Easter Proclamation and John 20

John 20 is fantastic. For me, for the first time in years – somehow – I feel like I’m seeing Easter fresh again. John 20 – compared with the other three Gospel accounts – shows a different version of what happened on that day, when the tomb was empty – and the Lord first seen risen from death -- and it speaks to me.

Each Gospel is special of course – and each has its own witness.

John’s is – well – very special ... to me. It conveys an insight I’ve not seen before elsewhere.

You see John’s Gospel is the only one of the four biblical Gospels to bear the name and the witness of one of the three people who was there that day.

I believe the author of John is the one called therein the Beloved Disciple, and I believe this is John son of Zebedee, and I believe with the traditional view that he was probably a youngster - who gives special insight, about what it was like that day. Many scholars dispute these traditional views -- but I still subscribe to the ancient perspective on the authorship of John. (Though I wouldn't want to debate Raymond Brown on it!)

John tells us that the first person to see the open tomb – the stone rolled away – was a woman. Mary Magdalene – a woman who came to Jesus broken by sin and guilt and sorrow – and who was shown tender mercy by Him – and forgiven – and restored – and made new.

John says she was first: to see the first evidence of his rising – the open tomb – and the first to see Him – the first to speak with Him – the first to spread the Good News.

John goes on to say that the first one to believe it – was indeed himself – who at that time was barely a man, if he was yet a man at all.

Ancient tradition regards John as that specially beloved disciple who was very young – not yet bearded – and spry enough to easily outrun the elder fisherman Peter.

The first to see and the first to believe on that day – the impossible Good News of resurrection – were an unmarried woman with a shady past and a boy.

Peter – though the first to enter the tomb – was slow to grasp, slow to understand, slow to believe.

Peter – the leader of the disciples – the elder man – denies Jesus three times, is not there at the cross, and does not see the Good News even when it’s right in front of his face.

No – if you read John 20 closely – you see that only John and Mary Magdalene bend down in this story – and where the boy defers to Peter to enter first – and Mary Magdalen stands outside weeping – Peter – who neither bends nor weeps, neither believes, nor sees the risen Christ.

I think the point is this – those who loved Jesus most vulnerably
- the boy he makes a younger brother
- the lost woman he brings into the fold

They are the first to get eyes to see Jesus in his fulness – his glory – and his resurrection from the dead.

That rings true to me. What about you?

I think John is saying that ‘Loving comes before Believing.’

Consider:

Peter was called Peter by Jesus as a nickname. His real name was Simon – Jesus called him Peter – which means Rocky – perhaps for a reason.

He was like a rock. He was older and tougher. He carried a sword.

And for each denial before the cross – the risen Jesus would ask Peter:
‘Do you love me?’ ‘Do you love me?’ ‘Do you love me?’

I think the point is simple: Only the bent over, the powerless, young, weak, and gratefully forgiven easily see the risen Jesus.

I believe even Peter had to break down his Rocky-ness to finally see what Jesus was all about.

What about us?

An old friend wrote me last week.

Her father’s died, her brother’s got cancer, her family are dyed in the wool agnostics and atheists – but she said, “You know, I love my children, and my family, but I wonder if this is all there is... this mortality – this life which always ends, and often too young – and she said she was looking for some meaning.”

Praise God, but aren’t we all?

Another friend’s mom is sick, another struggling with guilt, another’s a believer, but he’s wondering ‘Can I believe a man could rise from the dead?’

Friends – we’re all looking for meaning in a life surrounded and impinged by death.

We’re all sick with guilt for our sins – whether we own, groan and confess them or not.

We’re all basically reasonable people who wonder how it can be true that Jesus is the Son of the Living God – who died on the Cross – and rose again.

Right?

Yes – we’re all in the story of John 20.

Whether we’re good children – or rocky adults – or weeping at the gate of death.

The Good News is that God doesn’t leave us alone – to exercise our free will, get it wrong, and die in our confusion, fear and regret.

No.

Jesus – my God and yours – comes to us, for us, and with us.

Jesus is the lover of souls – the author of salvation – and he will come to all – and he will reach out in mercy and forgiveness and pure saving love – and we will be loved by him.

Some will see Christ fast. Others slow. Some will think he’s the gardner for a while.

But all will see Him on that day – through tears of sorrow for our blindness and tears of joy for our new sight.

Brothers and sisters – if you believe in Jesus – you’ve got to spread that Good News.

You’ve got to be like Mary Magdalene – John – and even Peter ... who like us finally gets it too.

You’ve got – we’ve got – to be beacons of hope. We’ve got to show the love of Christ for the world. By forgiving people their sins, and ours. By not judging. By helping. By healing. By serving. By loving.

It’s the only way any will believe in Christ – for loving precedes believing my friends – when you’re talking about the Gospel of Resurrection from the dead.

The easter message to disciples – is this:

Go and tell the rest – “He is risen! And now we know the love of God really is for real – for ever, and for us.”

Amen.