Easter Sunday 2024 John 20:1-18
Sometimes you really just can’t believe your eyes. Well, that happens to me anyway. You see something or perhaps don’t see something you were expecting – and you just can’t believe your eyes – you struggle to understand what you’re looking at - or not looking at.
Something like happened to me a few years ago. I was presiding at the Thursday evening Eucharist in my last church, and all was going well until it came to the preparation of the table – I turned to the altar and reached out to take the chalice in order to pour in the water and the wine. And I just couldn’t believe my eyes – it was astonishing – I couldn’t understand it – you see, when I reached out my hand for the chalice…..it wasn’t there! I stood there motionless and shocked – then I told myself I was being stupid, because of course it was there – it’s always there – I even put my hands out over the altar – patting it in order to try and find the invisible chalice. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, I had to admit that it really wasn’t there and that in fact I’d forgotten to get it out of the safe before the service. I was very blessed to have such an understanding and tolerant congregation as I trundled out of the chapel to open the very noisy safe to get the chalice.
I use that example of my stupidity as an illustration of how Mary Magdelene and the disciples may have felt when they saw the empty tomb – not stupid of course – but unable to believe their eyes – unable to understand – it really didn’t make sense to them at that moment – Jesus’ body should have be there.
There’s a lot of running around like headless chickens in this morning’s Gospel reading. Mary saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb – that can’t be right – so she legs it to the disciples and tells them that Jesus’ body has been taken out of the tomb – although how she knows that is a bit of a mystery because we’re not told that she actually looked inside – then the disciples leg it – well actually Peter and the other disciple raced against each other – the other disciple winning and getting to the tomb first. He just peers in and sees the wrappings Jesus’ body had been placed in – then Peter catches up and being the impetuous soul he is, he barges in to the tomb – he too sees the linen wrappings. It wasn’t possible - Jesus should have been in the tomb!
I think because we hear the story of the resurrection every year – because we know what’s going to happen - we really don’t think about the impact that first Easter morning must have had. If we did, then perhaps we should all have come running to church this morning.
During Holy Week we have endeavoured to try and experience the events leading up to today through our worship, reflection, and prayers. Just for a moment now – try to imagine what it might have been like. They go to the tomb fully expecting their Lord and Master’s body to be exactly where it had been placed on Friday – his poor torn, bloodied body – their hearts are broken – they watched him die a criminal’s death – an innocent man nailed to that cruel cross – the women were there when they took him down from the cross – and it all happened so quickly because the Sabbath day was fast approaching – no work, not even preparing a body for a funeral can be done on the Sabbath. So they would have had that image in their head – their Lord and Master, whose only crime was to love them to the bitter end, their Lord, Jesus on a cold slab of stone – lifeless – broken – cold – alone. It’s probably easier to relate to those feelings – because we’ve all experienced death at some point in our lives – and if we haven’t, we know it will happen at some point.
But what follows is something we can’t completely comprehend because we haven’t experienced the resurrection in the same way those first witnesses did. We believe it to be true because of their experience – the experience that completely transformed the lives of these men, all of whom deserted Jesus in his hour of need. Within 7 weeks they were standing up in the city proclaiming that Jesus was alive, and they devoted themselves to spreading that message all round the world, even at the cost of their own lives. People don’t do that for something they know is untrue.
The resurrection is the foundation of our faith – without it……well, what are we doing here this morning? The disciples were lucky I suppose – they got to see the resurrected Jesus. What is it that convinces you about the resurrection? How do you tell people that you know Jesus has been resurrected from the dead and is alive and active in your life? An important question to constantly think about – because people out there want to know – and we are called to tell them.
There’s one little detail that always intrigues me in John’s account of the resurrection. The disciples, I’ve suggested couldn’t believe their eyes. All except one…if you look at the reading – it’s about a third of the way down, it says ….. ‘….. the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.’ What did he see that made him instantly believe? The writer of the Gospel, John, adds a strange detail just before the other disciple entered the tomb – ‘the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, [was] not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.’ Why is that strange little detail in there in the middle of all the mayhem, panic and astonishment?
One explanation that’s been given is that it was obvious Jesus’ body hadn’t been stolen because if that was the case surely the robbers wouldn’t have thought to roll up a cloth neatly whilst they were doing it. They would have been in a rush in order not to get caught by the soldiers guarding the tomb – even though the guards were asleep, they could have woken at any moment. So the rolled cloth is evidence of Jesus’ resurrection, because the scene displayed no signs of a struggle. It looked very neat and tidy. So yes, that seems logical. But there’s another explanation that’s been put forward – and in order to understand the rolled up cloth we need to know about a Hebrew tradition of the day – a tradition every Jewish boy knew – the other disciple included. When a servant set the dinner table for their master, they made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The servant would then wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant wouldn’t dare touch that table, until the master had finished. Now if the master had finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would scrunch up his napkin or cloth and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table because the scrunched-up napkin meant ‘I’m done. I’m finished.’ But if the master got up from the table, and folded or rolled up his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant wouldn’t dare touch the table, because….the rolled napkin meant……’I’m coming back!’
‘the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed.’
He came out of the tomb believing that Jesus had come back – that he had risen – and he hadn’t even seen him – that privilege was given to Mary after the disciples had all gone home. But he went home believing. Today, we celebrate Jesus coming out of the tomb – of him defeating all that prevents us from seeing God in our lives -and when he came out he brought us with him – he brought us with him to live a new life in him – and with eyes to see and believe.