Do you see?

Do you remember the first funeral you attended? Whose was it?

I remember. I think I was like 12, it was a friend of mine’s mother. I remember the closed casket being brought in. The feeling, the sense that inside that box there was a human being trapped, taken from someone’s life. I looked at my friend and saw the effect of the hole that was being left by her mother’s departure.

Ever since, seeing loved ones in a casket is a shock to the system . You and I have been there, where we look to say one final glance of them and your brain just wishes that their chest would move with the breath of life one more time.

Seeds must fall to the ground in order to give life later.

This morning John wants us to stand there with Mary at the empty tomb to acknowledge just how dark that first Easter started out to be. It’s no wonder that Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. She could more easily believe in theft than in resurrection. And so can we. I really like John’s gospel and his version of the Easter story, because before he gets to the good stuff, he acknowledges how hard the stuff of life really is.

And then the gardener shows up (at least Mary thinksit’s the gardener). We know full well that it’s Jesus. He just shows up out of the blue—right there—face-to-face with Mary, but she doesn’t know it. And that’s part of John’s point, too. John would acknowledge that whatever we’re feeling right now, with whatever our human condition is, it’s natural and okay. But all of those fears and anxieties that we have could also blind us to the reality of the resurrection. We can be so engulfed in our darkness, as understandable as that might be right now, that we would not even notice the Light if it were standing right there next to us. Mary looks at Jesus and doesn’t even know it’s Jesus.

Not only does Mary think Jesus is the gardener, but she thinks he’s the thief! She says (v. 15), “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Mary had hit the lowest point in her life, just like many of us who are in this place right now. We’re feeling like we’re at the lowest point of our lives, too, so blinded by the darkness and engulfed by our suffering that we cannot possibly believe in any possibility of new life, new hope and resurrection.

It is there in that moment when Mary is at the lowest of the low when John finally decides it is time. It is time for the big reveal! It’s time to share that the resurrection is real. The news that we all knew would come; the news that we all knew would bring us here to this place—the part that we all came here to hear this morning, excited to hear—finally arrives! A full 15 verses into the gospel story. But here’s the surprising thing…it’s the way that John decides to reveal that news. Not with a thunderous earthquake. Not with angels speaking from on high. Not from God speaking from the heavens. Not with the sound of trumpets. If you want all that stuff—drama and special effects—you can find that in Matthew, Mark and Luke. But if you want to hear it from John, you have to listen carefully. Because the surprise this morning is the way that God shared the news with Mary, and the way God shares the news with you.

Jesus, himself, says one word that makes all the difference: “Mary.” He speaks her name. It was at that moment when Mary heard God speak her name, the fog lifted, the darkness vanished, and for the first time in a long time she knew that she was found. Her life might have felt lost and confused, but God had found her. That is the surprising news for us today! This Easter, the good news for you is that God will stop at nothing to find you. God is in the search and rescue business. This morning, even though you have felt lost and in the dark and blinded by your grief and fear, listen! God is calling YOU by name, and you have been found!

There was a woman who had a metal detector on the beach, sweeping the fancy little gadget left and right, listening for the beeps. Every once in a while she would stop, pull out her big strainer basket, hunch down and scoop up a big chunk of sand, and start sifting, looking for stuff people had lost. Then the woman did something amazing that you wouldn’t believe. She stopped and pulled off what appeared to be her wedding ring—probably the most valuable possession she had on her in that moment. She closed her eyes and turned her head, then threw the ring down into the sand with enough force to bury that ring down below the surface. Then she picked up that metal detector again. You see, what she was doing was making sure that her metal detector was working properly. She was so intent on finding all of the other lost treasure out on the beach that she was willing to give up her most prized possession just to make sure that her system of search and rescue was working properly.

Since the beginning of human history, God has been on a search and rescue mission, searching for:

· every lost soul,

· every person who has been wandering in the dark,

· every person who has been standing outside the tomb weeping, weeping, weeping.

God has been so intent on finding every single lost one of us that God was willing (on Good Friday) to let go of the most prized possession that God had—God’s very own self in his Son, Jesus Christ. And there he was on Good Friday where God threw Jesus down into the earth and buried him in a tomb—in the sand of human condition—to take on all of the lost-ness and darkness we feel. But then on Easter morning, God took out that strainer basket. When God raised Jesus to new life, it proved that God could find anyone and anything—including you!

After that woman slipped her wedding ring back on her finger she picked up that metal detector again. She walked a few more steps, sweeping back and forth, and then all of a sudden she heard a beep. She picked up that strainer basket, scooped up a chunk of sand and started sifting, and she found something. Something that was lost was now found!

This is why John tells us this version of the Easter gospel. With one word—one utterance of Mary’s name—Mary who was lost had been found! Surprise! That very same God, that very same Jesus, right now, is speaking your name, too. It might be hard for you to hear it: you are deafened by your trouble; you are blinded by your darkness. But if you listen carefully this morning, unmistakably, plainly and clearly, God is speaking your name and you have been found!

The only question we need to answer now is: What are we going to do about it? What difference will it make to be found by God?

If you look at what Mary said next (v. 16), Mary responded with another word: “Rabbi!” (which John reminds us means “Teacher”). It was in that moment that Mary recognized that because she has been found, she has a lot of lessons to learn from Jesus, and so do you and I. Mary’s response was to say, “Rabbi, Teacher, I’ve got so much more to learn from you.” Hers was a realization that she had so much more to learn and Jesus had so much more to teach her. Despite your doubts, it is not too late for you—regardless of your standing in life or how small your faith might appear to be—to grow in your faith and follow Jesus your Teacher and Lord.

John would want us to acknowledge that it’s good to be found, and it’s good to hear God speak our name. Because then, now and from now on, we can believe exactly what Mary said: “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18).

Let’s pray together:

God, this is good news! We were expecting it; we just weren’t expecting how much we needed to hear it, or the way in which you were going to share it. So God, thank you for speaking it to us in the most personal way possible—through the speaking of our names. God, we confess to you that we have felt in the dark, lost, confused, blinded. But today, the message is unmistakable: You have found us! You have given up your most prized possession to find us. And for that we are grateful. Continue to guide us as we take whatever the next step is along our journey of faith, so that every day can be a resurrection day; that every pulse and heartbeat of our life can speak to the glory of Hallelujah! You are risen, and you raise us to new life, indeed! I pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Risen Lord, Amen!