Listen, Wait, Look

In recent years I have really been struck by the Easter story. Here we are on the holiest of days, singing these powerful triumphant songs and celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus, and shouting ‘alleluia’, and while it is appropriate it also feels off. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I would have Easter worship any other way, but look at the majority of our text. Mary comes to the tomb to grieve. Jesus’ body has already been anointed in John’s gospel so her only reason to come is to grieve the loss of her Rabbi. When the body isn’t there she assumes someone has stolen it.

This is where it gets tricky for us. We know the story. We know the outcome. We know there’s no grave robbers. We know what the linen cloths mean. We know Jesus is the ‘gardener’. We know why the tomb is empty. We know. So it’s hard to wrap our heads around the fear and anxiety that Mary and the disciples are feeling as they encounter a tomb that should have the body of the person they love so much. Some people laugh and chuckle at their inability to see what is right in front of them. After all Jesus told them it would happen. He gave them fair warning and it happened the way he said it would.

What I love is the way that John, the author, shares with us these three followers experiences that morning. And what I love even more, is that every one of them experiences that empty tomb differently. We’re going to skip Mary because her experience bookends that the of Peter and the beloved disciple.

Let’s start with the beloved disciple. He rushes to the tomb but waits to enter until after Peter has rushed in. Why the hesitation? Does he see that it’s empty and is anxious to go in? Does he not want to go in alone and have to deal with what he sees by himself so he waits for Peter to catch up? How often do we hesitate in our own faith? What are the things that might cause us to hesitate? Perhaps we hear something or read something and it makes us anxious about what we believe. Maybe we experience something that causes us to hesitate before we move forward ourselves. The beloved disciple is eager and anxious about his faith and I think we can all relate to that.

But then he steps in. He literally takes a step of faith by going inside and when he does he sees the linens and the cloths and no body. His hesitation is gone. Whatever was going on in his head has dissipated or shifted and whatever he was feeling or thinking before is no more. He sees and he believes. For the beloved disciple the sight of the empty tomb was enough to shake him from his good Friday grief and bring him to Easter Sunday. He may still have things to figure out, but he’s on his way.

Next we have Peter. And well, Peter is Peter. He may not be the first to the tomb but he sure doesn’t have any issues just rushing straight into the tomb to see what it is that Mary was talking about. He looks and he sees the the clothes and the cloth and he’s trying to process it but he can’t. Maybe the denial on Friday is stuck in his head and he can’t stop replaying that in his mind. Maybe he’s replaying all the mistakes he made in his life and with Jesus specifically. He is so caught up in his own head that he can’t think clearly and he can’t make sense of what this empty tomb is all about. Maybe Mary’s suggestion that the body was taken is all he can think about. Whatever it is that is going on in Peter’s head prevents him from understanding at this moment and he goes back unsure of what to make of it.

And how many times in our own lives have we let the past define who we are today? How many times have we let our failures take control of our thoughts and actions, especially when it comes to our faith? Maybe we said something we regretted and we can’t face that person again? Or we got upset and we are embarrassed to go back for fear that people will judge us for that moment of weakness? We can’t let the past so define us that we don’t think that we are unable to move forward or that we are unredeemable. Besides, that’t not for you to decide. Don’t let the fears and the doubts of the past shape the future of your faith and your trust in a loving and forgiving God. Which Peter will fully realize in Jn 21 when Jesus invites him to remind him of his love for him.

Lastly we have Mary Magdalene. As we have talked about Mary is convinced that someone took the body away. She, in a way is like Peter that she is so caught up in her feelings that she doesn’t recognize what is going on, so much so that she’s not moved by two angels talking to her and she doesn’t even recognize Jesus when she first encounters him. I am sure that I don’t have to say much when I say that grief can do a lot to us when we are consumed by it.

But there is one thing that is able to snap her out of this cycle of grief. The voice of Jesus. I’m sure that there is a chance that Jesus could have said anything and Mary would have recognized it, but he chose simply to say her name. I know I said simply, but it is anything but simple. It is powerful and, important, and it is intimate. What I mean by that is that people that are close the way Jesus was with his disciples, the twelve or otherwise, we close, they have a way of saying each other’s names. My wife has a way of saying my name that no one else does. Jesus has a way of saying Mary’s name that no one else does. We see that it wasn’t his voice, because she was talking to him and didn’t recognize his voice, so I believe it is the way he said her name, Mary. The only person who calls her Mary like that is Jesus.

Jesus was right when he said back in John 10:3 “The guard at the gate opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Jesus called to his sheep and she hard him calling her by name. In that moment Mary must have burst. Exploded with emotions that were no doubt confusing and conflicting. Joy and sadness, exultation and depression. She was a mess, but a mess in the best possible way because her rabbouni, her teacher, was alive. No one had taken him, no one had robbed the grave. Jesus was alive. He was right there in front of her just as he said he would be. And from there she was called to speak the good news to the rest of the disciples.

That very first Easter was different for everyone who came to the tomb. I’m sure they all had different reasons for going, they all had different expectations when they arrived, and they all walked away different from when they arrived. That is why I share this Easter story with you today. I don’t know where you are in life right now. I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know where you are in your journey of faith. But I do know that like these three disciples, you came to see and experience Easter, in whatever form that looks like for you. And that won’t be the same for the person sitting next to you that you came with, let alone every other person who came today. Your journey of faith is unique to you, just as mine is for me. Just as it was for the beloved disciple, Peter, and Mary.

But, there is one thing that I am certain of…Jesus was felt by everyone who came to the tomb. For the beloved disciple it was almost right away. For Peter it was a little bit later, but something started in him that morning. And for Mary it was in that intimate calling of her name. So while I don’t know when or how it may be, I know with certainty that Jesus is working in you and through you and for you. And Jesus is doing it the way that only Jesus knows how. So this Easter, I encourage you, on this walk of faith that you are on, listen for his voice, look for his signs, wait for his nudge, because just as Easter began a new thing in this world, God is working a new thing in each of us. That is the Easter promise, just as Jesus was made new so are we. Listen, wait, and look for Easter is here! Amen.