okieinexile
Well-Known Member
Seeing Jesus
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.
/***/
This, of course, is taken from the passion narrative in the Book of John. Among the gospels, John is all by itself. The other three are referred to as the synoptics and John is treated separately.
This is because the other three more or less agree on the essentials. Current theories say that Matthew and Luke were borrowing from Mark, another common source called Q, and each had material unique to himself.
But John is out by himself. He has events that no one else has, he omits events the others have, and some of the events he has in common with the others he treats differently.
In particular, there is today’s text from the Resurrection Narrative. John is alone in having Mary Magdalene go to the tomb by herself. He is alone in having her have a direct conversation with Jesus.
For those of us who believe the Bible is important, this conflict—and I won’t say “apparent conflict”—creates problems. The Resurrection is the basis of the Christian faith. We serve a risen Lord. He is living.
The Gospels are the core of our faith. After all, we were directed to share the Good News, i.e. the Gospels, and not the Epistles. But here in that core there is disagreement.
Here comes a greater mystery. These gospels were chosen to be in the Bible. There was a process of selection when the canon of scripture was formed. Those who put the canon together were well aware there was conflict, and they put John in anyway.
Why?
May be they felt the benefits contained in John more than outweighed the trouble.
What are these benefits?
John writes at different levels. There is the level of the plain story, but you can take the people and objects in his stories as symbols, and when taken symbolically, John’s account will usually bear more than one interpretation.
For example, in John’s account of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is the classic betrothal scene. The Samaritan woman can be simply a woman or she can be all of Samaria or she can be the Church, the bride of Christ.
This brings us to today’s scripture. Mary Magdalene goes to the grave of Jesus alone. I am still enough of a Baptist to say John is simply ignoring the other women with her for the sake of a clean narrative. That might be true, but in the end, it just doesn’t matter, because John is making a point here.
The Nature of this art form, however, means that this point can be debated endlessly. That doesn’t prevent me from sharing my opinion, however.
I want to focus on the scene between Jesus and Mary in the Garden.
I have questions here. Is it significant that this takes place in a garden? Are we supposed to think of another Garden like the Garden of Eden?
Mary takes Jesus at first to be the Gardener? The one who planted the Garden of Eden was God. Is this a reference to Christ’s divinity?
Jesus has a wound in his side like Adam would have from having a rib removed to make Eve. Is that significant?
To all of these, I answer that I just don’t know.
None of these, all of these, or any of these might be true. I’ve not studied enough.
I do believe that, on one level, Mary represents the Church, which is called the Bride of Christ, and in the Garden she recognizes Jesus, her Groom. This recognition wasn’t immediate, and this particular phenomenon occurs repeatedly and in the other gospels as well. People didn’t recognize the resurrected Jesus right away. Seeing Jesus is something that takes having the right eyes. Here we might think of John’s relating of the story of the man who was blind from birth. There are different ways of being blind, and not being able to see Jesus is one of those.
I suppose that this sermon is an invitation to see in new ways, to see the reality that lies beyond what our first impression of reality is, and to read these scriptures in a new way so that you can see Jesus when he is right in front of you.
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.
/***/
This, of course, is taken from the passion narrative in the Book of John. Among the gospels, John is all by itself. The other three are referred to as the synoptics and John is treated separately.
This is because the other three more or less agree on the essentials. Current theories say that Matthew and Luke were borrowing from Mark, another common source called Q, and each had material unique to himself.
But John is out by himself. He has events that no one else has, he omits events the others have, and some of the events he has in common with the others he treats differently.
In particular, there is today’s text from the Resurrection Narrative. John is alone in having Mary Magdalene go to the tomb by herself. He is alone in having her have a direct conversation with Jesus.
For those of us who believe the Bible is important, this conflict—and I won’t say “apparent conflict”—creates problems. The Resurrection is the basis of the Christian faith. We serve a risen Lord. He is living.
The Gospels are the core of our faith. After all, we were directed to share the Good News, i.e. the Gospels, and not the Epistles. But here in that core there is disagreement.
Here comes a greater mystery. These gospels were chosen to be in the Bible. There was a process of selection when the canon of scripture was formed. Those who put the canon together were well aware there was conflict, and they put John in anyway.
Why?
May be they felt the benefits contained in John more than outweighed the trouble.
What are these benefits?
John writes at different levels. There is the level of the plain story, but you can take the people and objects in his stories as symbols, and when taken symbolically, John’s account will usually bear more than one interpretation.
For example, in John’s account of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is the classic betrothal scene. The Samaritan woman can be simply a woman or she can be all of Samaria or she can be the Church, the bride of Christ.
This brings us to today’s scripture. Mary Magdalene goes to the grave of Jesus alone. I am still enough of a Baptist to say John is simply ignoring the other women with her for the sake of a clean narrative. That might be true, but in the end, it just doesn’t matter, because John is making a point here.
The Nature of this art form, however, means that this point can be debated endlessly. That doesn’t prevent me from sharing my opinion, however.
I want to focus on the scene between Jesus and Mary in the Garden.
I have questions here. Is it significant that this takes place in a garden? Are we supposed to think of another Garden like the Garden of Eden?
Mary takes Jesus at first to be the Gardener? The one who planted the Garden of Eden was God. Is this a reference to Christ’s divinity?
Jesus has a wound in his side like Adam would have from having a rib removed to make Eve. Is that significant?
To all of these, I answer that I just don’t know.
None of these, all of these, or any of these might be true. I’ve not studied enough.
I do believe that, on one level, Mary represents the Church, which is called the Bride of Christ, and in the Garden she recognizes Jesus, her Groom. This recognition wasn’t immediate, and this particular phenomenon occurs repeatedly and in the other gospels as well. People didn’t recognize the resurrected Jesus right away. Seeing Jesus is something that takes having the right eyes. Here we might think of John’s relating of the story of the man who was blind from birth. There are different ways of being blind, and not being able to see Jesus is one of those.
I suppose that this sermon is an invitation to see in new ways, to see the reality that lies beyond what our first impression of reality is, and to read these scriptures in a new way so that you can see Jesus when he is right in front of you.
