While It Was Still Dark
John 20:1-18
A man appeared before St. Peter at the pearly gates. “Have you ever done anything of particular merit?” St. Peter asked. “Well, I can think of one thing,” the man offered. “Once, at a highway rest stop, I came upon a gang of high-testosterone bikers who were threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen. So, I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker and smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground. ‘Now, back off!’ I yelled, ‘or you’ll answer to me!’” St. Peter was impressed: “When did this happen?” And the man replied, “Just a couple of minutes ago.”
I know you are never supposed to explain a joke, but today of all days, this joke needs explaining. More importantly, it needs to not be funny to us. This joke works if we believe that we have to explain to St. Peter why we deserve to be in heaven. This joke works if we are still in the dark about what Jesus did for us on that first Easter morning.
To shed some light on that first Easter morning, John’s gospel has us focus on Mary Magdalene. She wasn’t the only one to go to the tomb that day, but John particularly wants us to see what happens through her experience. John gives us what we can call the “third day” in the life of Mary Magdalene.
If we look at just three days in her life, the same number of days Jesus was dead in the tomb, we will know all that is important to know about Mary. We will also know all we need to know to celebrate Easter.
The First Day in Mary’s life we characterize as, “Today is just another day.” It’s the kind of day that King Solomon wrote about in Ecclesiastes, when he wrote, “vanity, vanity, all is vanity and a chasing after the wind.” For people who live in the First Day, whatever the particulars, every day is essentially the same. Life is just what it is, and you deal with it.
Every one Mary knows is just like her. Oh, some have more money, some less. Some have more problems, some less. Some have more support from others, some less. By whatever standard people get judged in this world, she knew some who were better, and some who were worse. People just did what they had to do, and they kept score in whatever way put them above the average. So some days she was winning, and some she was losing.
Some people thought that Mary won more than she lost. She is reported in the gospels as being one of the women who provided for Jesus and the disciples out of her means. That would seem to suggest that she had disposable income that could provide for others. That would make her a winner in some circles.
Other people thought that Mary lost more than she won. Some scholars tell us that “magdala” is a rabbinic term for a woman who is “curling women’s hair.” That doesn’t mean that she worked as a hairdresser. A magdala was the kind of woman who scared other women. The woman caught in the act of adultery was a magdala. That would make her a loser in some circles.
What the Bible does tell us about Mary Magdalene is that she had seven demons cast out of her. Whether you believe demons are real, or that demons were the way the Bible talks about psychological problems, it is clear that Mary had a troubled life. There were complications, and consequences, and difficulties, and a general acknowledgement that life is hard. Life was hard for Mary. Life was hard on Mary. Life was hard with Mary.
Her life was hard because underneath everything she does, thinks, and feels is a sense of “what’s the point of all this?” She has dollars, but she has demons. She has companions, but not confidants. She has pleasure, but she has pain. Life is just what it is, and you deal with it and move on. That is life in the First Day.
The Second Day of Mary’s life we characterize as, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” This day is different from all the previous days she has lived before. This day she meets someone who is not like her. This person she meets is unique and common, powerful and gentle, confident and humble, godly and ordinary. When Mary looks into his eyes, she sees a peace she knows is missing from her own life. When she watches him with other people, she sees an acceptance and a confidence that has nothing to do with winning and losing. On this day, she meets Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus is the one who casts out her demons. Jesus is the one who makes her see herself as a child of God. Jesus is the one who shows her a way to live that is holy and acceptable before God and her neighbors. Jesus is the one who loves her just as she is, and that love changes her life. Underneath everything she does, thinks, and feels now is a sense of “somebody loves me enough to take my side.” Every day is a good day when she remembers that. They are good because she believes Jesus is her salvation. The days were good, that is, untilJesus died.
This brings us to the Third Day in Mary’s life. The First Day is a test of Biblical patience, a test of how well we wait for God. Most people don’t like to wait, so they fill their lives with stuff that is so much less than God. The Second Day is a test of Biblical knowledge, a test about how well we know Jesus. Mary had listened to Jesus, studied with Jesus, and followed Jesus. Mary knew Jesus as her salvation.
The Third Day in Mary Magdalene’s life we characterize as, “Today is the first day of the rest of your eternity.” This day begins when she goes to the cemetery to mourn Jesus of Nazareth. It is the day she discovers that the worst day the world can offer is not the last word from God. On this day, she meets Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord.
The most important meetings in our lives don’t always match our plans for the meeting. Mary went to the tomb to be with the buried Jesus. John’s gospel tells us about the stone rolled away, Mary running to get Peter, the people racing back to the tomb, and the reactions they have to an empty tomb.
At this point, all Mary knows for sure is that her Second Day life is over, andthat a return to the First Day life is theunbearable prospect before her. Through tears and confusion, Mary has a confrontation with angels, and a confirmation with Jesus. And Mary Magdalene knew Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. From that moment on, the Third Day truth that defined her life was, “I have seen the Lord.”
Underneath everything she does, thinks, and feels from now on is based in the victory of Jesus over sin and death. Every day is good, from now on, because she has moved from life as a test to life as a testimony. She has encountered the Risen Lord, and knows what Paul declared in his letter to the Romans to be true, that nothing – “not death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When we live in sin, we have a First Day Life. We may believe in winning, and money, and power, and comfort, and toughness, and saving the planet, and whatever else we think makes us above average and acceptable. We can talk about purpose and meaning, about right and wrong, and sometimes we can talk quite passionately about it – as if our very souls depended on getting it right. And that is a clue that we are living a First Day Life, when our life depends on something other than the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. We are First Day people when we think we have to justify to St. Peter why we should be let into heaven.
Second Day Life is so much better than First Day Life that many people are tempted to stay there. We will affirm that Jesus is on our side, and that Jesus loves us. We will study his word, and follow his commandments, and give our time and money to support his causes. We will accept that Jesus has forgiven us, and has died for our sins. The problem comes when Second Day People try to nail Jesus down as to what it means to be a Christian. Do this, don’t do that, and be very clear by what “that” is – that is the faith of a Second Day Life. The main thing wrong with that is that the world has already tried to nail Jesus down once before, on a Friday just before Passover. It didn’t work so well then, and it doesn’t work any better now.
The good news of Easter is that we can be Third Day People, just like Mary Magdalene. On that third day, that first Easter morning, Jesus defeated sin and death. On that day, the stone was rolled away and Jesus took on his eternal form. On that day, Jesus called the name of Mary, which not even death could remove from his mind and heart. On this day, Jesus knows your name, and calls you to rise with him, to give up living day to day, to give up trying to nail down God, and to know finallythe joy of life with God forevermore. To be a Christian in the Wesleyan tradition is to know Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, victor over sin and death, giver of the Holy Spirit who works through us to do the good that reveals God’s love for all God’s children.
When we live as Third Day People, the glory of Christ permeates everything around us, and the light of Christ shines brightly on us, illuminating our path into the kingdom of God. If you are still in darkness, humble yourself and let the light of Christ shine on you this day! And if you are in the light, then celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and the new life it brings for us, as we stand and sing!
UMH 173 “Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”