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Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Welcome to Pillar's Abide in Me podcast. A weekly opportunity to abide in Christ through weekly pillar sermon and worship reflections. I'm Trish.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

And I'm Christian. Hear these words from the book we love. 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, Reboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not touch 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? We do a lot with our sadness. We've got to do something with it. It's got to go somewhere. Everyone who's lived a little while knows what happens when you bury it. It takes on a life of its own. It grows like a cancerous tumor, starts putting pressure on other organs. They stop to function, things break down, you die. Why are you weeping? Each person in this John 20 story is dealing with their sadness differently. Mary is literally crying, which is sort of the physical embodiment of what the rest of them are doing too. Peter and John run, Thomas says, No way, the other disciples isolate, and Mary cries. And Jesus asks, Why are you crying? He's not asking about a biological response to sadness. He's asking a complex question about her heart. Jesus has just been raised from the dead, Easter hymns would be composed, Easter sermons would be written, and the first thing Jesus asks is, Tell me about your hurt, tell me about your heart. Tell me about your pain. Why are you weeping? Why are you weeping? Cancer wreaks havoc on families, cancer wreaks havoc on hope. Cancer brings faith to its knees. Why are you weeping? Marriage can be hard, but singleness is tough. Why are you weeping? Jobs are important, but sometimes frustrating. Why are you weeping? Friendships can be challenging, but so can isolation. Why are you weeping? It's a complex question. Why are you weeping is another way of saying, Don't you know? Did you hear? Can you believe? The stone has been rolled back, the grave turns out empty, the linen cloths are lying there, but he's standing here. He's taken on the sadness and the hurt and the devastation and all the things that make us cry and weep and run and isolate and get real hard in our hearts. He's taken all of that on himself, and he took it with him to the cross and shouted, It's finished. And he went to the grave so that even death doesn't get the last word. Death gets its own death, and he rises up in resurrection to invert all the sadness and hold all the broken, and redeem all the pain, and make right all the wrong and restore all the aches and reconcile all the division and renew the whole world. Why are you weeping? For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

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For our part as a pillar community, we love to be praying for you. So feel free to reach out to us at abide at pillarchurch.com, and if you're willing, receive this blessing. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.