A Spiritual Awakening

John 20:1–18 NRSV

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. 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.

My favorite thing about this text is how Mary plays a starring role. In a world — and for the most part a large compendium of stories and books for whom the leading characters are men — the Gospel Author John chose to highlight the role of Mary Magdalene in the most important event in all of human history. And I think that this is incredibly intentional. It’s not just intentional that John would record it, but it’s intentional that Jesus would reveal himself first to Mary. And that’s because it’s just so unlikely.

It’s not just unlikely because Mary is female. It’s unlikely because Mary was a curious character in general. Lots has been speculated about Mary, but all that we can know for sure about her is what scripture says elsewhere

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.

So what we know about Mary is that she had a lot going on when she met Jesus. Seven demons. She probably was having a hard time in life. Certainly Mary was not the person whom the religious world of Jesus’s day would look towards as being the hero of any story — let alone the one to carry the news that Jesus the Messiah had risen from the grave. And yet this is who Jesus chose.

Today, I understand you may be visiting with us, and I don’t want you to feel lost. So let me catch you up on a bit of the journey that we’ve taken together as a church in the past 6 weeks.

We have been in a sermon series called “Drop the Rock” where we have been exploring the 12 steps of recovery as a practical way of following Jesus. Basically we’ve looked at how the ways that we fall short — destructive behaviors and ways of thinking — can be overcome through a process of surrender, willingness to change, confessing where we’ve gone wrong, and making amends for the harm we’ve done. That’s a really short description, but for the purpose of not keeping you from Easter brunch longer than necessary, I think that will do.

The point of this work that is done through the first 11 steps of recovery is to recognize our deep need for God to come into our hearts and into our lives and to rearrange that which keeps us from living out the lives of love that God has created us to live out. Essentially what we come to terms with is the fact that we have been spiritually disconnected — or we could say spiritually asleep.

Through this process we open ourselves up to the good news of step 12 which is this:

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all of our affairs.

There is no greater story of this in scripture than the story of Mary at the tomb of Jesus. Mary, who had been spiritually asleep, spiritually oppressed before meeting Jesus and having her spiritual malady cured and had found a spiritual awakening in her time following Jesus once again found herself spiritually asleep. The man who had saved her, the man who she had dedicated her life to following had been put to death on a Roman cross in front of her eyes. She watched him die. She watched her hope for a life and a future that was different than the life she had led in the past slip away into the grief and despair of Jesus’s death. She slipped into the spiritual sleep that happens when an earth shattering event like death comes into your life.

I wonder how many of you have experienced this kind of spiritual state. Maybe it was caused by the slow compounding of events that caused your faith or your fervor for the faith to wain. Maybe all of the pressures in life built up and drove you into a way of living and thinking that was more about self preservation and survival than a life of seeing to the needs of your community and personal thriving. Maybe if you’re honest you’ve never really had the type of freedom and joy that you imagine a person who was as afflicted as Mary Magdalene, or the alcoholic in your family who has found recovery has experienced. Maybe something traumatic like the loss of a loved one or a career or a bad diagnosis or whatever other faith shattering life event has pushed into a period of spiritual slumber. This is what Mary and every other disciple and to be honest likely hundreds if not thousands of people who believed that Jesus was the messiah felt on friday and saturday leading up to that very first Easter. Look at what the scripture wants us to know about how Mary was feeling at the tomb:

John 20:11–13 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.”

She is distraught, weeping, unable to comprehend the reality of what could possibly have happened. She can’t even imagine a miracle as incredible as the resurrection.

If you identify with Mary here, I’m here to tell you that it’s ok. And we know that it’s ok, because the people closest to Jesus experienced this. And if they can experience spiritual slumber, you and I can too. But here’s the deal. We can’t stay asleep. We have got to wake up at some point.

And that is what the 12 steps of recovery do for us. They do this for us because they are a practical form of discipleship. They introduce us to Jesus and they teach us how to allow Jesus to rearrange our lives so that we can no longer stay spiritually asleep. Encountering Jesus, either in the practical step by step journey of recovery, or in any other way is meant to wake us from our slumber. And the beauty is this: Jesus will meet us wherever we are in this process.

It is in this moment of Mary’s wavering faith and doubt and grief that Jesus comes to her. And she doesn’t even recognize him at first! But Jesus sees her, Jesus knows her, and Jesus opens her eyes. Mary has a spiritual awakening. This same awakening is avaliable to us all.

The opening of our eyes to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done in our world and in our lives — comes to us not so that we can live life as people who know some grand mysterious secret. It comes to us so that we can become people who carry this good news to those who still slumber.

The disciples were locked in a room grieving the loss of Jesus and hiding from those who had put him to death. Jesus knew that they were slipping away into spiritual slumber again. And so he sent Mary to bring them the news that their savior, the one who had changed their lives forever was in fact alive. He is risen!

And Mary, having had a spiritual awakening, carried the message to all who would listen. Some believed, some doubted, but Mary’s job was to bring the news that hope was alive.

And so I don’t know where you are today. Maybe you came here and you really needed to hear that there is a reason to have hope. We life in a weird and uncertain time. Maybe things aren’t going great for you. Maybe your faith is nominal, or you are growing weary. I’m here to tell you that Jesus wants you to wake up from your slumber. Jesus wants to meet with you and show you a love and a comfort and a hope beyond your wildest dreams. That can start right here today by you just holding on to this one truth: You are not alone because God is with you. Keep saying that over and over until you believe it.

But maybe it’s not you who is feeling the sting of spiritual sleep. Maybe it’s someone you love, someone you work with, someone you care for. Do you have it in you to carry that truth to them today? Do you have it in you to carry the message of hope and life that is found in Jesus to the ones in your life who need to hear it most? Will you do that today?

Listen my friends: The resurrection means that our hope is eternally alive. The resurrection means that we have a reason to go on living — even when living seems so hard. The resurrection means that all of the messes in our world and in our lives, then ones we make and the ones that are made around us, don’t get the final word. Jesus gets the final word. And you and I, we are called to bring that final word to the ends of our world. That final word is this: You are loved and you are not alone. Happy Easter my friends: He is Risen.