I’m waiting like Mary

Albert Bogle April 12, 2020 0 2

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John 20: 1-18 (NRSVA)

1 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. 2 So 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.’ 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and 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. 13 They 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.’ 14 When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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.’ 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus 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.”’ 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

My heart still races as I read this story. The sheer enormity of the implications astound me. The detail and the pace of the story tells you this is more than a story; this was an encounter between heaven and earth.  

In the first sentence the darkness is turned into mystery. The stone has been moved from the entrance to the grave and Mary runs for help. Is she thinking to herself, “How crass and uncaring, what kind of people would do this?” (She believed his body had been stolen or deliberately removed). 

When Peter and John arrived, they knew the body wasn’t there. But something was strange. The grave clothes had been removed and folded, the head napkin folded neatly. What was going on, what had happened? The young John got it. He believed his heart racing with excitement.

Together they walked back, brushing past Mary as she stood brokenhearted contemplating the mystery. Her tears flowing for all to see. Then heaven appeared before her eyes — she was talking with angels, talking to herself, talking to heaven, looking for Jesus. And as she turns round, there he is, but she doesn’t recognise him, she thinks he’s the gardener. Then everything changes — Jesus, calls her by her name, “Mary” and the darkness disappears.

Perhaps this Easter you too like Mary are disappointed and anxious. Like Peter and John you’re hiding behind locked doors suspicious and doubtful of the future. Nothing feels right. 

So what can we learn from this amazing encounter with heaven that Mary and the rest of the disciples discovered? Perhaps that heaven is closer than we can imagine? If like Mary we wait and allow our head space to clear of all the noise and confusion we will recognise a voice calling us by name helping us see more clearly the road ahead. And we might even get a glimpse of heaven itself?

Resurrection is Beyond Me

Lord,
I wonder if I have the courage to wait?
To wait like Mary
Yet she didn’t know for what she was waiting
Was she simply longing for what had been lost?

Today, is Easter Sunday
I’m going to wait 
I’m not going to discuss the mystery of it all
Resurrection is above and beyond me
I’m not going to be a Peter and a John speculating about what happened
I’m waiting here 
Crying for friends
Crying for past times
Crying in faith
Crying for help 
Crying for heaven to touch earth once more
Crying to you Lord
To heal our world
And let us live again.
In my crying I’m believing in resurrection