, as he always does, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Don’t hold on to that…because I’m about to do something new and beautiful.