To See and To Be Seen Preached for Wollaston Congregational Church Easter 2021, Sunday April 4th Scripture: John 20:1-18 Rev. Kim Murphy and I arrived at the beach, while was still a little dark. In the pre-dawn light the Quincy Point Congregation and those of us from Wollaston trod carefully down the rough stones steps onto the beach. And we stood on the dry sand, scatters with broken shells and pebbles. There was a faint smell of salt in the chilly air. We took in the quiet of pre-dawn, the birds just beginning to wake, a little traffic passing by. This is a thin place – the beach at sunrise – a place in which heaven and earth seem to meet. In our scripture reading this morning we heard “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb …” The tomb is not on a beach, but in a garden. The smells are the pre-dawn smells of earth and vegetation. The flowers have not yet opened to release their scents. The sounds, still, are the birds beginning to stir. There is damp earth, instead of dry sand, beneath Mary’s feet. We do not know if the sunrise will be visible from this place. This setting will be a thin place for Mary, because it is a place where heaven and earth certainly meet on this first Easter morning. According to John, on this morning after the Sabbath and following the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb alone, while it is still dark. It is still dark, because Jesus is understood to be dead and gone. It is still dark, because Mary, with all the disciples, is grieving. It is still dark, because they do not understand what has happened. Mary and the other disciples are traumatized. They witnessed their beloved teacher and leader being tortured and hung until death on a Roman cross. They observed his wounded, lifeless body taken from the cross and sealed in a tomb. And so, at the first opportunity, Mary comes to the tomb: perhaps to grieve, perhaps to spend time alone in prayer. Instead of tranquility, she experiences trauma yet again, when she discovers that the tomb is has been broken open and Jesus’ body is gone. She is distraught and runs to meet Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved, telling them that the body is gone. Peter and the other disciple come running to the tomb, they witness its emptiness. They do not understand that Jesus must rise from the dead. And so, they leave as rapidly as they had arrived, perhaps in fear. Mary remains alone, weeping outside the tomb. Suddenly she notices two angels inside the tomb, at each end of the place where Jesus was laid. They ask her “woman, why are you weeping?” She repeats what she told the disciples “They have taken away my Lord …” she still believes the body has been stolen. Now, she turns, looking away from the tomb and into the garden. Perhaps the dawn is just beginning. Perhaps the sun is showing its first arc above the horizon. She sees a man, who is Jesus. But she still doesn’t know it. She supposes he is the gardener. He repeats the words of the angels, asking “woman, why are you weeping?” and then “whom are you looking for?” Still she doesn’t perceive … and asks if he has taken the body of her Lord away, where has he laid him? Finally, the sun rises and dawn breaks, the birds break into joyful song, the flowers burst open and releasing their scents. He has seen her before she sees him, and exclaims “Mary!” And she responds “Rabbouni/teacher!” She wants to embrace him, but he will not let her. Instead he instructs her to go tell his “brothers” that he is ascending … to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. He SENDS her, and because he does, she becomes the first apostle. And so she goes and tells the others, “I have seen the Lord!” The metaphors of light and darkness crop up throughout John’s gospel. These symbols stand for revelation, and for that which is hidden. Jesus, as the light of the world, shines on that which is hidden and reveals it. The passage we read today reveals something that has been hidden in the telling of the gospel. We met Mary Magdalene for the first time only a few verses before this episode. She was among the women who stood at the foot of the cross. And yet, we can see, from this extravagantly told this intimate encounter, that Mary and Jesus know one another very well. He is her beloved Rabbi or teacher. She is his devoted disciple or student. She is from Magdala, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, close to Capernaum where Jesus began his ministry. We can assume she has been among the disciples from the beginning. Western Christianity has not been kind to Mary. She has been conflated with the nameless woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany. And that woman has been assumed to be a prostitute. I suspect that this shaming of Mary led to other references to her being edited out of the gospel. I have been curious about Mary Magdalene since I first visited a retreat center named the Hallelujah Farm a few years ago. The Hallelujah Farm is a lovingly restored post and beam farmhouse, sitting in the midst of rolling hills in south-western New Hampshire. In the springtime flowers are bursting and birds are singing. It is the perfect Easter setting. Guests of the retreat center meet for discussion, prayer, and worship in a great room at the end of the farmhouse. This room is named the “Mary Magdalene Chapel.” A huge stone fireplace serves as an altar. On the mantle there is an icon depicting Mary Magdalene resplendent in red. On either side are windows overlooking a meadow and a valley. The whole space is bright and airy, the floor is natural wood, gently polished, with a large circular cutout at the center that contains fine sand. Candles may be set in the sand. And over the course of a retreat, participants create swirls of art in it. The guests gather, seated on chairs or cushions arranged in a circle around the cutout. Whether they are praying or in conversation, everyone is seen and everyone can see everyone else. There are no back rows, no one is hidden. At the doorway to the room, guests are requested to remove their outdoor shoes. Practically speaking this preserves the floor. Spiritually, it is a reminder that those who enter are walking on holy ground. A plaque tells guests that the chapel is dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the first Apostle, fitting for a center named the Hallelujah Farm. The chapel epitomizes the warmth and hospitality of the Farm. The circular arrangement of the space creates an atmosphere of levelness and equality. It is a thin place, in which earth and heaven seem to meet. We are fortunate that the author of John’s gospel placed Mary in the thin place of the garden at dawn. The first person to witness the resurrected Christ cannot be edited out. Light must shine on her. She has been seen here. Perhaps you have seen the picture of African children, sitting on the ground in a large circle. They are bare-footed and they sit with the soles of their feet facing into the circle. There is no space between the feet: the little side-by-side soles form a perfect circle. In the circle each child is seen, and each child sees each of the other children. In the garden Mary “sees the Lord” and equally importantly she is seen. Today we celebrate the first resurrection dawn, with all the joy of Easters past. And still we – Christians – remember that we live in an “already and not yet” time. Jesus has already walked the earth. Christ has already been resurrected and has ascended. Meanwhile, we do not yet live in a world where all God’s children are seen, called by their names, fed, cared for, and know that they are beloved. And so, as we walk away from the garden or the beach, this morning, may we prepare our hearts and minds to see the Jesuses and the Marys in our world. - Perhaps, Jesus literally is the gardener – the immigrant landscaper – who mows and trims all day and returns to his lodgings at night. - Perhaps Mary is the Asian American grandmother, who is beaten in public, and bystanders choose not to see or intervene. - Perhaps Mary is the black American grandmother who fears that the next child to be born will be a boy, destined for the school to prison pipeline. - Perhaps Jesus is the unkempt person, hovering outside the liquor store or hanging on the street corner. - Or perhaps they are the many children, who have been lost to the system, in the chaos of a year of online and hybrid learning. Friends, we will experience the resurrection dawn each time we see and are seen: we are seen by our family or by our neighbors, by those who serve us in the grocery store, the gas station, or the coffee shop. This morning, (in this thin place) may you see the Lord, and may you know that you are seen. And then know that you, apostle, are sent, both to see and to tell “I have seen the Lord!” May it be so, Amen.
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