We’ve been looking at Jesus’ life on earth from
beginning to end. Last week, we talked about Jesus death. Which, of
course, everyone on earth thought was the end. Jesus had told the
disciples what was going to happen, that he was going to overcome death and
rise on the third day. But they either did not understand what he meant
or did not believe it. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that
everyone on earth thought Jesus’ life was over when he died on the cross.
Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb. She’s going there to
anoint Jesus’ body, as part of the Jewish burial ritual. She sees the
tomb empty, but does not know what’s happened. She assumes someone has
moved Jesus’ body.
She goes back and tells Peter and John. They go
running out to the tomb. Peter goes into the tomb first, and sure enough
it’s empty. He sees the strips of linen that had been wrapped around
Jesus’ body and the cloth that had been wrapped around his head. Then
John goes in. And then the Bible says this: “He saw and believed.
(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from
the dead).”
We’ll come back to that. But then Peter and John
leave. And apparently they don’t say a word to Mary Magdalene. They
just walk away and leave Mary outside the tomb. Crying. Still
thinking Jesus’ body has been moved someplace, and not having any idea where.
Mary sees two angels. They ask her why she’s crying,
and again she tells them someone has taken Jesus’ body. She sees Jesus
himself, but of course does not recognize him. She again wants to know
where Jesus’ body was taken. Then, Jesus says her name and she recognizes
him. That was probably the last thing Mary expected. And of course,
she’s overjoyed. Jesus tells her to go and tell the others that he is
ascending to God the Father, and of course she does that.
I’ve said before that when we read about these Biblical
events, we need to try to imagine ourselves there. Try to imagine
ourselves as one of the people in the story. Try to imagine what they
were thinking or feeling. I think when we do that here, what we do is
realize how important it is to believe even when we don’t understand.
Look at John. Remember what it said about John?
We’re told that he went into the tomb, and “he saw and believed”.
But then, in the next sentence, we’re told that neither he nor Peter
understood from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.
So John believed. But
what, exactly, did he believe? He believed that the tomb was empty, but
he could see that. That did not take any belief--any fool could see the
tomb was empty. Did he believe Jesus had risen from the dead?
Maybe. But even if he did, neither he nor Peter understood what
that meant. Again, they “did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had
to rise from the dead.” They may have understood that this was a miracle,
but what it meant--what it meant for them and for everyone else--they don’t
appear to have had a clue.
Mary Magdalene still thinks someone has moved the body.
Jesus rising from the dead does not even seem to have occurred to her.
She does not seem to even consider the possibility of it. She knows
Jesus is dead. She just wants to know where the body is, so she can do
what her faith requires her to do and so that she can mourn properly.
And yet. Through all this, Mary continues to refer to
Jesus as “Lord”. Not by name. Not as just a man. As “Lord”.
She tells Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.”
She tells the angels “They have taken my Lord away.” Even though
Mary Magdalene believes Jesus is dead--actually more than believes, Mary knows
it as a fact--despite that, she continues to refer to Jesus as “Lord.”
That’s a title she would only have used for the divine Son of God.
Somehow, in some way, even though she’s convinced Jesus is dead, she
continues to believe in him as the Lord. She might not have been able to
explain that. She might not even had understood it herself. But
somehow, in some way, even though she did not understand, she continued to
believe. And, of course, her belief is rewarded. Jesus says her
name, she turns and sees him, the last person she expected to see there, and is
overjoyed that Jesus is alive.
Belief without understanding. That’s one of the
definitions of faith, really--when we continue to believe even when we don’t
understand.
As we look around us, we see a lot of things we don’t
understand. It seems like every week we hear about another natural
disaster. Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Fires. Mudslides.
And we hear about unnatural disasters, too. Terrorist attacks.
Serial killings. And of course, there are the things that hit
closer to home. Cancer and other diseases. Heart attacks.
Motor vehicle accidents. And we could go on to name systemic problems
like racism and injustice and oppression and religious persecution and all
kinds of other things that are happening in the world.
We don’t understand these things. We don’t understand
why they happen. We don’t understand why God allows them to happen.
Some of them we can explain away by saying that God allows us to make
choices and sometimes we make bad ones. And of course, those bad choices
we make affect a lot of people other than just ourselves. And that
explains some of the things that happen, but not all of them.
We say that God is good. In fact, that’s one of the
most basic articles of our faith as Christians--that God is good. And
yet, we struggle to understand why this good God would allow the world to be
the way it is. Even if we say that God did not cause it to be the way it
is, we know God could do something about it. God can do anything--that’s
a basic part of being God. But God clearly is not doing anything about
it. Well, that’s not necessarily true. God does all sorts of things
that we don’t see and maybe never will see. But God is permitting things
to be the way they are, at least for now. This good God, this perfect
God, is allowing the world to be anything but perfect. This good God is
allowing a lot of misery and sadness to go on in the world. And we don’t
understand why.
But the question is not “Do we understand?” Don’t get
me wrong, it’s okay to try. It’s okay to ask questions and try to
understand. But the question is not “Do we understand?” The
question is “Do we believe?” Are we able to believe, even though we don’t
understand? Are we able to believe, despite everything we see around us,
that God is still good? Are we able to believe, no matter how things look
to us right now, that God has reasons for allowing things to be the way they are?
Are we able to believe, no matter what’s happening and no matter what
does happen, that somehow God is going to make everything work out all right in
the end? And in fact, are we able to believe not only that everything is
going to work out right in the end, but that somehow, in some way that we don’t
understand and never will understand while we’re on earth, this is all part of
God’s plan and that all these things are necessary to bring about the
fulfillment of God’s plan?
When you put it that way, it kind of seems like it’s asking
a lot. Believing those things when we don’t understand them is not easy.
But on the other hand, Jesus never promised that faith would be easy.
It was not easy for Peter and John. It was not easy for Mary
Magdalene. Think of the position they were in at this point. They
believed Jesus was alive, but they did not understand any of it. They did
not understand what had happened. They did not understand how it had
happened. They did not understand why it had happened--I mean, they knew
it had to do with Jesus being the Son of God, but again, we’re told that they
“did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”
They did not understand what it meant, for them or anyone else.
They did not understand what was going to happen next or how it was going
to affect them. They believed, but they did not understand anything about
it at all.
So that’s the challenge. Can we believe, even though
we don’t understand? Can we continue to have faith in God, even though we
don’t know why things are the way they are? Can we continue to believe
that God is good when it seems like so many things happening in the world are
bad? Can we continue to believe God loves us when it seems like our lives
are being turned upside down, especially when it seems like that’s happening
through no fault of our own? Can we continue to believe? Can we
continue to have faith?
Peter and John believed Jesus was alive, even though they
did understand how or why. Mary Magdalene believed Jesus was Lord, even
though she did not understand how or why.
Because they believed, Jesus
was with them, even though when they were not aware of it. And he made
himself known to them, even when they did not expect it. If we keep
believing, even though we don’t understand, Jesus will be with us, even when
we’re not aware of it. And even though we don’t expect it, Jesus will
make himself known to us, too.
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