Alleluia! Christ is risen! It is fun to celebrate! We love to shake our shakers and see the boom whacker choir at work. We love to have our churches filled with joy. We need these moments. We need the promises of the empty tomb in a world where we find ourselves perpetually walking through Holy Week. We need the promises of the empty tomb in a world filled with struggles, injustices, and inequities. We need to know that love wins. We need a reason to hope.
We need the promises of the empty tomb in a world where we find ourselves perpetually walking through Holy Week. How do we know about the empty tomb?
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
The four Gospels vary slightly about what happens on the first day of the week. All of them start early, while it is still dark. All include Mary Magdalene. Some have Mary coming with other women. John’s Gospel, which we read today, has Mary going alone. What does this tell us?
In every Gospel in the Bible, the stories reveal that Mary Magdalene is the first or among the first to witness to the resurrection. In the Gospel of John, she is specifically identified as the apostle to the apostles. She is the first to proclaim the Good News that Christ is risen indeed!
In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ first appearance in resurrected form is to ONE person – Mary Magdalene. She is the first to witness this miracle, this message to the world that death is not the end of the story. In this encounter Mary hears her name and becomes the first to know the power of love to transform hearts. The sound of her name becomes a signal to her that all she was carrying can be put aside. The one she loves, the one who loves her more than she could ask or imagine, has transformed that love into something that will change the world. Her response is humble and profound “Rabbouni”, Teacher. She surrenders to Jesus, trusting that whatever happens next, she is held in God’s love.
One person receives the Good News, has the courage to share it with her friends and from there the message was sown and blossomed into a faith that encircles the globe! There is something wonderfully humbling and empowering to know that God trusts individuals and small groups to spread the word. God gifts individuals, like Mary Magdalene and the other women, like the disciples, providing the resources and the courage needed to tell others what they know and support one another along the way.
That trust, that gifting didn’t end some two thousand years ago. God continues to trust and gift individuals and small groups. This is what makes places like this so special. St. Paul’s is a small congregation with a big heart. How do we use our gifts to proclaim God’s love today?
St. Paul’s is a small congregation with a big heart. We are not many and yet, every person here matters. From the youngest to the oldest, those who are in the pews every week and those who pop up to help, we know every person has the capacity to make a difference because each person has gifts that come from God. We are happy to support one another in sharing those gifts because we know doing so helps spread the word, creates spaces for hope, and shares the love. We are a small part of the family of faith that has spanned millennia, collectively using our gifts and sharing the message that Christ is risen and we can trust that love wins because the tomb is empty as Jesus lovingly revealed to Mary Magdelene on that first Easter morning.
We can say Alleluia! Christ is risen! Because one person, Mary Magdalene once said Christ is risen to the disciples, her friends, who found the courage to say this to others. May we continue to support one another and generously share our gifts with the world so that God working in and through us can continue to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine spreading hope and love in a world continually needs it. This we pray as we sing: (VT) 809 Sing a New World into Being