SPEAKER_00 0:03

Today, the gospel reading is from the 20th chapter of John. I invite you to hear this Easter reading together. 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 disciples 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 placed 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, Rabuni, 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 to your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And she told them he had said these things to her. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while it was still dark, the darkness before the dawn, but also it was still dark in her heart. The last three days were the hardest she had ever endured. She had been a follower of Jesus along with other women, providing for the needs of the disciples. She believed he was the one who would save the world. But now she didn't know what to think. Because on Thursday night, one of their fellow disciples, Judas, betrayed Jesus and handed him over to the authorities. All the other disciples fled at that moment. And then on Friday, on Friday, Jesus was beaten and then tried in court, but it was an unfair trial with false witnesses. And didn't they know that he was innocent? But still, instead of releasing him as the innocent man that he was, they deemed him too dangerous, a religious heretic leading people astray, and they sentenced him to death. Mary was there at the foot of the cross as Jesus hung and suffered there. She was there as Jesus breathed his last, and that is when the darkness fully engulfed her. Everything she hoped for was gone. Everything she believed Jesus would accomplish, gone. All that was left for her was grief and despair and emptiness. Everyone knows that life is hard, that death comes for us all. Everyone knows that bad things happen to good people because life isn't fair, but Mary didn't expect it to be this bad, this hard. Maybe you've been there with Mary before. Walking through the darkness, wondering how things got so bad so fast, wondering how life can be so hard, wondering if there's any hope at all. Our friend Amanda taught Kevin and me a lot about walking through the darkness of life. When her baby boy was three months old, he was diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer. I spent a lot of time in the hospital with Amanda and her husband Justin and their precious boy. I walked with them through the treatments and the side effects and the hopes and the fears. And I was there at his funeral several months later to witness to his life, to share in the hope of resurrection. And the grief was dark. And it was hard and it was painful as we were wondering how life can be so unfair, how things could be so hard. We didn't expect it to be this hard, this bad. Some of us may resonate deeply with this feeling this morning. Some of us may be walking through darkness right now. Some of us might not be walking in a season of darkness, but still we have to start here with Mary in the dark. I know we want to rush on to the good stuff. There's an Easter egg hunt coming after all, right? But we got to start here in the darkness because none of this, none of the good stuff, the resurrection, the hope, none of it means anything unless we begin in the darkness, because the darkness is why Jesus came in the first place. It's because life is under the shackles of sin and suffering and death. That's why Jesus came to free us from all of that. Mary didn't know that just yet as she walked through the darkness and she arrived at the tomb where Jesus was laid, and she noticed that the stone was rolled away and there was no body inside it. She assumed that someone had taken him from the tomb because what else is she to think? And who would do such a thing, right? Haven't they already dishonored him enough? Now they have to take him out of his peaceful resting place. So it was still dark as Mary ran back to get Peter and the other disciple. And as she raced through the pre-dawn darkness, the world felt dark indeed.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Peter and the beloved disciple, they had to run when they hear Mary Magdalene's report. Are they running because they're excited? Are they running because they're hoping to catch the grave robber? Their running was instinctual. The two disciples had to get there as fast as they possibly could. So when Peter and the beloved disciple arrived at the tomb, it was wide open. So the beloved disciple peeked in. Simon Peter, ever the curious one, ever the bold one, walks right into that tomb. And he saw the linen grave clothes lying there where the body of Jesus had been. And the headcloth was placed aside, rolled up as if it had never been used, right where Jesus' head had been lying. But there was no corpse inside the tomb. After the crucifixion, Nicodemus helped to embalm Jesus' body, John wants us to know, with 70 pounds of spices and wrappings, but now all that remains there are these linen wrappings. Why do these grave clothes matter? Well, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound up in those grave clothes. We can imagine him hopping out of the tomb, bound up like a mummy, legs still bound together. But Jesus discards his grave clothes upon his resurrection. Death could not hold him or bind him anymore. So I can imagine Jesus waking up from the sleep of death, eyes popping open and shedding the clothes of death, maybe even taking time to fold them up and leave them in their rightful place of death, the tomb. It feels like our world is bound up in grave clothes. Like we have been placed in a tomb, shut off from the living, left out to decay. Our tombs are places where there is no hope of restoration or reconciliation. Our tombs are places where the problems just seem too overwhelming to handle. Our tombs are places where we just don't see any way out, and the stone has been rolled in front of the tomb of our lives, sealing it shut. So even if we aren't physically dead, parts of our world in our lives feel the hopelessness of death. So the disciples saw the empty tomb, they witnessed the linen wrappings lying there. The scripture says that the beloved disciple saw and believed. But then they just returned to their homes. They didn't know where Jesus was. All they knew was that he was not in that tomb. It's hard for us to understand how they would have returned home with all those questions swirling in their heads. They were likely confused, not sure what to do with what they had just seen. Maybe this is how you feel today about the story of Jesus' resurrection. You might be sitting here wondering, is this even real? Did Jesus really rise from the dead 2,000 years ago? It's okay if that's where you find yourself today. Because being told that the tomb is empty is not enough. And thankfully, that's not where our story ends.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Well, when the men went back home, Mary stayed at the tomb, and emotion overcame her, and she gave over to her grief and she wept, but finally she got up the resolve to look inside the tomb. She had to see those graveclothes for herself. But as she peeked in the tomb, she saw something startling. Two angels sitting where Jesus' head and his feet had been laying. And they said to her, Why are you weeping? Why is she weeping? Her Lord is dead, his body's missing, and the two guys she got to help her went back home. Why is she weeping? They have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him. All of this must have felt like a dream to her because she then turned around and saw a man standing in the garden, and we know it was Jesus, but she didn't realize it was him. Would you recognize someone that you'd seen die three days before? The logical part of her brain told her this was the gardener, so she turned on him, and I love her spunk because she is determined to do right by Jesus, and nobody, not even this gardener, is gonna stand on her way. She said, If you have taken him away, you tell me where he is, I will go get him. And that's when I imagine time stopped for Mary. Just for a heartbeat. Jesus said her name. Mary. Suddenly the bird song hushed, the breeze stopped, her breath caught in her throat, and all she could do was look at the man that she had seen die, but there he was alive. Mary. All it took was her name, one word, and Jesus changed everything. Mary was the first to see that death could not hold Jesus, that the love of God really does conquer all. It's important that Jesus said her name. Because earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus told his followers, He said, I am the good shepherd. We have the window right here. I am the good shepherd. My sheep know my voice, and when I call their name, they come to me. Here, when Jesus calls Mary's name, he's not just getting her attention, he is inviting her into the green pastures of new life. He is inviting her into relationship with him once again, identifying her as a cherished child of God. Mary thought that everything they had was gone, that the relationship they had as disciple and teacher, that it had died along with Jesus. But when Jesus called her name, it's like he'd never left. There he was, risen from the grave, conquering death, and he still knew her name. He still wanted to be her friend. Even death could not end their friendship. This is a part of Christ's gift of resurrection. The resurrected Jesus invites us into a real and living relationship with him. Having ascended into heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our constant companion, to be our friend and our guide, our teacher and our Lord. And through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is calling your name today. Your name. And Jesus wants to bestow upon you his resurrection power for two reasons. One, so that when death comes for you, you will raise into eternal life. And two, so that while you are still living here in this life, you can know the glorious goodness of living in the resurrection power of Christ. When Mary heard Jesus call her name, she immediately fell before him and said, My Lord and my God, she accepted this invitation into relationship with awe and worship. Jesus is calling your name today. How will you respond?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

And Jesus tells Mary, right, do not hold on to me. We aren't told that Mary Magdalene is necessarily taking a hold of Jesus, and these words are not meant to be standoffish to her. Rather, Jesus is letting Mary know that he cannot be contained. Just as the grave clothes couldn't hold him back, now no one can contain the power of Jesus. He has burst through every single human limit, and now he wants his disciples to know what his plans are. It's time to return to the Father. It's his time to return to reign forever in God's presence. So Jesus instructs Mary to go to his brothers and announce this news. Jesus sends Mary Magdalene as the first Christian preacher. Do you hear that? Jesus sent a woman to be the apostle to the apostles. The first person sent out by the resurrected Lord was Mary. Because she did not just see an empty tomb. No, her witness is simple, but the most profound. I have seen the Lord. The power of the resurrection does not just stay with Jesus. Think about how Mary Magdalene began today in the dark, in the throes of grief and death, and all she could do was weep. But now the resurrected Jesus has transformed Mary. She is out of the darkness and in the light of resurrection. The light and life of Jesus' resurrection shines through Mary and she reflects this light to all around her. Friends, the power of the resurrection does not just stay with Jesus. This day is not only about the power of Jesus rising from the dead, but the resurrection power of Jesus opens up possibilities for those of us who follow Jesus forever. Jesus confers power upon Mary to be his resurrection good news spreader. She becomes his herald and ambassador, and from there the good news of the resurrection can take off. Death could not contain Jesus. And death cannot contain you. The resurrection of Jesus means that the separation that we feel from God and from God's dream for the world no longer limits us. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Jesus has defeated death and its power forever. Let me tell you what happened to our friends Amanda and Justin. After years of healing and honoring the life of their beloved son, they felt the call to welcome a child into their lives again. So Amanda and Justin began foster parenting. And they eventually received two boys who were brothers for a long-term placement. They loved these boys and eventually they were given full adoption rights for their new eight and ten-year-old sons. And one of those adopted boys even shares the birthday of their biological son. So every year when they remember their firstborn's life, they also light candles to honor the life of their adopted son. The resurrection power of Jesus has transformed their lives. In a place where darkness seemed to reign, childhood cancer, endless days at the NICU, and even death, God has brought new and abundant life. Friends, if you've never felt the resurrection power of Jesus before, we would like to invite you to do so. Because that hope of Easter is the hope that Jesus' resurrection was not just some event 2,000 years ago. Jesus' resurrection can take place here and now within you. Because Jesus comes to the broken and death-rotted places in your life and says, be gone. Jesus steps into the places in your life that are filled with shame and brokenness and says, You don't get a hold of my child anymore. Jesus bursts into the places of life, of your life filled with addiction, and he pronounces, you don't get to control my child anymore. Jesus enters into your relationships that feel like they are afraid and have nothing left to hold on to and calls out, My power can restore you, my child. Jesus bounds into our hopelessness about the state of our world, about the wars that we keep mindlessly waging and declares, my power can change how you see, how you experience the world. Friends, this is the hope of the resurrection of Jesus, that the resurrection power of him defeats the power of death forever, and it can live in you. Thanks be to God. Amen. Friends, as we close out worship today, we're going to close by coming for the Sacrament of Communion. And in the United Methodist tradition, we practice what's called an open table. Means that you don't have to have been baptized before, you don't have to be a church member here, but all you have to be do, all you have to be is willing to come and receive the grace of Jesus. So that's what we invite you to do this morning. I'm going to say a prayer of confession for us, and we'll finish with the Lord's Prayer and continue in worship together. Let us pray. Lord, we are so grateful for your resurrection and for your life and power. We recognize that we do not deserve the love that you pour out and lavish on us. God, for those places where we have fallen short, for those places where we've sinned against you. We ask for forgiveness and for the power of your resurrection to dwell within us. Help us to receive your grace this day. It's in the power of Jesus we pray as He taught us, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Friends, today as we