Jesus the Risen Lord

Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life. Amen

Who is Jesus? What is your idea or concept of him? What picture does he fit into for you? Is he a teacher? a buddy? A political activist? An apocalyptic prophet? A great philosopher?

Jesus has been called all those things and many more. But for the earliest Christians, there was one idea of Jesus that was most central, it was their watchword and rallying cry: Jesus is Lord. For them, Jesus was the divine king who had been exalted to the throne of God, who had power over life and death. And it was this morning, this Easter Sunday, that convinced them of that.

In our Gospel reading, we get to watch how Mary Magdalene came to that belief. Let’s look at how seeing Jesus alive after his death convinced Mary that Jesus was her risen Lord. And in the process, you’ll see how he’s yours as well.

Mary’s Idea of Jesus

Mary Magdalene’s problem at the beginning of the story is that she didn’t understand Jesus. That might seem strange, after all Mary knew Jesus very well, and she loved him dearly. He was her beloved teacher who had saved her when she had been possessed by seven demons. She could never forget her gratitude for that, and she loved to listen to her Rabbi. There were few people in this world closer to Jesus or more loyal to him than Mary. But her picture of him was incomplete. Until very recently, there was no room in that picture for the idea that Jesus could possibly be crucified, killed like a criminal. Yet that was exactly what had happened only a few days ago. And she was still struggling to fit that into her picture as she walked to the tomb that Sunday morning. As she trudged along, she was in darkness in more ways than one.

But when she got to the tomb and saw it open and empty, her grief turned to horror and confusion. Was it not enough that Jesus had died, did someone have to take away her chance to mourn as well? She was still struggling to accept that her Jesus could be dead; the idea that he could rise from the dead had not yet even entered her wildest imagination. The only explanation must be that someone had stolen the body.

The Gospel reading tells us that Peter and the beloved disciple didn’t yet understand the Scripture that the Messiah must rise from the dead, and the same was true for Mary. Like Jesus’ other followers, Mary had believed that Jesus was the Messiah. But like any other first century Jew, she knew that when the man you believe is the Messiah gets crucified, you have two options: pack up and head home, or pick a new Messiah. Mary didn’t like either of those options. And yet as much as she would have loved an alternative, she seemed incapable of conceiving of one. Neither crucifixion nor resurrection had any place in her picture of who Jesus was. The idea of a resurrected Jesus was so unimaginable to her, that she got stuck on her idea that someone stole his body. Even when she returned and saw two angels sitting in the tomb, she told them that someone had stolen the body! You would think that two glowing figures dressed in white might have tipped her off that something more than the usual was going on here. But even when she turned around to see Jesus himself, she didn’t recognize him! She actually asked the risen Jesus whether he had stolen Jesus’ body! Could there be a better symbol of having an incomplete idea of who Jesus is than not being able to recognize him when he’s standing right in front of you?

But finally Mary recognized Jesus when he spoke to her and called her by name, just as he had done before: “Mary.” And just like that, she knew that Jesus was back. Her teacher was here again, and surely he was here to stay. She didn’t understand what was happening or how it was possible, she just knew that now everything was back to normal. Suddenly, she recalled what Jesus had said at the Last Supper, something about how “in a little while you won’t see me, then in a little while you will see me, and when I see you again you’ll rejoice and no one will take your joy from you.” It sounded very mysterious and cryptic at the time and no one knew what he was talking about, but surely this must be it! She was seeing Jesus again, and she was not about to let anyone take her joy away from her again, so she grabbed onto him for dear life, crying out, “Teacher!” Jesus was back and he was real, and she wanted to hold onto him forever. The good times she had known could resume, now they would travel together and share meals again, and she would listen to him teach just like old times.

But Mary’s cry, “Teacher,” hints that her understanding is not yet complete. She is still thinking of Jesus only as her beloved teacher. And he certainly is that. But he is so much more now. Their relationship can’t continue in the exact same way Mary has always known: there is a new and better relationship for Mary to discover now. The resurrection changes everything. Mary still has another step in her journey to a full understanding of who Jesus is.

Your Idea of Jesus

What is your idea of who Jesus is? No matter who you are or what your picture of Jesus looks like, I can guarantee that there is more to discover. None of us has a complete understanding of who Jesus is. These days, people have all sorts of ideas about who Jesus is, and like Mary Magdalene, many of them have no room for Jesus’ crucifixion or resurrection from the dead.

Consider Mary’s idea of Jesus as “rabbi,” “teacher.” That’s always a popular image of Jesus. You hear people saying that Jesus was a great moral or religious teacher, like the Buddha or Confucius. Many people believe that that was his greatest contribution to humanity. He was an enlightened man who taught people to love each other. Well, Jesus certainly was that. I don’t want to downplay the importance of Jesus’ teachings to his ministry, it’s a huge part of who he is. But if that’s all he is, as many people think, then that’s not good enough. That doesn’t do justice to the fact that the New Testament, the only writings we really have to give us any solid idea of what the teacher actually taught, seem to think that the most important thing about Jesus was that he rose from the dead and now rules the universe as its king. If Jesus was only a teacher, then his crucifixion was a senseless tragedy and his resurrection was just a legend. And in that case our faith, the faith that Mary Magdalene came to, is the saddest case of misunderstanding in history.

Even if you see Jesus as more than just a teacher, there is still a constant temptation to see Jesus as simply a supporter of whatever opinion or way of life you personally happen to be in favor of. I heard a Christian apologist say something recently in an interview that really stuck with me. He was discussing how people today on both the right wing and left wing of politics want to use Jesus as a representative or PR guy for their preferred collection of values. What he said was to the effect of “everyone wants Jesus in their club, but nobody wants to be in Jesus’ club. Everyone wants Jesus in their club, but nobody wants to kneel to him.” We each have to be very careful that we aren’t trying to force Jesus into our picture of him, like Mary Magdalene was trying to do that morning. The question is not how Jesus fits into your picture, the question is how you fit into Jesus’ picture.

Jesus’ Idea of Jesus

So what is Jesus’ picture of himself? What is Jesus’ idea of Jesus? Jesus helps Mary to understand that with his reply to her. When I left off the story, Mary was clinging to Jesus with all her might. And Jesus said something next that has puzzled people for a long time: John 20 17 “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father;” It seems just a little cold and mysterious. Why exactly doesn’t Jesus let Mary hold onto him? What is this strange statement, “I haven’t yet ascended to the Father”? Is there some trickery going on, is Jesus not really present there before her? Does Jesus think Mary is somehow beneath him and unworthy to touch him? Is Jesus simply not a hugger?

All of those questions miss the point of what is going on: the problem is not Mary clinging to Jesus, the problem is why she is clinging to Jesus. She was trying to hold onto Jesus’s physical presence in front of her because she misunderstood who Jesus was and how he was going to be present with her from now on.

Mary remembered that Jesus had talked about how he would go away to the Father and then would come back and be present with his disciples. So of course she concludes that that has now happened, Jesus has gone away to the Father, but now he’s back to stay! Jesus is correcting her misunderstanding: these physical, post-resurrection appearances are an exceptional, limited-time thing; she can’t hold onto them. Jesus’ going away and ascending to the Father means that now after his resurrection, Jesus will be exalted to the right hand of God to rule and fill all things, and he will be present with his church by sending the Holy Spirit to them. Mary is not yet experiencing Jesus’ presence in that way.

But Jesus tells her that she is about to! If we worry too much about the “don’t cling to me,” we miss what Jesus says next, John 20:17 “go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Jesus tells her, “even now, I am being exalted as Lord and God, as the king of the universe. The Spirit is about to be sent. And not only that, but I am your brother! My Father is your Father now and my God is your God. We’re family! You have a brother who sits on the throne of creation and who has power over death itself! So go tell the others about it!” Mary needed to learn that that is so much better than just having a beloved teacher. Of course, Jesus would never stop being her teacher and her friend. But he was so much more. He was the living Lord who was ruling the world for her good, who had taken away her sin and left it buried in the tomb, and who would save her from death itself. And Mary got the message. She ran to deliver the news just as she’d been told, and when she found the disciples, she doesn’t say, “I have seen the Teacher!” but “I have seen the Lord!”

We need to learn that lesson too. If you insist on clinging to Jesus as just a teacher of morals, or merely a representative for your personal belief system, then you’ll miss out on who Jesus actually is, who you need Jesus to be. Because no matter how much you learn about loving your neighbor, no matter how good it feels to be right, none of that changes the fact that death is rampant in this world. Incomplete ideas of Jesus can’t save you from death. Jesus the moral teacher can’t save the world from people who refuse to love their neighbor as themselves; people who commit acts of senseless violence like we saw in Tennessee recently. Jesus the political activist might give you temporary victory in an argument or an election, but he can’t give you eternal victory over death and peace with God. You need Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord who has power over life and death. You need Jesus, your brother, who has given you a place in God’s family in Baptism and sent his Holy Spirit to be with you always. Jesus, the risen Lord and God who is triumphant over death will raise you from your grave so that you can reign with Him in his glory. Jesus will always be your teacher. He will always be your friend. But most of all, he is your risen Lord, and only that gives you victory over death.

So if you haven’t come to know or see Jesus as your Lord and brother yet, then listen to his voice now. He is calling you by name, just like he did Mary. He’s calling you to be his brother. He wants you to have his Father for your Father, and his God for your God. And if you do know Jesus as the Risen Lord, then go and tell someone else who he is! Proclaim his Name to his brothers, even the ones who don’t know they’re his brothers yet.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

Amen.