Is It True?

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

April 24, 2011

Easter

Is It True?

John 20:1-18

Darkness still covered the sleeping land,

the sun just ready to rise from behind the curtain of night

to start another day. 

A lone figure, a woman, walked briskly, calmly,

a woman clearly with a place to go and a job to do.

She entered the garden and found her way in the shadows

to the place where her Lord’s body

had been laid on Friday evening.

She had watched silently, breathlessly,

as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had taken the Lord’s body

down from the cross,

lowering him so gently from that cruel executioner’s tool.

                 

She followed their every move as they carried the body

to a nearby tomb,

and then wrapped the body in linens with spices

– myrrh and aloes – as was the custom for Jewish burials.

                                   

She watched them emerge from the tomb

as the late afternoon turned to evening.

She was sure they had not had time

to complete their work before sunset

brought the start of the Sabbath.

She stayed long enough to watch the two men

put their shoulders to a large rock

heaving and grunting as they rolled it into place,

covering the tomb.

Then she had walked away, silently,

no tears left to cry,

Now, on this Sunday morning,

she came to complete the work

that Joseph and Nicodemus

had so courageously and faithfully begun.

As she approached the tomb she could see that the stone,

that large boulder Joseph and Nicodemus

had rolled into place,

was now to the side of the tomb –

the tomb was wide open.

She was horrified:

Someone must have stolen the Lord’s body!

Someone must have taken it from the tomb;

Even in death they couldn’t leave him alone!

                          

Who would do such a cruel thing?

The Romans? –

as final punishment aimed at the disciples

who’d fled from arrest

and even now hid from them in fear?

                                   

Or could it have been one of the many

who claimed to be the Messiah?

Some false Christ

who wanted to erase all trace of the one

who made all false prophets look so foolish.

                                            

Or could it have been followers of her Lord,

misguided followers who had heard him speak about

rising from the grave,

and decided to take his body so they could start the rumor:

“See, just as he prophesied”,

Now follow us.

We know the teachings of Jesus’ of Nazareth.”

She’d seen so many like that,

shallow, empty vessels,

more concerned with themselves and their own egos

than with her Lord.

                                                                                

Whoever had taken the body

had brought shame upon themselves

for such a cruel act.

She ran from the tomb,

ran as fast as she could,

ran until she found Peter and John.

She blurted out her news to them,

and they took off at a sprint.

The sun was just washing over the horizon,

spreading its light and warmth

as Peter and John arrived at the open tomb.

Peter stepped into the cool, damp dimness

of the chamber where the body had been placed.

He “saw the linen wrappings lying there,

and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head,

not lying with the linen wrappings,

but rolled up in a place by itself.”

John stepped into the tomb with Peter,

and he too saw the linens.

Neither of them knew what to make of it.

Why would anyone want to steal the body?

And if they did take the body

why would they go to the trouble of unwrapping all the linens?

With the dawn’s light, though, came a thought to John:

the linens were lying there discarded

because they were no longer needed.

Only the dead need to be wrapped in linens and spices.

The living have no need of myrrh and aloe,

linen and cloth.

John didn’t say a word to Peter,

but wondered: could it be?

How could it be?

It was really all too fantastic,

and yet he saw it was true,

saw it with his own eyes.

The words his Lord had spoken a few days earlier

suddenly filled his mind:

“A little while and you will no longer see me,

and again a little while,

and you will see me.”

(John 16:17)

And not long before that, Jesus had said,

“I am the resurrection and the life,”

He’d said those words right before

 he raised Lazarus from the tomb.

As those words spun around inside his head,

John remembered that when Lazarus emerged from the tomb,

he was still wrapped tightly in burial linens,

alive, but bound.

Jesus said to the group who witnessed the miracle,

“Unbind him,” and they did.

But if the Lord was the Resurrection

he would have needed no one to unbind him.

He would have broken free from death by the power of God,

and the linens would have fallen aside,

no longer able to bind him,

the strips of linen falling lifeless themselves.

As John then walked silently out of the tomb,

he glanced at the boulder over to the side and he smiled:

Of course!

The boulder had not been rolled back to let Jesus out;

it had been rolled back to let him and Peter in

so they could see;

so they could see and believe,

so they would know it was true.

And John did believe,

John believed that the Lord Jesus had vanquished death,

destroyed the power of death.

John believed that Jesus lived

just as surely as he had lived just three days before.

Jesus had defeated death,

that grim, chill presence that always hovered;

that grim reality that instilled fear in everyone,

even the most faithful.

Even the psalmist’s words reflected fear of death,

fear of finality,

of returning to the dust, to nothingness:

“What profit is there in my death, O Lord,

if I go down to the place of the dead.

Will the dust praise you?

Will it tell of your faithfulness?

…in death there is no remembrance of you”

(Psalms 6 & 30)

In death there was no God,

no hope,

no anything.

                 

But as he stepped out of that empty tomb,

John knew that Jesus had forever wiped away such thinking,

forever eliminated such fear.

Now, not even death could separate him or anyone

from the love of God.

John walked away, lost in his thoughts,

not even aware that he and Peter were leaving Mary behind,

standing there weeping so quietly.

But her tears lasted only a few more moments

as she encountered the man she mistakenly thought

was the gardener.

When the man spoke she heard her beloved Lord’s voice.

In her joy she sought to embrace him,

but she heard Jesus say so gently, yet so resolutely,

“Do not hold onto 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)

Ascending.

The word gripped Mary as she walked back to town

back to the room where the disciples had hidden themselves.

Ascending.

Ascending to sit at the right hand of God.

“The Lord says to my lord,

‘Sit at my right hand.’”

(Psalm 110:1)

                 

“Ascending to my father and your father,

my God and your God.”

She like John, believed, and she was filled with joy,

even if she didn’t fully understand,

even if she didn’t fully understand that Jesus was ascending,

not because his work was done,

but because his ministry was about to blossom,

the seeds planted during those brief years of the incarnation,

about to bloom as flowers in spring,

the good news about to spread to all the world,

the good news that God is merciful,

God is just,

God is forgiving,

God is hope,

God is love.

Mary believed, even if she did not understand

that the hapless disciples,

the ones who, as Jesus faced the Roman soldiers

on the night of his arrest,

disappeared into the shadows,

fleeing, hiding,

abandoning Jesus in their fear,

that they would be the first crop,

sprouting up in just a few weeks,

sprouting up with the courage to confront

the very same authorities they’d run from,

and challenge them openly, boldly, confidently,

refusing every demand to keep silent:

“We cannot keep from speaking about

what we have seen and heard.”

(Acts 4:19)

The disciples, with their roots firmly in Christ,

and strengthened by the Holy Spirit promised them by Jesus,

would soon walk fearlessly,

knowing that it was true:

that the risen Jesus was with them,

and would always be with them,

that even if they should die,

they would still know the love of God

given them in Christ. 

When we shout out “He is Risen!”,

we are joining our voices with Peter, John, Mary,

and with all those who came after them

first by the thousands,

then the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands,

the millions, the hundreds of millions

all together proclaiming, “Yes, it is true”

It is true: Christ lives!

It is true: the tomb could not hold him,

It is true: in his resurrection Christ defeated death.

Death has visited this congregation

so painfully regularly this past year,

bringing with it a sense of loss, grief, tears,

the profound presence of absence.

Yet, even in our tears,

we still find hope,

for we know it is true,

that through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,

death has lost its ultimate power over us.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

death is no longer a wall labeled, “The End”,

but a door that says, “From this life to the next,

always and forever in the loving presence of God.”

So we proclaim our faith boldly, confidently!

And yet even as we shout and sing,

we are also filled with that peace

which surpasses all understanding,

the peace that comes from knowing that

“From his fullness

we have all received grace upon grace.”

(John 1:18)

We proclaim our faith,

joining our voices with all the saints,

including the one who wrote,:        

“We declare to you what was from the beginning,

what we have heard,

what we have seen with our eyes,

what we have looked at and touched with our hands,

concerning the word of life—

this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it,

and declare to you the eternal life

that was with the Father and was revealed to us—

we declare to you what we have seen and heard

so that you also may have fellowship with us;

and truly our fellowship is with the Father

and with his Son Jesus Christ.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

(1 John 1:1-4)

And our joy too is complete,

for it is true:

He is risen!

Christ is risen!

Alleluia!

                                            

AMEN