The Journey to the Empty Tomb - John 20: 1-18

A cloud of sadness hung over the disciples of Jesus. Few had watched his death on the cross, but all knew of its graphic nature. Their teacher was gone. And they knew that if they were not careful they could suffer the same fate. A full day had passed, the Sabbath, but there was no resting for their grief stricken hearts. Before dawn came the next morning, Mary Magdalene set out to prepare Jesus’ body with spices. It was the least she could do for this one who had meant so much to her. So she gathered her supplies and headed to the tomb. But when she arrived the heavy stone sealing the tomb betheqethed to Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea had been removed. Mary couldn’t take time to look inside. Or maybe her heart feared what she would see if she would stoop down and look into the tomb. She took off sprinting, leaving what she had brought with her behind, until she found Simon Peter. She almost collapsed from grief and exhaustion into his arms, “The have taken the Lord, our Lord, out of the tomb. We do not know where they have laid him.”

Another disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, did not even look at each other to confirm their actions. They knew what they had to do. They took off running in the direction from which Mary came, leaving her behind. The disciple whom Jesus loved arrived first, and bent over, taking one step closer then Mary could bring herself to. He saw the neatly folded and rolled burial linens, but he could not bear to enter the small cave. Then Simon Peter arrived, and went one step further then the others – he entered the tomb.

The scriptures then has a paradoxical line for us today, “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.” And the disciples went home, leaving Mary behind. Even the one whom Jesus loved, the one who was so close to him through his years of ministry, did not recall or understand the words of Jesus. He did not believe what Jesus had said, he believed that Mary was right – that someone had come and taken Jesus’ body away. It is as if he got a small glimpse of the picture, the tomb was empty, Jesus was gone, and jumped into his own rational conclusion. He saw what was before him with blinders that blocked the past teachings connection to the present reality. He was still asleep to the reality of what was taking place.

Mary also was asleep spiritually. She stood weeping outside of the tomb, by now catching up with the men who had ran in front of her. She still couldn’t bring herself to go into the tomb – what was the point? She knew what was facing her there and it was not what she was prepared to see. She wanted to do the only thing she could for her slayed Lord, and someone had denied her that opportunity. Not only had she faced his death, but now his fallen body wasn’t even present. So she wept. Finally, with tears still blocking her sight, she bent over and saw two angels in the tomb, sitting where Jesus once was. They looked at her with tender respect in their eyes and asked, “Woman, why are you weeping?”. She sputtered out that the Lord, the one whom she was looking for, had been taken away. As she turned around, she saw another man looking at her with this seemingly familiar compassion in his eyes. He too addressed her in terms of respect, care, and admiration, “Women, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Mary once again gave her answer that caused her so much pain, her eyes unable to see who truly stood before her.

But then Jesus said but one word, “Mary!” and her eyes were opened. She exclaimed, “Teacher!” and ran to cling to Jesus. He then gave her the command to tell the disciples that Jesus had not yet ascended to God, but of course Mary could not explain this to the disciples without first proclaiming, “I have seen the Lord!”

Sight and hearing are two of the most commonly used human senses throughout scripture to explain the richness of the faith. People may be able to see with their physical eyes, but can they perceive with their hearts? People may be able to hear the scriptures, but do they hear and understand the voice of God? There seems to be a disconnect at times between sensually experiencing the physical world and its deep spiritual meaning.

Perhaps what brings about this chasm between the spiritual and the physically is our reliance on logic. We want things to make sense to us and often use our desire for neat answers to full our overall understanding. Take for instance the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was told that someone had taken Jesus’ body. He went to the tomb and saw the covering rolled away and the empty grave clothes where the body once was, so he logically settled on what he had been told. Jesus body had been taken. He believed someone else’s word. And he left thinking there were no other possible answers, and no need to stay.

Mary also believed that Jesus’ body had been taken, but she was persistent in her searching for it. She would not let go of the idea that she was not ready to just allow the body to be gone. So she asked everyone she saw if they had seen the body or taken the body. Her overarching persistence and reliance on the logic that someone had taken the body so whoever took it could return it, also made her blind. So blind in fact that she did not seemed phased at all by her encounter with the two angels. Did she recognize who they were? So blind that she didn’t recognize Jesus! – the very one whom she had come to pay respect to. It wasn’t until Jesus said her name, in that way that only Jesus could say it, that she recognized him.

Mary had to hear her own name in order to be able to see properly. In the words of Chris Tomlin, she rose when Christ called her name – no more sorrow, no more pain. And when she did hear and see all logic flew out the window. Logically, Jesus was dead, not only dead but mangled, and those who die that painfully do not come back to life. Further, Jesus didn’t bring himself down off the cross, didn’t save himself, so why would he be alive now? All rational thoughts about how or why escaped her as she gasped, “Rabbouni” and went to him. She didn’t need reason in order to believe what was right in front of her.

At the heart of Christianity is the peculiar and illogical belief that Jesus rose from the dead. It doesn’t make sense. We can understand cross dying on the cross, but our faith does not hinge on that fact alone. No, Christ is risen, which means Jesus is alive! We are the only religion to make the claim that one we stake our faith on, our very lives on, lived, died, and lived again. And because Jesus lives again, so can we – death does not have the final word over our lives because it did not have the final word of Christ’s. And this doesn’t make sense. Over the past centuries, Christians have turned to apologetics, or the art of making the seemingly irrational rational, to help people have their eyes opened to the truth in the resurrection. But I wonder if this is really how we will bring people to see the risen Lord? Because the chief tenant of our faith is also one of the greatest mysteries – it is not logical. But when Christ calls our name, our eyes are opened like those of Mary. Not by arguments or persuasion, but by hearing our name.

Have you heard Christ call your name today? Have you been awakened by it. As artist Matt Maher proclaims, “Christ is risen from the dead, we are one with him again, come awake, come awake, come arise up from the grave.” For many of us, the Easter story is simply that, a story. But when it is connected with the reality of the risen Christ calling our name, we are able to see and place our faith in the empty tomb. Jesus, the risen one, knows each of our names. He knows that sometimes we let our rational sides block us from hearing him. And he knows that sometimes, in the face of the great mystery of his risen body and the empty tomb, we really want to defend him with logical explanations. But what Jesus really wants are not our explanations, but our ears and hearts listening to the sweet call as Jesus says our names so we can see, even when our world is clouded with darkness. Listen. Can you hear him?