An Easter Message from Head of School, Tom Argersinger
Dear Parents and Friends of CCS,
I hope this issue of Parent News finds you walking closely with our Lord Jesus Christ!
In the wake of Holy Week I have been meditating on this beautiful text found in chapter 20 of John’s gospel:
8The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed.
9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.
11 But Mary (Magdalene) stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”
14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?”
Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.”
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.
John 20:8-18 CSB
I think there is probably a sermon series in this passage, but I’ll keep it brief for today.
Let’s notice together some of the key events and emotions expressed in the text:
Mary stayed outside the tomb after the other disciples left. I would say that her heart kept her there, and her tears would seem to indicate that. She was broken-hearted by the death of her Teacher i.e. Rabboni in Aramaic, the common language of that region, and couldn’t bring herself to leave.
What a beautiful picture of a tragic scene! Mary standing with tears rolling down her
cheeks, all alone (or was she?). Not being able to put together mentally what she was
experiencing.
2. She bravely looks into the empty tomb, wanting to see for herself that Jesus wasn’t there. We can scarcely imagine the emotions running through her at that moment as her mind struggled to grasp what in the world was going on.
3. Next comes two amazing conversations. First, she sees two angels in the tomb, and they speak to her (I wonder what they were doing sitting in the empty tomb? Debriefing the miracle?). She answers their question by uttering an incredibly poignant and heart-rending statement: they’ve taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where.
This is one of those moments that we need to stop reading and realize that we are on
holy ground.
Mary, who was forgiven so much, is seeking the man who truly saw her, and loved her in
spite of her sordid past, even though He is dead (did she remember that He said He
would defeat death? She can’t find Him, and she is crushed with disappointment.
4. She turns around and sees a man whom she supposed to be the gardener (this is odd–I wonder how Jesus was dressed?)
5. Much like the conversation on the road to Emmaus, Jesus’s identity is not immediately apparent. Jesus probes her heart, fully knowing the answer.
Mary then offers to go and find Jesus and take Him away. (Where? I’m not sure even
she knew). I think she was so overcome with grief she just wanted to recover the body of
Jesus, and perhaps be with Him one more time.
6. Then comes the emotional zenith of the passage. Jesus simply speaks her name: “Mary.” And she knows. It’s Him. Her search is over. And (so it may seem from the text), she hugs Him with all her might.
I wonder how I would’ve reacted if I were in the same situation.
Would I have stayed at the tomb, or would I have left with the others (it was probably dangerous to hang around should the authorities come, especially alone).
Would I have calmly answered the angels, or would I have run away, being scared out of my wits?
Would I have insisted on finding Him, just so I could be with Him one more time?
Is that the way I see my Lord? Would I have hugged Him? Is that how much I love Him?
Perhaps the truth is that I struggle to remember the depth of my own unworthiness, of my own sin, and therefore I do not feel as strongly, I do not love as deeply, I am reluctant to go out of my way to be with Him.
And I do not think that I am alone in this. Many of us treat Jesus as if He needs us more than we need Him. We fit Him into our busy lives (sometimes), while actually He wants to be our life.
Finally, what if I had left the scene, and missed out on hearing Him speak my name…?
As we live out this week after Easter and look forward to Pentecost, that season when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, may we see ourselves for who we really are:
…broken sinners who are desperately in need of a holy God who loves us enough to seek us out and rescue us from ourselves and our sin.
And may we, like the redeemed Mary Magdalene, set out to find our Lord (who is so close), so that we can finally hear Him speak our name,
For CCS and the Kingdom,
Tom