There are times that a story becomes so familiar, so well-known, that we stop thinking about, or meditation upon, what read. I do not mean that we question the story or the validity of it, but instead, I wonder when was the last time that you sat and truly pondered the Resurrection of Jesus and considered truly how transformational it is? When was the last time that you actually noticed the details of what took place?
Today before we come to the Table of the Lord together, we are going to do just that with one of the more important details of our story.
The detail in question is relevant to the entire story, and it is found in verse 11. Let me read it again for you, “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.”
I wonder what you think about Mary’s tears. . . What do they mean to you?
Move 1- Part 1
Well to think about Mary’s tears we first must notice the beginning of the story, the part that I read first earlier in our serve. Verse 1-10.
In that part of the story, Mary has arrived at the garden tomb of Jesus, and according to John, she is alone. It is dark. While the other gospels associate her with travelling companions, only John the beloved has Mary Magdalene arriving here by herself. That detail paints an important picture that beings to foreshadow and shape Mary’s tear.
Not only is dark outside, but I bet the darkness outside provided very little light inside the Tomb should Mary have stopped down to look inside Jesus’ final human resting place.
And that is one of those details that I suggested already that gets overlooked. In verse 1-10 there is no indication that Mary has looked into the Tomb yet. Upon seeing the stone rolled away, Mary immediately turns and runs. She seeks out the disciples and finds Peter and the remaining followers of Jesus. Upon finding them, it is that moment where Mary confesses that, “They have taken the Lord out of the Tomb” but how did she come to this conclusion?
And please do not tell me this is inferred. Details in God’s word matter for they always matter in the Bible.
If God marked out the exact dimensions of Noah’s Ark, the dimensions of Tabernacle that Moses was to build, the Great Temple that Solomon build, the Great Ark of the Covenant, and how many times the people are to walk around Jericho, then I suspect that a tiny detail about where the body of the crucified and Risen Lord would be an important detail to hold onto.
But back to the story, the great race begins back to the Tomb. The end of the race is where the two disciples discover in verses 6 and 7 that the Tomb is empty because Peter and John looked. They leave without another word. Apparently, they have nothing to say.
The word I would offer for their response on Easter morning is: perplexed. Maybe awe-struck. I wonder if you would have a different word for how Peter and John respond.
But this message, and the overall story, is not about them. Remember it’s about Mary and her tears… Mary finally arrives on scene.
Move 2- Part 2
She is crying in verse 11. And as she weeps, she bends down and see what no one else notices. Again, I remind you that details in God’s word matter.
She sees angels, a pair of these heavenly messengers. More than just seeing them, these two heavenly messengers, speak to her. They ask her a question.
Yet she is still crying. The Bible does not say, “immediately Mary ceases crying and begins to rejoice.’ Instead, she doubles down on her query. “They have taken my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him.”
In that moment, I wonder if we are finally catching a glimpse of why Mary cries. For she remembers in great, vivid, passionate, detail all of it. I believe that they crash down upon her. The horror of his arrest in the garden as he is betrayed by a kiss.
His beating. His ridiculous crown. His cross being carried first by himself and then by another. His blood. His anguish. All of it.
She recalls, I suspect the rushed work of preparing his body for the ground for the sabbath was hurrying this important work—after all that is why she came that morning to finish what she started. She remembers, the sadness of placing him there and perhaps having to say good-bye to the One who she knew deep down is the Son of God and yet why is this happening.
She cries, I think because she is having her own experience of what it feels like to be alone without the presence of Jesus in her life—a small example of what God the Father must feel like to not have His Son with him on those 3 days when Jesus descended to the dead as the creed so clearly states.
She cries because of all the unmet expectations that she was dealing with—this was not supposed to happen. And in that feeling, you and I know something I bet about those feelings and those tears.
In those tears she remembers it all. The disciples running away. The cruelty of priests, the guards, the crowds shouting, Pilate, everyone who said they loved him not loving him any longer.
Mary’s tears remind me that at the end of Holy Week, as we sing before the Table of the Lord, that God has cried with me, with you, and with her. Mary’s tears say so much, if we are willing to notice.
Move 3- The gardener.
But as Mary cries, and remembers through those tears, as the angels I think listen to her, she is not alone in that garden. For someone is also there. For one last time this morning let me say that details matter in God’s word. Someone else was in that garden the whole time.
But in the haste to run faster, further, prove ourselves, do our tasks, be better that the person next to us, no one on that first Easter morning noticed him—not even John who wrote the story down for us.
But Mary, who stands there and cries. . . she does. For in the midst of her tears someone asks the only question that matters when our hearts break. “Woman, why are you crying?”
It is an honest question.
We do not know if Mary would actually be able to carry Jesus’ body some place but bless her for wanting to act. Bless her for wanting to preserve some sense of dignity for the Savoir who she misses and loves so deeply. And in that moment, the Gardner, Jesus, calls her name and without marginalizing what makes weep, he brings healing to her simply by calling her name.
Conclusion
Church family why do you cry today?
Sometimes the answer is because you are in pain and that is far.
Sometimes the answer is because you feel joy because it is Easter.
Either way, the good news is that someone is in the garden for you who will let you cry, He will let you be honest, and He wants you to remember that He has been there the entire time.
The times when your actions did not measure up to the faith you professed and the times when you cried out to Him because you loved him so deeply that the only prayer you could offer was one of tears. Words failed in that moment, but God never has.
Dm
