Part 1 – Pastor April

When Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb on that first Easter morning, she noticed that the stone had been rolled away. Terrified, she ran to tell the disciples, and two of them came back with her to investigate – Simon Peter, and the beloved disciple (who most people think was John). At the time of Jesus, women were considered unreliable witnesses to events. And in Deuteronomy 19, the law required an event to be verified by two or three witnesses in order for the witness account to be trustworthy. Simon Peter and the beloved disciple rushed to the tomb to verify Mary Magdalene’s story, and the beloved disciple had to make sure we knew he beat Peter in the foot race to the tomb.

The two men went inside the tomb and saw that it was empty, except for the grave clothes. The cloth that had covered Jesus’s face had been rolled up and set down away from the other linen wrappings. The beloved disciple “believed” upon seeing the empty tomb, but then John makes sure we know that the disciples still did not yet understand what the Scriptures said about the Messiah rising from the dead. It seems as though the beloved disciple believed Mary Magdalene had been telling the truth, not that he believed Jesus had risen from the dead. The two men returned to tell the others that the tomb was empty as Mary had told them, but Mary stayed behind.

I wonder why she stayed. Perhaps she needed to be alone to grieve. Maybe she wanted to spend time in the last place she knew Jesus had been. Maybe she didn’t even know why she stayed, she just felt like she needed to be there. So, she stayed outside the tomb, and she wept. Even though I’ve heard this story from John more times than I can count, for some reason it stood out to me for the first time that Mary is asked the same question twice: “Woman, why are you weeping?” She is asked first by the angels in the tomb, and again moments later by Jesus himself. The angels who asked her were clothed in white. I wonder if she recognized them as heavenly messengers. But Jesus? When Jesus asked her, she mistook him for the gardener. He didn’t show up to her after the resurrection in blindingly bright clothing with a halo around his head. He showed up in humility.

Pastor and author Nadia Bolz-Weber writes about this story in this way: “See, when Mary Magdalene, this imperfect woman, stood at the tomb, she didn’t encounter some perfected radiant glowing Jesus that morning. Seriously, no offense to gardeners but Jesus couldn’t have been looking all that tidy and impressive if she mistook him for a gardener: And here’s the thing: I like to think that Mary Magdalene mistook the resurrected Christ for a gardener because Jesus still had the dirt from his own tomb under his nails.”

Jesus called Mary by name, and in that moment, she knew exactly who he was. She said to him, “Rabbouni–My teacher!” There, by the garden tomb, mistaking Jesus for the gardener, the miracle of resurrection had taken place. There, by the garden tomb, Mary discovered that God was indeed making all things new.

The story of life began in a Garden. God transformed the formless void into a world with beauty, order, and purpose. He created Adam and Eve and placed them in a garden to take care of it. When they sinned, God came looking for them in the garden, and rather than turn to him, they hid from him. Even though their sin led to them leaving the garden, God was at work preparing a new garden, a new place, where the people God created and loved would find him again.

Friends, why do you weep? Jesus, our Lord, Savior, and friend, is here! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And because of his resurrection, we are experiencing new life that is only possible through him. At times, our vision might be clouded because of grief or struggle, but Jesus is there with us, calling us by name. We may not always recognize him at first, but he is there. Jesus may not have really been the gardener on that Easter morning, but in a way, he also was. Present in a new garden – the garden where life conquers death – and calling us to take care of this world he’s entrusted to us.

Part 2 – Pastor Jeff

Power is often associated with luxury and with having others serve you. Power and riches often go hand to hand, and that means that people in power are able to pay or coerce or intimidate others into doing things they would normally have to do themselves. Jesus had a different sort of power. Jesus was not someone who made others do his dirty work for him. We saw that very clearly in the Upper Room when Jesus knelt and washed the feet of his disciples. Jesus did not mind getting his hands a little dirty.

When Mary Magdalene saw Jesus in the garden near the tomb where his body had been, she confused him for a gardener. Here was Jesus standing before her but she did not recognize him. Why? Was it because he looked radiant in his resurrection and she had expected the same poor Jewish rabbi that he’d been? Or maybe it was the opposite. Maybe she expected that if Jesus had truly risen as he’d promised he would, that he would come back in splendor and majesty, clothed like a king, and shining like a star for all the world to see. But here was a man in plain clothes with his hair messed up and dirt under his fingernails. Certainly, this could not be Jesus in his triumphant return from the dead. But it was. And when Jesus said Mary’s name, she recognized him. And she said to him, “Rabbouni,” teacher. Mary’s teacher was once again teaching her, and us, a lesson about power.

I think there are two parts to Jesus’ lesson here. First, true power feels no need to flaunt itself. Jesus doesn’t come walking out of the tomb like Duane “the Rock” Johnson at a WWE Royal Rumble. There is no walk-up music as he approaches Mary in the garden. There are no news helicopters buzzing overhead, no Romans or Jews livestreaming it on Facebook, no reporters rushing to ask him questions about how he did it. Upon his death, Jesus fell immediately into obscurity for most people, so when he rose from the dead, almost no one noticed, except the women who went to the tomb to mourn. It was not a pay-per-view event. There was no breaking news story the second it happened. Jesus rose from the dead without fanfare or celebration, but that was exactly how God planned it. Jesus didn’t need to flaunt his power because he knew that his power didn’t come from popularity or prestige, it came from God alone.

The second part of Jesus’ lesson to Mary is that having dirty hands is a sign of good leadership. Leaders who get their hands dirty, who know and understand what their followers have to do and what they are up against, are leaders who are respected and who have the most success. Jesus was exactly that kind of leader. We see numerous times where Jesus says something to the effect of, I have shown you what to do, now go and do it. Jesus, as a leader, shows us the way through example.

As I look at leadership right now in our world, I don’t see a lot of Jesus’ sort of leadership. I see leadership that looks more like the chief priests and scribes who demanded Jesus’ death. Or like Pilate who succumbed to the will of the people rather than standing firm on what he believed to be right. Or we see leadership like Peter who denied knowing Jesus three times to avoid getting himself in trouble. These sorts of leaders are abundant, but they are not true leaders. True leadership is exemplified in Jesus, who gave himself up for his followers. He didn’t blame others to get himself out of trouble. He didn’t shirk his responsibilities. He got right in there and got his hands dirty.

As followers of Christ, we are called to lead in the same way. We lead through example. Want a world that is more loving and kind? Be more loving and kind. Want a community that accepts and cares for even the least of these, then start caring for the least of these and welcome them to the feast. In the feast we will celebrate in a few minutes, we are urged to remember Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice he made for us. As the Son of God, he could have passed that job of sacrificing for others on to one of his followers. He could have shirked that responsibility in favor of keeping his hands clean. But Jesus was not that kind of leader, Jesus was a true leader…a leader who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and go right alongside us as we navigate the challenges of our everyday lives. That is the type of leader we should be and the type of leader we should look to follow. A leader, even in triumph, gets right in with us and gets his hands dirty to show us the way of truth. May we always seek to follow the example of our risen Lord. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia and Amen!