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Sunday, April 12, 2020

Jesus Shows Up

The message on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are John 20:1-18.


            We think of Easter Sunday as a celebration.  And it is!  And it should be!  The tomb is empty!  He is risen!  He’s alive!  Jesus Christ, proving once and for all who he was and who he is.  Jesus Christ, defeating death itself!  And not just defeating death for himself, but for all of us who believe!  There’s nothing more important to celebrate than that!

            But, on that first Easter Sunday morning, no one was celebrating.  Not at first anyway.  When people woke up that first Easter morning, all they knew was that Jesus was dead.  They had put so much hope into him.  They had thought he was the one who was going to bring salvation to Israel.  Some of them had followed him for years.  They had believed, they had trusted, they had hoped.  But now he was dead.  Jesus was dead, and for all they knew the authorities were going to come after all his followers.  It looked like it was all over.
            Mary goes out to the tomb.  Other gospels tell us that she went with others to prepare the body for burial, but John does not tell us that.  John does not give us a reason why Mary went out to the tomb.  It just tells us she went.  And when she got there, she saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance, and the tomb was empty.
            We say “the tomb was empty” in a tone of joy, of triumph.  We know what the tomb being empty means.  But Mary Magdalene did not know.  When she saw that the tomb was empty, she was miserable.  Can you imagine how she felt?  Think about it.  Someone you love has passed.  That’s bad enough.  But now, you don’t even know where their body is.  You feel like you cannot even grieve properly.  What an awful thing.  This was probably the lowest point of Mary Magdalene’s life.
            She’s frantic.  She goes running to the disciples and tells them what happened.  Simon Peter and John go running out to the tomb.  They see the grave clothes.  It’s said of John that “he saw and believed”, but we’re not told just what he believed.  Did he believe that Jesus was alive?  Or did he just believe that Mary had told the truth about Jesus not being there?  At any rate, before too long John and Simon Peter leave.
            Mary stays.  She’s crying.  We don’t know why she stayed.  Maybe it comforted her a little to be in the place where she’d last seen Jesus.  Maybe she was just feeling too overcome with sadness to even move.  Maybe she stayed there because, well, where else would she go?  But at any rate, she stayed.
            At some point she looks into the tomb.  She sees the two angels.  She turns, and she sees Jesus.  At first she does not recognize him, but eventually she does.  And her tears of sadness turn into tears of joy.  In just a few minutes, a few seconds, really, Mary Magdalene goes from having the worst day of her life to having the best day of her life.
            Now, I doubt that Mary really knew exactly what had happened.  And I doubt even more that she fully understood what it meant.  But in that moment, none of that mattered.  She knew that, somehow, in some way, Jesus was alive!  And at that moment, that was all she needed to know.
            And when you think about it, Jesus can do for us what he did for Mary Magdalene.  He can take the worst day of our life and turn it into the best day of our life.  And he can do it in a very short time.
            In fact, I suspect there are some of us for whom Jesus has done that.  If we really think about it, I’m confident that there are at least some of us who can think of a time when that happened.  A time when things were going wrong, when we were having a really bad day.  And then, suddenly, in some way, Jesus showed up.  And our bad day suddenly turned into a really good day.
            Now, when I say “Jesus showed up”, I don’t necessarily mean that Jesus showed up the way he showed up for Mary Magdalene.  You may not have actually seen the physical presence of Jesus.  You might have--I mean, as the divine Son of God Jesus can do that if Jesus chooses to.
            But more likely, Jesus showed up in some other way.  Maybe Jesus showed up in the form of something that suddenly went right, something you were not expecting.  An unexpected compliment from a friend, or a job that you were dreading that turned out to be a lot easier than you thought it would be.  Or maybe Jesus showed up in the form of an inner voice, or maybe just a feeling, that said the Lord is with you and things are going to be all right.  Or maybe Jesus showed up in the form of some other person, someone who was there for you when you needed them, someone who showed up to help just when you needed help, or even someone who showed us just to sit with you and let you know they cared.
            Can you think of a time like that?  I think a lot of us probably can.  Maybe, at the time, you did not recognize Jesus, just like Mary Magdalene did not recognize Jesus at first.  Maybe you thought it was just a coincidence.  Maybe you thought it was just good luck.  Or maybe, at the time, you thought how fortunate you were to have someone help you, but you did not think about where that good fortune came from.  Or maybe at the time, you did not think much of it at all.  Maybe you just accepted it and went about your business.  
            Maybe later you did realize it was Jesus.  Or, maybe, this is the first time you ever thought of it that way.  Maybe, sometimes, we need to hear Jesus speak our name, just as Mary needed to hear Jesus speak her name, before we recognize that it really is Jesus.
            You know, it’s kind of funny.  We say “Jesus is alive”.  We especially say it today, on Easter Sunday.  It’s one of the things we’re celebrating today, that “Jesus is alive”.  And yet, for a lot of us, it sounds strange to think about Jesus actually showing up for us.  In fact, I suspect that when I said that, there were some who were a little skeptical.  Or maybe there were some who thought of it as “preacher talk”, you know, the sort of thing a pastor says, and you kind of go along with it, but you don’t think it actually happens in real life.
            But if we truly believe that Jesus is alive, then why should we not believe that Jesus shows up for us?  Why should that be such a strange notion?  Why should it sound odd to us that Jesus would take an active interest in our lives, just as he took an active interest in the lives of Mary Magdalene and John and Simon Peter and all sorts of other people when he was on earth?
            After all, we’re talking about our Lord and Savior here.  And again, we say those words, but sometimes we don’t think about what they mean.  We sing “Jesus loves me, this I know”, but somehow, too many times, we don’t make the connection between Jesus loving us and Jesus actively being there for us and showing up in our lives.
            Think of it this way.  Think about the people you love.  If they needed your help, would you help them?  If they needed someone to be there for them, would you be there?  If they were having a bad day, would you do what you could to turn it into a good day?  Sure you would, every time.  
So why would we expect less from Jesus Christ?  If we believe, as the Apostle Paul said, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, then why we would not expect not expect Jesus to do at least what we would do?  Why would we not expect Jesus to help us when we need help, to be there for us when we need someone, to turn our bad days into good days?  In fact, why would we not expect the divine Son, Jesus Christ, to do much more than we mere human beings would do?
Jesus loves you.  And Jesus will be there for you.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  That does not mean that we get everything we want.  That does not mean that everything always goes smoothly.  Things did not always go smoothly for Jesus.  Things did not always go smoothly for the disciples.  Saying Jesus loves you and Jesus will be there you is not a guarantee of an easy life, and it never has been.  You know that.
But it is a guarantee that, no matter what we have to face, we will not have to face it alone.  Jesus will be there for us.  No matter what’s going on, Jesus will help us.  And if we open our hearts, if we allow Jesus to lead us, if we go the way Jesus shows us to go, Jesus will take our bad days and turn them into good days.  It might take some time--it may not happen right away.  Or it might.  It might happen in a matter of a few seconds, just like it did for Mary Magdalene.
The tomb is empty!  Jesus is risen!  He’s alive!  And he loves us, and he will always be there for us.  Hallelujah!  Amen.

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