ABSENCE AND MOVEMENT

Imagine going to the grave of a loved one, whose funeral you had attended just two days before, and finding the grave open! Mary is appalled and runs away in horror to fetch reinforcements. Simon and Peter race back to the grave ahead of her. There’s a touching realism in the detail someone has gone to, to record the details of who won that race. It’s an insight into how competition can creep into our interactions as disciples, even at the holiest of moments. I once heard someone say that this passage shows what people do when Jesus is absent: they run around a lot! Frenzied activity in response to Jesus’ absence contrasts with Mary’s later stillness in Jesus’ presence.

The two disciples see Jesus’ absence, and they note for us the signs that this does not have an easy explanation – it’s unlikely to be a simple grave-robbing when the valuable linen is still in place. We remember how the soldiers diced for Jesus’ tunic on Friday.

Simon and Peter note all this, but they are bemused, grieving and confused. They retreat to the familiarity of home.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

But Mary can’t bring herself to leave. All she can think about is Jesus’ absence. Notice her refrain in this passage: three times she says that Jesus has been taken away and questions where his body is now. She wants to keep a vigil over him – in Mark and Luke’s versions, her desire to be in physical contact with his body is emphasised by her carrying spices to anoint him. The absence even of Jesus’ dead body is like a second bereavement, a second atrocity.

Even when she sees the angels, Mary’s preoccupation with where Jesus’ body is means that she doesn’t react at all to there being angels present – she just repeats her sad refrain of loss. She is determined to be as present as she can be, even in the face of Jesus’ seeming absence. It’s ironic, then, that when she is actually face to face with Jesus, she doesn’t at first recognise him.

SUPPOSING HIM TO BE THE GARDENER

Preachers have long speculated why Mary might not have recognised Jesus. Was she simply blinded by her tears? Is there a point here about our tendency to see what we expect to see, rather than recognising the surprising presence of God? Or perhaps Jesus’ resurrection body was very different in appearance – emphasising, perhaps, the theological point that the resurrection is a transfiguration rather than a simple resuscitation. Others have seen more symbolic meaning in this mistaken identity. The image of the risen Christ having earth under his fingernails is an arresting image of a God who literally and metaphorically gets his hands dirty for us. 

DON’T CLING TO ME

And then, after Mary has spent all morning searching for Jesus, when she goes to hug him, he sends her away. It’s a startling moment. It goes against all our human instincts to hold on to our loved ones, to hug tight what is precious to us.

Leaving him there must have been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. But she does it. She retraces her steps for the third time that morning, back to the others, to announce the good news. She becomes, as the early church came to call her, apostle to the apostles.

There is a temptation for us, when we have spent a week polishing and preparing the church for this great celebration, doing the flowers, practising the music, to focus on the fact that we have gathered here, symbolically at the empty tomb, to celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection. But Jesus’ message to Mary is spoken to each one of us, too. He calls us by name not to focus our attentions on gathering here to commemorate that amazing moment 2000 years ago, but to be sent out. It’s not necessarily what we want to do, or what we feel comfortable doing. Gathering here with our church family and friends, holding onto the familiarity of this Easter celebration, is our natural instinct.

But the jolt of those words spoken to Mary – ‘don’t hold on to me; go, tell’ – is God’s calling to each one of us. It’s great to be here – but the purpose of our great celebration isn’t to stay here, it’s to go from here and announce this great news.