CUPC
April 20, 2014
Easter Sunday
When was the last time that
you had a hard time facing a new situation?
Perhaps you moved into a new community?
Perhaps you are facing an illness that you thought you would never have
to face? Perhaps you are facing the
death of a loved one and mourning the loss of that loved one and the loss of
that part of you that loved that other person.
Life is always changing. With each relationship that we lose, we also
lose a part of ourselves and so we mourn doubly.
In our gospel reading, Mary
Magdalene faces something new. She
doesn’t know what to do with it. Certainly death is not new to her, but she had
gotten used to life with Jesus. This was the man who gave her a chance when
everybody else thought she was worthless. This was the man who looked at her like
she was someone who mattered. When she was with Jesus, Mary felt important. She
felt beautiful. With Jesus, she really could believe that God was here. God
still cared. God was in this world doing good things. Jesus showed her that.
But then Jesus died. She did
not know how to face life without him being there. How is she supposed to live
when the way she always knew God in the past is gone? How is she supposed to
keep believing what God is doing in life when life changes?
Mary is not the only person
who has wondered how to keep trusting God even when life changes. Our own lives
change, and we miss what used to be. We have lost the loved ones who encouraged
us and helped us believe that God was good. We miss the way things used to be
in our church, the way things used to be at home. Life changes, and even if we
think the change may be a good change, part of us still misses the way life
used to be because at least we knew what to expect. We knew how God was working
(or we thought we did).
We want to hold on to what we
knew and to the good things that used to be.
Jesus tells Mary: "Do
not hold on to me."
Here is someone who meant
more to her than any human might ever have meant to her. Here was the person
who showed her who God was. She thought
he was dead and she sees him and he says:
"Do not hold on to me."
I often think that sounds
like a harsh thing for Jesus to say. Do not hold on? Mary sees Jesus! He is
alive! Standing right in front of her is the human body of the man she knew and
loved and thought was dead. Of course she tries to hold on tight! She would do
anything not to lose him again.
But Jesus says: "Do not
hold on to me." Even though Mary wants to hold on to Jesus the way he used
to be. Even though she wants to hold on to the good times before the cross,
back when it made sense to think that God was bringing some sort of victory
through Jesus because Jesus had not died. After all, that was how God brought
victory in the past: through leaders who lived long enough to make real changes
for people. Even though it made all the sense in the world for Mary to hold on
tight, Jesus says, "Do not hold on."
"Do not hold on to me,
because I have not yet ascended to the Father."
It is not done yet. Things
are happening, but there is more to get worked out before everything is said
and done. If Mary holds on too tightly to the way she used to know Jesus, she
might miss God doing something new.
If she holds on too tightly
to life the way it used to be, she might miss the newness of life that a
resurrection brings.
Here, out of this graveyard,
God is doing something new that Mary cannot even imagine. It has not all
happened yet. Jesus has not ascended yet. He has not taught them what this all
means yet, and Mary sure does not understand what all is going on yet, but
Jesus says: "Go. Go, tell this good news. Go tell them that God’s doing
something new, and you have seen it."
Go tell that God is somehow
taking Jesus’ death and using it to bring new life. Go act like God really is
taking what looks like disaster and making good of it. God is taking the pain
and death that all people face and blessing them as places where new life
starts.
Even if we are standing in
the middle of a graveyard, even if it does not make any sense and every door
looks closed to us, something new is happening. Mary has seen God right there
in the middle of it.
Go, Mary. Go tell that good
news.
Go, any of us who would be
like Mary. Go if you would live like
there really is something new happening, like we really have seen a glimpse of
God.
We can go like the new thing
happening in life, even when it confuses and frightens us, really does have
God’s good somewhere in it.
It can be a tall order to go
live like God will take whatever difficult, confusing, frightening thing a new
day holds and make it good. Yet on this day God affirms his resurrection
promise, a promise that God’s own new life is coming into our lives.
So, we can go like Mary, go
knowing that this new thing God is doing with our lives, this new thing which
is not over yet, is somehow going to be very, very good. The Lord tells us: [Isaiah 65:16b-18 (NJB)] … past troubles will
be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. … I am going to create new heavens and a
new earth, and the past will not be remembered and will come no more to mind.
Rather be joyful, be glad for ever at what I am creating, for look, I am
creating Jerusalem to be ‘Joy’ and my people to be ‘Gladness’.”
“[John 20:15-18 (NRSV)] Jesus
said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? …. Do not hold on ….’ Mary went and
announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord….’”
Don’t hold on. The Lord is creating a new thing, and we must
let go. It’s not finished yet, but don’t
hold on. Go. He is risen.
Amen.
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