Where Have You Put Jesus: The Easter Story (John 20:1-18)

Are you missing something?

Have you ever misplaced something? Seems like it happens more frequently than it used to as you get older. Anybody know what happened to my phone? They now have gadgets that will find phones, suitcases, cars. Ever walk through a parking lot hitting the key fob to hear the car alarm beep because you forgot where you parked your car?

Every once in a while there is the devastating story making its way into the headlines.. it happened in San Antonio a few years back. A body disappears from a funeral home. Either lost or stolen, the impact on families is tragic. The family is already grieving. That grief is compounded by a body that goes missing.

A missing body is at the heart of our story today. And it’s not just any body. This is the body of one of the most popular rabbis in Israel’s history. This was the rock star prophet who did all sorts of miracles and attracted crowds. This is the body of the Promised One of the Old Testament. How do you lose that kind of body?

Dead and Buried

John informs us that Jesus, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, has died. Jesus is the one who turned water into wine, healed blind men, and raised his best friend from the dead. Jesus fed thousands of people with just 5 loaves and two fish. Jesus was kind and compassionate. A friend. But Jesus had enemies. And ultimately, the world is plotting against Jesus and Jesus is executed on a cross. And then he is buried.

Here’s how that went down:

John 19:38-41 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. They took Jesus’s body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the fragrant spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it.

Jesus is buried. Dead and buried. Jesus died a horrific death and he still has friends, Joseph and Nicodemus, who come and make sure that the body has a proper burial. He’s placed in a tomb, wrapped in linens, soaked in fragrant spices… all common practice of that day. Jesus is buried.

There is a finality to burial. Burial is fully human. A return to the dust. The body looks as though it is sleeping, but there is no life. There is no warmth. We joke about being room temperature, but being the same temperature as the ground means that the life of the body is gone and it’s not coming back. The body now belongs to the earth from where it came. Burial is rest for the body waiting for the resurrection at the last day.

At least that’s the thinking of the characters in our story. In fact, this was anticipated by another friend not in this story. Martha, the sister of Lazarus who was raised by Jesus told Jesus that she believed she would see her brother again at the final resurrection, and she had faith that Jesus could give Lazarus life at the final resurrection. Now we have friends who are thinking the same thing about Jesus.

This scene is dominated by friends. Friends who are in grief. Joseph, Nicodemus, John and Peter all make an appearance in these scenes. But there is one who John highlights. Another of Jesus’ best friends. Mary Magdalene, who is found in so many of the stories one begins to think she’d qualify for the title of the 13th disciple. Mary had been dramatically healed by Jesus of demon possession. In her healing, Jesus gained a friend for life.

The spotlight falls on Mary Magdalene in John’s account of the resurrection, unlike the other gospel biographies of Jesus. Mary’s grief runs deep. She is brokenhearted. Crushed. She was one of the few at the cross. She watches Jesus die, along with Jesus’ mother and family. And she comes to the tomb. Her whole life has been upended. Life is a blur. You read these details here and it is obvious that Mary is experiencing the tunnel vision that comes from deep trauma. The nightmare you cannot wake up from. She shows up at the tomb, and that terrible grief takes an even darker turn. Jesus’ body is missing.

We don’t know where they have put Jesus.

I can’t imagine what that grief must have felt like in that moment. But three times Mary mentions a missing body.

We don’t know where they’ve put him. (John 20:2)

I don’t know where they’ve put him. (John 20:13)

Tell me where you’ve put him. (John 20:15)

Mary is all-consumed with where Jesus has been put. Jesus’ body is missing. That is absolutely crushing grief. The one who healed her and saved her life, the one who loved her and forgave her and gave her much grace… the body is missing.

Mary is so consumed with grief, the missing body is personal. She says “I don’t know where they’ve put him.” “I don’t know.” She expects to know. “Knowing” will give her relief from her grief. “Knowing” will give her a sense of being in control.

We’ve all heard the saying “knowledge is power”. There is truth to that. Knowledge allows us to be in control. It gives us power to be on top of any given narrative. Ever since the garden of Eden, there has been a need to know. Satan tempted Eve with the Knowledge of Good and Evil and Eve decided knowledge is power. “Better knowing than not knowing”. She just has to know. Her faith in that moment is in knowledge. If she could just know, she’d feel better.

Worse, if she could just know, she could do something. She tells this unknown gardener, tell me where you’ve put him… and she adds this: “I will take him away”. Well, there you go. Mary wants to know so Mary can be in control. She needs information so that she can begin to put her world back together. Her hopes are dead and gone. And it’s up to her to make it all better. She needs information. She needs a body. She needs to make sense of the surreal that has been in her life for the past 72 hours.

We’ve all been here, have we not. This is us. The constant pursuit of information and knowledge so that we can control, especially in times when control of our world is slipping away.

Where have you put Him?

But this isn’t just some body. This isn’t just an innocent bit of information gathering. I don’t know where they have put Him. I don’t know where they have put Jesus. It’s not just trying to gain control of a world turned upside down. This is an attempt to control Jesus. I can make everything right with the world if I know where Jesus is so that I can put him in someplace safe.

Where have you put Jesus? Mary’s question presumes all sorts of things. Jesus has gone missing. Jesus is subject to our placement, whether lost or found. We control the narrative. Our destiny is ours to make or break so long as we put Jesus in his place. Can Jesus be controlled? Can Jesus be “put” anywhere? We can’t point fingers at Mary. We do this all of the time. With just a little more information, I can control my world, and I can control Jesus. I can put Jesus back where he needs to be so that I am safe.

Jesus cannot be “put” anywhere

But Jesus cannot be controlled. He cannot be “put” anywhere. He refuses to conform to our standards, our whims, our presumptions of the way the world is supposed to be. Mary finds this out in the blink of an eye. in one instant, everything changes.

John 20:16 “Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

Into Mary’s grief… into Mary’s need to have all the answers and all the information.. into Mary’s incessant need for knowledge, Jesus speaks. And he speaks her name. The irony here is that this is the one bit of information that wasn’t in her scope. “Where have you put Jesus?” presumes a dead Jesus. But this is a data point that blows up all the expectations. This is totally unexpected. This is an outlier beyond all outliers. Jesus is alive. Not dead.

There’s absolutely no way that she is ever going to hear her name the same again. When the risen Jesus speaks her name, he speaks her identity. And this identity isn’t coming from anything Mary can know. This identity isn’t coming from anything that Mary can do. Her identity isn’t tied to who she used to be or what she used to think she knew. Her identity is tied to the Risen Jesus. The Resurrection has turned her knowledge on her head. What she needs to know and believe isn’t some data point that she comes up with. It’s a data point being given to her: Jesus has risen from the dead. The Risen Jesus speaks her name and in doing so, floods her identity with himself.

Jesus is risen, defying our attempts to put him anywhere. He knows all about our efforts to put him in a box. To control him. How many of us have prayed a prayer along the lines of.. “Jesus, if you only would...” Jesus does want to hear our hearts desires. I find that a lot of my desires include trying to control Jesus and fit his narrative into my life, instead of finding my narrative in the Risen life of Jesus and allowing Him to shape my world.

We spend a lot of time chasing knowledge. What we think to be true about the way the world should work. Is supposed to work. We have a narrative in our head much like Mary’s. It may not be precisely, “they’ve taken Jesus away and I don’t know where they have put him, I need to take him away.” But all of the same elements are there. Things are out of control. I need more information. And once I get more information, I’m going to fix this myself.

Jesus can’t be put anywhere. But Jesus is here, putting us in his world. Putting us in His narrative where He is constantly defying our expectations. He loves us. He saves. He rescues. He forgives. And into our world, the risen Jesus speaks our name and makes us His own. Jesus is not dead. Jesus’ body isn’t missing. Jesus is alive, and he is saying our name.

Let’s Pray.

Jesus is alive. And this Table provides His life because He is alive. We are right to highlight Jesus’ death here at this Table, but this Table also proclaims a risen Jesus. Jesus promises to be here. He can only make good on that promise if he is risen. He can only save, and forgive and give grace if he is alive. Jesus’ death accomplishes nothing for us if he is not alive.