Easter Day, April 16, 2017
Acts 10:34-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-18
I. In Darkness, At the Tomb
· Mary Magdalene came to the tomb in the darkness. Nothing in the gospel account we heard just now tells us why she came. To confirm the reality of terrible events. To make sure his tomb had not been disturbed. To nurse her own grief. To do something when there seemed to be nothing, really, to do.
· Mary was one of Jesus’ followers, a friend. The “Magdalene” part of her name in the Bible says something about where she was from, perhaps. Many, many other things have been said about Mary in the long stretch of time since her days on earth, much of it malignant. But we don’t have to go there today. For today, let’s just say this of Mary: she is me; she is you; she is us.
· She came that day because she was drawn by something beyond the mundanity (and perhaps on this day, the morosity) of her own reality. I came today because this is what I do, you know; but, honestly, on this day I came hoping for something extraordinary. You may have come today because this is a habit, what you always do, whether it’s every Sunday or every Easter. You may also have come because you are hoping for something extraordinary—and I don’t mean just the flowers and the music and the stained glass and the beautiful words of our worship. I mean something that makes brings in you the compulsion to let your life be changed. Something that tells you that you were not made for death, but for life.
· What Mary found was that the stone had been removed from the tomb; in her mind, that could only mean someone had taken Jesus out of the tomb. This is what she says when she goes to fetch Simon Peter and the disciple Jesus loved. They go back to the tomb and confirm that it is, indeed, empty, except for the linen cloths that had been used to bind the body. Then the guys go home.
· Mary stays by the tomb, and she cries. Tears are magical. They can be life-bringing. (Remember the Velveteen Rabbit.) Water, springing out of your body. Mary’s tears summon up angels, inside the tomb, who ask her why she is crying. And she repeats her story. Then someone else is standing there, too. Is it the gardener? He asks why she is crying. Maybe he took Jesus’ body away.
· Then, he says, “Mary!” He is the Teacher! She turns to him, and … what does he say? “Do not hold on to me.” Do not hold on to me.
II. Friends, Seeking One Another
· What a thing for your friend to say.
· Eight hundred years ago, in Turkey, Jelaluddin Rumi was born into a family of scholars and judges and theologians. His father was the head of a dervish college. (Imagine.) Rumi took over that job when his father died. He met his extraordinary moment one day as he was going about his work. He had taken his class outside, and they sat beside a pool while he read to them from his father’s dazzling spiritual diary. Out of nowhere, a man strides up to Rumi, grabs the precious book from him, and throws it in the water! “Who are you, and what are you doing?” said Rumi. The man, whose name was Shams, said, “It is time for you to live what you’ve been reading.” Rumi looked down at the book. “You can pick it up and it will be dry,” said Shams. “See,” and he reached down and drew the book out, perfectly dry. “Leave it,” Rumi said. So began the friendship that became a way.
· Mike and I have a friend named Coleman Barks, who tells that story. Coleman is a poet and the translator of the ocean of poetry that Rumi created out of his friendship with Shams. Coleman says, “The friendship that Rumi and Shams embodied was clear and miraculous and essential, like water.” But, you know how people can be. Some in Rumi’s community grew jealous; they plotted and eventually drew Shams away, killed him, and hid his body. Rumi looked everywhere for his friend. Until one day in Damascus, when he realized that Shams was everywhere and within. There was no need to search anymore. He began then to speak the spontaneous poetry that is loved across the world.
· “Do not hold on to me.”
· “It is time for you to live the life that you have been reading/seeking/following.”
III. Rumi and Shams, Mary and Jesus: Soul Friends
· Here is just a bit of Rumi: “The one my soul is searching for/ is not here. Where has he gone?/ The one like a lit candle,/ like a seat with roses growing around it./ Our eyes look for that one first,/ but I do not see him today./ Say his name. If anyone here/ has kissed his hand, give us your blessing./ […]/ There is no one like him in the world./ But if there is no form for that now,/ how is it everything turns/ with the motion of his love?/ Say all the possible [names]./ Do not hide anything from one/ who wants only to be in his presence.”
· Now picture again Mary, and the one her soul was searching for. Where has he gone? Then he is here, saying, “Don’t hold on to me.”
· He is going to God, his God and her God and my God and your God, his Father and her Father and my Father and your Father. He said these things to Mary, and she carried them with her and went to tell the disciples at home.
IV. In Daylight, Freedom
· “Do not hold on to me,” may not be the Easter message you thought you came to hear. But in the daylight of the empty tomb and the risen Lord, these words are the gift of freedom and life.
· “Do not hold on” to the version of faith that did or didn’t serve your childhood. There is more. If you have been seeking something larger, something more powerful and compelling—it is time, now, for you to live it. Jesus says, “Do not hold on to me” in that form; he is so much more.
· “Do not hold on” to the “regular faith” that has perhaps become stale for you, if you are a “regular” and not so much a seeker. To you, too, Jesus says, “Do not hold on to me”; he can be someone, something you have not yet imagined.
· “Do not hold on” to Christ Church, no matter how much you love its past and its present. She is Christ’s own, and because of that can be made new, continually.
· “Do not hold on,” even (dare I say this?) to the “Church.” Jesus Christ is risen and lives and is present in his Body here, but not in order for us to “hold on” to our images of him or his Church. Rather, in order to be loved, fed, energized and freed to live the life that we’ve been hearing about.
· There is no form for that now, but everything turns on the motion of his love. You do not have to hold on. AMEN