Return the Favour
April 20, 2025
The Easter stories in the four gospels have a lot of similarities. For example, it is always women or a woman who come to the tomb very early on the third day. There is a stone at the entrance that has either been moved or will be moved in the story. For all the similarities there are also differences. Details added to each gospel that help us see the faith and theology of each of the gospel writers. The writer of the gospel of John is the most theological and it is the last of the gospels to be written. So, we should pay careful attention to John as a window into the theology of the early church.
There are three distinct scenes in this Easter morning story that we heard today. Mary alone at the tomb. Peter and the disciple Jesus loved at the tomb. And finally, Mary again at the tomb, but this time not alone. Let’s look at each to hear what John believes of the resurrection, but also to find ourselves in the story. Darkness and light are important themes for John. So, when Mary arrives at the tomb while it is still dark, John is saying something about the state of the world and the state of Mary’s world when the living Jesus is no longer with them. Mary knows Jesus is dead. She didn’t go expecting resurrection or inspiration or instruction. Unlike other gospels there is no mention of her bringing anointing spices. So why did Mary go? I think it is an example that her love was greater than her fear. The story tells us that death cannot separate us from love. Perhaps this is why the stone is already rolled away when she gets there?
The Rev. Dr. Lucy Hogan says that when Mary finds that the stone has been removed, she jumps to conclusions. Her perception of what has happened is that someone has entered and stolen the body. But the gospel author doesn’t tell us whether she entered or even looked at the tomb. Did she even really know that the body of Jesus was not there? Like Mary, how often do we jump to conclusions abouts the actions God or others in our lives? Conclusions that are often wrong. Maybe John adds this detail because this is exactly what the religious authorities were already beginning to say about the resurrection. That the followers of Jesus took his body and then claimed that he was risen. They who never took the opportunity to look into the tomb or to look into the story jump to conclusions and accusations. Instead of ignoring that accusation John uses Mary to address it.
Mary runs to share with the disciples what she has discovered and two of them run back to begin the second scene. It is Peter and the disciple Jesus loved or the “Beloved disciple.” John is the only gospel where this term, the “Beloved Disciple” is used and only beginning at the last supper. Peter has many roles: leader, learner, betrayer, and often the one who is slow to understand so that Jesus gets to explain to him and therefore us the meaning of a teaching. But the Beloved disciple has only one role which is to embody the love and intimacy with Jesus, that for the gospel of John, is the goal of discipleship. Discipleship is the road that leads to an intimate relationship with Christ. So, the two of them, enter the tomb and bear witness to the grave clothes that are bunched up in two places in the tomb. Now this is important because if Jesus had been resuscitated like Lazarus, then like Lazarus he would still be wrapped in the grave clothes, and they would be with the not risen body. Or had his body been stolen by grave robbers, they would not have stopped to unwrap him. The linens were the only thing of value in that tomb. So, if they did stop to unwrap the body, they would rather have taken linens and left the body. No, something else must have happened. This means the religious leaders are wrong something other than grave robbing happened. Peter plays his role well, he sees and doesn’t understand. Peter is in the dark. On the other hand, the Beloved disciple sees and believes. He has no more information than Peter. There is no angel visitation, no shouts of joy or wisdom or epiphany at the empty tomb to give the Beloved disciple any more insight. So maybe it’s through the eye of love and intimacy that the beloved disciple believes that something else has happened. He doesn’t need to understand it, but he knows it’s true. Death has been defeated just as Jesus said.
Perhaps many of us are in the same boat as Peter or the beloved disciple. On Easter morning there are no angel visitations, no shouts of joy to give us hope. But our lives can be changed if we lean into the love of Christ and the third scene tell us how.
In the third scene, Peter and the Beloved disciple, leave the tomb and walk right by Mary who is left standing there weeping outside it. It would seem that those disciples, haven’t returned the favor. Remember Mary ran and shared with them, what she had discovered. But when the disciples leave, they don’t appear to share with her, what they have discovered and have come to understand and or believe. Man is that ever the church of today. We are all here because somebody told us what they believed. What they had discovered about God, Jesus and the gifts of faith. Parents, other family, strangers, or the church itself, but somebody told us about what we now hold as sacred. But how many of us have returned the favour? Who have we told? And if that doesn’t make us feel a little guilty then consider this, that these disciples left Mary weeping. It begs the question, who have we left weeping because we didn’t believe enough or trust our faith enough in what we hold sacred. We simply didn’t stop to console them; to comfort them; or to give them hope based on our own faith.
Our saving grace, if there is one, is that God delivers particularly when we don’t. Two angels appear, to do what the two disciples didn’t do, what we, should be doing. Notice they don’t proclaim the resurrection or any special knowledge. They make no assumption about why Mary is weeping. They simply ask, “woman why are you crying?” So, we don’t have to have the theological or emotional answers. We don’t even have to have, an understanding of the resurrection. All we need is compassion. They don’t give her a reason to stop weeping, but they give her a place to speak of her sorrows, her broken heart and her fears. It is in the midst of this act, of compassion that the Risen Lord appears. Even though Mary doesn’t recognize him. Once again, he asks “why are you weeping.” More room for the sharing of what has been lost. Then Jesus adds a second curious question, “who is it that you’re looking for?” This harkens back to the very first part of the gospel of John where Jesus, who is beginning this new ministry, preaching, teaching and healing asks would be disciples who are following him around, “Who is it that your looking for?” Now Jesus is re-starting the ministry but there has change because Jesus in now changed. Mary’s answer is focused on the past, on the body which is dead and on the relationship that has been, not the relationship that shall be. The message of the resurrection is that Jesus is more than a teacher, preacher and healer. Now it is clear that Jesus embodies the gift of new life and eternal life through an intimate relationship with God. Accepting the resurrection of Jesus is to let go of the past and to start something new. Because now who Jesus is, is beyond the wandering teacher, preacher, and healer. This resurrected Jesus is the one who turns darkness into light, death into life. He needs Mary to see him as he has become not merely who he was.
Ultimately this is the purpose of Easter for us. To help us to see the God presence in Jesus that makes him more than a teacher, preacher and healer. This radical change in him requires that we too are radically changed as his beloved disciples.
So changed that we might dare return the favour. That is to pass on what we hold sacred in what we say and what we do. That we will try with all our hearts to never walk away from the one who weeps but be as angels daring to offer compassion, consolation and good news of new life. The power of Easter began at Christ’s resurrection it is known in our willingness to return the favour. Amen.