An Unexpected Encounter? -- Sermon for Easter Sunday (Year A) (John 20:1-18)
“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” (Jn. 20:1). This morning the Gospel of John invites us to join Mary Magdalene at the tomb where, a day before Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus laid Jesus’ body. What might Mary have expected to find when she arrived at the tomb? Do you think she expected that the stone would have been removed and the body missing? The same would have been true for Peter and the Beloved Disciple after they ran to the tomb to check out Mary’s report. Nevertheless, that is what John reports.
Each of the four gospels tells the Easter story a bit differently. According to John’s account, for some untold reason, Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers, decided to visit the tomb that first Easter morning. Maybe she went there to pay her respects to her beloved teacher. John doesn’t say why she went to the tomb, but when she discovered that the tomb had been unsealed, she ran to tell Peter and the Beloved Disciple what she had discovered. When they heard Mary’s report, they ran as fast as they could to the tomb to check things out for themselves. What they found were the linens that had wrapped Jesus’ body neatly folded and lying on the bench inside the tomb. But, they didn’t find the body. While the Beloved Disciple reached the tomb first, he let Peter enter the tomb first. Then, when he entered the tomb, John reports that he “saw and believed.” But what he believed is unknown because apparently, they still didn’t understand Jesus’ words about the resurrection. You have heard it said that “seeing is believing.” So, what did the Beloved Disciple see that caused him to believe? As for us, what if we don’t see what the Beloved Disciple saw? How can we believe what John reported is true? How can we trust this ancient testimony and the others we find in the New Testament concerning Jesus’ resurrection?
The eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher David Hume asked this very question. How can we trust these testimonies if we’ve never witnessed someone rise from the dead? Where is the proof? Despite the unsettling nature of David Hume’s questions, Christians across the globe are gathering this morning to boldly sing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Alleluia!” or something similar, believing that in Jesus’ resurrection, death has lost its sting.
John’s account continues after Peter and the Beloved Disciple headed back to their homes, perhaps bewildered at what they had discovered. On the other hand, Mary Magdalene remained behind at the tomb, grief-stricken not only at Jesus’ death but also at the disappearance of his body. Who would do such a thing as steal a body from a sealed tomb? While she wept, she tried to figure out what had happened to the body. If only Father Brown were nearby, surely he would figure out what happened to the body. The one thing that didn’t occur to her at that moment was the possibility that Jesus had risen from the dead.
All that Mary knew at that moment was that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had placed Jesus’ body in the tomb and then sealed it with a stone (Jn. 19:38-41). It’s even possible that Mary had joined Joseph and Nicodemus in preparing Jesus’ body for burial. After all, she had stood with the other women, including the mother of Jesus, watching as the Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross. She probably heard Jesus’ final word before he gave up his spirit: “It is finished” (Jn. 19:25-30).
Mary’s role in this story is important because she seems to have been an important member of Jesus’ community. While she makes her first appearance in John’s Gospel standing with the other women at the foot of the cross, the fact that she came to the Tomb that morning to stand vigil suggests that she was fully invested in Jesus’ ministry. Not only was she invested in his ministry, but she also wasn’t ready to give up on that investment until she got answers to her questions about Jesus’ disappearance.
As Mary kept her vigil outside the tomb, she had the first of two unexpected encounters. The first encounter came when she looked in the tomb and saw two angels sitting on the bench where Jesus’ body had once lain. The angels asked Mary why she was weeping. This might seem to be an odd question to ask of someone who is keeping vigil at a tomb. I don’t know how long it took for Mary to come up with a response, but using my imagination, I have to wonder if their question offended her. Wasn’t it obvious why she might be weeping? After all, someone she loved had been brutally executed by the government, and then his body had disappeared from his tomb. Even as she grieved her loss, she wanted answers!
Immediately after this first unexpected encounter with the angels, Mary turned around and saw a stranger standing in front of her. She assumed that he must be the gardener. Who else would be there besides the caretaker? Perhaps he would know where Jesus’ body had been taken. Before she could ask him where Jesus’ body had been taken, the man asked Mary why she was weeping. Using my imagination once again, I can hear in Mary’s voice growing frustration with what must have appeared to be a silly question. However, since she hoped to find Jesus’ body, she asked the man if he knew where the body had been taken so she could put it back where it belonged.
Here is that other unexpected encounter that came because Mary didn’t recognize Jesus until he spoke her name. When he spoke her name, her eyes were immediately opened, and she cried out: “Rabbouni!” That is, Teacher!
Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus told a parable about the Good Shepherd. In this parable, Jesus declared that the sheep follow the shepherd because they know the shepherd’s voice (Jn 10:1-6). Just like the sheep in that parable, Mary knew Jesus’ voice when he called her by name. At that moment the whisperings of doubt began to fade into belief.
Perhaps instinctively, Mary tried to grab hold of Jesus. You can understand why. Now that Jesus stood there in front of her, she wasn’t going to lose him again. She might not have fully understood what was happening, but she was sure that her teacher was no longer dead. Although Jesus told her to let go of him because he had not yet ascended to the Father, he wanted her to know that he had a job for her. He commissioned her to tell the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he was alive. When Jesus gave Mary that commission, she became the apostle to the apostles.
If Mary was the first apostle, she continues to be an apostle to us. That’s because she continues to proclaim the good news that Jesus has risen from the dead. Now, we might still hear David Hume whispering in our ears, questioning her testimony, but her testimony is compelling. That is, if we are open to the glory that is the resurrection. There is more good news because, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Cor. 15:22). Having heard the good news that is the Easter message, are you ready to join with St. John of Damascus and sing?
Now let the heavens be joyful!
Let earth its song begin!
The world resound in triumph,
and all that is therein;
let all things seen and unseen
their notes of gladness blend;
for Christ the Lord has risen,
our joy that has no end.
(Chalice Hymnal, 28)
The author of the first letter of John confirms Mary’s testimony, opening with these words:
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and what we have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— . . . We are writing these things so that our joy may be made complete” (1 Jn 1:1, 4).
Mary Magdalene proclaimed the good news revealed to her by Jesus to the disciples. When she did this, her joy was made complete. The same is true for us as we embrace her testimony.
I believe it’s important to remember that Jesus could have first appeared to Peter or one of the other male disciples, but according to John, he chose Mary to be his ambassador. Therefore, at least in the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene is the first evangelist. She is the first witness to the resurrection, which means she’s the first apostle.
As we gather here this morning to worship God in the presence of the Risen Christ, do you hear Mary’s testimony about what she saw with her own eyes? While I don’t know if she got to touch Jesus, later on Thomas does touch him. In that moment, his eyes were opened to the mystery that is the resurrection. I believe that John wants us to know that the risen Jesus is not a figment of someone’s imagination. We may not completely understand how the resurrection works, but Mary’s Easter testimony to the resurrection serves as an invitation to celebrate God’s victory over death. Therefore, we can declare with the Psalmist:
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 118:24).
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
Tyrone Community Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Tyrone Township, Michigan
Easter Sunday
April 5, 2026
Image attribution:
| Miller, Mary Jane. First Apostle to the Apostles, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59688 [retrieved April 4, 2026]. Original source: Mary Jane Miller, https://www.millericons.com/. |
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