John 20.1-10; John 20.11-18
Mary comes to the garden - alone …
Early morning, still dark … all is quiet, all is sad.
Filled with grief … full of sorrow … alone …
Was it a sleepless night for her?
Tossing and turning, trying to get comfy, fluffing the pillow, pulling up the covers - calm the mind, focus on something peaceful …
yet the mind refuses to rest,
the mind races over the events of the last few days …
replaying it again and again …
the feelings, the thoughts, the fear, the frustration … ending up at the same place … no matter how many times the scenes are played out … nothing changes!
Oh, what’s the use? Just get up and do something.
Get dressed … slip out to a quiet place … what else to do?
One step at a time … to the garden, to the tomb, to where they laid his bruised body …
This gentle, good, man … arrested, beaten, sentenced to death … because he speaks truth to those in power … this gentle man of peace and healing, has the courage of a lion, and the strength of an eagle …
And they hated him for it …
They couldn’t stand his truth, his love, his hope … all they know is power … the power of the sword, the power of wealth, the power of being top dog, the power of being king of the hill.
I can’t sleep, says Mary … no use trying … I have to get up … I have to go there … the last place, one more time, to see for myself …
Filled with grief, full of sorrow … all by herself, all alone … in the early morning of the day after the Sweet Man took his last breath on the cross, and whispered, It is finished!
Mary goes to the tomb, alone.
There is no easy way through grief … it’s a lonely business.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …
There is no running, there is no quick step, there is no leap and a jump … the weight of grief lays heavy on the heart, darkness fills the mind, there is no sleep, no rest, no peace … there is no hurry possible …
The world around us hurries on … gotta get back to business, the world says to itself, and hurries off to the next meeting.
The world looks over its shoulder and says, We love you. Take care of yourself. We’ll see ya’ soon.
But soon never seems to arrive … the world and its hurry-up attitude leaves us in our sorrow … the world sends a card to us, and says, Now, if there’s anything you need, let me know.
But how do you tell someone? … you need their arms to hold you … you need them to sit with you, quietly … in the hard moments of grief … to share your tears, your emptiness, your weariness of body and soul.
There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
The world is eager to laugh … the world heads out to the dance … and those in grief are all alone …
Mary goes to the Garden - alone …
She discovers the stone has been removed … What’s this all about? … what has happened? … what have they done with him?
She runs now … panic and fear …
She runs to Simon, to the other disciple, and to the one whom Jesus loves, and tells them what she has seen.
They run to the tomb … no slow walk at this point … they run … it’s a race to get there first … the first shall be last, and the last shall be first, in this little sequence of sorrow … and all they see are the linen wraps lying there … and the strangest thing of all, the cloth covering the Sweet Man’s face neatly rolled up in a place by itself …
The men return home …
Mary stays behind - alone.
Weeping … alone.
She bends over to look into the tomb … and sees two angels in white … sitting where the Sweet Man’s body had lain … one at the head, and one at the feet … they pose a question to her … Why are you weeping?
Oh for crying out loud, can’t you see?
Do you not know?
They taken the Sweet Man’s body away … I don’t know what they’ve done with it?
She turns from them - they’re no help at all …
And someone else is there in the garden … he asks the same foolish question, Why are you weeping? … whom are you looking for?
Early in the morning, who else is up in a place like this?
The gardener, of course … he’d be up, busy with the day’s work … pruning and raking, pulling weeds, watering … it’s the gardener, of course … What have you done with him? asks Mary. Have you put his body somewhere? Tell me … I’ll go get it, and I’ll take him away, this Sweet Man.
Mary turns …
And then she hears, Mary!.
He knows my name? How does he know my name? Who is he?
Mary turns, and in a moment, she knows … in her Aramic language,, Rabbouni … Rabbi … Teacher …
She embraces him … quickly he says to her, Do not hold me … the day is not yet done … there is still more to do … I must ascend to the Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
Mary goes to the disciples and announces … what a wonderful word, to announce, like a brass band in the Rose Parade, I have seen the LORD.
Death does not win the battle with Jesus … he must die, of course, to finish the journey … our journey, the human journey … God takes every bit of it, claims all of it … the good, the bad, and the ugly … crucified, dead, and buried, says the creed.
And on the third day …
In that Garden, alone, Mary meets the Risen LORD … she receives the first commission, Go to the others … tell them … and tell them again and again … and to all the world … the goodness of peace and hope, courage and love … a message forged in the fires of God’s great love … a message given in the life of One Sweet Man … who dares to speak truth to power, who gives himself up for the sins of the world, who visits us in our agony and pain, who comes to us in our tears and loss …
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Amen and Amen!
