I Know You

John 20:11–18 NRSV

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 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. 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.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 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.’ ” 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.

This is one of the most traditionally preached passages on Easter Sunday. The scene where Mary and some of the disciples come to find that the tomb of their teacher, their master, their Lord Jesus of Nazareth has been vacated. And so often we focus on the most obvious thing in the story… the thing that we’ve come to celebrate on Easter… that Jesus Christ rose from the grave.

But what we often pass by in our reading is the fact that Jesus wasn’t the only one who experienced resurrection on that Sunday. There are stories of resurrection that spring out from the encounter that they have with the Risen Lord Jesus.

We are beginning a Sermon Series today called Resurrected and we are going to be focusing on the lives of the people who experienced the resurrection of Jesus and then had a profound resurrection story in their own lives because of it. Each of these people lived human lives and had human experiences just like you and I that left them scarred and broken in some way or another.

But experiencing fellowship with the Risen Christ brought them into a new life in which they were able to live out the new identity that Jesus gives them in himself.

And so we begin our journey with the very first person to encounter Jesus on the other side of the tomb… Mary Magdalene.

Before we get into what the passage from John 20 really means for Mary, its really important that we understand who Mary Magdalene was.

If you’ve ever read or watched “The Davinci Code” by Dan Brown — just forget all of that nonsense. There is absolutely nothing in the biblical record to suggest that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’s wife. There are some writings written by a group of people called Gnostics that suggest such things, but those writings are much newer than the manuscripts of our Bible.

No, unfortunately theres no scathing drama to be had about the relationship that Mary Magdalene had to Jesus or any of the other disciples. Church tradition has credited a lot of the stories in the Bible about women named Mary to Mary Magdalene, but the reality is that it was a pretty popular name in the Jewish world.

Basically what we know about Mary Magdalene specifically from Scripture is that she was a woman who had it really really rough before she met and began to follow Jesus. Here’s what Luke says about her:

Luke 8:1–3 NRSV

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

This is basically all that we specifically know about Mary. She was oppressed by 7 demons and she was wealthy in some way or another.

But I’m pretty sure that’s all that we really need to know. Mary lived her life prior to meeting Jesus in a deeply spiritually oppressed state. I mean 7 demons. That’s a frightful number.

Demonic possession is not something that we like to talk about in the 21st century western world, but it is something that the Gospel writers talked about, and if you travel to places in this world you will see the reality of spiritual evil.

But for our purposes here in our context this stuff can seem a bit out there. We experience “demons” in a different way. We’ve all got them. Drug abuse, alcoholism, lust, lying, idolatry, etc. We call these our demons. And there’s a spiritual dimension to these behaviors. They all stand between us and our relationship with Jesus. Maybe they are connected to some kind of personal spiritual evil. Maybe we, as human beings, don’t need outside help in messing up our insides. But we certainly need some outside help to un-mess them.

Mary’s insides were all messed up. 7 demons. She was a woman of great resources — possibly from a lifestyle in which she sold the one thing that is always in highest demand in any place at any time: Lust. That’s what tradition says, but thats just an assumption. Again all we know is 7 demons. And 7 demons is enough.

Mary was cured of these 7 demons and gave up her profession, whatever it was, to follow Jesus. She had her purpose in life renewed. She was hopeless and then she was given a hope named Jesus.

She travelled with Jesus, she learned from Jesus, she witnessed all of the glory and wonder that Jesus was. She believed that there was hope for not only Mary of Magdala, but for this entire world.

And then she stood there at the foot of the cross of Jesus and watched him die.

And the Bible doesn’t speak to us about the specifics of Mary’s internal dialogue. It doesn’t tell us how she really felt. Only that she wept.

In those long hours between Jesus’s death and that fateful moment when the tomb was laid bare, what did Mary think. What did Mary fear most.

I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to think that Mary’s greatest fear was that her demons would come back. For a few short years she was liberated from the darkness that had left her lying hopeless in life. And then in the wake of the death of her teacher, she was confronted with this reality: If this man who cast out her demons could be killed this easily… surely she was not safe.

There’s a show out there that you can only stream on different platforms but if you can figure out how to get it I really suggest you watch it. It’s called The Chosen. And you don’t have to watch past the first episode to understand what I’m talking about here.

Now I don’t really like a lot of movies and stuff that are made about Jesus because they are just not often well done. But this show is it. It’s takes a lot of calculated artistic liberties but all within the realm of possibility.

And the first episode introduces us to Mary Magdalene. And she is demon oppressed and seeking help from anyone and everyone who might help. She doesn’t even go by the name Mary. She’s known as Lilith, and she is an traumatized alcoholic.

And I really don’t want to spoil the whole thing, but here’s the important part. At the end of the episode there is this scene:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl07TE6Wnp8]

Mary’s life is restored in the moment that Jesus calls her name.

And when we look back at our text from outside of the tomb of Jesus, the moment that changes everything again, that pulls Mary out of her despair and hopelessness is the same simple word… “Mary.”

In this moment, Mary is reminded of who she is, and of who Jesus is, and of the promises made to her and to all of Jesus’s followers. She is reminded of the hope that she found in Jesus. It is proclaimed to her that because Jesus lives, the powers of darkness that once oppressed her to the point of hopelessness do not get the final word. She receives the gift of knowing that Jesus’s resurrection means that death does not have the final word.

Friends this is the good news of the resurrection for Mary Magdalene, but it’s also the good news of the Resurrection for you and me. Maybe you are in a place like Mary was before she met Jesus. Maybe you are hopeless, hurting, oppressed by whatever demons look like for you. Maybe your life seems like it’s just one big consequence from the decisions that you made and continue to make. Maybe it feels like one big consequence because of the things that other people have done to you in your past.

I’m here to tell you that Jesus knows you by name. Jesus sees you and is calling out for you and wants you to know that this isn’t all that there is to life. That you can find healing. That you can find resurrection in his story when you allow it to intersect with yours. This is the reality, you don’t have to live this way forever. There is hope. His name is Jesus.

Or maybe you’ve been around for a long time and you’re starting to grow cold on this stuff. Life has shown up. Jesus called you by name but that didn’t stop painful things from happening in life. That didn’t stop illness and betrayal and death from showing up in your life. And quite honestly you’d like to speak with the manager.

Maybe you are like Mary at that tomb, looking around for Jesus but you don’t see him anymore. Where have they put him? What’s going on here because nothing seems to be going the way that it should. I’m supposed to be filled with joy and hope but my life just feels empty and broken.

Well friends, Jesus called Mary’s name then too. And Jesus is calling yours. It’s time to open up your ears and your hearts to hear that call once again. It’s time to experience resurrection yet again. It’s time for you to remember that death has not won, evil has been defeated, and that the feeling of hopelessness and despair that you have found yourself in is not a permanent place. But we’ve got to move out, and we are going to move out together. Hope is here, and hope has a name, and hope knows your name. He knows you.