Early in the morning before dawn, Mary Magdalene went down to the tomb where Jesus’ body had been laid. It was not as she expected it to be.
It’s safe to say that this Easter is not how we expected it to be. None of us expected to be locked into our homes, none of us expected to mark these sacred occasions at a social distance, none of us thought that we would be facing a crisis of this magnitude.
Uncertainty abounds for us as it did for them. “What’s going to happen to us? Are our lives at risk? What happens now? What are we to do? Where have you taken him?”
And then St. Mary Magdalene sees the Gardener and she says to him, perhaps a bit unreasonably “Sir, if you’ve taken him tell me where he is and I’ll find somewhere to lay him to rest.”
“Mary.” Jesus says. “Mary” and he calls her by her name. Mary, whom he had delivered from trial once already, hears him call her name, she hears him comfort her and her grief, her worry, her fear, her anxiety, they all melt away. “Mary”
The world is a scary place right now. Things look dark. It may look like chaos and destruction and death have the upper hand. Many of us, probably all of us are carrying around more tension and worry and fear and anxiety than we have for ages. We’re worried about our health, we’re worried about our loved ones, we’re worried about our jobs, we’re worried about our kids’ education, we’re worried about everything.
But today we remember Mary, who felt the weight of crushing grief and pain, who went to anoint the body of her dead friend whom she loved, and who instead heard him say her name. “Mary.”
Today reminds us that when things look bleak, we must remember it isn’t over. Today reminds us that when things look grim, there is still hope. Today reminds us that when it appears that death and destruction have won the day and trampled down light itself and we find ourselves staring at the tomb somehow more lost than we were before, Jesus shows up and calls us by our name. Mary, John, Kath, Gareth, Enfys, Daniel, And he reminds us that love, and hope, and joy, and life have the last word. Death has been defeated, Life reigns triumphant, Christ is alive, and we have nothing to fear!
This Easter is not as we expected it to be, but no Easter ever is. I hope you find a way to make this day special, to celebrate life, to rejoice, and to sound out our cry of victory, Alleluia Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Bro Famau Group of Churches 