Don't Hold On To Me!

Revised Common Lectionary 4-4-2021: Resurrection of the Lord

20 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. 2 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.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 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. 13 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.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 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.’ ” 18 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.

Introduction: Fresh Ears

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

I have mentioned before how much hatred I have in my heart for my Web Browser’s auto-fill function.

This is where I start to type something in on a form, and my browser takes the liberty to fill in the rest for me.

Only I think 90% of the time, my browser gets it wrong.

It might use an old address, or a different phone number, or fill in my wife’s info instead of mine.

Which would be ok, except now I have to go back and delete what’s wrong and fill in the new stuff.

Some of us in this room have been coming to church for a comically long time on Easter Sundays.

Chances are this is a story you’ve heard before.

Do me a favor: don’t auto fill this story.

Try with me this morning to approach this story with fresh ears.

Because for as familiar as this story is, I think there are three little mysteries here that we need to explore:

How can you believe when you don’t understand?

What’s up with the gardener?

Why doesn’t Jesus like hugs?

Three Mysteries:

1) How can you believe when you don’t understand?

The Footrace

Most scholars are in agreement that Jesus’ disciples were teenagers.

There are elaborate and complex reasons and rational for this.

I think we only need to look at the opening words of this passage to realize it.

John’s gospel would have been written around 40-50 years after Jesus had risen from the dead.

Apparently these two disciples were so full of emotion at what Mary was telling them that walking wasn’t an option.

They had to run.

And being teenage boys, I can imagine just how quickly a glance here or there turned the run in to a race.

And maybe in those 40-50 years, there was some dispute about who actually won the race.

Peter probably claimed he had the crown.

But now John gets to write the story down,

Side note- The “disciple Jesus loved” is John.

There’s a lot that could be said here, but for the moment imagine connecting with Jesus’ love so much that it actually defines you...

So in John’s telling, he reminds us not once or even twice, but three times that he won this foot race to the tomb.

Even on the most important day in human history, boys will be boys, won’t they?

Belief vs. Understanding

What really caught me was the transition between verse 8 and 9, did you catch this?

(John) saw and believed, but they did not yet understand the scripture.

They believed, but they didn’t understand.

I think so much of Easter is a story I don’t understand.

Typically giant boulders don’t roll away by themselves.

Typically dead people stay dead.

I don’t understand an angel because I’ve never seen one.

I don’t understand how the God who has created everything in this universe could love me, specifically me, along with each and every one of us, love us so much to die for us, and also to rise for us.

I don’t understand.

And I know so many people for whom not understanding can get in the way of belief.

I know so many people who refuse to believe that dead man could rise again.

I know so many people who need a reasonable explanation for all of this.

I know so many people who might come to worship on Easter, but don’t understand any of it.

And believe me, I wish I had a good way to pass on some understanding.

I wish I could make this all seem a bit more reasonable than it is.

But let’s be honest, this is a ridiculous story!

And it always has been!

Peter has walked on water.

People who were blind can now see.

People who couldn’t walk can.

Even folks like Lazarus and an old woman’s son can be raised from the dead.

The disciples have been around for all of these stories, so they have a bit of an easier time holding on to belief even when they don’t understand.

It’s like the more time you spend around Divine Action, the very God of the Universe at work in our midst, the more open you are to belief.

More on that later.

Mary

The boys take off toward home, probably racing again.

And the story shifts back to Mary, who is noticeably going through some pretty heavy grief.

The scripture doesn’t tell us much about Mary Magdalene.

We know that she was a woman who traveled with Jesus, and helped pay his bills.

We know that she was cured of as many as seven demons by Jesus. (someone counted)

We know that she was there at the crucifixion, even as many of the other disciples had abandoned Jesus.

This is a woman of questionable repute, whom Jesus took in and showed great respect, admiration, and love to.

It has a habit of changing people.

But now try to imagine what Mary is feeling:

One of the only people who ever believed in her was just three days ago killed by the Roman government right in front of her eyes.

She has wandered by the tomb of Jesus in the middle of the night (John makes sure we know it’s still dark outside, so this is wee hours of the morning stuff), maybe because she can’t sleep?

And now the tomb is empty, and the best explanation she can come up with is that someone stole the body.

Of course the word being used around her is “weeping.”

And here we arrive at our second mystery:

2) What’s up with the Gardner?

Through these tears, she sees some angels.

And as if none of the weirdness is going on, they say to her “What’s up with all the crying?”

She tells them what she’s feeling, and doesn’t stick around to wait for a response.

The text says she sees Jesus, but didn’t recognize him.

And a lot of people have questions about this, but it totally makes sense.

The very last person you are going to expect to see in a grave yard is your dead loved one.

She scrolls through the mental Rolodex of people it could be and lands on an interesting choice:

Gardener.

John, it turns out, is a very cleaver author.

There is a tool of biblical interpretation called the principal of first mention.

Whenever you see a word that pops out kind of randomly, go back to the first time it’s mentioned in the scripture to see if there are any clues.

So if we took the word garden back in the Bible to where we first heard it, where would we land?

Eden.

Before the fall.

Before sin.

Before death.

Before everything went wrong.

John is telling us that Jesus, through his resurrection, is restoring things to the way they were meant to be.

Jesus has just un-done the fall.

Jesus has just done away with sin.

Jesus has beaten death at its own game.

Jesus has set right all that has gone wrong.

3) Why doesn’t Jesus like hugs?

Clearly at this point, Mary still doesn’t get it.

So Jesus says what he needs to say to tell her everything she needs to know:

He just says her name.

As soon as Mary recognizes Jesus, she calls him teacher, and runs in to hug him.

And Jesus, the guy we always picture hugging a lamb in all of our paintings, looks at her and says “Do not hold on to me.”

Essentially, “Woah woah woah. Personal space issues.”

What’s up with that?

Mary’s whole world was broken.

She lost the group she was traveling with.

She lost the rabbi who made her feel loved.

She lost any sense of purpose or meaning in life.

And now, as Jesus is standing in front of her, she’s got a thought:

Things can go back to normal!

We can get the band back together!

We can have those deep conversations together and I can feel loved!

I’m going to have my sense of purpose or meaning back.

Life is back to normal!

And so Mary reaches in to embrace her old life, and Jesus needs to stop her.

Don’t hold on to that.

Don’t hold on to what was normal.

Don’t hold on to what used to be.

Don’t hold on to the old ways of doing things.

I’m actually about to ascend to the Father...

Things aren’t going back to normal…they’re going to be substantially better!

Resurrection will explode the number of disciples, to the point where this merry band of 12 becomes a global Jesus movement.

Resurrection is there to tell the whole world, not just one person, that they are loved by God even when they are loved by no one else at all.

Resurrection is there to be the north star in our lives, to give us a sense of purpose, to make meaning out of the questions of life.

Resurrection is about so much more than just you, sweet Mary.

So don’t hold on to me.

Go tell the others.

Application

Don’t let understanding get in the way of your belief.

There is a business phrase “Paralysis by Analysis.”

Essentially these are folks that analize and investigate a situation for so long that they actually don’t make any action of it.

They’re so busy trying to understand that they never make any motion.

We may have some visitors here today, so it’s important to bring up the nickname I hear most for Presbyterians: The Frozen Chosen.

We tend to be a people who have a hard time stepping out in faith.

We tend to be a people who want to understand a situation before we step in to it.

We tend to be a people who suffer paralysis by analysis.

And to be sure, some understanding is good.

But there’s another piece that we could use to lead us to belief: To see how Jesus is at work in the world.

Resurrection means that Jesus is not some historical figure who is trapped in the past.

He’s alive and well, interacting with us in this world every minute of every day.

If only we had eyes to see!

I wonder what Jesus is saying to us today?

Maybe Jesus is saying that we need to lay down the things that are holding us back from belief.

Maybe Jesus is saying that it is time to set aside our vices and sins in order to more fully live in the peaceable kingdom.

Maybe Jesus is saying that we need to embrace our neighbors, even and especially those who don’t look, act, think, or behave like us?

Or maybe today, this morning, Jesus is just quietly whispering your name.

Whatever it is, let’s follow the Divine Action of the Resurrected Jesus in to our world.

Set Things Right

John chooses the resurrection story to remind us of the Garden, of how things used to be.

I think he’s doing that because Jesus sets things back to how they used to be.

But I also think that Jesus is inviting us in to that work.

What situations in your life can you, with the help of the resurrected Jesus, start to set right?

What relationships in your life need to be restored?

Who do you need to make amends to?

What wrongs do you need to atone for?

What have you done to harm others around you?

How can you make it right?

And to be clear, we cannot do this on our own.

Were the burden on our shoulders alone to make the world right, we would fail every single time.

We need to lean on the power of the Resurrected Jesus, here to set the world as it should be.

But like Mary and the disciples, we cannot walk out of this room in the power of the resurrection and be content with the world as it is.

We need to join with Christ in the work of making the world what it should be.

Look Forward to What’s Coming

I think so often we want to embrace Jesus the way Mary did in this passage.

Normal is a word that has been getting tossed around more lately in our world.

We so often just want to get back to the routines, and patterns, and situations that we understand and that bring us comfort.

And that includes our relationship with Jesus.

We want to know him in our way.

On our terms.

In ways that benefit us above all.

And I think Jesus is calling us to make sure we don’t hold on to him, but rather spread the wealth.

I think Jesus would tell us that normal is overrated.

I think Jesus is asking us to be ready to embrace whatever new world is coming.

And I think Jesus is telling us to go tell other people.

Go tell the brothers!

Go tell the sisters!

Go tell the rejects of this world!

Go tell the left out

Go tell the left behind

Go tell the afflicted

Go tell the arrogant and proud

Go tell the poor

Go tell the wealthy

Go and tell them that resurrection is for them.

Go and tell them that they are loved by God.

Go and tell them that whatever failures they have made are in the past.

Go and tell them that death DOES NOT have the last word, life does.

Go and tell them what Jesus has done for you.

And then go and tell some more.

Invitation

Go and tell them what we’ve been saying together all morning:

He is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!