“The Seven Next Words of Christ: Who are You Looking For?” John 20: 1-18

This is a bit odd. Normally we don’t examine the same passage of scripture two Sundays in a row. Normally we look at different scriptures within a theme. But this week is a bit different. The Easter text that we used last week to proclaim “He is Risen” we will re-examine this week, in all of its richness, to hear the words that Christ spoke after his resurrection.

During the season of Lent, and especially on Good Friday, it is common for churches to think about the seven last words of Christ. These were phrases declared by Christ on the cross during his crucifixion. When someone is facing death, the last words they speak are usually important. For Jesus these words include reflections of his heart: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The care that he had for others: “Behold your son: behold your mother.” Words that we don’t quite know what to make of: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” “I thirst.” And the moments when he gave up his spirit to Heaven: “It is finished.” “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

But Christ had a unique opportunity. He was resurrected and appeared on earth with his disciples for forty days after his death. In the church, we celebrate this as the season of Eastertide, not just one day. So Christ was able to continue to speak important words into the lives of his disciples until his ascension. Christ had next words, not just last words.

For the next several weeks we are going to look at the times Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and these powerful words that he brought to them. Words of hope. Words of peace. Words of compassion and care. While the last words took place on the cross, the next words started with Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb. Therefore, we return anew to our scripture text from last week. 

Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John all had similar, yet very different experiences at the empty tomb on Easter morning. Mary was the first to arrive, but she simply saw a scene that disturbed her and ran. Ran to get help. When she declared to Simon Peter and John that “they have taken the Lord out of the tomb” they too had a sinking feeling that things were not as they should be. John arrived at the tomb first and made it closer then Mary - he crouched down to examine the tomb a little closer and found that it was worse than he feared. He saw the death clothes discarded. Simon Peter arrived and went into the tomb. Simon Peter and John had to suffer a range of emotions from shock to anger to disappointment, but at some point they realized that there was nothing more they could do, so they returned to their homes.

But not Mary. The whole while as the disciples examined the tomb, Mary was there. Maybe she felt guilty. Maybe she was hoping that the disciples would tell her that she was wrong and that Jesus’s body was in there. Whatever she was thinking and feeling, even after the other disciples returned home she stayed behind. For years it was the women who followed the disciples, those like Mary Magdalene, who took care of the needs of the disciples and Jesus - cooked for them. Financially supporting the work of the ministry. Tending to anything they could. And now she didn’t know what to do or where to go. She simply stood outside of the tomb and wept.

She did look into the tomb at one point and saw something even more disturbing then what the disciples had discovered. Instead of discarded death clothes she found two angels who asked her why she was weeping. To which she replied that they had taken the body of the Lord and she didn’t know where they put him.

I usually am pretty tidy and have a good system for where I put things. But once in a while I will misplace something. You know the thought that comes just before you lose something, “I’ll remember where I put this” which often leads to disaster later on. But I’ve never misplaced something of extreme value that I have not been able to find without some searching. But if I get upset over losing small things that don’t really matter, how much more upset must Mary have been that the body of Jesus had been in her mind, stolen by the Roman government. The “they” that she kept coming back to. 

To add insult to injury first the angels and then a man ask her why she is weeping. But the man takes it one step further - recognizing that Mary was crying out of grief of not being able to find someone whom she is searching for. Mary thinking that either this man helped take the body or may know where it is pleads with him to show her the way to the body.

Depending on the given day, the questioning sales associate asking “Can I help you find something?” can be a welcomed relief or small annoyance. When I have a short time to get in and out of a familiar store, or a place where things have been moved around since the last time I was there, the question is a helpful relief. It acknowledges that they noticed me and probably noticed that I was searching for something. 

Mary, in all of her grief, had been noticed. But what came next wasn’t an agreement to help her, it was simply her name being spoken by a voice that she recognized. She looked up, squinting through her tears, and felt a calm rush over her - the calm that came when she had been listened to and cared for by Jesus. Relief washed over her as she cried “Rabbouni!”

Friends, how long has it been since we have felt such relief wash over us? The relief of being recognized and called by name? The relief of seeing our Savior and knowing that we are being cared for? All too often our lives feel more like a mess. A tangling that we couldn’t have begun to imagine. Other times we seem to be devoid of feelings, simply going through the motions of living, but not finding joy. And still other times, we may enjoy our lives, but we walk around in such a way that we fail to notice the world of God around us. We know that something is missing. We just don’t know what to do next.

While I was in college I studied abroad for a semester in Australia. Our class schedule in Australia was quite a bit different from what I was used to in the States. I had fewer credits and only took classes two days a week. This left a lot of free time to explore, but also to serve. One of the places I ended up volunteering was a drop in center for IV drug users and prostitutes in the second worst neighborhood of Victoria. My job was to help sort through donations and simply talk with the men and women who came in for safety. It didn’t take too many weeks for me to realize that so many of the stories that I heard sounded the same. One bad situation led to one bad decision that simply unraveled out of control to the point where folks didn’t know what to do next. Didn’t know how to change or break the cycle. 

How often have we paused in our lives and had the same feeling - that sinking feeling that we don’t know how we even got here. That feeling of emptiness. When Mary arrived at the tomb that morning maybe that’s how she felt - if only she would have gotten here earlier maybe they wouldn’t have taken the body. If only she could convince someone to help her maybe now she could find the body. Yet, as she starred into the mess around her, she almost missed looking into the eyes of  her Savior. 

Friends, do you here the next words of Jesus in your life today: Why are you crying? Who are you looking for? Are we so caught up in the mess of our lives that we are hindered from hearing the voice of Christ and looking into the eyes of our Savior? What are you looking for this day and how can Christ change your life, in a way that brings care and freedom? Amen.