I guess one could say that it is kind of ironic that Easter falls on April Fools Day this year. With the empty tomb one could say that God has played the greatest April Fools joke of all . . . Jesus--in particular, the dead body of Jesus, is nowhere to be found. First, Mary of Magdala finds the tomb empty and runs to tell the disciples. Then Peter and another disciple run to the tomb and find it empty. The expectation of each of the three was that the body of Jesus would be right where it had been left after he had died--in the tomb. The tomb stood empty and Jesus was nowhere to be found. Needless to say, the joke was on them.
Losing something is no joking matter, especially to those who have lost that particular something. Growing up as a kid I did not enjoy looking for things that my father would send me to look for. As a kid tasked with the duty of finding the lost or missing item I would ask the normal questions: Where did you leave it? To which my father would answer, “If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you to look for it!” Where will I find it? “It will be in the last place you find it!” And, off I would go, looking for the lost or missing item. Rarely did I find the item much to the chagrin of my father, who would sarcastically say, “You couldn’t find your rear end with two hands.” To which I responded by firmly placing my hands over the cheeks of my rear end.
Let’s just say that that was the last time I ever did that.
The point is, no one likes losing or misplacing anything. As Mary made her way to the tomb where Jesus had been laid after he had died, she was expecting to find his body there in the tomb. But it was not there. That is what she told the disciples: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” And, that is what Peter and the other disciple discovered . . . an empty tomb. This really bothered Mary as she cried at the entrance to the tomb. It was the same statement that she made to the two angels she saw in the tomb . . . and, to the individual she thought to be the gardener. She wanted to find the “lost” Jesus.
Some times . . . you just have to have hope and believe.
There were these two little boys who live on a farm, and every year they would ask their father for a horse for Christmas. When Christmas finally arrived, the two boys jumped out of bed and ran out of the house straight to the barn. They both came to a screeching halt at the door of the barn . . . looked around and saw no horse. The only thing that they saw was a huge pile of manure sitting smack dab in the middle of the barn. The first boy kicked the dirt in disappointment; the second ran and jumped right in the middle of that gigantic pile of manure. Then he began digging through the manure, throwing it left and right. His brother asked: “What is the world are you doing!?!”
“Well,” said the manure-throwing sibling, “I’m looking for a horse. With all this manure there has to be a horse in there somewhere!”
The writer of John’s gospel tells us that Mary and the disciples did not yet understand what the Scripture was saying about Jesus and having to rise from the dead. Yet, they had hope . . . they had hope that Jesus had to be somewhere. The writer tells us that when the other disciple--not Peter-- believed. The writer doesn’t tell us exactly what he believed, but he believed. I think at that moment, that disciple believed that it was going to turn out all right . . . that they would find Jesus.
When you believe . . . you don’t mind jumping into a stinky pile of manure to look for the horse. And, when you believe, you can endure the worst of situations . . . even the death--and now, lost body--of your teacher, master, and friend. You believe that you will find him.
And, they did find him.
In the next couple of weeks, as we stroll through the season of Easter, we will hear stories of the faithful finding Jesus. This morning, though, we hear how Mary finds Jesus. I suppose one could say that it is incidental that Mary finds Jesus--or that Jesus finds Mary; after all, Mary was not looking too hard for him. No, she was still in shock at not finding his body in the tomb. Thus she was crying when she is startled by a stranger speaking to her.
At first she assumed it was the gardener speaking to her. She did not recognize the person standing before her. She pleaded with him to tell her where they had taken the body. Then the stranger called out her name, “Mary.”
It is a mystery to me how the heart remembers. It may be as simple as walking into a familiar place that sparks the heart to remember a person or event in our lives. It might be a quiet song that sparks a flood of emotions of days or people gone by. It might be a phrase or a word that opens the heart to memories. That’s is how we learn . . . by making a connection . . . a connection that comes through a touch, movement, sound or noise, music, or even words.
For Mary, it was hearing her name. The writer does not tell us how Jesus said her name, only that he spoke her name. I think he must have spoken her name in such a way that it touched her heart . . . it opened her eyes . . . and, she found Jesus.
And, so can we.
I think that is the promise of Easter . . . that we can find Jesus . . . that we can find Jesus no matter how dark, rotten, and sinister this ol’ world might be . . . or how rough our own lives are. Jesus is here. He is with us. He is not lost.
All we have to do is to believe.
Jesus’ presence might reveal itself in the familiar harmony of a beloved hymn sung by the congregation. It might be in a favorite verse of scripture or passage of a devotional. It could be in the prayers of the people or the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. Maybe it is in an unexpected word of support or a hug. It could be in the reception of the bread and a drink from the cup. Maybe in the way that someone says your name.
Jesus is here . . . sometimes we just have to get through all the manure to find him, but he is here. That is the promise of Easter . . . Jesus is here. Believe . . . believe and you will find him. And, guess what? You will find him . . . you will find in the last place you look. Amen.
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