Easter
Jeremiah 31:1-6, Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18
Jesus said to her “do not touch (hold on to) me, for I have not yet ascended (returned) to my 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’ ”.
It was still dark when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus. In Jewish culture, they took the first seven days of mourning very serious for Jewish culture was serious about expressing rather than repressing grief, and mourners went to the tomb to bestow final acts of love.
However to her surprise MM finds the stone rolled away. She immediately goes to Peter and the disciple who loved Jesus and said that the body of Jesus has been taken away. And the two disciples run to the tomb. Whether they ran to see for themselves out of shock or not taking MM’s words seriously since the witness of women in Judaism was not taken seriously.
They saw and they went back believing that the tomb was empty yet they did not understand the scriptures.
And while MM stayed at the tomb she is confronted by Jesus whom she didn’t recognize either by his sight nor his voice. Mathew and Mark both show Jesus 1st appearing to the women and John too shows Jesus 1st appearing to a woman. This shows us how Jesus’ values differed from the values of his culture. Sadly the later church did not always maintain the counter culture of Jesus – even Paul writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:3) says that Jesus appeared to Peter and the 12, and not always do we too maintain that culture.
However I would like to look at the message that Jesus gave MM which she took back to the disciples.
John 20:17 Jesus said to her “do not touch (hold on to) me, for I have not yet ascended (returned) to my 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’ ”.
Firstly Jesus said to her “do not touch me”. MM as one of the women who followed and supported the ministry of Jesus. A woman who was cured of evil spirits. She was at the cross and burial even when the 12 had deserted Jesus. She saw the angel after resurrection. And she also saw Jesus. She was one of the women who followed Jesus very closely and in the gospel of John we see her courageously coming to the grave alone and continuing to wait even after Peter and the other disciple had.
For MM Jesus of MY Lord and MY Teacher (Rabboni). Jesus was personal to MM.
MM in her joy at finding her Lord and Teacher – her savior may have wanted to continue to be with Jesus. And if she stayed on with him she couldn’t do the job Jesus had for her - to go and testify to the others about his resurrection and ascension and maybe beyond that to go out and testify to all what she had experienced by being with him in the last three years. Sadly we don’t hear anything of MM after the resurrection narratives.
Despite the cultural opposition of women bearing testimony Jesus is sending her to testify to a very important event – the resurrection. Sometimes it is nice to continue to be in an ecstatic context and let it sink in, like the disciples at the transfiguration, but Jesus wanted MM to move on.
Today many of us give importance to the ecstatic experience we have with Jesus but we don’t want to move out of it and share the good news with others. Hence we have a world which is in need and an untestifying church.
Secondly Jesus tells her “go to my brothers”. The resurrection of Jesus brings the disciples to the ultimate relationship they could have with him. At the Passover he called them servants and then friends. In John 15:15 he tells the disciples “I no longer call you slaves,……..but I called you friends”.
A slave was someone who belonged to another but didn’t have ownership rights of his own.
A friend someone dearly loved in a personal, intimate way, a trusted confidant. For Jesus says everything I have known from the father I have made known to you.
This included Peter who denied Jesus and the two brothers who were fighting for a place at either side of Jesus.
But at the resurrection Jesus calls them brothers. Brothers mean to be members of a community. I.e. a fellow Christian. This meant that they shared in his resurrection power and glory. The resurrection of Jesus gave the disciples a new lease of life and a new power line. A new life where St. Paul writing to the Colossians says, “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts and minds on things above” and “where Christ becomes part of your life”.
To those who accept the risen Lord they will become part of the Jesus community and they share in power and glory of the resurrection. (The Jesus community is one where there is equality, justice and fairness to all.) The Easter message calls us to progress in our relationship with the risen Lord and share in his glory and power.
To conclude
The good news of the resurrection was first given to a woman whose testimony was not accepted, similar to the good news of the birth of Christ first given to shepherds the least in society. God uses the least, the unaccepted and the lowest in society to take the good news about him to others.
The message of Easter is good news that has to be shared and not to be withheld. Jesus is to be seen, experienced and shared. That was his command to disciples t his ascension.
The message of Easter is the climax of progressive relationship with Christ. It’s a transformed relationship that the risen Lord is calling us to share with him. To be part of him – as brothers and sisters.
So the resurrection of Jesus is a challenge to us. Just as the cross draws all of us to Jesus, the resurrection moves those who have experienced him out with joy and power to share the good news and be living witnesses.
Jesus said to her “do not touch (hold on to) me, for I have not yet ascended (returned) to my 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’ ”.
It was still dark when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus. In Jewish culture, they took the first seven days of mourning very serious for Jewish culture was serious about expressing rather than repressing grief, and mourners went to the tomb to bestow final acts of love.
However to her surprise MM finds the stone rolled away. She immediately goes to Peter and the disciple who loved Jesus and said that the body of Jesus has been taken away. And the two disciples run to the tomb. Whether they ran to see for themselves out of shock or not taking MM’s words seriously since the witness of women in Judaism was not taken seriously.
They saw and they went back believing that the tomb was empty yet they did not understand the scriptures.
And while MM stayed at the tomb she is confronted by Jesus whom she didn’t recognize either by his sight nor his voice. Mathew and Mark both show Jesus 1st appearing to the women and John too shows Jesus 1st appearing to a woman. This shows us how Jesus’ values differed from the values of his culture. Sadly the later church did not always maintain the counter culture of Jesus – even Paul writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:3) says that Jesus appeared to Peter and the 12, and not always do we too maintain that culture.
However I would like to look at the message that Jesus gave MM which she took back to the disciples.
John 20:17 Jesus said to her “do not touch (hold on to) me, for I have not yet ascended (returned) to my 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’ ”.
Firstly Jesus said to her “do not touch me”. MM as one of the women who followed and supported the ministry of Jesus. A woman who was cured of evil spirits. She was at the cross and burial even when the 12 had deserted Jesus. She saw the angel after resurrection. And she also saw Jesus. She was one of the women who followed Jesus very closely and in the gospel of John we see her courageously coming to the grave alone and continuing to wait even after Peter and the other disciple had.
For MM Jesus of MY Lord and MY Teacher (Rabboni). Jesus was personal to MM.
MM in her joy at finding her Lord and Teacher – her savior may have wanted to continue to be with Jesus. And if she stayed on with him she couldn’t do the job Jesus had for her - to go and testify to the others about his resurrection and ascension and maybe beyond that to go out and testify to all what she had experienced by being with him in the last three years. Sadly we don’t hear anything of MM after the resurrection narratives.
Despite the cultural opposition of women bearing testimony Jesus is sending her to testify to a very important event – the resurrection. Sometimes it is nice to continue to be in an ecstatic context and let it sink in, like the disciples at the transfiguration, but Jesus wanted MM to move on.
Today many of us give importance to the ecstatic experience we have with Jesus but we don’t want to move out of it and share the good news with others. Hence we have a world which is in need and an untestifying church.
Secondly Jesus tells her “go to my brothers”. The resurrection of Jesus brings the disciples to the ultimate relationship they could have with him. At the Passover he called them servants and then friends. In John 15:15 he tells the disciples “I no longer call you slaves,……..but I called you friends”.
A slave was someone who belonged to another but didn’t have ownership rights of his own.
A friend someone dearly loved in a personal, intimate way, a trusted confidant. For Jesus says everything I have known from the father I have made known to you.
This included Peter who denied Jesus and the two brothers who were fighting for a place at either side of Jesus.
But at the resurrection Jesus calls them brothers. Brothers mean to be members of a community. I.e. a fellow Christian. This meant that they shared in his resurrection power and glory. The resurrection of Jesus gave the disciples a new lease of life and a new power line. A new life where St. Paul writing to the Colossians says, “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts and minds on things above” and “where Christ becomes part of your life”.
To those who accept the risen Lord they will become part of the Jesus community and they share in power and glory of the resurrection. (The Jesus community is one where there is equality, justice and fairness to all.) The Easter message calls us to progress in our relationship with the risen Lord and share in his glory and power.
To conclude
The good news of the resurrection was first given to a woman whose testimony was not accepted, similar to the good news of the birth of Christ first given to shepherds the least in society. God uses the least, the unaccepted and the lowest in society to take the good news about him to others.
The message of Easter is good news that has to be shared and not to be withheld. Jesus is to be seen, experienced and shared. That was his command to disciples t his ascension.
The message of Easter is the climax of progressive relationship with Christ. It’s a transformed relationship that the risen Lord is calling us to share with him. To be part of him – as brothers and sisters.
So the resurrection of Jesus is a challenge to us. Just as the cross draws all of us to Jesus, the resurrection moves those who have experienced him out with joy and power to share the good news and be living witnesses.
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