A Sermon Delivered by The Rev. John D. Painter at Centenary United Methodist Church Metuchen, New Jersey March 23, 2008 (Easter Sunday)

Text: Matthew 28:1-10; John 20:1-18
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” —Matthew 28:1-10, NRSV

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. 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.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 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. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 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. 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.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 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.’” 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. —John 20:1-18, NRSV

I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but it’s been a while, and it deserves to be re-told from time to time. The Sunday School teacher had diligently prepared her class lessons about Easter for her young charges. The moment of truth came, and she put this question before the fidgeting children: “What were the first words Jesus said when he came out of the empty tomb on that first Easter morning?”

There was a slight pause, and then little Johnny (why do these Sunday School stories always have “little Johnnies” in them?!)…little Johnny became very agitated, hopping up and down with his hand waving in the air, fairly shouting, “Ooooh…I know! I know!”

The teacher could hardly ignore such enthusiasm, and she invited Johnny to tell the class what the first words of Jesus were when he came out of the empty tomb on that first Easter morning. And little Johnny fairly exploded, “He said…he said, ‘Ta-Da!’”

Well, I’m not sure which Gospel little Johnny had been reading. It’s not bad, really…“Ta-Da!” Could become a new Easter greeting for all of us. “Christ is risen!” “Ta-Da!” I’m not convinced it’ll ever replace “Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!”

But what did Jesus say as he encountered the women who had come to the tomb? Matthew tells us the resurrected Christ’s first words to the awestruck and joy-filled Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” were “Greetings!” Some think he may have said, “Shalom!” a traditional greeting. Others think he said, “Good Morning!” (Boker Tov! in Hebrew) I love the simplicity of that greeting:, don’t you? “Boker Tov!” As if it were the beginning of just another first day of the week, and not the greatest Sunday morning ever in the story of God’s relationship with humankind.

But what Jesus says next may be equally important: “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” “Do not be afraid…” Where have we heard those words before? Well in Matthew’s rendering of the Resurrection story we heard them just a few moments before from the angels sharing the awesome good news with the two women. And we heard them not that many weeks ago…especially this year…as the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night just outside Bethlehem. “Do not be afraid…” Assurance from God that the startling and surprising moments of Incarnation and Resurrection—and all that comes between and since—is unfolding with a divine purpose. And it is all for our good. “Boker Tov!“ “Good Morning!” “Shalom!” “Don’t be afraid…” That’s what Matthew’s two Marys heard. And little Johnny chimes in with, “Ta-Da!”
John’s Gospel has a quite different recollection to share, as Mary Magdalene returns alone to the empty tomb, weeping in despair because someone has obviously removed her beloved Lord’s body from its secure grave. What are the first words from Jesus as he emerges onto the scene, unrecognized by Mary through her flood of tears? “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” And supposing him to be the gardener, Mary Magdalene asks frantically if he knows where Jesus’ body has been taken so she can go and bring it back to the safety of the tomb.

It is at this moment that—according to John’s Gospel—Jesus says what may be the most important single word of any others that he speaks following his Resurrection. No, not “Ta-Da!”, but simply a name: “Mary!” Her name. Spoken by a familiar voice and in a loving tone Mary instantly recognizes as coming from her “Rabbouni”…her “Teacher!”

I doubt that we can overemphasize the importance of that one moment in the garden of Resurrection. One person has declared “…that the Christian witness began with the name Mary. When Mary heard Jesus calling her name, everything changed.”

In our 2008 Lenten Study text, Behold the Lam of God, Simon Peter Iredale tells of a visit he made with an elderly woman in the hospital. “She was a faithful Christian,” Dr. Iredale recalls, “During the visit she took my hand tightly in hers and said, her eyes shining with life, ‘I can hear him saying my name!’” And with the speaking of her name, everything was about to change for her.

Not many weeks ago I was privileged to attend a weekend seminar in Ocean Grove led by Dr. James Fleming, the Founder and Director of the Biblical Resources Study Center in Jerusalem, and a highly-respected archaeologist. We were nearing the end of our exploration into the various claims, contemporary and ancient, for the location of the actual tomb of Jesus, when Jim shared a poignant memory with us. Under similar circumstances to Simon Peter Iredale…yet far more personal…Jim Fleming had been summoned to the bedside of his own mother as she began her final journey home.

Jim had been talking about memory, and how strong memories are for us…especially the memories of a person. Good memories make us feel better; memories can change our present and our future for good or for bad. In the understanding of the early Hebrew community, memory creates the reactualization of an event or of a person. And the early Christian community came to understand this, as well. One of the early “Church Fathers,” Saint Augustine, declared that properly celebrating/remembering Easter will cause us to relive it. So, for example, when Jesus invites us to share the bread and cup of Communion “in remembrance of me,” we are being called to remember or reactualize Christ in our presence…to know with assurance that Christ is truly here with us, and that our present and our future is radically changed.

Well, out of his own growing understanding of God’s remembering us…that if God remembers any person, then that person is alive…Jim Fleming shared with us that he arrived at his mother’s bedside shortly before she moved toward total unconsciousness, and while she was still able to speak. And what she told him in a very quiet voice, yet with a countenance that was assured and unafraid (“Don’t be afraid,” the risen Christ had said), was that she had heard her name being called. Within moments, she closed her eyes and with a final expiring breath, answered that call of her name. Jim Fleming said that out of these final moments with his mother, he has come to realize that when a person dies, s/he hears his/her name “from the other side of death.” And that makes him or her fully alive.

“From the other side of death” Mary Magdalene hears Jesus speak her name: Mary! Jesus remembers who she is. And she is alive in the presence of Christ. “I can hear him saying my name!” This, in the end, is what our journey from Wednesday’s ashes to Easter’s lilies has been about: Hearing, at first faintly and then gradually, with gaining strength, the Risen Lord calling our names…calling us to fulfill the destiny for which we were created: To be God’s children in this world, and in the world to come.
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PRAYER
Lord Jesus, full of mercy, attend to our prayers…?Christ Jesus, full of grace, sort out our petitions…?Servant Jesus, full of compassion, direct our lives…?Jesus, Son of God, accept our faith…?Jesus, Savior of the world, remember us… Amen.
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