Easter Day

John 20:1-18 (NRSV)       Jesus is Alive

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

There are many of us who remember with nostalgic fondness Joni Mitchell’s words,

“We are stardust, we are golden,
We are trapped in the devil’s bargain,
But we’ve got to get ourselves

back to the garden.” (Woodstock, 1969)

With these words, Joni Mitchell captured the restless anxiety of a nation in pain and pointed the way to a more idyllic place—the garden.

Others, of you, will recall C. Austin Miles’, 1912 spiritual song, In the Garden, “I walk through the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses.”

 In both cases, the songs speak of places that do not and cannot exist. We cannot get back to the past because the past is over; it is dead. That would be living in a grave. Nor can we peacefully walk in a garden holding Christ to ourselves. That would mean that we had cut ourselves off from the world. They are pleasant places to visit in our minds, but we shouldn’t want to live there.

In today’s reading we see Mary in the garden. As in the Garden of Eden, God comes to speak with the people of creation. But Mary does not recognize who the speaker is. She thinks it is the olive grove gardener, and it is. What she doesn’t understand is that he is the Master Gardener—the one who raised us up from the humus to be humans; the one who breathed the breath of life into us; the one who put the garden into our hands to care for, the one raised up for us. Mary doesn’t fully understand the world of resurrection even though Jesus has told her that he would be raised. Maybe we don’t either. In the garden that the Master Gardener gave us, with Mary, we meet this one who is speaking, the one who walks among us and knows our lives and pain even unto death. But, at the sound of her name, her teacher is fully revealed to her. And, at the sound of our names—“______, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” (ELW, Sacrament of Holy Baptism)—Christ is fully revealed to us.

Yet the cemetery garden is not a place where we can or want to stay. The one in the garden is not standing still, and neither can we. In the cemetery garden, we are commanded to re-enter the world of the living. “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” And Mary goes.

We are reminded that all the world is God’s garden. We are to tell our gardening companions that God continues to be active and present in our world. It is not a place to get back to; it is not a place where we are alone. It is in the center of the world we live in with the people that God has given us to serve.

In Candide, Voltaire tells us that if we want peace in the world we need to tend our gardens. Our Master Gardener gives us similar advice, “Tend my garden. Spread the good news!”

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Prayer

We give you thanks, dear Lord, for breaking the bonds of death and freeing us from the chains of history. Help us always to walk with you into the new future you have given us, with hope and the confidence you give. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, amen.