Text: John 20:1-18
The Empty Tomb
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
New International Version - for other versions see 
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Sermon
No one expected it – not one single person. What we celebrate today was totally outside anyone’s thinking. And that’s because death was always seen as the last event in a person’s life. Even today, for most of the population – when you’re dead, you’re dead. I wonder whether there may even be some Christians who feel this way. Anyone who has been affected by death may feel that power of death. Death is so final – can there really be anything to hope for after a person has died?
Not one disciple sat outside the tomb waiting for the third day. What does that tell us about the disciples’ faith in Jesus rising from the dead? Even though Jesus had told them over and over again that it would happen – that he would be killed and that on the third day he would rise from the dead. That’s because they were so focused on that one phrase ‘he would be killed’. Raised from the dead? Come on! Not one of them believed it would happen. Not one of them questioned him about it. Maybe his memory would live on – maybe that’s what he meant. Not one of them took Jesus at his word literally.
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus to finish the process of his burial. She went to see a dead Jesus. She went – not because she was expecting a surprise – but because she wanted to be alone to mourn the loss of her dear friend. She went out alone because her best friend had died and she wanted to grieve.
When she got to the tomb, something was different. The huge boulder in front of the tomb had been rolled aside, exposing the entrance to the place where Jesus' body had been laid. She could see that the tomb was empty. Mary is stunned by this. She is shocked:
- not because she suddenly figures it all out;
- not because she remembers that Jesus said that he would rise from the dead and at last believes it.
No, she is shocked and stunned because now she has had salt rubbed into her painful wound. She believes that someone has stolen the body of Jesus.
Mary runs and tells Peter and John what has happened. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!” she tells them (v2b). And they return to the tomb with her and look in the empty tomb, and then they go away – back to their own homes. What’s the point in staying here? Someone has stolen the body – but so what? He was dead anyway! What more can we do here, even if we do find his body?
Mary is again alone by the tomb – weeping. She sees two angels. They ask her why she is crying. She says to them the same as she said to Peter and John: “Someone has taken the body of my Lord and I don't know where they have put it!” (v13b) Then Mary sees Jesus standing there, and she thinks he is the gardener because she still doesn’t understand Jesus’ power over death. It couldn’t be him, so it isn’t. Still thinking he is the gardener she asks him if he has moved the body. “Tell me,” she says, “where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Then Jesus calls her by name, “Mary” – and it is then that her eyes and her heart are opened. She realizes that Jesus is alive – and standing in front of her. (v15-16)
It’s easy to look at Mary and judge her. Wouldn’t we have lined up ready for his resurrection? Wouldn’t we have ‘got it’ straight away – that Jesus has risen from the dead? Isn’t that what the disciples and Jesus friends had wanted? Why weren’t they standing there waiting, like people do when lining up to get into the Grand Final? Why not wait there – just in case?
And isn’t this everything that people today are looking for too? To have that assurance that death is not the end? Why aren’t churches overflowing – just in case it is true? Why do things that do not really matter take precedence over God? Have we ignored the reality of death? Has our work, our sport, our careers, our entertainment made us forget about the grave? All of these we will adjust our lives for, but not God.
It is very easy to become like Mary, and to let Jesus become unseen even though he is near. But Jesus has promised in our Baptism – I am with you always. So when Jesus is seemingly absent from our lives, as it seemed with Mary, then we need to address our lives, because it is not Jesus who has left us.
We hear the message that Jesus proclaimed. We know the Christmas and Easter stories. But when it comes to the hard times:
- the times of trial,
- the times of loss,
- the time of mourning,
it can be very hard to believe in what Jesus has said about being with us.
We need to look again at the EMPTY TOMB.
Jesus was crucified:
- he died;
- and he was laid in the tomb.
And for so many people, that is the end of the story. But that tomb could not hold him. And – because of Jesus – it cannot hold any of those whom God loves. Death is not the end of the story of Jesus. Nor is it the end of our stories. The signs of God’s love and presence with us are all about us, hidden by the world’s troubles and turmoil. And, like Mary, we can be blind to them very easily.
It was when Jesus spoke Mary’s name that her eyes were opened. He spoke your name in your baptism to first open your eyes. We can see that in the plain ordinary water is hidden God’s grace to make us his children. Hidden behind plain ordinary bread and wine is the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins – the same body and blood of Christ that rose from the tomb to be with you and assure your home in heaven.
That garden scene with Mary’s eyes being opened reminds us so much of the Garden of Eden scene with Adam and Eve. Satan promised Adam and Eve that if they ate the forbidden fruit, “your eyes will be open and you will be like God”. (Gen 3:5) In fact, it was Adam and Eve who were hidden from God because of their sin.
Jesus is the one who opens our eyes when he calls you by name to come and eat and drink his body and blood. The tree of life that Adam and Eve had been banished from has been replanted in our lives. The cross of Christ now becomes our tree of life, from which we can now reach out and live.
We are invited, by name, to come, reach out and take:
‘This is my body, broken for you.’
‘This is my blood, shed for the forgiveness of your sins.’
‘Come, for all is now ready.’
That’s what Jesus meant when from the cross he cried out – “It is finished.”
All is now ready for you to come. His work of restoring what we lost in the Garden of Eden is finished.
Listen – listen – for the voice of the one who called Mary by name in the garden is here calling your name. It is not over. Life with God has begun again.