March 30, 2024 – Easter Sunday

If you ask ten Christians why the women come to Jesus’ tomb that Easter morning, it’s a sure bet that nine will tell you that they bring spices to anoint the corpse of Jesus… but that isn’t the story that John tells. John tells us that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have already wrapped the body in linen, myrrh, and aloes, and when Mary Magdalene arrives alone before dawn, she has no spices with her (Jn 19:38-42).

So why does Mary come? Is it grief, longing to be close to Jesus, even in death? Or is she concerned that Jesus’ body, already tortured and crucified, will be degraded even further or even stolen? Or is she holding out hope – against hope – that what he said in his last public teaching (“when I am lifted up from the earth” (Jn 12:32)) somehow means that death is not this story’s final chapter? Or is it some combination of these? Of course, we can’t know for sure!

But in any case, the story resonates with a longstanding theme in the Bible: women as bold, resourceful, tenacious defenders of the life and dignity and honor of the human body. We have the examples of Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who subverted Pharaoh’s order to kill Hebrew children (Ex 1:15-21). We have Rizpah, Saul’s widow, who camps out on a hillside beside her dead sons’ corpses for six months or more, day after day, night after night, protecting their bodies from scavengers (2 Sm 21:10-14). And we have the women who stay near Jesus even after most of the male disciples have scattered in fear – “his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (Jn 19:25).

Mary Magdalene initially draws the conclusion that Jesus’ body has been moved… but the presence of the linen wrappings and face covering suggest otherwise. Anyone who moved the body would have had no reason to remove the linens or neatly “roll up” the face covering (Jn 20:7). Peter sees the scene and apparently doesn’t know what to think, but “the other disciple” sees “and believed”, and the two men “returned to their homes” (Jn 20:8, 10).

Only Mary stayed behind. She weeps, so she seems to have drawn the conclusion that – as she tells the two angels – “They have taken away my Lord” (Jn 20:13). She then mistakes Jesus for the gardener, only recognizing him when he calls her by name – a clear reminder of Jesus’ teaching that the Good Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name … they know his voice” (Jn 10:3-4).

Jesus’ words to Mary frame what is happening not as resurrection alone, but rather as resurrection necessary for ascension: “I am ascending … to my God and your God” (Jn 20:17). Just as he had promised in his last public teaching, Jesus is ascending and drawing his followers – and indeed all people – with him. In other words, the resurrection, astounding as it is, isn’t an end. It’s a beginning.

Today is only the beginning – and very rightly so, since a mystery as fathomless as Easter can only begin on a single day, beckoning us to enter into its depths and riches for the fifty-day season to follow… and beyond. Today, “early on the first day of the week” (Jn 20:1), is a poetic turn suggesting a new start; today is not the end of Lent – it’s the beginning of Eastertide, and in a deeper sense, the beginning of Christian life, a life lived in the light of God’s resurrection. The lilies, the new plants, signal not a final victory over death, but a commencement, a launch, a kickoff – a dawn of a new day.

Twilight has brought with it plenty of shadows and wounds. Jesus rises, but with wounds in his hands and his side (Jn 20:20). We bring struggles and fears (the Gospel of Mark ends with the disciples fleeing from the tomb because they were filled with “terror and amazement … for they were afraid” (Mk 16:8). If our first reaction to the report of resurrection is cynicism or skepticism, we’re in good company. Some among Jesus’ own disciples initially refused to believe. And we’ll see in the weeks ahead that Easter faith is often a mix of trust and doubt, belief and disbelief. After all, there are at least two ways to miss a miracle: to dismiss it and reject it too readily, as if astonishing things never happen; and to accept it too readily, as if it isn’t astonishing at all.

But the women in the story refuse to withdraw, whatever doubts or despair they have. They stay close. They bear witness. And like Rizpah, Shiphrah, and Puah, they insist on honoring and protecting Jesus’ body. And eventually, as John tells it, Mary Magdalene proclaims the mystery: “I have seen the Lord” (Jn 20:18). She is THE original apostle, staying with Jesus on the cross, coming to the tomb before dawn, and in the end, declaring the good news.

What IS the good news of the Gospel today?

• For those who fear that the powers of death have the upper hand – fear not! Easter means God ultimately is and will be victorious over death.
• For those who feel isolated and lonely – fear not! Easter means we are all together in the risen Body of Christ, even if we’re separated in time or space.
• For those who despair that our guilt is too great for God to forgive – fear not! Easter means God has cleared us all, liberating humanity from shame, reconciling us to God and to each other as God’s children.
• For those who despair in the midst of pain or anguish – take heart! You are not alone! Jesus suffers with you, and Easter means you will rise with him.
• For those who despair over a world filled with hate and violence – be encouraged! In the passion of Christ, God has taken on human form to expose humanity’s violent ways, and Easter means that God will one day overcome violence once and for all.

Easter means that God has taken one of the worst things in the world – the cross of death – and remade it into one of the best – the Tree of Life. Like the cross, the empty tomb is a great divine mystery. It is a rising sun dispelling shadows in all directions.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is Risen!