Almost daily, I think about Noah Collin's message to us two weeks ago. He said something like, "Look where the mess is - that’s where God is doing something new."
Our scripture this week comes from John 20. It begins:
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance.
Can you imagine yourself in Mary’s place?
I can. I feel discombobulated, mystified, out of control…these new emotions added on top of my sadness over Jesus’ death. I'm a mess, the situation is a mess.
Read on:
2 She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, gasping for breath. “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.”
3-10 Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
11-13 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”
13-14 “They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
15 Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”
16 Jesus said, “Mary.”
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”
17 Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.
When I imagine myself with Jesus in this scene I’m frantically asking him to explain things to me. When I finally stop asking and follow his instructions to “go to my brothers”, I can only hope that they will explain things to me.
What new thing was God doing in this mess? We now know much more of the story than Mary did, and know that something huge happened that day, a New Beginning better than we could ever imagine.
Fast forward to 2024…so much feels out of control; I can only cling to the hope that God is doing something really BIG again.
This week, we welcome a new speaker, Brendon Moore, an MDiv student from Regent College. I hope you can join us on Sunday when Brendon talks to us about this familiar Easter passage. (Note that Worship is being held again in the Dogwood Room.)
There will be no Circle Conversation this week; we will be sharing cake and thanking Sanders, Angela, and Timothy for all that they have shared with us over the last year.
Image by Des on Flickr
No comments:
Post a Comment