Musical Prelude and Service.

John 20
Whom are you looking for?
That tends to be the question confronting us as we enter our places of worship on this morning. We come to this place with our individual and communal anxieties, our fears our griefs. We all come carrying wounds of one kind or another. We come with our fears about what the future holds.
Perhaps for ourselves, and perhaps for loved ones, or for a world that seems immersed in turmoil and conflict. So we enter this sacred space and seek some reassurance; some comfort; some hope.
Whom are you looking for?
This morning, we hear the story of Mary. Not the same Mary whose story we tend to hear in December with the birth of Jesus. Now it is Mary Magdala as she mourns the death of Jesus. Days after Jesus dies on a cross; executed in a brutal Roman fashion on a cross for standing in opposition to the empire, she approaches his tomb seeking to comfort herself by caring for his body, remaining close to now dead teacher and friend.
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
“They have taken my Lord and I don’t know where.”
And finally; “I have seen the Lord.”
Today’s story in scripture takes us from fear and despair to grief and finally to joy and hope.
In the midst of profound loss and desperate sadness, God intercedes. Jesus shows up and transforms that fear and grief into joy and hope. This is the power of resurrection.
Mary shows up to the tomb. It is still dark, but she desires to make sure Jesus’s body is properly cared for. She risks being associated with Jesus. Mary is a woman on her own in Jerusalem at night.
But when she arrives at the tomb the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. She runs back to the house where the followers of Jesus have gathered in fear. Uncertain what the oppressive authorities may have planned for next. Peter and John run back with her, although they seem to leave her trailing behind. They check out the tomb, it is as Mary described and they run back again, leaving Mary once again on her own. Weeping, she looks in the tomb and sees two mysterious men who ask who she is seeking. “I don’t know where they have taken my Lord.”
And then she sees him. She believes him to be the gardener, because like so many of us, she cannot comprehend what is in fact happening. It doesn’t make sense.
“Woman. Why are you weeping. Whom are you looking for?”
After she answers yet again, he calls her by name and now she sees Jesus for whom he is.
Whom are you looking for?
This is far from the first time Jesus confronts people with such a question. At the beginning of John’s gospel, Jesus confronts Simon and Andrew who are curious about who Jesus is and what he is about to do.
What are you looking for? Come and see.
The brothers are fishermen. They are looking for new beginnings. They are looking for hope in a world in which I presume they felt trapped and in servitude to that controlling and exploitative empire. Jesus is just beginning his mission. He is now gathering his disciples. He is beginning his long journey to Jerusalem.
“What are you looking for?” Something new? Hope? “Come and see.”
Here as we reach the end of John’s gospel account, Jesus confronts another of his followers. “Why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
What are you looking for? Come and see.
And Jesus begins his mission. This is the start of something.
Why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? It seems like yet another beginning.
Mary begs that the gardener show him where Jesus’ body has been placed. She will take it with her. She is not ready to abandon the body of one who means so much to her, and Jesus says do not touch me; or do not hold on to me.
I find myself reading this and considering this is Jesus urging Mary to let go; to keep looking to the future. There is so much to come. The story is not ended.
Of course, we struggle with the notion of the Risen Christ. It goes against everything we have been taught about how this world works. And yet, when Jesus calls Mary by name, the scales fall from her eyes and she is filled with joy, where moments earlier she was consumed by grief.
Woman. Why are you weeping?
They have taken away my Lord.
We witness here a scene of intense grief. Of terrible loss. But a few verses later, Mary is filled with hope. She experiences joy and she preaches this experience with the simple sentence, “I have seen the Lord.”
Mary comes to the tomb in darkness, and as the story progresses the sun begins to rise. Mary sits in this garden and opens up about her grief and comes to realize who she is truly talking with as the garden begins to reveal its incredible life. And her grief begins to heal.
She can see the possibilities in front of her. She can see the life that continues to break from the soil all around her. She can see the possibilities that are still a part of her life, and she can return to her friends and fellow travelers and speak those powerful words. I have seen the Lord.
No other explanations are necessary. Those words say everything. I have seen the Lord.
What are you looking for? Whom are you looking for?
We all too often find ourselves walking through times of darkness. We struggle with grief for lost loved ones, and painful changes in our communities and our countries. We live through times of fear and uncertainty. We can struggle with anxieties for the treatment of those we love and friends we have yet to meet. Expectations and opportunities we may have taken for granted can seem to be smothered and new dangers can emerge.
What next God?
Sometimes, Good Friday; the part of the story when the empire executes our friend, and our hope can seem never-ending. And yet, eventually, the dawn breaks, and that which we have been seeking, whom we are looking for is found sitting right next to us.
New life, new hope – welcomes us and encourages us to go forth.
Leave the garden with joy and announce to the world, “I have seen the Lord.”
Amen
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789