What was it like that morning? Mary is out, by herself. As Joy Moore pointed out she was empty-handed and empty-hearted. I can imagine not being able to sleep or maybe just an early riser. We could ask the question, “What was she expecting by going there?” I think that question is really irrelevant. Here’s a person in grief. We don’t always have to have a reason for everything we do. We don’t seem to get any indication that she, like a child on Christmas morning waking up early to check their stocking, is going to check concerning Jesus’ prophecies of the messiah rising again. It’s not a faith moment for her when she sees the stone rolled away. A theft has occurred! That’s where her mind goes. So, why do we have marked cemeteries? Why do the living return to them? Why do we visit graves? Answers are an individual thing and that’s why she is there. Because she needed to be. She gets there and the stone is rolled away. Not expected. She can’t take care of this alone, so she goes for help. Maybe help in confirming reality, maybe help in searching, maybe help as in, “you guys need to do something”, maybe help in understanding. We don’t know. But all of this, so far, seems so real to me. So often in life, aren’t we left with more questions than answers? In the end, she’s there alone, or so she thinks. She’s there with her grief. She might have thought, there at the cross, that things couldn’t get any worse, but now they are. She just needed the nearness… one more time, and now even that is impossible. I don’t think she had ever looked inside. So nowshe bends over and looks in. We are told that there were two angels there, but no one told her that they were angels. So for her, two guys are sitting in the tomb and we get sort of a strange interaction. They’re in a tomb that’s empty, with grave clothes laying there and they ask why she’s crying. Are angels not very intuitive? I’ve always had a feeling about this exchange and I went looking for the word to describe what I’ve wondered. Are the angels being coy? That is being cute or sly playfulness or pretended shyness, using coy tricks to attract attention? Or is it that it’s a foregone, pre-stated fact that Jesus had mentioned several times before, that he would not be there, and God’s promises are sure so… Why are you crying? But let’s be real about this poor woman. It’s like grief has a mind of its own. There’s no shame in grief. It just is. It’s not a rational response. It’s not something we decide to be in. He stood up for and sat down with women, he ate with outcasts, he was kind and loving and even forgave those who tortured and crucified him and now he’s gone. Anything else is impossible. She responds with the safe, “THEY have taken away my Lord”. I love those lines in the Isaiah reading. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. If we really think about it, death and its effect is the one thing we really have in common as human beings. A shroud over all people. Yet Isaiah continues on. God will swallow it up forever. We hear it and proclaim it, yet I get Mary Magdalene. The impossibility, the HOW? Back to the garden. In the midst of anguish somebody else shows up, not to help but to further intrude on the worst day of her life. For some reason, here at this point, I get a sense that Jesus’ question is more of a “hey, you can tell me about it” kind of thing. He’s not sitting inside the tomb where the body used to be. Maybe a natural, You, OK? “Sir, if you have carried him away”. The desperation, the need. I don’t doubt that she felt like she was in that tomb and that the stone had been rolled over the door. Darkness. Very shortly before our wedding date, I was housesitting with a friend for a college professor. He wasn’t always there, it was a strange house, there was no TV and no such thing as cell phones, so for some stupid reason, I decided to read the book that was all the rage at the time. In it, 99.44% of the population is wiped out. For a good long time in the book it dwells on the horrors of absolute loneliness. Great. In our pastors’ group this week someone said something about the stone in the mouth of the tomb that sparked a memory. It’s a single scene that had been building. One of the characters was in jail when the disease hit. There was no one to let him out. In a tomb of sorts and the door is sealed. As it turns out, the mysterious stranger shows up. He holds a key. It’s made pretty clear that this is the devil. He tempts him with food. He tells that man that he’s going to be his right hand man. This is sounding really familiar. “Put him right up there with St. Peter” which becomes a very interesting allusion. But before he turns the key though, he demands a promise. A promise that they will stick together no matter what, no betrayals, no falling asleep on duty. He makes the promise, the door is opened and the dark figure says, “You’re free.” That statement echoes in my mind. How often do we exchange one prison or one tomb for another? I had the one image of entrapment in the cell and the evil presence letting him go but rediscovered the symbolism of the whole scene when I searched an 800 page book for the occurrence. It’s interesting that this scene took place as night was falling and darkness was growing. But here we are. This is where Mary Magdalene was. Light is dawning. A new day. A word is spoken. Jesus said her name. One thing I really wonder about is how he said it. Any way he said it though sparked recognition. Impossible recognition. This is really happening. John 10:27. It says, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” That’s a really cool connection. The light is dawning, a movement from doubt, dejection and disbelief to discovery, redemption, joy and the realization of God with us. A man named C. Austin Miles read the text for today in 1912. He said that he had a vivid dream afterward. It inspired him to write a hymn about the first encounter between Mary Magdalene and her risen Lord. The hymn has been criticized for being overly sentimental and even erotic and you won’t find it in any of our Lutheran hymn books, which seems a little shortsighted. I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known. When you put in the context of the Scripture that inspired it, you see Mary’s joy. In the bible text their encounter seems brief, but the hymn, in context, gives the impression of all the emotions that are being experienced at this moment, that joy is so overflowing, where the impossible has been made possible that time seems to stand still. Mary hurries to share her testimony with her friends. “I have seen the Lord.” Mary is free. The stone rolled away in her life. What’s missing? An oath of allegiance. A demand for promises. Jesus offers freedom through grace not works. His followers had already betrayed, denied and fallen asleep on him, but he loves and frees them and us anyway. There’s no promise of an easy road after. No promise that we won’t have grief or struggles, actually Jesus warns us of quite the opposite. We are called to the cross and promised that it does not have the final word. Death has been swallowed up in victory. We are called out of thankfulness not obligation, from darkness to light, from the tomb to freedom. I remember traveling the road to Asheville North Carolina one Easter to see family when a song came on the radio. No such thing as Spotify yet. It was the hardest thing to trace down back then, but I found it. When Mary left the garden that morning she was the first ever to proclaim the risen lord and he offered her personal testimony, “I have seen the Lord”. The song is called Testimony and individuals share their testimonies. Their encounters with grace and God’s immeasurable love and faithfulness, not easy lives or perfect lives. I love you so and I’m never gonna let you go Holdin’ on to Your hand though sometimes I don’t understand. Tears I cried night and day, but I’m gonna trust you anyway. Because You love me and I love you too. Been in church all my life sometimes all I find is strife. Thought I’d have friends to the end Sometimes alone is all I’ve been. Tears I cried night and day But God has always made a way Because He loves and I love Him too. Left my home, family and job And my life was so very hard. Tried my best to stand the test. Then God came and gave me rest. Tears I cried night and day But God has always made a way Because He loves and I love Him too. I lost my job after 14 years. It left me living in fear. I didn’t know how to pay my bills, but in His Word he said stand still. Tears I cried night and day But God has always made a way Because He loves and I love Him too. I love you so and I’m never gonna let you go Holdin’ on to Your hand though sometimes I don’t understand Tears I cried night and day, but I’m gonna trust you anyway Because You love me and I love you too. The impossible. Feeding of the 5000 plus women and children. Water from the rock. Manna in the wilderness. Resurrection. Washing away our sins with water and the word. We are here. Forgiven, renewed, redeemed, healed. The dark figure would have you believe that it’s impossible, that you owe a fantastic bill. He’s a liar. Jesus is calling your name and is making and has made a way, because he loves you. Share your story. Share that love with the world. Amen.