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Do Not Hold On To Me
Easter
April 3-4, 2010 HE IS RISEN! What a week it's been. Get the donkey, ride it in a triumphant, triumphal entry in Jerusalem, people spreading palm branches, cloaks and tunics in front of the donkey and its rider. The week progresses and at the Passover, Jesus the Son of God, Son of Man, Word made Flesh who is about to do the ultimate act of love and servant hood first goes from the lofty to the nitty gritty, from principle to practice, demonstrating an everyday act of servant hood by washing the feet of his disciples. "Unless I wash you, you can have no share in me." The washing of baptism, cleansed by the blood of the lamb, exemplified by this act of service. Then on to Gethsemane where the disciples are: * Asleep, as we so often are, sleepwalking past things that need to be done, said, undone, unsaid, forgetting who we are and whose we are. Where there is: * Betrayal, as we so often do when we place our hearts in a treasure of worldly goods, wanting, "needing" ever more, desperate to keep what we have. * Desertion, as we so often do as we leave the church, the Body of Christ because of disagreements. * Denial, as we so often do when we do and say things that deny our witness of Christ. Now we look at these 18 verses from the Gospel of John where we find human action, human emotion, human error. All aspects of our common humanity. Jesus' body has been moved! Mary is upset, finds John and Peter who race to the tomb, John wins, but Peter enters first! But John is quicker to believe! To believe what, though? They go home, but Mary stays. Would this be a good reality show or what? But who can watch it when they live it? Early in the morning, darkness shrouding Mary and her understanding. Jesus' body is gone. Has it been moved? Where? Who? Jumping to a conclusion, going to find Peter and John. Sounds like us, jumping to conclusions, often erroneously, but hey! that's just life, we say. Peter and John hear the news, run as fast as they can because it is disturbing. John gets there first, looks in, sees the wrappings. Peter enters the tomb, also sees the wrappings, with Jesus' head covering folded because it will never be needed again. John enters, sees, believes. It's faith, believing although he doesn't know why, believing at this point with no real idea as to what it is he believes. He believes that Jesus is risen from the dead, and that's enough for him. Peter, occasionally given insights by the Father: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God," but racing with his own agenda and understanding, may or may not believe at this point that Jesus is risen. Peter the denier, probably torn between remorse and grief, hope and a desire to believe, is still fearful, goes home. And so does John. That's the way of things, act, and believe it's all up to us. There! Mission accomplished, I'm going home. But Mary, stays at the tomb, weeping. She looks in and sees two angels in white, who ask her: "Woman, why are you weeping?" They've taken him away, I don't know where he is, she replies, persisting in her error. Just like us. When we already have a conclusion, it's hard, difficult, to leave it, challenge it, change it. Let's put Jesus in a box of our own making, constraining him, his love and actions for which we are his feet and hands here and now. But Jesus is behind her, she turns but doesn't know him, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus she engages in a conversation with the Christ. Just like us, we don't know Jesus when we see him, maybe it's because he is outside of our box. Mary supposes Jesus to be someone else and we do the same, we see him and suppose him to be someone else. "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." In Isaiah the prophet writes: "I have called you by name, you are mine," Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd who knows his sheep and calls them by name, says: "Mary." Isaiah tells us "and the sheep know his voice." All Mary can say is: "Rabbouni!" and she longs to embrace him, but Jesus tells 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." And Mary, doing now what all should do, what we are commanded to do, doesn't hold on to Jesus, she doesn't keep the Good News to herself, she goes and tells the disciples: "I have seen the Lord!" She holds on to him in her heart, but she shares the Good News and this is what we need to do! What we are to do! We need and are to tell, share, proclaim the Good News that Christ has risen and we believe, we believe in the resurrection and we believe that because of his death, because of his resurrection, all for us, we have been given faith by grace, our sins are forgiven, and we will be with him in paradise. Have a joyful, wondrous Easter! He is risen! Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
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