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While It Was Still Dark (John 20:1-18)
Sermon Delivered on Easter Sunday
April 20, 2104
By Rev. Donna L. Martin
I want to welcome each and every one of you for coming to celebrate
Easter here at Bethany. Now I know some of you came today just because
it is Easter, and that’s just what you do on Easter – go to church. Some of
you came today under duress – because someone told you that you had to.
But others of you may have come today to hear a resurrection story. If
that is the case, you will not be disappointed. Because you have already
heard THE resurrection story as it is told in the Gospel of John, but I think if
you listen carefully today, you will hear others, as well.
Now knowing there would be such a diversity of outlooks on this day, I felt
a little anticipation as I began to prepare the sermon - well perhaps anxiety
would be a better word. I wanted to say something that would speak to
everyone – from persons who have heard the story at least once a year for
their entire lives to someone who may be hearing it for the first time. So I
wondered what words I could say that would convey the profoundness of
the resurrection on a day when most of us are distracted by the other
trappings of the day – new clothes, new shoes, Easter egg hunts, candy, or
the ham that needs to be put in the oven as soon as you get home. More
importantly, I wondered what words of hope could be spoken to those for
whom today is just like any other day – another day of dealing with the
same old problems that never seemed to be resolved.
All these things were going through my mind the first time I read the text
for this morning. But a funny thing happened. Here was this beautiful
Easter story, but try as I might, I couldn’t get past the first sentence. I
read, “Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still
dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been
taken away from the tomb,” and then I stopped. I tried to read on to get to
the meat of the message – the discovery of the empty tomb, the confusion
of Mary and the disciples, the angels, the Gardener, Mary’s realization that
Jesus was not dead, but had risen from the grave – but I was stuck on one
phrase…..“while it was still dark.”
Now I was assuming John probably wrote this statement to reference the
time of day, just a minor detail to set the scene, but since I could not get
past it, I had to wonder why God kept thwarting my progress. And that’s
when it dawned on me (pardon the pun), the darkness John was talking
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about was not just the physical darkness we experience before sunrise, but
it was spiritual darkness as well.
You see, on that first Easter morning things looked very bleak to Mary
Magdalene. Mary had been with Jesus almost from the beginning of his
ministry. She had seen lives changed, bodies healed, and eyes opened. But
on Friday, just a few days before, Jesus had been crucified. Nails had been
driven into his hands and feet. A sword had pierced his side. Mary had
stood at the foot of the cross helplessly while he was killed, and her heart
was broken. How could this have happened? This was the man who had
come to save Israel. Where was God in all of this? That morning, as she
came to the tomb, probably to anoint his body for burial, her heart was
heavy and in her soul, "...it was still dark."
Mary was probably wondering, “What will I do now?” Peter and the other
disciples could probably go back to their old lives again – fishing, tax
collecting, families, but what about her? Remember Mary is the woman
from whom Jesus cast out seven demons. She didn’t have a life she
wanted to go back to. More importantly, what was she going to do without
Jesus – her friend and Savior and the work they had been doing together.
Sadness, disappointment, and emptiness consumed her. Her soul
languished in spiritual darkness.
Most of us can probably relate to Mary because we have all had days when
we stand with our dreams in shambles around our feet. Our children go
astray. Our marriage is crumbling. We get a pink slip from our employer, or
worse still, the test that comes back from the lab is positive. We ask, "Why
me, Lord?" My life was going so well and now this darkness.
My friends, what we must all understand is that it is easy to believe while
everything is all sunlight and happiness, but very difficult to believe while it
is still dark. It is easy to believe God is for us when life is good, but when it
turns sour the natural inclination is to feel rejected, guilty, or abandoned.
Anyone can walk in the sunshine; only the faithful can walk in the dark. But
the fact is, no one experiences only sunshine – and I would remind you that
all sunshine and with no dark clouds to make rain produces a desert, not a
garden (http://day1.org/4649-while_it_was_still_dark).
But back to that morning in the garden at the tomb… Mary believed in Jesus
with all her heart, yet she had not thought it would end this way. BUT, all
was not as it seemed because even though it was still dark, Jesus had
already risen. How do we know this? Because we are told the tomb was
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empty. God’s plan for Mary’s life was still moving forward, she just could
not see it.
This reminds me of a story related to the Battle of Waterloo. It was June
18, 1815. The French were under the command of Napoleon. The Allies
(consisting of the British, Dutch, and Germans) were under the command of
the Duke of Wellington. At that time, Britain depended on a system of
semaphore signals to convey the latest news from the battelfield. One of
these signal stations was on the tower of Winchester Cathedral.
Late in the day on the 18
th
it flashed the signal: "W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N---D-
E-F-E-A-T-E-D- -." But at that precise moment one of those clouds of fog
London is so proned to rolled in and blocked out the signal. The news of
defeat quickly spread throughout the city. The whole countryside was sad
and gloomy when they heard their country had lost the war. But just as
suddenly as it came, the fog lifted, and the remainder of the message could
then be read. It consisted of four words, not two. The complete message
was: "W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N- - -DE-F-E-A- T-E-D- - -T-H-E- - -E-N- E-M-Y!"
It took only a few minutes for the good news to spread. Sorrow was turned
into joy, defeat was turned into victory!
(http://www.faithanglicanchurch.org/sermons/032208.htm)
This is exactly what happened to Mary that first Easter morning – all was
not as it seemed, and figuratively, the fog lifted when Jesus called her by
name. Sorrow was turned into joy, defeat turned into victory, darkness
was overcome by light. Mary had a new lease on life.
It is the same for us when we stumble through periods of spiritual
darkness. Jesus is there, whether we can see him or not. God’s plan for
our lives is still moving forward, even when we cannot see a way forward, if
only we believe.
Although I have seen many individual metaphorical resurrections such as
Mary’s, in the time I have left I want to share with you the resurrection
story of this Body of Christ, Bethany UMC. Because it is the best example I
can give of keeping the faith while it is still dark and watching sorrow turn
to joy before our very eyes.
If you are familiar with this congregation you know Bethany has a long and
beautiful history of being a warm and welcoming church with a commitment
to serving the community. Though once a thriving congregation, just a few
years ago, the future of this church looked pretty bleak – attendance was
down, there were few young adults or children so the average age was up
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close to 60, service was still a priority, but the faithful few were tired and
discouraged. When I came, it appeared my job just might be to come and
anoint the body for burial. But all what not as it seemed….
While it was still dark and attendance was down….we were invited to
participate in the Small Church Initiative revitalization process.
While it was still dark and it seemed that a good number of our core saints
had gone on to glory, young adults and children began to come and breathe
new life into the church.
While it was still dark and we didn’t know how we were going to pay the
electric bill to keep the lights on, the church reached down and funded
outreach initiatives like vacation bible school for the children in our
neighborhood and the cold weather shelter for the homeless in our
community.
My friends, look around! Attendance is up, the average age is down and
new life is evident in this body. Bethany is living proof that the Risen Christ
was with us even in the dark! We are being resurrected! “Where, O death,
is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55
NRSV)
Now this collective resurrection would not be possible without the
transformation of individual members. So today, if you are in one of those
spiritually dark places (and we all are at one time or another), I want you to
know there is hope and remember the first verse of our text
today….because we know that while it was still dark, Jesus had already
risen. Jesus was there with Mary in the darkness that first Easter morning.
The tomb was empty. The Son had risen. Death had been defeated. It no
longer had or has the last word. It did not for Mary and does not for us.
John, the writer of our text this morning knew this, so he gave us these
words of hope at the very beginning of his Gospel: “The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it!” (John 1:5)
The Lord has risen! The Lord has risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.