Let Go and Go Tell
by Sharon Jacobsen

John 20: 1-18; Acts 10: 34-43
	
While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.  She knew
about darkness.not only the darkness of night without the sun, but the
darkness of despair and sorrow.  We know the darkness too.  With Christians
all over the world, we too have been sharing in the memory of the despair of
the crucifixion.  Most people avoid it if they can.  But a few of us
gathered in Maundy Thursday to hear the story, even though it is painful.
And then a few more came to pray on Friday, to remember and face our frailty
as human beings and our own participation in the evils of this world, by
what we do not do as well as by what we do.  So we live in darkness, and we
now come to the tomb.
	
Even those who have not lived the story of the passion of Jesus
Christ know the darkness.  The evening news will not let us forget that the
powers of the world still seem to rule.  Last week marked the fifth
anniversary of the war in Iraq, with no end in sight.  The Federal
government has had to step in to save our financial system from its own
bankruptcy.  Prices are rising while wages are stagnant or worse.  While it
is still dark all around us, we come to the tomb.
	
Why did Mary come those centuries ago?  The same reason we do. Why
do any of us come to a grave in the darkness of our souls?  We come to cling
to what we have lost.  We do not want to let go.  Not yet. Mary wanted to
stay with Jesus, even as she realized that he was truly gone from her.  
	
The burial preparations for Jesus included wrapping his body in
clean cloths.  As the body was wrapped, burial spices were placed between
the layers to keep the stench of death away for a time. Today, we have more
sophisticated preparations --- embalming, coffins, and waterproof tombs ---
all to protect and save the body.  In the dark, we come to our tombs. We,
like Mary, have a hard time letting go.
	
Mary came to the tomb and found no body.  Suddenly the darkness was
even darker.  Nothing was left to cling to.  And also, there was the horror.
She knew what might have happened..tomb robbers perhaps, or the Romans had
found a way to desecrate the body after all.  
	
She ran away to tell the others.  They came, and our scripture says
they believed.  But they were not rejoicing!  No declaration that he is
risen!  What they believed is that the body was gone. They went back home.
They had hoped for a new world, but their hopes had died on that cross along
with their teacher and friend.  They returned to their old lives as best
they could, back to the mundane, everyday, predictable.  Mary alone stands
in the dark, paralyzed in grief, unable to move back to her life as it was
before because it was a life of demons and illness, devoid of hope.
	
We shouldn't be surprised at their reaction.  We would have done the
same. We do not expect resurrection. There is nothing natural about rising
from the dead. 	
	
Mary didn't expect to see Jesus alive, no more than we would.
Therefore, when Jesus appeared, Mary could not recognize him.  He wore no
grave-cloths; he looked like a gardener, perhaps.  Maybe he saw something
and knows what happened to the body.  
	
And then, he said her name. 
	
A little boy once said that you know when someone loves you because
your name is safe in their mouth.  In her past, filled with demons, Mary had
heard her name spoken many times by those who ridiculed and demeaned her.
Now, early dawn, Mary heard her name in Jesus' mouth, spoken out of pure
love. She was safe. 
	
That word, her name, changed her whole world from despair to hope.
From death to new life. 
	
This is the heart of our faith. This is the affirmation of Easter
morning.  That our name is safe in Jesus' mouth. Now Mary can let go of the
dead body.  For the Risen Christ has come to her and called her name.  
	
We have a hymn about that moment. "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...  Sing it with me: "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."  
	
That might have been a comforting end of the story.  Jesus comes
back and stays with Mary and the others.   Jesus, the indestructible God-man
preaching again in the temple, doing the great works of healing, while those
in power know themselves to be powerless to stop him.  A new world, a great
leader..conquering the world like superman!   But that is not the story.  
 	
Resurrection is too big for us to hold.  Its power is beyond
superpower, even as we know it today.  Greater than the miracle of spring.
More powerful than life after death.  Big enough to transform the whole
universe.
	
The small miracle of Jesus with her in the garden was enough for
May.  All she wanted was to hold on to Jesus forever.  To call him Lord.  To
say, "I took Jesus as my Savior, and he is with me always."  To walk in the
garden with him forever. 
	
That is enough for many of us today.  We think that if we take Jesus
for our personal savior, all is well forever. 	
	
That is not the story.
	
The story is a transformed world.  A world filled with resurrection
power - through the Holy Spirit.  Believe it.
	
Mary has to let go of her old comfortable relationship with Jesus,
as beautiful and comforting as it has been for her.  "Do not hold on to me,
because I have not yet ascended to the Father," Jesus commands.  
 	
The Risen Christ is too big for us to hold.  Resurrection is so much
more than life in heaven after death.  Resurrection is the power of a new
creation.  
	
Mary didn't understand, but she believed because she experienced it,
and she was ready to move on to the next step.  He said to her, "Go to my
brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to
my God and your God!"
	
His words told her that the world as she had known it was no longer.
Everything was transformed, not just his own body.  We are brothers and
sisters.  God is our Father. Mary went.  "I have seen the Lord," she
announced.  And she told them what he had said.
	
The Resurrected Christ calls us out of our dark places.  "Everyone
who believes receives forgiveness of sins and new life in his name," the
early witnesses proclaimed.  God shows no partiality, Peter preached. In
every nation, anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable.
Resurrection means that we are free to love one another as family, because
we can count on Jesus as our brother.  And we are joined by God, our Father,
whose realm on earth is assured.  Believe the good news!  He is Risen! 
	
Jesus calls us to let go today and move into the future.  Our faith
is not private.  Although we meet Jesus in our own gardens, and we hear the
blessed sound of our name called out in love, we cannot cling to him. For,
he does not belong to us.  As William Willimon says, The Risen Christ is on
the move, ascending, restlessly eluding our grasp.  He is not to be held,
even by those who love him." 
	
The Risen Christ is on the move.  He is sending us out --- Go, he
says.  Tell my brothers (and sisters).  This church, this community needs
all of us to gather together, ALL of us, so that the news can be proclaimed,
first to one another and then to the world. There is no such thing as a
private Christian!  
	
Hear Jesus calling you today.  Listen to him: "Do not hold on to
me..But go, and say to my brothers and sisters..I ascend to my Father and
YOUR FATHER, my God and YOUR GOD.  
	
Let go!  And Go!  Tell the good news!  Begin today, here, with those
around you.
	
The ancient Easter proclamation is:  He is Risen!
	
And the answer is:  "He is Risen indeed!"
(practice, then ask congregation to share the greeting with one another.)
	
Alleluia!  Amen.

(Comments to Sharon at uccrev@roadrunner.com.)
Baltic Parish UCC
Sharon Jacobsen
203 N Butler St.
Baltic, OH 43804