Sunday's Message - Beside(s) Jesus: Mary Magdalene

As we approach Easter, Christians all over the world focus their attention on the cross and tomb. And because of this, the usual challenge to follow Jesus just doesn’t seem appropriate. I mean, let’s face it, we’re not Jesus, and we usually stop short of going all the way to the cross and tomb; therefore, using him as an example just doesn’t seem particularly helpful, not as we deal with issues much less dramatic than the crucifixion and the resurrection. But fortunately, Jesus wasn’t the only character in this story. In fact, there were some who just might provide examples that we should follow while there were others whose actions and attitudes we might want to avoid. And this will be our focus on each of the Sundays leading up to and including Easter. 

You see, using the Gospel of John, we’ll look at the following six men and women so that we might better understand who they were, what role they played in this story, and how we might use their examples in our own lives:

• March 16 – Philip
• March 23 – Peter
• March 30 – Caiaphas and Annas
• April 6 – Pilate
• April 13 – Nicodemus
• April 20 – Mary Magdalene 

On Easter Sunday, April 20, we looked at the Mary Magdalene and discussed how her encounter with the resurrected Christ might shape our response to Easter. Below is the podcast and text of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).  You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.

Well, here we are, Easter morning. Of course, how we celebrate Easter now-a-days is a little different from what we did in the past. I mean, when I was a kid back in the 60s, well, Easter was all about wearing new and uncomfortable clothes. And it was all about eating candy that you never saw much less ate any other time of year. And it was all about dad filming my brother and sister and me wandering around the front yard on his 8mm camera and then my grandparents coming over in their Cadillac with the fins and taking some more pictures of us wandering around with their Polaroid. Of course, now-a-days, well, things have changed. I mean, we’re a lot more laid back about clothes. And you can get peeps for Halloween and Christmas. And I doubt that anyone here this morning owns a Polaroid, much less an 8mm camera. As a matter of fact, if you’re below a certain age, you probably don’t know what those things even are. My gosh, I’m getting old.

But be-that-as-it-may, today is Easter, and that means we’re finishing up a sermon series we started back in mid-March entitled Beside(s) Jesus: Other Characters Around the Cross and Tomb. And during these five weeks, using the Gospel of John, we’ve looked at Philip, the guy who connected folks with Jesus, and Peter, the apostle who tended to act before he thought. We talked about Annas and Caiaphas, two priests who had some pretty confused priorities, and Pontus Pilate, the Roman governor who was just overwhelmed by the situation he faced. And then last week, we spent some time with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was able to change and to grow. And as we discussed these people, we tried to learn a little bit about ourselves by applying their examples to our own lives.

And this morning, we’re going to finish this up by focusing on Mary Magdalene, a woman whom the Evangelist John only mentions as being at the cross and tomb. You see, we’re going to sort of put ourselves into her shoes when she encountered Jesus after he’d been raised, there in the garden near where he was buried and then we’re going to discuss how making that kind of identification might shape how we respond to the resurrection. And to do that, we’ll answer these two questions. First, what happened to Mary in the Garden? And then, second, how can her encounter with Jesus shape us?

Of course, like I said, Mary Magdalene in the garden isn’t the first time the Evangelist John mentioned her. For example, the Evangelist put her right there at the crucifixion. He wrote: 

Jesus’ mother stood beside his cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too. [John 19:25, CEV]

And then, a few days later, she was actually the first one to the place where Joseph from Arimathea and Nicodemus had laid Jesus. This was what John wrote:

On Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran to Simon Peter and to Jesus’ favorite disciple and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him.” [John 20:1-2, CEV]

And so, in this gospel, Mary was certainly there at the cross and at the tomb, but more in a supporting role than in the lead.

But I’ll tell you, that changed after Peter and the other disciple had gone to and returned from the empty grave. Just listen to what the Evangelist John wrote:

Mary Magdalene stood crying outside the tomb. She was still weeping, when she stooped down and saw two angels inside. They were dressed in white and were sitting where Jesus’ body had been. One was at the head and the other was at the foot. The angels asked Mary, “Why are you crying?”

She answered, “They have taken away my Lord’s body! I don’t know where they have put him.”

As soon as Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not know who he was. Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener and said, “Sir, if you have taken his body away, please tell me, so I can go and get him.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to him, “Rabboni.” The Aramaic word “Rabboni” means “Teacher.”

Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me! I have not yet gone to the Father. But tell my disciples I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God.” Mary Magdalene then went and told the disciples she had seen the Lord. She also told them what he had said to her. [John 20:11-18, CEV]

Now that’s what John wrote. And let’s think about what’s going on here. You see, when we first see Mary in this part of the story, man, she’s really distracted, isn’t she? I mean, there she was, “...crying outside the tomb.” [John 20:11a, CEV] And I’ll tell you, even though two angels were sitting where Jesus should have been and even though “the angels asked Mary, ‘Why are you crying?’,” [John 20:13a, CEV] Mary just couldn’t get pass all those emotions she was feeling and all those assumption she was making and all those conclusions that just made sense to her. I mean, they must have taken the body of her Lord; for her, that was obvious. As a matter of fact, even when “she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, ...she [still] didn’t know who he was” [John 20:14b, CEV]. According to John, “she thought he was the gardener  and said, ‘Sir, if you have taken his body away, please tell me, so I can go and get him.’” [John 20:15b, CEV] Now that was what happened. Mary’s feelings and assumptions and conclusions prevented her from seeing the truth. She was distracted. 

And I’ll tell you, I think it could have gone on like that all day, if the risen Christ hadn’t done something that changed everything. You see, Jesus spoke. According to John, “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’” [John 20:16a, CEV] And as soon as he called her by name, “she turned and said to him, ‘Rabboni.’” [John 20:16c, CEV] In other words, even though she was looking directly at him, she didn’t recognize him until he said “Mary.” And although, on one level, that really doesn’t make a lot of sense, it does as soon as we remember something Jesus said earlier in the gospel. You see, when he was talking about shepherds and sheep in chapter ten, Jesus said this:

I tell you for certain only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. The sheep will not follow strangers. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice, and they run away. [John 10:1b-5, CEV]

You see, according to what Jesus said, the Good Shepherd knows his sheep by name.  And that’s why calling her “Mary” was such a big deal to her. To that very distracted disciple, Jesus spoke. And when he did, man, Mary responded. I mean, even though when he said this stuff about the shepherd knowing the name of his sheep back in chapter 10, “they did not understand what he was talking about,” [John 10:6b, CEV], as she stood there, in the garden, face to face with her Lord, all of a sudden, Mary understood, didn’t she? The Good Shepherd knew her by name. And so, she recognized him. And she listened to him. And when “Jesus told her, ‘Don’t hold on to me! I have not yet gone to the Father. But tell my disciples I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God’,” [John 20:17, CEV] that’s exactly what she did. According to the Evangelist, “Mary Magdalene then went and told the disciples she had seen the Lord. She also told them what he had said to her.” [John 20:18, CEV] You see, even though she’d gotten distracted by all the other stuff, you know, feelings and assumptions and conclusions, when she heard Jesus speak, she responded. 

And I’ll tell you, on this Easter morning, the exact same thing can happen to us. In other words, in my opinion, that’s exactly how her Easter encounter can shape our Easter response. And you know, that’s probably a good thing, because just like her, it’s easy for us to become distracted. I mean, let’s get real, I think most of us are dealing with all kinds of issues in our own lives: issues that lead us to have certain feelings and to make certain assumptions and to reach certain conclusions. Good night nurse, whether it involves handling situations we’ve been facing for years or coming to grips with something we couldn’t have expected, we’ve all got stuff going on in our lives, don’t we? And I’m talking about things that can sort of take over our emotions and trigger a whole mess of assumptions and cause us to jump to all kinds of conclusions. And you know, I think that can be particularly true for Christians, especially when we expect God to intervene at a certain time and in a certain way, and then get all disappointed when he doesn’t. Do you see what I mean? And you know, because of those feelings and those assumptions and those conclusions, I can sure understand how we might miss “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [and] the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit.” [2 Corinthians 13:13a, NRSVUE] Just like it happened to her, man, it can happen to us.We can get really distracted. 

But you know, on this Easter morning, I’ve got some really good news for y’all: Jesus still speaks; man, he still speaks to us. And I’ll tell you, just like it was for Mary, right here and right now, Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, the Good Shepherd, man, I believe he calls us by name. You see,  whether we like it or not, he really is our shepherd and we can trust that regardless of who we are or what we’ve done, praise the Lord, we’re all part of his flock. Man, that’s why we’re here this morning. Of course, we can deny it until the cows come home, but, brothers and sisters, that’s who we are. I’m telling you, Jesus is still speaking to us, and PTL, he calls us by name. 

And that’s why, again right here and right now, we can do what Mary did. In other words, right here and right now, we can respond in three ways. For example, first, we can recognize, recognize Jesus for being exactly the one he said that he came to be. In fact, we can do this with the same words we’ll hear a little later. You see, after Jesus said to him, “‘Stop doubting and have faith!’ Thomas replied, ‘You are my Lord and my God!’” [John 20:27b-28, CEV] I’m telling you, like Mary we can recognize who Jesus is. 

But that’s not all, because like her, we can also listen, listen to what he says. And that’s the second thing we can do. I mean, we can listen to him say this to his disciples: “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you.” [John 13:34, CEV] And we can listen to him also tell them to “stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you.” [John 15:4, CEV] And we can sure listen to him when, after asking if he loved him, Jesus told Peter to “feed my lambs” [John 21:15b] and to “take care of my sheep” [John 21:16b] and to “feed my sheep.” [John 21:17b, CEV] Man, once we recognize who he is, we can listen to what he has to say.

And then, third, like Mary, we can do exactly what we’ve been called to do. In other words, we can decide to love one another, but not just when we feel like it or when we’re around those whom we already like. Instead, we can choose to treat all people with kindness and respect all the time. You see, the real question of Christianity isn’t, “Can we love Jesus?” It’s, “Can we love Judas?”Now, that’s loving. And we can decide to make the effort to be close to Jesus and his people, even if that might mean joining in one of the groups we have right here in this church or getting ourselves up on Sunday morning so that we can worship with God’s people. And you know, even if, at 10:00, you’re still in your pajamas, that’s OK; you can stream the services right into your living room or kitchen or bedroom. Now that’s abiding. And we can decide to do what we can to help others, but not because we have so much, father because they have so little. And just remember what Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” [Matthew 25:40b, CEV] Now, in my book, that’s what it means to feed the lambs and care for the sheep. You see, just like Mary, we can respond by recognizing and listening and doing.

Of course, I understand that it’s doubtful that Jesus will tell us to get all dolled up on Easter morning or to fill ourselves with a lot of Cadbury chocolate and marshmallow Peeps or to buy an old-timey camera and to tell our kids to just wander around the yard. I think that time has passed. But I don’t think that’s the case with the example left by Mary Magdalene. You see, like her, we can become distracted when we experience all kinds of feelings and make all kinds of assumptions and reach all kinds of conclusions, and I’m talking about feelings and assumptions and conclusions that can actually distract us from God. But here’s the Good News, just like he did for Mary, Jesus still speaks to us; he still calls us by name,  and because we’re part of his flock, right here and now, we still know his voice. And because of that, just like Mary, when we hear our names, we can respond. And because of that, we can recognize and we can listen and we can do what we’ve been called to do. And in this way, we’ll be claiming the example left by Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning.