All Saints Episcopal Church, Hilton Head Island, SC
March 20, 2005
The Gospels describe Easter as the first day
of the week. In the Gospel of John, Mary Magdala, Peter and John arrive at the
tomb that they thought held the body of Jesus on the first day of the week.
Their empty tomb experience on the first day of the week is a great starting
point in understanding the dynamics of faith.
What I find compelling and informative in the four accounts of the Gospels,
particularly the Gospel of John, is the reality of the empty tomb that takes
hold in the lives of Mary Magdala, Peter, and John. What is it they do in
response to an empty tomb with only linen cloths lying on the ground? Are their
lives fundamentally different from Friday afternoon, Good Friday, to now, the
first day of the week?
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdala is the first to arrive at the tomb,
to anoint and care for the body of her dear friend. She saw that the stone had
been moved away from the tomb. In response she runs to Simon Peter, who along
with John, is approaching the tomb at that early hour.
Her response to Peter is very human: "They have taken the body out of the tomb"
and "we don't know where they have put him."
"They" are not identified. Her thoughts obviously are not about the
resurrection, but rather where would people take the body -- as if to say she is
concerned about Jesus and about her unfinished work caring for him, even in
death. The resurrection of Jesus has not reached her yet, at any level. She was
not conditioned to believe something radically different about Jesus. She wasn't
expecting anything different on the first day of the week. The empty tomb might
as well have been miles away for the stone moved to the side said it all. But
she has the wherewithal to run back towards the upper room and finds Peter and
John along the way.
John reaches the tomb next; he bends down and sees the linen cloths lying on the
ground, but he doesn't go in. The picture is one of John crouching low, peering
in and spying the linen cloths. He seems, by the account of the Gospel, to go
literally a step further than Mary. The stone moved away doesn't deter him, but
somehow he lingers at the entrance; he sees in but doesn't go in.
Peter, not able to keep up with the speed of John in their footrace, now reaches
the tomb breathlessly and in typical fashion, moves past John at the entrance
and enters the tomb, (I have this image that Peter doesn't simply enter the
tomb, but that he barges right in!) sees the linen cloths on the ground and the
cloth that covered the head of Jesus, and something happens that cannot be fully
described. John joins him in the tomb. And it is John, having the courage to
enter after Peter, who sees with his eyes and believes in his heart something
seemingly incomprehensible. The empty tomb signals the resurrection. It is as if
all the memories that John has stored up, the hours and days and months of
listening and watching, absorbing the events that have defined Jesus' life and
death, are now gulled into vivid completion. As the Gospel says, "he saw and he
believed." The tomb may be empty, save for a few cloths, but in the tomb the
reality of faith takes on new meaning and fills the sacred space. On the first
day of the week, three days after the crucifixion, empty is good.
Empty is not a word that readily describes Easter. And yet empty begins the
journey for a Christian. Mary Magdala was deterred by the stone being moved,
Peter rushed into the emptiness and John, hesitant at first, surveys the cloths,
and in the midst of emptiness, sees and believes.
The first day of the week for us is that moment when we need our faith the most
and we feel empty inside. Where is that faith? We know the story of Easter is
about the glory of the resurrection, yet we need to begin in a place far more
quiet and disturbing, in a place that is essentially empty, save the bare bones
of our faith. What do we really believe? Cut away all the fluff and talk, and
what is left about Jesus?
Peter and John were confronted with the truth of the empty tomb, which seemed
for a few moments or minutes to speak of utter desolation and disillusionment.
Out of the emptiness their faith took hold. Thank God for the empty tomb, which
revealed the glory of the resurrection!
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