By Rebecca Stoltzfus, President
Scripture: John 20:1-18 (NRSV)
In the Easter story from John, I can feel Mary’s swirl of thoughts when she encounters the unexpected open tomb. She is in her head, trying to make sense of what she is seeing, making up stories about what is “wrong.”
In fact, she is so caught up in her thoughts and questions that she does not recognize Jesus – the very person whom she is seeking. She is looking for the dead Jesus, but she encounters the living Jesus.
And then Jesus breaks through all the stories she is spinning in her head.
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” — “Teacher!” (John 20:16)
And I feel in that moment what Mary felt as she dropped from her anxious mind to her heart and body to be present to the living Jesus, her best friend and teacher.
Given that the next thing Jesus says is “Don’t hold on to me,” I imagine that Mary threw her arms around him – a heart and body response. Mary gave in to joy.
This is what I want the very most for you and for me this Easter. Let’s give in to the joy of Easter. Let’s take a break from focusing on everything that is wrong with the world. Like Mary, we might miss seeing the living Jesus who is saying our name; affirming the reality of a friendship that is here and now and Divine.
In these days, which feel so dark, being joyful can seem almost irresponsible, disloyal to all the suffering and injustice, simplistic. But it is not.
Joy is the strength of the Lord; a gift of the Spirit. Anger, dismay, grief—these and a whole array of other emotions are with us as long as we are alive and human in this suffering world. Joy is not an escape, it is a present gift in the midst of all of this. It is one of the nourishing and refreshing fruits of our disciplined life in the Spirit.
In these days, which can seem so dark, genuinely cultivating and embracing joy is a radical act, and a noticeable sign of life in the Kingdom of God.
Be awake and joyful! Happy Easter!
Scripture: John 20:1-18 (NRSV)
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. 2So 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.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and 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. 13They 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.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus 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 your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.