Mary and the Resurrection

A Sermon preached on Easter Day, April 4, 2021 at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden and St. Christoph, Mainz

Isaiah 25:6-9, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, John 20: 1-18

I am so glad we have the gospels. That is probably a good thing for a priest to say anyway! But what I mean is that if we only had Paul’s account, we would never know that women were the first to encounter the resurrected Jesus. According to Paul, as we heard in his letter to the Corinthians: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6) It is not until later, when “he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time,” that women get a look in!

From all four gospels we know that Jesus’ women followers were witnesses to his death, at the foot of the cross. Only in John’s Gospel are we told that one man, the beloved disciple, was also there. All four gospels also tell us that women discovered the empty tomb and that one woman in particular, Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the apostles, was the first to see the resurrected Jesus and to go and tell the men what she had seen.

This is not the first time that women get written out of history, nor is it restricted to church contexts. But it took an awful long time for the church to admit for example that the apostle Junia, as mentioned by Paul in Romans (16:7) was a woman and not a man called Junias! Why does Paul not mention the women? To be fair, he was not there himself and had to rely on what the apostles told him: “I handed on to you … what I in turn had received.” Peter and co. may have been embarrassed that they had stayed away, and that they did not even believe

Mary when she did what Jesus told her, and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” (John 20:18) They may just not have thought it was important. Thankfully, the gospel writers did and so let us look at the events from Mary’s perspective.

When we encounter Mary in the reading from John’s Gospel, she does not know that she is about to meet the risen Lord. She has seen him die and has come to mourn, and now cannot even do that properly as the body is missing: “Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.” Three times we hear her grieve: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” (John 20:11-15)

Mary has remained loyal the whole time. She never denied Jesus. But she does not expect to see him again, alive. That expectation is one reason why she does not recognise him at first. The Germans have a lovely phrase for this: "weil nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf,” or “that which must not be, cannot be!” Another reason could be a blinding effect of her strong emotions. But there also seems to be something in the character of Jesus' resurrection body, since a failure to recognise him straight away, is typical of encounters with Jesus. Mary’s encounter is the first of many showing Christ overcoming a variety of barriers to faith, including grief, fear, ignorance, and doubt. The barrier of Mary’s grief is overcome when Jesus says her name.

For her, this is the resurrection moment! This is the moment when she sees her beloved teacher risen from the dead. Jesus calls her by the name he used for her before, and she responds with the title she used before. For a moment she assumes that their relationship could pick up where it left off and continue as before. But Jesus quickly lets her know that is not the case: “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.’” (John 20:17)

Why can’t she hold on to him? While Jesus’ body has not been taken or carried away, as she feared, Jesus does have to return to his Father, to his God and to our God! Paradoxically it is his leaving - to be “reunified” with his Father - that will enable our re-connection. When he returns to the Father, Jesus has told them, he will send the Paraclete, as John calls the Holy Spirit, who will teach us all things and who accomplishes the union of all Jesus’ followers with the Father and the Son. Because God is Jesus' Father, he is also our Father; because God is Jesus' God, God is also our God. Jesus calls the disciples his brothers. As his sisters and brothers, we are now all part of the fellowship that unites Jesus and the Father.

Jesus’ resurrection is so much more than a one-off event. Its effects are lasting, and repeated, and universal. We do not proclaim that Christ was risen, but that he is risen. The resurrection is both singular and unique and yet still present and powerful today. Christ’s life, teaching, death and resurrection continue to transform people and lives. Those who turn to Christ can feel and know his presence, not just but especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Those who turn to Christ feel empowered, by the Spirit, to do much more than they ever thought possible. Those who turn to Christ are called to imitate him both in his relationship with God and with one another: They are called to seek and serve him in all human beings, they feel a desire to come closer and closer to the God who is the source of our being. And most of all those who turn to Christ, are both united with him in his death and certainly united with him in his resurrection. (cf. Romans 6:4) Nothing stands in the way of Christ’s victory over death.

Mary may have been the first to go tell others: “I have seen the Lord!” But thankfully that role – being sent to tell the Good News – is not restricted to women. We are all called to go

into the world in hope, with purpose, with the message of reconciliation and forgiveness, that “Christ died for our sins”, for all those things we do to each other, “and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day.” (1 Cor. 15:3-4) Where there is grief, let us bring comfort and hope. Where there is fear, let us bring love. Where there is doubt, let us bring our confidence in the risen Lord.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Good Friday and Suffering

 

A Sermon preached on Good Friday, April 2, 2021 at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Isaiah 52:13—53:12, Hebrews 10:16-25, John 18:1-19:42

The theme of our Lenten course this year was “Why Suffering?” Today, Good Friday, is the day we remember with sadness, and strangely also with gratitude, Christ’s suffering – his Passion to use the church term. Over a period of four weeks, we looked at reasons for suffering, at suffering and the Bible, at suffering and blessing, and at coping with suffering. I thought I would use these themes as a lens through which to reflect on Good Friday.

Some suffering is simply a consequence of the way the world, the way creation is set up. The creator is infinite and timeless, the creation is not and those created are not immortal. We will all die, and death often involves suffering. But much suffering is also a consequence of free will, of the choices we take. Being created to love involves freedom. We cannot be coerced to love. And having choices means that we will not always make the right choices.

Good Friday, the Cross, is the consequence of a number of choices: God choosing to send God’s Son to a world that consistently denied God. Jesus choosing obedience, even when it involved his suffering and death. The High Priests choosing power, while cynically claiming that it was better to have one person die for the people. (John 18:14) The Roman authorities choosing “keeping the peace” over justice. The disciples choosing to flee and Peter to deny his Lord. At the end of all these choices we find Jesus on the cross, abandoned by almost all his followers, except it seems for some faithful women followers.

Good Friday is consistent with scripture. The Bible is a text full of suffering, because it is not an abstract theological essay, it is all about life. We have books dedicated to suffering: Job, Lamentations, many of the psalms. The Bible is full of stories of defeat and destruction. And in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, as we heard a moment ago, we are introduced to the figure of the suffering servant, one who will suffer for others:

“He was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases … But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” (Isaiah 52:3-5)

Jesus told his followers early on that, in accordance with the Scriptures, the “Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31) And on the Cross, using scripture, Jesus connects his suffering with the Biblical narrative: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” comes from Psalm 22, as does the reference to "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." Psalm 22 is all about the suffering servant figure. And when Jesus quotes Psalm 31:5 in Luke’s Gospel with the words: “Into your hand I commit my spirit,” the second half of that verse, while unspoken, also needs to be heard: “you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” Scripture reveals God's will and Jesus perfectly accomplishes God's will.

Good Friday is a Blessing. Standing as we are now, at the foot of the cross, it is difficult to see the blessing. But this death is as much a gift to us as Jesus’ life with us. In his final prayer, Jesus prays to God: “I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.” Jesus’ suffering liberates us from sin. Jesus’ suffering restores our relationship with God. Jesus’ suffering is already the victory over death in which we share. Jesus’ suffering reminds us that evil and suffering are real, but that they do not have the last word. “All things work together for good” writes Paul in Romans 8. Even the hardest moments in human life can offer us transformative power for good, none more so than “Good Friday.”

Good Friday not only helps us cope with suffering, but to overcome it. Good Friday is the proof that God knows and understands what it means to suffer and to die. Whenever we suffer, we can call on a divine companion to share in our pain, and to strengthen us. In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ concern even on the cross is how his mother will cope with her suffering. With the words: "Woman, here is your son" and "here is your mother," Jesus entrusts her to the loving care of the disciple whom he loved. (John 19:26) When, in the gospels of Mark and Matthew Jesus cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he is showing his solidarity with all who doubt. But what truly helps us cope with suffering and death is our faith. We trust, as Jesus trusts, that God will redeem us and welcome us into God’s presence.

Today, on Good Friday, faith and trust are all we have. We have to trust that something good will come out of this death, Jesus' resurrection is still ahead of us. “It is finished,” Jesus says, fully in control, in John’s Gospel. His suffering was over. But not his story, not the story of our transformation and the transformation of the world. That had just begun and still continues. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “The resurrection of Christ reveals that we have a future. Suffering and death do not lose their bitterness, but they appear in a new light.”

Amen.