Jesus Resurrects and Saves

by Traci Hubbard

John 20:11-18

2 Corinthians 5:17     

A man took a vacation to Israel with his wife and mother-in-law. During their time in the Holy Land, his mother-in-law unexpectedly passed away. The following day, the husband met with the local undertaker to discuss funeral plans. 

“In cases like these, there are a couple of options to choose from,” the undertaker explained. “You can ship the body home for $5,000, or you can bury her in the Holy Land for just $150.” The man took a minute to think about it and then announced his decision to ship her home. 

The undertaker, intrigued by his decision, said, “That’s an interesting choice. Can I ask why would you pay $5,000 to ship your mother-in-law home, when you can easily bury her here for $150?” The man promptly replied, “About 2,000 years ago, a man died and was buried here. Three days later he rose from the dead, and I can’t take that chance!”

Today, I do not want us to leave believing the Easter story. I want us to leave living the Easter story.

If I asked you tell the Easter story, what would you say? How would you tell it?

I suspect most of us would talk about Jesus and his death and resurrection. We might offer some details about the crucifixion, but the focus in Easter is on the empty tomb. We might talk about the stone having been rolled away and the angels saying, and the angels saying, “He is not here, he has risen.” We know that story well.

I have a second question.  How would you tell the Easter story without mentioning the name Jesus or talking about what happened to him? What would you say?

I believe my second question is at the heart of today’s gospel. “What good is it to us if the stone has been rolled away from Jesus’ tomb but not ours? What good is to us if Jesus is free of his grave clothes but we are not? What good is it to us if Jesus is raised from the dead but we are not?”

So, let me ask my second question again but a bit differently. How would you tell the Easter story if you could only talk about yourself and your life? What would you say?

In John chapters 20 and 21, we know Peter has seen the empty tomb. He and most of the others have seen Jesus on two occasions. Both times Jesus appeared to them in the house. And both times there were hiding behind locked doors, afraid.

We read that Peter says to Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two other disciples, “I am going fishing.” And they reply, “We will go with you.” These men have returned to what is known and familiar. They’ve gone back to their old ways of being. They’ve gone back to who they were before encountering and ministering with Jesus. But this is where Easter really happens. Where they are is the very place Jesus, the divine life, shows up for them. And what if that’s true for you and me? What if Easter happens in the same old life we had before?

Easter is not an escape hatch from ourselves or our lives. The heart of Easter returns us to ourselves and our life but with the possibility of being changed and living our lives in a new way.

The problem is that Peter and the others went back to the same old life without changing. They are doing today the same old thing in the same old way as they’ve always done, and the nets of their lives are empty. “That night they caught nothing” (John 21:3).

History shows us humanity is insane. We can all remember a time that we were discouraged and returned to thinking and doing life the same old way, but we are expecting a different outcome.  We know we are stuck, when our patterns of thinking and behavior become potholes of conformity to another time or person, and the questions we are asking are too small and the choices we are making diminish our life. What if today, Jesus is asking us to cast our nets on the other side?

What would that look like in our lives? What would that look like in our relationships, in our marriages, in our families, and in our congregation of faith?

How would that change our priorities and concerns? In what ways would that allow us to become gentler and more compassionate with ourselves and others? What new opportunities would it set before us? How might that let us move out of the stuck places in our lives? Imagine the ways it could deepen loving connections. It would allow us to reclaim ourselves and the life we most deeply desire. And our energy would free those we meet to do the same. It would open the door to depth, meaning, and purpose. And the nets of our lives would be full (John 21:6).

But it’s going to take some effort folks. What effort is Easter asking of you today? 

Mary Magdeline knew Jesus, and he knew her. They were ministry partners who shared a vision and a mission of a way of being in the world. They loved one another deeply, and they loved the stranger, the strange ones, the left-out ones, the ones who didn’t understand them, and the ones who were enslaved inside their stuff, their prestige, and couldn’t let it go. It is a Sunday morning, and Mary has gone to the place where Jesus’ body had been entombed. In John’s account, Mary doesn’t have any spices with her, the rich guy made sure Jesus was buried with the dignity of their customs. She has come to grieve her friend, her teacher, her beloved. Two well dressed strangers are standing outside the tomb, and the stone has been removed. The tomb is open, and Jesus isn’t inside. She’s sure the strangers have taken his body somewhere and they are happy about their secret. Mary is enraged, scared, grieving – she is sobbing, and they ask her what’s up with her tears.

She replies, “You or someone else has taken my beloved teacher! That’s why I’m crying!” Her mind and heart are racing – it doesn’t dawn on her to be still and think about what Jesus had taught regarding what would happen after his death. To consider Jesus’ resurrecting – rising – continuing to love and live differently is the furthest idea from her mind. She doesn’t expect to encounter her friend. The dazzling strangers know what has happened and they understand that Mary is in no shape to listen to them. She is missing the joy in the moment. We often mirror Mary – expecting someone to be what we think they are, who we think they are, and show up like we expect. When we do this, we miss the joy of who they truly are, and how their love is showing up for us.

Mary senses something…the way we can sense when someone we love has entered the room before we turn around and look at them. This presence was not one of a Gardner walking up behind her. Mary begins to turn around, and as she is turning, she hears Jesus speak her name in the way only Jesus spoke it, and she begins crying out his name, “Rabboni!” Which means “Master Teacher Lord!” Mary’s excited cry of “Teacher” proves she owned her faith, as well as her respect and devotion for Jesus. Being overwhelmed with emotion, many scholars believe Mary fell on the ground, clinging onto Jesus’ feet, to which he responds, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” In other words, “Mary, let go of me, I’m leaving soon, so skedaddle and go tell the team that you have seen me and give them my message.”

A man had a little girl whom he adored. When the father was home, he would cuddle with his daughter and read a story to her, and they would pray together. His work caused him to frequently travel so he made video recordings of him reading and praying for his daughter to watch at bedtime. One evening, crying, she called her father and said, “I need you to come read to me.”

Hearing and feeling his daughter’s love for him, the father said, “Honey, I made the recordings for you to watch when I am working away from you. Can’t you see and hear how much I love you as I read the stories and pray?” “Yes, Daddy, I can hear and see you, but I need you with skin on…I know you love me, and you love Jesus, but it feels better when you are holding me...it feels real…like being with LOVE that has skin on.”

Friends, if we want to be saved from a meaningless life, we need to resurrect the ways of Christ into our hearts, minds, and spirits so we have the resources we need – the energy we need to rise – to love – to change our world right where we are right now. Folks, we are Jesus with skin on.

In 2023, Amy and I went to Rosemary Beach to scatter some of my mother’s ashes. It was a calm day, no wind. Amy stood on the beach, and I waded into the tide…dipped my hand into her ashes and gently shook my hand sideways and then something happened. Without any wind, my mother’s ashes rose into a figure that stayed about 3 seconds until it burst like a firework. I remember looking into the eyes and smile – the energy of my mother and smiling. Amy was taking picture after picture and caught the moment. Friends, like my mother resurrected and rose before my daughter and me over the calm waters of Rosemary Beach, know when we leave our skin behind, we continue to rise into love – spreading our love without borders or boundaries, without stones keeping us inside a grave. Like Jesus, my mother, and millions who have gone before us, we will resurrect and rise, because that is the eternal nature of our souls, but why wait until we are physically dead? Loved ones, friends, strangers, our earth and our world are begging us to roll away the stones that keep us from being LOVE with skin on.

I had an encounter with my mother two years after her death. I believe Mary had an encounter with Jesus.  So, rather than cling, like Mary, we have a message of love and hope to share and time is of the essence. 

Today, rather than cling to old ways of being, we are called to rise and live into new ways. But it’s going to take some effort folks. What effort is Easter asking of us today? Love cannot afford to be shipped home to a sealed tomb. May we leave today living an Easter story, earing the heart and skin of love that saves us from living in our old ways. May it be so, amen.