April 20, 2025 · Rev. Derek van Gulden · Isaiah 25:6-9; John 20:1-18
On Easter morning, Rev. Derek van Gulden imagines the shattered hope of Jesus's followers after the crucifixion, then follows Mary Magdalene to the empty tomb, where she knows the risen Jesus the moment he calls her by name. The recording stops partway through the sermon, when the power went out during the service.
Transcript
People of God. Would you join me in a moment of prayer? Gracious and holy God, this morning I ask you to move the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts by your love, and help each of us this day not to be the instrument of our own or anyone else's oppression, but to be an instrument of peace in every step, in every breath, in every moment of every day. Amen.
So as I do, sometimes I want to add an extra piece of scripture. Those of you who know me, this is not too unusual, but originally I thought we would stick just with the part in John about Mary. But I do want to give you a little bit of the background. So I'm going to read chapter twenty, verses one through eleven.
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. 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. Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down, looked in, and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus's head, not lying where the linen wrappings were but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. For has yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must arise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
There are, I believe, four resurrection stories where Jesus is present. One of them is in the locked room where he appears before the disciples and starts by greeting them. Peace be with you. And then he shows them the wounds on his body. Another one is on the road to Emmaus, where he meets two of the disciples and walks with them, but they don't know who he is until they share a meal. And in the breaking of the bread. They. Their eyes are open. And then my personal favorite is Jesus preparing a fish fry for breakfast on the beach while the disciples have been out fishing. And then there's a fourth one, which you just heard Bob read, Mary Magdalene before we get there.
What do you think the disciples and those who followed Jesus all over the place, and who had been healed by him, had heard him speak, felt when he was crucified? Sad. Anything else? I ask questions. What? Angry, sad and angry. Anybody else? You can. You can say something. What was it? Scared. Upset, devastated. Lost anyone else. But dreadful. Dreadful. Anything else? Oh. Nervous. All of those are great.
Not having been there because I'm not that old yet. I can only believe that if I was there either watching Jesus be crucified or heard the news, all the hope that I had put into this amazing man, the Savior, this Messiah who walked around and preached not just with words by what, but also by what he did. A man who invited everybody to the table because people eat. It's a basic thing and invited everybody, all those who have been pushed away to the margins and some that hadn't. And he brought them back in to society and healed them and at the same time healed society simply by sharing love, God's love with everybody. And if I was there, which, you know, I was not the hope that I had built up inside me for what this man that we believed was the Messiah was going to change the world, bring heaven down on earth, overcome all those who had been oppressed, let those people who had been oppressors realize what they'd done wrong and free them from their oppressive behavior. It would be a horrible day.
The hope gone. All those things that they saw through Jesus when he walked on this earth. And he exuded love to everybody. And the disciples who spent so much time with him. And Mary Magdalene was, who was one of the many who I believe was a disciple as well, walked and moved with him throughout his ministry. I believe. That like other things. My life would be shattered, torn into pieces. Shards of glass. broken bits. Nothing left.
And yet, when Mary goes to the tomb, she sees that the stone, which is really quite huge, was rolled back. And she goes and she tells the disciples and Peter. And Peter and the beloved disciple run to the tomb. When they get there, the beloved disciple looks in, sees the cloth, the shrouds that Jesus was laid in and covered him and sees that there's no body. Peter goes in and he sees the linen on one end. And then the thing that covered his face in an appropriate place, probably at the other end of the table or the stone. And in that moment, they understand.
And then there's Mary. Mary, who is weeping outside the tomb. She's looked in. There's two men dressed in white. Angels, one at the foot and one at the head of where he was. There is no body. Mary is visibly shaken. She's standing outside the tomb, just crying and shaking. And then. There's a person there who says, what are you crying for? Who she mistook for the gardener. And Mary says, our Lord. Did you take him? Can you tell me where he is so that we can bring him and anoint him with the spices and know that his body is safe? And that's when Jesus says, Mary. She turns around and recognizes Jesus by the simple calling of her name. Mary knows.
Have you ever been anywhere where maybe you were stuck somewhere, or you were in another place where the language was different and you didn't understand things? Or you've been away for a long time, and you come back to your home and somebody recognizes you and calls out your name. No one's ever been in that place before. What did it feel like? Good. Good. You're recognized by name. It's a big thing.
I know in this congregation, when we baptize people and also confirm youth or adults. The one thing I like to do is either ask their parents why they picked their name, but also look up and see what their name means. Where is the origin? And it is. Amazing.
In one of the churches I served before I was called here, we did a service and the service totally was about our names and everybody. For months we had everybody's name written down, and we had somebody in the back that had a computer, a laptop, and if somebody new came in, they'd ask their name, give them a name tag, and.
[The recording stops here: the power went out during the service.]