April 8, 2012
Embracing the Resurrection
by James McCrea
John 20:1-18
Setting: Jerusalem, on the first Easter morning. Mary Magdalene has just reported to the disciples in the Upper Room that Jesus is alive. She is now leaving and is encountered by Lazarus in the ground floor of the same house.
Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus, who was once healed by him.
Lazarus, another follower of Jesus, who was recently raised from the dead by Jesus.
Mary enters stage right. She has a thoughtful expression on her face along with a subtle smile. She walks slowly from stage right to stage left, thinking. When she gets a little left of center stage, Lazarus calls to her.
Lazarus (Entering from stage right): Mary! Mary, wait up!
Mary slowly turns to face the direction of Lazarus' voice. Lazarus hurries over to meet her at center stage.
Lazarus: So it's really true, isn't it?
Mary: Yes, Lazarus. It's true. Jesus is alive.
Lazarus: I knew it! As soon as I looked into his tomb and saw those grave clothes lying there so neatly folded, I knew in my heart that he was alive. I couldn't have explained to anyone else why I had those feelings, but they were just as real as if I'd seen him myself. It's as if that empty tomb somehow spoke to my heart.
Mary: You certainly have more experience with empty tombs than anyone I know. (Laughs.)
Lazarus: Not that that's something I expected to happen.
Mary: Join the crowd. If you'd have told me three weeks ago that I would be talking to one formerly dead man about another formerly dead man, I'd have assumed that either you had gone crazy or that my demons had returned. The whole thing sounds impossible. But then again, truly nothing is impossible with God.
Lazarus: That's just it. Jesus told all of us several times that he would be crucified, only to return to life again, but who could believe that? It just didn't make sense. We thought that had to be another one of his parables. We've all seen what crucifixion is like. We've all seen its victims begging for the mercy of death. And we've all prayed that that would never happen to us. When the Romans decide to crucify someone, they are accursedly methodical and thorough in the way they humiliate and torture their victim. Who could imagine even wanting to return to life after something like that?
Mary: And yet, I saw him. I talked with him. I even saw the wounds in his hands where they nailed him to the cross.
Lazarus: So God didn't heal those wounds? Interesting...
Mary: Oh, I didn't see them at first, but they were there. Maybe God left them as a reminder to us of what Jesus suffered.
Lazarus: As if anyone who truly understood the sacrifice he made could ever really erase that from their memory — or from their lives for that matter!
Mary: I'm not so sure the disciples upstairs quite understand that. I think they're so afraid of how Jesus will react to the way they abandoned him in his hour of need that they're not quite sure they want to see him again.
Lazarus: But that's just their guilty consciences talking. Surely, Jesus endured all this on our behalf — somehow. I'm not quite sure the way it works, but couldn't this be what Isaiah was writing about so many centuries ago? “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Mary: But wasn't that supposed to have been written about the nation of Israel? I thought Isaiah's Suffering Servant passages were supposed to explain why God's Chosen People have had to endure such terrible persecutions over the centuries.
Lazarus: We've always taught it that way. But what if God decided that, after all this time, Israel as a whole was incapable of living up to its obligations? If so, perhaps God would choose to work through the utter faithfulness of a single person instead.
Mary: Jesus.
Lazarus: Exactly. Jesus. We both know he could have raised an army in a heartbeat if he would have wanted to. We both saw the crowds that celebrated his arrival in Jerusalem last Sunday. They were crying out, “Save us!” and celebrating what they thought was going to be the beginning of a rebellion against the Romans. And yet, Jesus never attempted to take advantage of that.
Mary: I know... None of us could understand why not. It was the perfect opportunity for him to become the second Judas Maccabeus and yet he did nothing at all — well, except to overthrow the moneychangers' tables. And then he calmly sat down to teach.
Lazarus: Clearly, he had no intention of raising a rebellion. It was almost as if he were inviting violence against himself. As he wanted to absorb the violence, not inflict it.
Mary: (Thoughtfully.) “By his wounds we are healed.” That makes so much sense. I was just so caught up in the tragedy of his arrest and execution that I never really gave any deeper thought to why he chose to say and do what he did.
Lazarus: And now we don't have to guess; we can ask him ourselves.
Mary: Isn't it glorious? Although he did say that we couldn't hold on to him.
Lazarus: Hmm... Maybe now he'll have to return to God and leave the work here to us.
Mary: (Pause.) What was it like? You know, being...well, dead?
Lazarus: (Laughs.) I haven't heard that question...in the last twenty minutes.
Mary: Oh, I'm sorry...
Lazarus: No, no, it's perfectly fine. Death waits for everyone. Who wouldn't be curious about what it's like? I understand completely. In fact, if the roles were reversed, I'd probably be among the first to ask you what that experience was like. (Pause.)
Mary: Well, then?
Lazarus: The problem is that human beings simply haven't invented words capable of describing the rich reality of death. So please bear with me. I'll do my best.
Mary: Okay.
Lazarus: (Pause.) First of all, I don't know about you, but I always worried about the possible pain of death. And there was some of that — nothing like what Jesus went through, of course — but it was bearable and when it started getting really intense, somehow my body adjusted and I didn't feel it that much anymore. I think that's a gift of God's mercy.
Mary: That's comforting to know.
Lazarus: But that's not what you're really curious about. You want to know about death itself. And that's where it gets difficult. You see, death isn't exactly a place or a time. It's a presence and a feeling. You suddenly find yourself in the presence of the Almighty. No one has to tell you because you know — you just know — you're in the throne room of God. It's like you're wrapped up in the presence of purity and a light so intense that you would think it would melt your eyes, but instead, it has a smoothing, loving feeling. It's as if every dream you ever had suddenly came true — and so did those dreams that you never had the courage or imagination to dream.
Mary: Oh! It sounds... perfect.
Lazarus: It was, except...
Mary: Except what?
Lazarus: Well, somehow there was a sense of incompleteness. As if there was to be more to the story. And, well, I know this may sound crazy or even egotistical, but I somehow had the impression that I would have something to do with what was to come. It didn't make any sense at the time. But now...
Mary: Now that Jesus raised you from the dead and, in turn, was sentenced to die as a result, now you see that you may have had a role in God's plan for the resurrection.
Lazarus: Right. When Jesus brought me back to life, essentially on the doorstep of the Temple, all of Jerusalem heard about it. And that made Jesus very dangerous to his enemies. Ultimately, giving me life cost Jesus his life. And yet, I think that his death in some fashion will serve to give us all life.
Mary: What do you mean?
Lazarus: I'm not sure yet. It's all too new. But it just feels as if his resurrection has begun a whole new Creation, undoing the damage that was done by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Mary: I see. Jesus has absorbed the very worst that humanity can dish out and he can transform that from death to life. If he can do that, perhaps he can take our hunger, our poverty, our wars and greed, our hatred and inhumanity and transform them into something life-giving as well.
Lazarus: As you said earlier, nothing's impossible for God.
Mary: Then we haven't just received our Master back. We've been granted a chance for a whole new world, even if we may have to help him re-build it. Death cannot stop it, the powers of evil cannot stop it. Nothing can. If God is on our side, who can stand against us?
Lazarus: I think the resurrection means that no matter how strong the forces of darkness may seem to be, the strongest force of all is the power of God's love. It's a power that will burst through the chains of death, a power that will flip over the stones enclosing our tombs, a power that will melt away fear and replace our tears with laughter. That same power that freed you from your demons has been let loose to free the world from all that would try to block us from God and his creative power.
Mary: Oh, we have to go upstairs and tell this to the disciples.
Lazarus: Let's go.
Both exit stage right.
The end.
(Comments to Jim at jmccrea@galenalink.com.)