Weeping Dispelled

John 20:1-18                           Weeping Dispelled

April 5, 2015               D. Marion Clark

Introduction

“Jesus wept” (John 11:35). He was standing in the company of others who were weeping over the death of Lazarus. There was Lazarus’ sister Mary, weeping at Jesus’ feet. There were the neighbors weeping. Deeply moved, he began to weep.

We may weep for many reasons. Pain can reduce us to tears. Frustration can do so as well. Some cry just because of a tender scene – romantic movies, inspiring stories. Weddings bring tears to some. But the greatest cause of tears is heartache – pure and simple heartache over the loss of a loved one to death.

There is the loss itself. The emptiness that is left when one deeply loved is gone. If the loved one dies young, all the more the pain; for not only is the past memories shared together gone, and the present time passed, so is the future lost. The “what could have been” is now “never will be.” All the more painful when the future was filled with much promise. He or she was on the verge of doing something great, and then it all vanishes. It is not fair. It should not have happened – not now, not to them, not in that way.

Such weeping is that of Mary Magdalene.

Text

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Mary Magdalene first appears in the Gospel of Luke. It is the only time, actually, that she is specifically mentioned until we come to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then she is named by every gospel writer. She appears in Luke’s account of women who accompanied Jesus. Luke writes:

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, ² and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, ³ and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

What do we learn about Mary? For one, she had been afflicted by demons – seven – and Jesus cast them out. She was from the city of Magdala, which is in the territory of Galilee on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. At some point, she had been among the many healed by Jesus. But that healing was not a single episode after which she went back to her normal life. She began to follow Jesus, along with other women who had been healed. With them, she did not merely follow Jesus but helped to provide for them out of her own means. That indicates that she was in some sense well off. It is possible for her to have been a businesswoman in some kind of industry. Perhaps she came from a well-to-do family. We do not know. Many have assumed that Mary had been a prostitute, but there is no Scripture reference to indicate such. All that we do know is that she had been severely afflicted by the indwelling of evil spirits, Jesus had healed her, and she became devoted to him.

Now he was dead. She had watched him die: “standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (John 19:25). She witnessed the beatings, the journey to Calvary, the nailing of hands and feet, and the tortuous hanging on the cross. She watched him yield his last breath; watched his body taken down; she followed Joseph and Nicodemus to the tomb; observed his embalming; saw the stone rolled over the opening of the tomb. Her deliverer was gone; her protector was killed; the one who loved her – as he loved all his followers – was no more. The hopes caught up in him were dashed to the ground.

But she had to see him again. She had to do something to honor him, and so with other women who loved him she brought her spices to anoint his body, even though Joseph and Nicodemus had already done that. She, they, had to do something! No, they were not thinking straight. They were impractical. How were they going to roll away the stone? What did they think they were going to accomplish? But when your heart is grieving, the mind does not always think clearly.

So they go and find the tomb empty. Mary tells the disciples. Peter and John investigate, then leave. Mary remains. Her grief has only deepened. They could not be content with killing her Lord; they had to desecrate his body, so it seemed. Where, oh where have they taken him away?

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

Poor, weeping Mary. Her mind is filled with confusion. “Who are these strangers in the tomb?” “Where is my Lord’s body?” “And now this stranger asking the same question.” “Where is my Lord? What have they done with him?” How pitiful is her grief as she makes her senseless response. Mary, why would the gardener have carried away the body? How are you going to take the body back? Have your tears so drowned your eyes that you do not recognize the Lord you know so well and so deeply love? Could you not recognize his voice?

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

“Mary.” “Rabboni” – my dear Teacher.

What’s in a name? Love. Mary did not understand when she was called, “Woman.” When she is called by her name, her confusion clears away, as does her grief, and she recognizes “Rabboni” her dear beloved Teacher. That is the meaning of this form of rabbi. Jesus is not merely Teacher; he is Mary’s dear Teacher. James Boice comments that all along it is love that took Mary to the grave when faith and hope had disappeared. It is now love that brings recognition once again.

It ought to be said that Mary’s love is not a confused or mixed love. She is not the Mary of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” who, as a former prostitute, doesn’t know how to love Jesus. Through the eyes of the world there must be an element of romantic love, but through the lens of Scripture it is a reverent love – the love of one devoted to her Lord.

Mary evidently fell at Jesus’ feet and embraced him, and so Jesus cautions her not to cling to him. He then sends her to report back to the disciples.

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Mary goes to the disciples a second time. The first time she spoke in confusion and grief - “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” The second time in clarity of mind and joy – “I have seen the Lord!” The first time weeping; the second time her weeping dispelled.

Lessons

Don’t you love happy endings? Even you tough guys have shed a tear at a happy ending movie, especially a sports movie. The deeper the heartache, the deeper the joy; as uncontrollable the tears of sorrow are the tears of sorrow turned into joy, because at the root of both sorrow and joy is love.

Mary Magdalene deeply loved Jesus. She loved him because he had healed her. She had been afflicted, and he had removed her affliction. He had brought peace into her body and soul. Mary loved Jesus because of his teaching. He was her Rabboni, her dear Teacher. His words about the kingdom of God stirred hope in her heart. She hung onto his words of promise, his words of what the new kingdom would be like, even his instructions on how his disciples were to live. Mary loved Jesus for what he seemed to be – the promised Messiah who would dispel the sorrows and afflictions of his people and set up this new kingdom he taught about. She loved him even when those hopes were dashed. That is why she had to be at the tomb near his body.

Oh that we would have such love – to stay with Jesus whatever happens! It is easy enough to stay with him early in our lives when we first experience spiritual awakening. How can we but love Jesus? Then time goes by. The cares of the world seep in. The troubles of life that we did not expect wear us down. The voice of our Lord that was so clear to us as we read his words, as we communed in prayer, and as we experienced in worship and fellowship – that voice of comfort and of hope and of assurance fades. Then there are the outright attacks on our faith in him. Can we really believe in him whom we do not see? Can we really believe given the many religions, given the modern scientific age? The hopes, if not dashed altogether, seem more and more to be wishful thinking.

When faith and hope are weakened, will we not still love Jesus? What else will keep faith and hope alive? What else will keep us near him so that we will see him in faith? Mary loved Jesus because Jesus first loved her. She looked back to the love shown her through his healing and through his teaching. She thought it ended at the cross. Even so her love continued.

We love Jesus because Jesus first loved us. We too can look at his miracles and his teaching. We too can think of ways that he has demonstrated his love to us in our lives. But unlike Mary, it is the very cross to which we look to know how great his love is for us. We know that he died on that cross precisely because he loved us, and we know the victory that he won for us out of love. If Mary’s love could be sustained because of the love shown to her before the cross, how much more should our love be sustained because of the love shown on the cross?

It was noted that some have thought that Mary Magdalene had been a prostitute. The confusion probably arises from the event that Luke recorded just before his mention of the women who followed Jesus. It is the episode in which a prostitute broke into a Pharisee’s house where Jesus was dining. She literally kissed his feet, washing them with her tears. The Pharisee is scandalized, of course. Jesus then tells a parable about forgiveness.

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴ Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:41-48).

Do you know how many are your sins? Do you understand that your sinful condition had made you a dead man walking? Whether you felt miserable or happy-go-lucky, your debt to God condemned you without hope of ever paying it. Then Jesus paid it on the cross. How much you understand the forgiveness won for you determines your love for your Savior. It is that simple.

The gospel of man does not understand the gospel of God. According to the gospel of man, we are all basically good, if only we did not give way to sinful tendencies. God loves us as we are, if only we would accept such love. We are going to be okay because we are already okay in our hearts. How can such a gospel understand the cross? Died for what sin? Arguments about creation and inerrancy and miracles cannot affect one who little feels the need for forgiveness. But to the one who understands his sinful condition, he and she will love much, especially when they see what Jesus had to do to obtain that forgiveness.

They will weep before such love. They will weep for their sins; they will weep for the cost of such sins. They will weep before the cross and before the tomb.

They will even weep when the tomb is empty and their Savior has risen from the dead. For then they weep in joy. He is alive! He is victorious! He has won the victory – their victory. They are forgiven! They are made alive! And they can trust his promise that he is the Resurrection and the Life, and that whoever believes in him, though he die, yet shall he live, and that everyone who lives and believes in him shall never die. The debt is paid. The guilt is wiped out. That is what it means for Jesus to rise from the dead. That is the love by which he has and still does love us.

In the 2006 movie “Amazing Grace,” there is a scene of a discussion between William Wilberforce and John Newton. Newton makes this statement: “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly. I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” If you saw that movie, you no doubt remember that quote. It speaks to every heart who knows the forgiveness of sin that Christ won on the cross. Its truth is what stirs up love yet again for our Savior.

It is not only that we recognize the love on the cross shown two thousand years ago. We are not mere historian lovers who value the contribution of an historical figure. We hear our Savior’s voice, who is our good Shepherd – not audibly, certainly not as Mary Magdalene. And yet the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to be our Helper, so opens our hearts to hear and to know the voice of our Savior. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” In the same manner the Spirit conveys to our spirit that we belong to Jesus. And so we know that Jesus spoke of us in John 10.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

So here we are as his sheep. In verse 3 of the same chapter, Jesus said that the gatekeeper calls his own sheep by name. He has called our names and we have heard, we have recognized our Savior and Lord just as Mary recognized her Lord when he called her by name.

And you? Have you heard Jesus call your name? Will you listen for your name? Will you accept your condition without him – that you are a great sinner with a debt that you cannot pay? Will you accept that you are afflicted by the sin condition? Will you accept what took place upon the cross – that Jesus was there to bear your sins?

It seems a fearful acceptance, even a humiliating acceptance. I can’t be that bad. My condition cannot be so terrible. But if it is deep lasting love that you wish to experience – not the ephemeral romantic love that, however intense it may seem, lightly passes in time – if you wish, as Jesus said, to love much, then you must know much forgiveness.

And that you would. As spring brings with it a renewing of spirit, a stirring of hope, and the satisfaction of being alive, so the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings eternal life, the stirring of glorious hope, and renewing of spirit and soul. May you know the feeling of being clean, of being made whole. May you know the feeling of being fully accepted without any fear of what may be lacking in you. May you know what it is to hear the good Shepherd speak your name, your heart to be stirred by his voice, and the blessings, the joyous blessing of being received by him.

He is no longer on the cross, no longer lying in the tomb. Christ is risen! And he calls your name.