In the Dark (Easter Sermon 2016)

John 20:1-18

20:1 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.

20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."

20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.

20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

20:5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,

20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.

20:8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;

20:9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

20:10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;

20:12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.

20:13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."

20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."

20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).

20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

20:18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

“In the Dark”

Matthew places the Resurrection at dawn, Mark says it was very early…just after sunrise.  Luke tells us that Jesus rose very early in the morning.

But the Easter Story in the Gospel of John takes place, Early…While it was still Dark! Of course, we all have our differing opinions of the status of light vs. dark in the early morning.  Some of us are “morning people while others of us are not.

It was not by chance that Mary Magdalene sees the Risen Christ while it was still dark!

Thomas Fuller, a 17^th Century English Churchman and Author of A Pisgah Sight of Palestine  is famous for his quote “It is always darkest, just before the day dawneth.”  He was describing the geography of Biblical Israel for the people of England in the 1600s.  He was telling them about the early mornings and what it looks like so that when they read the scriptures, they could have a vivid picture in their heads.  However, I wonder if he realized the deeper theological truth of that statement…“It is always darkest, just before the day dawneth.” 

In the dark, nothing physically changes from the day, but our fears become more real to us.  We can be in the same location from day to night, but we become acutely more aware of the sounds. We feel threatened.  We fear the shadows. Our thoughts run wild, and thy sometimes consume us.

Darkness is not always a matter of day and night…light and dark.  Darkness also happens in our lives. Darkness is a way of describing our moments of despair. 

In our darkest moments, we find out who our true friends are.  In the good times, friends are easy to come by, but in the dark moments, who are the ones who call, drop by, send cards, are there for us?

I was listening to NPR one day and heard a story of a boy raised by his grandparents after a troubled young childhood.  The boy, who told his story as an adult always knew his grandmother to be the loving, comforting one of his grandparents.  She was the nurturer. 

His Grandpa was the gruff man of few words.  The grandpa was a hard working man who had to wake up early in the morning to work long hours. He was never hurtful, but the boy says he was not physically or emotionally “close.”  Or so the boy thought.

The boy had vivid nightmares well into his teenage years in which he would wake up crying and screaming in terror. Hearing the boy’s screams, the Grandpa would come in and ask what was wrong. The nightmares always involved “monsters” under the bed or in the closet.

Rather than shame the boy or tell him his nightmares were silly, this overworked grandfather would get on his hands and knees, crawl to the edge of the bed, pound around making noises and  “kill” the monsters under the bed or sometimes in the closet.  When the boy was satisfied the monsters were dead, the grandfather would stand up, pat the boy on the head, and calmly walk out saying, “I’m down the hall if you need me.”

This scene was played over and over for years – sometimes several nights a week.

One night the boy realized his grandpa always wore an old red polo shirt and his “tighty-whities” to bed when he came in on his “monster killing” mission.  As grandpa was leaving and telling the boy that he’d be down the hall, the boy asked why his polo was red.  As if he had the answer rehearsed, the grandpa in his gruff, calm voice answered,  “It used to be white son, it used to be white.”

Years later, the grandpa passed away, the boy, now a young man went on his own and became well adjusted.  He realized exactly what those moments meant.  His nightmares kept his grandfather, the man who had to be awake early in the morning for a long day of work, up at night.  But, grandpa never complained.  In fact, this grandpa’s selfless love helped to form this boy into the safe and secure young man he had become.

We all struggle with darkness. Darkness is not just absence of light – We have dark moments in life - Loss, struggles, health issues, worry, pain.

Even more than the grandpa, if Easter teaches us anything – God does his finest work in the dark! Thomas Fuller’s quote may well be changed to, “It always seems darkest before the day dawneth!”

Genesis begins: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Darkness is God’s canvas to paint his masterpiece.

Darkness is God’s lump of clay to start his pottery.

Darkness is God’s orchestra to compose his symphony.

Darkness is where God took what was dead and gave life – calling us into a covenant to follow the one who came out of that tomb to bring us into the eternal light and everlasting life!