“His First Steps Led Outside His Tomb”
Text: John 20:11-18
4-20-2025
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen! {He is risen indeed! Alleluia!} Have you ever seen the movie The Passion of the Christ? I recently watched it with the 7th & 8th Graders and I have to say, even after seeing it multiple times in the past, it’s still emotionally draining. All the brutal mistreatment of Jesus on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday will make any sensible person cringe. But this is Easter Sunday and all that suffering and dying is in the past. So, I’d like to direct your attention to the last 1 ½ minutes of the movie. It shows the dark tomb where Jesus was laid. Suddenly, the massive stone that blocked the entrance begins to mysteriously move its way up and back from the doorway. A beam of bright sunlight pierces the blackness of the tomb. Then the camera focuses on the slab where our Savior’s lifeless body had been. But the body is gone! The linen wrappings slowly collapse like a balloon when the air is slowly let out. Then we see His face—no longer bloodied and battered but healthy again. It’s Jesus, the risen Lord! He sits for a moment, His eyes closed as if drinking in the warmth of the sun. Then He opens His eyes and stands. That’s when we see the gaping hole left by a crude Roman spike in His hand. He takes His first step to exit the tomb, and the movie ends.
Now, if merely watching The Passion of the Christ is enough to leave you feeling exhausted and emotionally drained, imagine what it was like for Jesus’ disciples who actually lived through the nightmare of Good Friday. That day was perhaps even more horrific for the women who followed Christ, because the Gospel of John tells us that “Jesus’ mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.” It must’ve been like a nightmare unfolding right before their eyes. If anything could cause post-traumatic stress disorder, this would do it. These women were also the first to visit His tomb on Easter morning. They carried with them the spices they had prepared. They came to pay their final respects to their dead teacher. As they got closer to the tomb, they worried about how they would move the massive stone from the doorway. But had they forgotten about the Roman guards and the seal of Pilate on the tomb? They hadn’t thought that far ahead because they were still in shock.
And that certainly included Mary Magdalene, who went to the tomb at the crack of dawn. The first time Mary arrived there, she saw the stone was gone. So, she ran to tell Peter and John the news, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” After sharing this report, Mary followed Peter and John back to the tomb. Once those two arrived, they went inside and checked everything out. The tomb was empty and Jesus’ body was gone. So, they went back home. Why stay? There was nothing else to do there. Sadly, John 20:9 tells us, “They did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” Don’t be too quick to judge them because at times, we can also be a little slow to believe the wondrous promises of God.
But Mary stayed at the tomb, weeping. As you heard in our Gospel text, when she looked in the tomb, she saw two angels sitting there. When they asked her why she was crying, all she could say is basically the same thing she had told Peter and John: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” That’s all she could think about because she was still stuck in the nightmare of Good Friday. Christ’s body hanging on the cross, His lifeless body later laying in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea—those were the images seared into her heart and mind. That’s why she was crying. It’s the kind of grief that wells up from deep inside you and comes flowing out with uncontrollable tears and sobbing that you can’t hold back. As far as Mary knew, her master and friend was dead. Along with Him died all those promises of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life she had heard Jesus teach about.
Any of us who has experienced emotional trauma may understand a little of what Mary was going through that first Easter morning. It’s why she seemed oblivious to the angels. And then, when Jesus first approached Mary, she didn’t recognize Him. Why is that? Well, theologians have come up with several reasons: (1) Jesus prevented her from recognizing Him at first. (2) Mary’s eyes were blurred with tears, so she couldn’t clearly see who He was. (3) Mary looked up from the dark tomb into the bright sunlight and her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. Or (4) Her mind was still in shock from her grief and couldn’t process this information. Maybe the answer is that it’s a combination of all 4? Keep in mind, Mary wasn’t the only one who had trouble recognizing Jesus after the resurrection. On Easter Sunday afternoon, Cleopas and his companion were on the road to Emmaus and didn’t recognize Jesus when he joined them and walked along with them. And don’t forget, Jesus would be the very last person any of them expected to see because of the nightmare of Good Friday.
How can you recognize the living Lord when all you can remember are the horrors you witnessed on Golgotha’s hill? You can’t when you’re overcome with grief and stuck in Good Friday. Do we ever have trouble seeing the risen Lord Jesus when we’re facing dark or difficult times in our own lives? Do we ever get stuck grieving over the spouse, parent, or child that the Lord took home and maybe we feel it was far too soon? Do we ever get stuck worrying about how we’re going to pay our bills when we find ourselves short on money? And what about all these tariffs and the economy? What about the input costs for our farming operation and the low commodity prices? And what about our retirement savings? What about the declining membership at our church and our financial situation? How will our congregation and our ministry move forward during these uncertain times?
There are so many concerns and so many fears that threaten to keep you and me stuck in the bleakness of Good Friday. And there’s only one way to roll back our massive stones of fear, sorrow, worry, and weeping. Only Easter can do that. The risen Savior, who knew exactly what Mary needed that first Easter Sunday, knows exactly what we need this Sunday. We need to focus our attention on Jesus and hear His voice. Just one word was all it took for Christ to lift the fog, the fear, and the darkness from Mary’s heart and mind. Jesus simply said her name, “Mary.” Probably just like He had said it to her many times before. The King of kings and the Lord of lords who had finished His work to pay for the sins of the human race and who rose from the dead in victory over sin, death and the devil is our Good Shepherd. He cares about us. And he knows every last one of us by name.
Jesus simply said, “Mary.” And the darkness of Good Friday was dispelled by the bright, joyful news of Easter. Mary finally recognized Jesus and replied with just one word: “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher.”) Surely her tears continued—but now they were tears of joy, and wonder, and relief. So, she hugged her Lord. She held him tight. And she didn’t want to ever let him go again. But that wouldn’t work. Jesus had other places to go, other people to see, and more names, like Peter and Thomas, to speak. Our Savior intended to have hundreds of witnesses ready to testify to us that the resurrection is true and really happened. When Jesus first stepped outside His tomb, He made sure He met Mary, because He knew she needed Him. Then our Lord sent Mary to His “brothers” to share the Easter news with them, because He knew they needed to hear the hear the good news also. And through the pages of Scripture, Mary and so many others stand together, testifying to us: “We have seen the Lord!” Now we have the testimony of the whole New Testament as evidence that the good news of Christ’s resurrection is true.
Together all these witnesses shout to us, “Easter is real! The victory that Jesus won for us on the cross is real! And the Lord’s gracious forgiveness of sins is real!” Jesus made that crystal clear when He sent Mary with a message for His “brothers.” Even that greeting was pure grace for those who had scattered in fear into the night at the Garden of Gethsemane only a few days before. And that message resounds through the ages for us, the “brothers and sisters” of Christ. He wants that same message of victory proclaimed to each one of us, not just on this Easter morning, but every day of the year. May that good news of salvation and forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus be on our lips now as we go out into the world to share it with other lost sinners. May our joy at the good news of Christ’s resurrection fill us with the certain hope of our resurrection from the sleep of death someday. And in the meantime, as we continue our journey here on earth, may we see and recognize Jesus as He speaks His love and forgiveness to us through His holy Word and Sacrament. Alleluia! Christ is risen! {He is risen indeed! Alleluia!} Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!