Pastor Bobby preached John 20:11-18. He taught from the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, and he asked, “What would you do if you were convinced that Jesus wants you and your church needs you?” Lector: Asia Filipiak
Pastor Bobby preached John 20:11-18. He taught from the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, and he asked, “What would you do if you were convinced that Jesus wants you and your church needs you?”
Lector: Asia Filipiak
Good morning, my name is Bobby. I’m one of the pastors here. We exist to reach people with the gospel, build them up as God’s church, and send them wherever God leads to be champions of truth, beauty, and goodness. And, especially at Eastertide, when we think of truth, beauty, and goodness we think of the resurrection of Christ.
But if he’s alive, if it’s not just a fairy tale, then where is he when we feel alone, anxious, inadequate? Does he want me? And if he does, am I just a charity case? Would he really entrust me with meaningful work in his kingdom?
If you’ve been a Christian long then you know these answers, intellectually. I know them in my head but don’t always feel them in my heart. Today we meet a woman who had every right to ask these questions. Her name was Mary Magdalene, and we may find God’s answers to us in his answers to her.
We meet her at her darkest hour: Sunday morning following the crucifixion of her Lord, her teacher, her friend. She has gone to the tomb, which was a cave in a garden.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. – John 20:11
Mary is one of several women who had traveled with Jesus and other disciples. The Gospel writer Luke says,
Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus … – Luke 8:2-3
Mary is a woman of means with a troubled past. Numbers were assigned meaning in the ancient world, and when we see the number seven in Scripture it symbolizes completion. Whatever was happening with Mary’s health, we are meant to understand that demonic forces had complete control over her. But Jesus had healed her and trained her as a disciple in his ministry.
Now he’s dead, and Mary is crushed. She’s come to the garden tomb and discovered his body missing. Do you ever find yourself asking, “Where is Jesus? I need him. I feel alone.” Mary did, too. She only expected to find a corpse, but she was desperate to honor it.
Mary’s hopes had been crushed on Good Friday. She didn’t yet understand Jesus as the seed of the Woman, foretold in the first book of the Bible to crush the serpent’s head, righting everything that had been wrong since the first woman and man followed the spiritual forces of this world instead of God, setting the trajectory for all humanity.
“Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” John 20:13
Others in the Gospel of John have called Jesus “Lord” but Mary is the first to say, “My Lord.” This is personal. Have you ever felt that way? At one time you thought you knew Jesus, that you were close to Jesus. But it’s like someone has taken him away, and you don’t know where they have put him.
We often don’t recognize him even when he does come to us.
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” John 20:14-15
“She thought he was the gardener.” He was. He was the maker of every garden. At the dawn of time, he’d created one in Eden. And, along with a man, he had placed a woman like Mary in the Garden. That woman, loaded with shame after having been deceived by the serpent, hid from God in a garden. Now ages later, the woman Mary searches in a garden but cannot see that God is right before her eyes.
Our minds have a way of overlooking what we don’t expect to see, even if we want to see it. When you hear skeptics say the resurrection story is just a bunch of superstitious ancient people believing what they want to believe, remember that no one back then thought someone could rise from the grave after three days.
Yet Christ appears to those who seek him, often when we least expect him.
“Mary!” Jesus said. He calls her by name.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” John 20:16
Rabboni is the combination of the word rabbon, which means teacher, with a suffix (“i”) which means “my.” Rabboni means “my teacher.” Rabbon was the highest title of respect for a teacher, but also more personal than the title that other people call Jesus, “Rabbi.”
“My teacher.” It is more significant than you know that she can say this. To see what this reveals about God’s character and his plan for you, no matter how unqualified you feel, or others feel about you, we need to take a quick detour with another Mary and her sister Martha, before the death of Jesus, in Luke’s Gospel:
… Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42
You’ve heard sermons or read devotionals where the application was, “Be a Mary, not a Martha. Jesus doesn’t want you to get busy; he wants you to worship.” That’s a fine application, but the historical, cultural setting reveals something more particular.
Martha was doing what women were supposed to do in that culture. Mary was not. “Sitting at the feet” was an idiom for studying, attending class, taking the posture of a disciple. It was almost unheard of for Jewish rabbis to admit female students. Women could go to synagogue, but it wasn’t their place to receive intensive training from a teacher of the Law.
It wasn’t Mary’s place to sit in class with Peter, Andrew, Thomas. But the University of Jesus doesn’t only admit male students. Jesus says, “Martha, we can wash our own cups – take a seat.”
So, when Mary Magdalene calls Jesus “Rabboni – my teacher,” she not only recognizes him but recognizes her own identity and calling in light of what he claimed was true of her. He is Teacher and she is Disciple, called to testify that she has been transformed by Jesus.
Admitting women as disciples was controversial enough but remember Mary’s past. The Gospel writer Mark reminds us in his resurrection account:
Mark 16:9 “After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.” Is this the kind of person you entrust with an important message?
Women weren’t even considered reliable witnesses to give legal testimony. If the Gospel writers were making this story up, they would not have written a daughter of Eve as the first witness.
And Eve had only been deceived by one serpent. What about a woman oppressed by seven demons? What do you think her reputation must have been in the community?
Jesus could have appeared first to Peter and John. When Mary originally came to the tomb and found it empty, she ran to them, and they ran back to the tomb to verify her story:
Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home. John 20:6-10
They found the tomb empty, and even believed. But “Then they went home,” leaving Mary alone. Maybe it went something like this:
Peter: John, this is amazing!
John: Stupendous, Peter!
Peter: Miracle of miracles!
John: Wonder of wonders!
Peter: I’m so happy!
John: So happy!
Peter: Yeah.
John: Yeah.
Peter: Well … getting to be about lunch time.
They just leave. Jesus could have said, “Not so fast! Here I am.” But he waits. He appears first to Mary.
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. – John 20:17a
Matthew’s Gospel tells us Mary had thrown her arms around his feet, worshiping him. Jesus isn’t worried that the force of her embrace can stop what happens next; he’s saying that she has a part to play in what happens next.
But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” – John 20:17b
At the dawn of time the first woman made in God’s image had been exiled from a garden along with her husband.
Now once more God meets a woman in a garden, and once more he sends her out – this time not in exile but to proclaim the exile is over. Christ the Lord has awakened from death with the keys to hell and the grave, and he entrusts to a daughter of Eve the first announcement, “He is risen.”
Not only did Jesus want her, but he took her into his confidence. Mary and all the disciples were going to be the next act in God’s big drama. Act 1 was a good creation.
Act 2 took a horrible turn when we rebelled against God in a Garden, succumbed to spiritual powers when they came calling, and tried to overthrow God at the Tower of Babel. He exiled the nations, separating us from each other and leaving us at the mercy of the spiritual powers we thought we wanted.
In Act 3 God chose one people-group to covenant with him and lead all nations back to his kingdom, but they were no more faithful than the rest.
Act 4 climaxed when this God became human, entered the genealogy of this people, kept their covenant perfectly, absorbed the sins of the world and sacrificed himself for those sins, robbing hell of its power. He rose from the dead and is now going to ascend to his throne.
And he will continue to work in Act 5 through his Church, which doesn’t replace the Jewish people but welcomes all others. This new family will be filled by the Holy Spirit so they can be Christ’s body on this earth, participating together in his work to reconcile people to God and each other. This is how we batter the gates of hell.
But none of us can do our thing until Mary does her thing:
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message. – John 20:18
If Jesus can welcome a woman who had seven demons into his family and he can send her on mission, what could he do for you?
But please understand. What’s wonderful about Jesus isn’t that he’s so nice to use someone of no value. Society didn’t see her value. Society devalued Mary because of her past and her position.
We devalue people like Mary. Jesus will have none of it. All of us are marred by sin but God knows what he created us to be, and he can mend the broken pieces. He sees the value in what he has made, which is proven by the cost he paid to make us whole.
He did it for Mary, he can do it for you. And he has designed us to need each other. Jesus doesn’t need us – he wants us. But we need each other.
Just like the church needed Mary Magdalene, the church needs you. We need your presence. We need your voice. We need you in all the ways God has gifted you to bear his image. So, with that in mind, I have one question for you to pray about and consider in my:
Monday Challenge:
What would you do if you were convinced that Jesus wants you and your church needs you?
How would you show up for the people in your life, and how would you handle that voice in your head that is always whispering lies about your self-worth? How might you encounter Jesus in the here-and-now if your heart gushed with the wonder of his love for you?
Don’t think too hard about this – what pops into your mind? What would you start doing or what would you stop doing if you were convinced Jesus wants you and your church needs you?
Communion:
Christ has a place for you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done. The family isn’t complete until the last one is seated at the table. And until his visible return, each week at the table we see him in the most commonplace of objects – a loaf of bread, a cup of wine.
One the night that Jesus was betrayed he took a loaf of bread like this one …