John 20:1-18 - Unforgettable Sights; Unbreakable Word - April 12, 2020

We’ve seen some pretty unforgettable sights over the past few weeks, haven’t we? For one, you’ve had to suffer through watching me doing my best impression of a news anchor and preaching to a camera – something I’d definitely like to forget. But there’s a whole host of other sights that I don’t think any of us will ever forget: cities of millions looking like ghost towns, hospital hallways overflowing with beds and patients, the military building field hospitals on our own shores, stores filled with people clad in gloves and facemasks, the ubiquitous graphs and charts of coronavirus curves and infection rates. And then there are the truly tragic images: refrigerated semi-trailers serving as makeshift morgues and the daily reports of deaths due to the Covid-19 virus. Unforgettable sights. None of us who have lived through this pandemic will ever forget it. But as unforgettable as the sights of the coronavirus crisis of 2020 have been, there’s an even more unforgettable sight, one that can shift our focus from the panic and death that has overwhelmed our world to one of hope and joy. While we may not be able to gather in church this Easter to shout Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! – this is still an unforgettable Easter, for today we see an empty tomb and a Risen Lord.  

What’s the scariest part of this whole pandemic? Is it overwhelmed hospitals? The shortage of ventilators? The shuttered and depressed economy? The chance that we will run out of food or toilet paper? No. The scariest part of this pandemic is the same thing that has always been the scariest thing about life in this world: the prospect of death. The prospect of death is why authorities have directed millions of people to stay in their homes, why church doors are locked on Easter, why hand-sanitizer and facemasks are rarer today than gold. Death and the uncertainty of what happens after death is the real source, the root of the fear and panic that has been sweeping through this world from the moment Eve took that first bite of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6).

And let’s not sugarcoat it: we’re all going to have to face death, whether from this virus or something else. Death is a fixture in this world and there is not a single thing the human race has been able to do to prevent it. And unless we face this mortal enemy through faith in Christ, it will paralyze us; it will lead us to live and behave with irrational panic like the rest of the unbelieving world. Death has always been a part of life in this world. The only difference is that today, it is right before our eyes like never before in our lifetimes. We’ve all seen our fill of death. But that’s not the question. The question is: are you ready to face it yourself?

This is not a new question. Mary Magdalene knew all about facing death. She had faced a living death when her mind and body were possessed by seven demons (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2-3). Through Jesus’ teaching and preaching she had undoubtedly come to understand that the source of death was the sin living deep in her heart (Romans 6:23). She had been there on Calvary to see the powers of darkness crucify the Lord of Light (John 19:25). Mary Magdalene saw every gruesome detail. She heard hammers pound the nails through his hands and feet. She listened to them mocking and blaspheming her Lord. She saw his skin blister under the scorching sun. She heard her Savior cry out for a drink and declare his victory and give up his spirit. She had faced Jesus’ death. But, as we see on Easter morning, she had not yet learned to face death with Jesus.

Mary faced death like so many people in our world do today: without faith, without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And she wasn’t alone. Peter and John faced the death of their Lord with the same hopelessness. In fact, each of them are facing death with such despair that they hope to find answers in the last place they should have expected to find any: a tomb. You can’t see it in the English, but in the Greek the phrase “into the tomb” is used six times in our text. All three expected to find answers in that tomb; they expected to find these answers with their eyes. And what did they find? Some folded linen cloths, an empty tomb; but no Jesus, and no answers. For Mary, Peter and John – they’re eyes deceived them – not bringing them answers but only more doubt and fear. Why? Well, John tells us why: they still did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.

Mary, Peter, and John had seen the evidence with their eyes – but they still didn’t believe. They thought, like many today still do, that if you just see the evidence, if you could only see Jesus – then that would seal the deal on Christianity. If Jesus would just appear to you, then you’d believe. Then you’d be a firmer and more devout Christian. Then you’d take opportunities to hear the Word and receive the Sacrament more seriously. Then you would start to treat the next life, eternal life, as more important than this fleeting, chaotic, death-filled life. That’s what we may think, but that’s certainly not what Jesus thought or taught. He didn’t appear at all to Peter or John that morning. If faith could be created by sight, then, not only would we expect that the Jewish leaders would have believed (they didn’t (Matthew 28:11-15)), but we should fully expect to see Jesus today. But faith doesn’t come from seeing. Scripture is very clear on that point. In Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus he comes right out and says: if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16:31). Paul adds in Romans 10: faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).

And we see that truth borne out in our text, don’t we? How was it that Mary Magdalene went from a sobbing mess to a bold witness of the Gospel with the message that [she had] seen the Lord? What changed from verse 2 to verse 18? It wasn’t the empty tomb. It wasn’t the angels. It wasn’t even seeing Jesus with her own eyes. (She thought he was the gardener.) Fear and grief and unbelief had closed Mary’s eyes to the truth. What opened them?

Picture the scene for a moment. There’s Mary, bent over, looking into the tomb, having a conversation with two angels (which, incidentally, isn’t it odd that this didn’t strike her as odd?). Then Jesus appears behind her. She gives him a glance, but after asking Jesus where she could find Jesus’ corpse, she apparently turns back to the tomb – because the text says that it was only after Jesus had said “Mary” that she turned back to face him. You understand the significance of this little detail, right? Mary only recognized Jesus when her eyes were turned away from him. She didn’t recognize her Risen Lord with her eyes – but with her ears.

Just one word from Jesus, four little letters (six in Greek), had done what all the visual evidence in the tomb couldn’t do: revive and restore faith in Mary’s heart. What was so significant about this word: Mary? It didn’t answer any of her questions, did it? It didn’t tell her how the stone had been rolled away. It didn’t tell her where they had taken his corpse; or who “they” were. But it told her something far more important: the only thing she (and we) need to know: her Lord was alive. This truth is the key, the linchpin, the foundation of Easter and the entire Christian faith. The only thing that truly matters in this world is not finding a vaccine or getting back to normal but the fact that Jesus is risen. Why? Because the alternative is even more depressing than the dire reports on the evening news. Paul spells out the cold, hard truth if Jesus is not alive: if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is pointless…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…if our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all (1 Corinthians 15:14-19). If Christ has not been raised, then you have wasted your life worshiping him and reading his Word and bringing him your offerings. If Christ has not been raised, then you still have to figure out a way to pay for your own sins – because Good Friday was “good” for nothing. If Christ has not been raised, you had better take every precaution to guard your health these days – because this life is all you get.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20). This is a truth you can’t see with your eyes but that you hear with your ears in the Word. That’s how it worked with Mary. Jesus says one word, her name, and she whirls around and immediately blurts out “Rabboni!” (which means, “Teacher”). Jesus had revived Mary’s faith with one word and Mary, in turn, confessed, gave evidence, of her faith with one word. Her eyes may have deceived her, but her ears couldn’t. This was her Friend, her Teacher, her Lord, her Savior – risen and living and talking to her. You can almost imagine how all of his other words and teachings came flooding back into her mind, can’t you? Specifically: how he had promised three times (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19) that he would rise from the dead after three days in the tomb, and now he had kept his promise.

What does this mean for us? What does this mean in a time when we seem to be surrounded and hounded by fear and panic and death? What should this mean for you if your retirement nest egg has been wiped out or you’ve lost your job or you’re afraid to leave your house? How can this truth possibly alleviate, much less solve, the fact that we are stuck in our homes and aren’t able to gather together for an Easter breakfast and to shout “Christ is Risen Indeed” and sing “I know that my Redeemer Lives” as loudly as we can with our fellow believers? What does it matter that Jesus keeps his promises when the world is falling apart around us?

Nothing in the world matters more. Jesus – risen, living, victorious – means that sin, death, and the devil have been defeated (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). It means that we will never have to pay for our sins, because he already has. It means that the worst the coronavirus can do to us is send us to our heavenly home. It means that the devil might be able to close down churches, but he cannot ever destroy the Church – because he can’t stop the Gospel from being preached and heard.

But you will never see this truth until you hear it with your ears. The inspired, inerrant and unbroken Word of God should be our focus in these days of crisis – and not just the pictures of panic and death that are presented to our eyes. Without the Word you will see this pandemic as nothing more than the result of some tragic accident at a “wet-market” in Wuhan, China – rather than what it actually is: God getting on his megaphone and calling the world to repentance (Luke 13:1-5). Without the Word you won’t see that God gives rebirth and renewal through Baptism (Titus 3:5) – you will just see plain, ordinary water. Without the Word you will hear the Absolution as nothing more than wishful thinking, not the very words of God (John 20:23). Without the Word you won’t see anything more than bread and wine in Holy Communion – you won’t see it as the medicine of immortality (Matthew 26:28). Without the Word you will think that the Church is not as indestructible as Jesus made it out to be (Matthew 16:18), and that attending faithfully is clearly not all that “essential” if a tiny, microscopic virus can shut it down.

But the Word changes everything. I think one of the blessings of this pandemic is that we are led to “reset” our understanding of what is “essential” and what is “non-essential” to the Church’s mission and ministry. Easter lilies and Easter breakfasts and the roar of the organ pounding out “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” are all good things, but they aren’t essential to the Church or your salvation. As long as we have the Word, we have life. In a broader way, I think we’ve seen how shutdowns can turn into opportunities. “Stay at home” becomes a chance to “serve your neighbor.” One church has become dozens of churches as families gather around the Word in their own homes. Fathers become pastors. Mothers become Sunday school teachers. Opportunities to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15) abound. Tears turn to rejoicing. Fear turns into hope. Doubt turns into faith. All because one Sunday morning long ago Jesus Christ turned death into life.

We’ve seen some unforgettable sights in the past several weeks. Trauma and panic and death. But I pray that the sight that sticks in your mind today and every day is the sight of the empty tomb and your Risen Savior. You may not be able to see him, but I want you to hear Scripture loud and clear: Christ is Risen! And that means that your sins are not only forgotten, they are forgiven. Your health and well-being are not in your hands or the hands of a doctor some government bureaucrat – they are in the hands of the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Death is not the end, but the beginning. Mary couldn’t hold onto Jesus, but you can. You can hold on to him in his Word. Open your ears to his Word and you too will see your Risen and ever-living Savior. That’s a sight you won’t forget for all eternity. Amen.