1 00:00:09,860 --> 00:00:13,260 Friends, today's teaching scripture is from John chapter 2 00:00:13,260 --> 00:00:16,300 20. Early on the first day of the 3 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:20,700 week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb 4 00:00:20,700 --> 00:00:23,900 and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 5 00:00:24,780 --> 00:00:28,220 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, 6 00:00:28,300 --> 00:00:32,800 the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken 7 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,840 the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid 8 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,720 him. Then Peter and the other 9 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,080 disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,600 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran 11 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,280 Peter and reached the tomb first. 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,520 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, 13 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:59,000 but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following 14 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,480 him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying 15 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,560 there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus head not lying 16 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,400 with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in the place by 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,720 itself. Then the other disciple who 18 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,960 reached reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and 19 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:19,800 believed. For as yet they did not 20 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,720 understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. 21 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,400 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 22 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,800 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she 23 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,760 bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw 2 angels in white 24 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,080 sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head 25 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:47,160 and the other at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are 26 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,600 you weeping? And she said to them, They have 27 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,040 taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. 28 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,480 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus 29 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,240 standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 30 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,680 And Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? 31 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,040 Whom are you looking for? Supposing him to be the 32 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,280 gardener, She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, 33 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,800 tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. 34 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,000 Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in 35 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,120 Hebrew Rabuni, which means teacher. 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,440 Jesus said to her, Do not touch me, because I have not yet 37 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,760 ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, 38 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:43,080 I am ascending to my Father, and your father to my God and your 39 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,000 God. Mary Magdalene went and 40 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,760 announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and she told 41 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,960 them that He had said these things to her. 42 00:02:54,360 --> 00:03:00,480 This is the word of the Lord. All right, Good morning. 43 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,920 If we have not met, my name is Parker Frye. 44 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:06,040 I'm. One of the pastors here at 45 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:07,240 Central. Vineyard and I'm so. 46 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,240 Happy to see. So many familiar faces, So many 47 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,480 new faces. Welcome, welcome. 48 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,160 We're glad you're here. Should we do the thing one more 49 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,000 time? Christ is risen. 50 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:24,400 There is a moment at the beginning of Terrence Malick's 51 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,080 film the. Tree of life where? 52 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,880 The mother speaks in voice over and she. 53 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,680 Says there are two ways through life. 54 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,360 The way of. Nature and the Way of. 55 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,920 Grace. You have to choose which one 56 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:41,920 you'll. Follow. 57 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:48,120 The way of nature, she explains, grasps and hoards everything 58 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,480 that it can possibly get its hands on, protecting itself from 59 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:54,120 loss. The way of. 60 00:03:54,120 --> 00:04:00,720 Grace accepts being hurt in life and doesn't claw to stay on top, 61 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,560 doesn't claw for control. And what? 62 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:09,800 Follows is. 2 1/2 hours of a family moving through ordinary 63 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,680 life, experiencing joy and cruelty and tenderness. 64 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:22,079 A brother dies young and no one in the film explains why and the 65 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:25,840 film? Holds the grief of the loss. 66 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:31,840 Of a young son inside tremendous, almost unbearable 67 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:35,160 beauty and. Refuses to let. 68 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,800 You have one of them. Without the other. 69 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,080 It brings into sharp focus. The the the. 70 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:48,120 Glory, the holiness of ordinary life and it's central question 71 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:53,640 is simple, and I think it's the same question that a lot of us 72 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,760 find ourselves asking every year around this time when we come 73 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,360 together to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. 74 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,080 Can grace survive? Can the love of God, Can the 75 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,560 kindness of God, survive inside of suffering? 76 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,440 I've been sitting with that question as I've been preparing 77 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,760 for our time together this week. Because I think most of us know 78 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:25,320 that what we actually need from the resurrection is not a tidy 79 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,760 resolution or some kind of fairy tale ending to this. 80 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,840 Story about Jesus life. We need something that can 81 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,400 actually hold up in a. Chaotic world that most. 82 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,680 Mornings when we. Wake up feels like. 83 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,960 It might not, so I want to begin here. 84 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,240 The world that we. Woke up to this morning is 85 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:49,920 complicated, and you can almost certainly name your own version 86 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,360 of what's complicated about it. Something in your own life, 87 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:59,000 something in your own body, something in your own house or 88 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,560 something. Broader like the low. 89 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,640 Grade anxiety of watching things that took a long time to. 90 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:10,320 Build come apart faster. Than you ever expected the sense 91 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,720 that the ground around. You is less stable. 92 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,960 Than it used. To feel the realities. 93 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:22,440 Of your aging body, a grief that you can't quite explain to 94 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,840 someone who hasn't lived or experienced it themselves. 95 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,200 The resurrection doesn't ask us to set any of that aside. 96 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,680 And so, you know, as much as I would have loved more 97 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,680 pyrotechnics this morning and for Jared to zip line in to lead 98 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,720 us in silence, I think the truth. 99 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,400 That we're all aware of is that we live. 100 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,880 Complex lives and the complexity can't just be. 101 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,200 Erased. By reading a Bible passage one 102 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:57,560 Sunday morning a year, can it? That's not what the resurrection 103 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,560 is doing in the Christian story. It's it's not a feeling that. 104 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,520 You work yourself. Up to it's not some sort of 105 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:08,600 spiritual sense that we're trying to reach for or or drum 106 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,640 up inside. Of ourselves it's. 107 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,400 Something that happens to us, it's something that breaks into 108 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:16,880 the. Reality of our world. 109 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,560 And almost always happens. Where we least expect it. 110 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,560 Where we're not looking. For the love of God to. 111 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,720 Break in John's account of the resurrection is probably my. 112 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,240 Favorite because it starts. Right here in ways. 113 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,560 That the other gospels. Don't quite do the same way. 114 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,200 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark. 115 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,920 Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. While it was still dark. 116 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,960 She came before dawn because someone she loved had been 117 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:58,240 executed and she didn't know what else to do. 118 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,720 Maybe she couldn't sleep. She's certainly not there. 119 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,120 To celebrate. And. 120 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,200 This is where. The resurrection account opens, 121 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,720 It's in the dark with a grieving woman who showed up when 122 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,560 everyone else had scattered to the four winds after Friday's 123 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,160 events for fear of retaliation from the government and the 124 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,680 religious leaders. And I think John begins there 125 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,760 on. Purpose because. 126 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,360 That's the person that this. Story is for. 127 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,520 This story is being written and recounted. 128 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:31,920 Precisely for the. Person who comes. 129 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:39,039 While it's still dark. Before we get on to what happens 130 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:42,760 next in the garden, I just want to show you something in John's 131 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:44,760 gospel leading up to this. Text that. 132 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,080 I think changes the way that. This whole story reads. 133 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:49,360 And I don't. Know if you'll ever be able to 134 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:50,680 read it. Again, without thinking about 135 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:55,440 this, John uses darkness and light as a motif. 136 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,640 All throughout his gospel. So if you read it from the 137 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,880 beginning to the end. You'll see that throughout. 138 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,280 He's painting a picture of something that's happening in 139 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,560 the world using these. 2 words these two. 140 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:09,560 Ideas, Darkness and light. From the very earliest. 141 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:13,520 Lines of John's Gospel The light shines in the darkness, and the 142 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,560 darkness has not overcome it, and he returns to it over and 143 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:20,360 over and over again. He says people love darkness 144 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:22,920 rather than light. Jesus says. 145 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:27,000 I am the light of the. World while you walk, walk while 146 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,160 you have the light. And so on and so on. 147 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,240 And by the time. We reach while it was still 148 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,160 dark. In John 20, that phrase. 149 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,720 Carries the weight of. Everything that's come before it 150 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,360 as we've journeyed through John's entire. 151 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,120 Gospel we have. This darkness and light theme 152 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,800 and now. While it's still dark, it 153 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,400 appears the. Darkness may have overcome the 154 00:09:55,400 --> 00:10:00,560 light once and for all. But this is the. 155 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:06,120 Final darkness in John's gospel, it's the final mention and God's 156 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:10,400 new creation is coming in to the darkness while. 157 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,360 It was still dark. But John is doing something even 158 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,480 more deliberate than just that, which I find fascinating. 159 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,440 He's mapping the whole. Story. 160 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,920 On to the first week of Genesis. So if you open your Bible to the 161 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,040 very. Beginning John is telling us 162 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,400 that God is making a new. World he's. 163 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,880 Describing a completely new creation after the same pattern 164 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:35,240 that the first one was created, the. 165 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,120 Prologue tells us. In the beginning was the. 166 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,400 Word. As a way of echoing in the 167 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,280 beginning, God created. And so John is announcing from 168 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,560 the very beginning of his book that the one who was present at 169 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:53,120 the first creation is the one who is present in this new story 170 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,480 that he's beginning to tell. And then, if you're paying 171 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:59,480 attention, he tracks the events of Holy Week against the 172 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,880 Creation Week, so on. Friday the 6th day, Jesus is 173 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,920 brought before the. Crowd and Pilate presents him to 174 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,760 the people. John pauses to note the time and 175 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,320 the day. Very. 176 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,640 Carefully. It was the 6th day of the week. 177 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:20,600 And Pilate says, behold the man John wants you to feel the. 178 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,320 Echo of the. Creation of humanity on the 6th 179 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,560 day. So Jesus is crucified. 180 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:31,360 And just before he died, he speaks one final word in John's 181 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,920 gospel. It is finished that. 182 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,280 Word. To telesty the same word in the 183 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,000 Greek Old Testament when God is finished. 184 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,480 With the work of. Creation on the 7th day in 185 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,760 Genesis and God. Rests. 186 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,240 Jesus dies. And is laid in the tomb as the 187 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:55,920 Sabbath begins, the 7th. Day, the day of rest, the work 188 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:02,120 of the first created order is. Done, and has been laid in the 189 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:06,200 grave. This first world that that. 190 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,960 Ran off the rails. The ways that. 191 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,280 That the humans have taken advantage of each other, have 192 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,560 exploited one another. Have built up. 193 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,760 Systems that oppress and control. 194 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:25,000 It's been laid in the grave on the 7th day, and then John 20 195 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,400 very intentionally opens with the. 1st. 196 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:31,200 Day of a new week, a new beginning. 197 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,800 And it's not just. A clever literary device. 198 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,680 John is making a bold claim in the way that he's writing this 199 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,000 story. What happened on the Day of the 200 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Resurrection was the beginning of a new. 201 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:49,200 World the 1st. Creation had been re enacted, 202 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:51,680 had been had been recapitulated and the old. 203 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:56,400 Order is over. God has done again what God did 204 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:01,960 in the beginning, spoken life into lifelessness, spoken life 205 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,800 into the thing that was not alive, and set a new creation 206 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,600 into motion. And so the resurrection isn't. 207 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:13,880 A reversal of defeat. It's the beginning of something 208 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,880 that has never. Existed before. 209 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:18,840 Something that we are entirely unfamiliar with. 210 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:20,720 It's. A world in which. 211 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,080 Death has been defeated from the inside, one in which. 212 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,080 The physical. Creation itself has been cracked 213 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,720 open and is being remade. Before our very eyes. 214 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,400 And John? Tells us that it starts while it 215 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,000 was still dark. Mary comes to the tomb and she 216 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,080 finds the stone rolled away, and she runs to tell Peter and the 217 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:45,040 other. Disciple and. 218 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,160 They come and look and they see. The burial clothes. 219 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:52,280 Lying there, the face. Cloth folded up separately. 220 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,280 A strange detail to include, if not to say that it's like 221 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:02,720 someone got up and left in an orderly fashion, and then the 222 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:07,680 disciples go home and John said he he so simply they they went 223 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:11,040 back to their homes. They saw this and it was almost 224 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:13,600 like in the grief and the anxiety. 225 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,800 That they carried. Forward from From. 226 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,720 Friday they see the. Scene and are not sure what to 227 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:23,080 make of it. They are, sort of. 228 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:26,320 So deep in their own experience of the previous. 229 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,440 Few days that. An encounter with all the 230 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,040 evidence right in front of their faces causes them to. 231 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,840 Just sort of go. I don't know about that. 232 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:43,680 And they? Leave but Mary. 233 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,240 Is left standing outside the tomb. 234 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,640 She stays and I think we're meant to sort. 235 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,080 Of stay with her. For a moment as we make our way. 236 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:55,080 Through the story, she's. The one who came before dawn. 237 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,080 She's the one who stays when the others leave. 238 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:03,080 She doesn't have a. Theology of the Resurrection. 239 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,280 She doesn't have some special insider knowledge about what's 240 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,400 going on. She has no framework for what? 241 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:12,760 Could possibly be. True of this moment, she has. 242 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:14,560 Grief. She has love. 243 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,160 For someone who has died and nowhere. 244 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,480 Else to be. And she stands there in front of 245 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:25,160 the empty tomb of her friend and her teacher, weeping after her 246 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,920 other two friends go away. And there's something in this in 247 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,440 between moment that stands out to me. 248 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,960 Peter and the other disciple came and looked and went home. 249 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:36,040 And we're not told why they left. 250 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:40,280 But for whatever reason, they leave, Mary doesn't. 251 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:42,760 And I think. That the. 252 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,800 Posture that she represents of staying present without answers 253 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,240 and without a plan turns out to be the. 254 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:55,120 Exact way that. You and I are meant to receive. 255 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:57,680 The. Resurrection into our own lives. 256 00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,840 I see myself. In both of these. 257 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,480 Responses both the response. Of the other two disciples. 258 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,840 And Mary's response? And I hope you can too. 259 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,960 It's hard to lean in, It's hard to keep looking. 260 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:11,480 It's difficult. To search for a. 261 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:13,520 Reason to. Allow yourself to hope. 262 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,720 When your intuition screams, that a different thing. 263 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:22,480 Altogether is what is at. Hand around you, She looks 264 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,960 inside and she sees 2 angels. Who asked her why? 265 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,600 She's crying and she tells them that someone has taken the body 266 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:34,400 and she doesn't know where and then she turns around and a man 267 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,480 is standing in the garden and she doesn't recognize him. 268 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,320 We were reading this story with our almost 4 year old this week 269 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,160 and she found it very strange that Mary didn't recognize 270 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,520 Jesus. Almost incomprehensible. 271 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:50,320 You know she. Was like they were friends. 272 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:53,600 And, and she was kind of like, you know, we moved on and then a 273 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:55,040 little. Bit later on she was like. 274 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:56,840 But why didn't she recognize him? 275 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,000 They were friends. Like she should have known who 276 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,880 he was, you know, So funny. It's a funny little detail, but. 277 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:09,079 John almost certainly wants us to notice that she assumes he's 278 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:12,480 the gardener. Because. 279 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:16,480 If you think about the creation account we were just recounting 280 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,359 in Genesis. 2 The very first. Human being is placed in a 281 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,040 garden and given the work of tending to it. 282 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,160 To. Bear the image of God. 283 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,840 Is to be a. Gardener is to tend to the 284 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,560 people and the things that have been placed around. 285 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,040 You to be a. Keeper of the Creation. 286 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:40,400 This is the. Original vocation given to the 287 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:46,320 humans in the very beginning. And here in this new creation, 288 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:54,960 Resurrection Garden, the risen Jesus appears in the original 289 00:17:54,960 --> 00:18:02,240 vocation for the first humans. He's rightly recognized as the 290 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,200 one who tends the ground, as the one who tends the creation. 291 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,400 And so we think that. This is a silly error. 292 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,520 On Mary's part, but what I think is even truer underneath. 293 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,960 This is that she doesn't realize how correct she is that she's. 294 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,840 Come face to face with the gardener. 295 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,800 The man asks what she's looking for and she tells him she just 296 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:27,800 wants to find where they've. Put the body. 297 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,960 She wants to be near him and that's all she has. 298 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:34,840 There's no. Theological category for. 299 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:40,880 Anything beyond that. And then he says her name, Mary, 300 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,360 one word, and she recognizes him. 301 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,080 She knows him and I think this is the center. 302 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,440 Of the whole passage, not the empty. 303 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,280 Tomb. Not the disciples racing to the 304 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:55,600 empty tomb, not even Mary being sent away after. 305 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,400 This. Not the folded grave clothes. 306 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:02,680 This. Moment because the resurrection 307 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,960 doesn't announce itself with some kind of apologetic argument 308 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,480 for all the reasons. Why Jesus must certainly. 309 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:11,760 As a matter. Of historical fact have. 310 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:14,720 Risen from the dead this day we present to. 311 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:19,560 The jury exhibits. AB and C it doesn't come to. 312 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:20,960 Us as a legal. Argument. 313 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:25,240 Or a thesis that's. Defended before a crowd with a 314 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,960 string of straw man. A strong man. 315 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,080 Bulletproof legal logical arguments. 316 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:37,560 Full of polemic certainty, it comes through being known, being 317 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,280 known by the gardener, by the one who tends the creation, by 318 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:46,520 the one who tends. Your soul, your life. 319 00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:51,000 And Mary hearing her name in the. 320 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,840 Voice of the rabbi who she thought. 321 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:58,080 Was gone. The Good Shepherd passed through 322 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,840 death out the other side. And came back and the first 323 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:03,200 thing that. He does before. 324 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,280 Anything else before any explanation, before any 325 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:08,280 teaching. He doesn't even perform any more 326 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:13,360 miracles after this point. He calls. 327 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:19,840 Her by her name Mary and she recognizes him and she says 328 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:23,280 Riboni teacher and I think the reason that John tells. 329 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,640 It this way is because this is the. 330 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,280 Way that resurrection continues to happen. 331 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,840 This is the way. That the new life of the risen 332 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:34,880 Jesus continues to come into our lives. 333 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,880 Not by some spectacle, not by something that grabs our 334 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,480 attention. Not with trumpets. 335 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,640 Not in the dramatic. Or the obvious. 336 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,920 But in the ordinary. Way that it. 337 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:53,280 Comes to Mary, hearing her name spoken by a friend and 338 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:58,200 recognizing him. It's quiet. 339 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,480 It's in the. Dark through the. 340 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,040 Experience of being known, that we come to know the risen Jesus 341 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:10,320 and so through something that that finds you in grief, in the 342 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:14,000 dark, in confusion. That you thought you were. 343 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,960 Carrying alone by. Yourself while it's still. 344 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:21,200 Dark, the risen Jesus speaks the names. 345 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,360 Of the people he's. Calling to himself and. 346 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:27,040 This is also. The moment to name what the 347 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:31,040 resurrection actually is. Because I think the word gets 348 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,800 used loosely. And I I don't want to. 349 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,120 I don't want to let it. The resurrection isn't a 350 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:40,640 metaphor for things getting better. 351 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:46,360 It's not spiritual symbol of hope. 352 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:49,160 The tomb is empty. The. 353 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,280 Body that was laid. On the tomb on Friday is not 354 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:57,400 there. What happened to Jesus isn't 355 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,560 some kind of resuscitation or a return to ordinary life. 356 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:09,120 The way that it was before. It is complete transformation. 357 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,200 New creation matters in this. Story A physical. 358 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:16,800 Body that is somehow both continuous with what it was and 359 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,280 has become something completely new is at the center. 360 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,720 Of this story, He, Jesus is is touchable. 361 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,680 He's real, but he moves through locked doors. 362 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,960 And isn't always recognized and is. 363 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,360 What the scriptures called the first fruits. 364 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:37,600 Of a new kind of existence, one where the entire creation. 365 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,280 As we see it. Is being pulled forward into the 366 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,560 future. And then Jesus says something 367 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,720 kind of unexpected. To Mary, he says. 368 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,880 Do not hold on to me. Do not cling. 369 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:52,360 And I think at a glance this seems sort of. 370 00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:54,960 Cold Mary thought Jesus was dead. 371 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,640 And now he's not dead. And now she recognizes him. 372 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,480 And the first thing that he says is don't cling to me. 373 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:03,720 And I think. If I were Mary, I'd be like. 374 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,040 OK, you know, like why? Why are you being like that? 375 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:12,200 I I think. One of the things that Jesus 376 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,440 communicates in saying this. Is that this isn't just a. 377 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,360 Return to the way that things were. 378 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,800 I'm not back to just keep doing the things that we were doing 379 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,800 before and we pick. Up the story where we left off 380 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,440 the resurrected Jesus. Can be encountered but can't be 381 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,720 contained, can't be pinned to a specific moment. 382 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,760 You can be met by him, but you can't freeze the encounter in 383 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,040 time. And I think when I hear. 384 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:42,400 Jesus, say the words. Don't cling to me. 385 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,960 I hear that the ways that we. Experience new life. 386 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:48,480 The ways that we. Experience the the. 387 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,560 Life of the Resurrected. Jesus coming into our life. 388 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,160 It's not something that can be returned to or captured like a 389 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,120 museum piece. We can't go back to the way that 390 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,520 things were before Friday. It's not a restoration of 391 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,360 something that came before. It's not a return. 392 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:09,200 It's something altogether new. And I think you and I can 393 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:10,640 probably think of moments in our. 394 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,960 Lives where we've had. Some kind of encounter with the 395 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,520 what I would call the presence of God. 396 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,640 Or the love of Jesus. Or some people might even just 397 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,920 call transcendence where the weight. 398 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,800 Of the beauty of the world, of the love. 399 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,960 Of God sort of comes. Crashing into your life. 400 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:28,840 And if you're not? Careful you sort of. 401 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,160 Spend a lot of time trying to find that again. 402 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,600 To recreate the. Circumstances in your life, you 403 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,160 know, what was I doing? What did I? 404 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,440 Have for breakfast that day. Who was I hanging out with and 405 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,880 and try to find this like healthier. 406 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,080 More. Exciting place that you were in 407 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,640 at one point. I think there's a version of 408 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:51,440 Christianity that really becomes about trying to hold on to 409 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:56,840 something, trying to revive some version of safety or. 410 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:03,160 Certainty that felt solid. Once 5 or 10 or 40 or 100 or 411 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,320 500. Years ago, but. 412 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:10,440 Jesus said to Mary and, and I think maybe even to us, don't 413 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,600 the new creation, the future Kingdom of God breaking into the 414 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,480 present can't be fully comprehended by looking back. 415 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,760 It's ahead of us. Breaking something open. 416 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,280 That we thought was sealed, that we thought was put away out of. 417 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:33,560 Reach from us, and I want to talk for just a moment about 418 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,000 what I think makes this Sunday more than just an annual 419 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,680 commemoration of this. Part of the story it's that 420 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,360 this, this first day. Of the new. 421 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:47,040 World The. First day of new. 422 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:51,400 Creation that Jesus steps. Out of the tomb, into is not 423 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,080 over, Paul writes in Second Corinthians. 424 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,720 Chapter 4. God who said let light. 425 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:01,640 Shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts again. 426 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,440 Quoting Genesis 1, he's saying that the same voice that spoke 427 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:06,960 at the beginning. The voice. 428 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:11,440 That called light. That called material reality out 429 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:12,840 of nothing. Is still. 430 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaking and new creation isn't just a past event that we look 431 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,880 at from a distance. We can easily think that. 432 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,280 The story of Jesus. Being raised from the dead is 433 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,160 something that we're looking back 2000 years in history. 434 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,000 To sort of. Take a gander at once a Year and 435 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,000 think a little bit about what it means for us, but I think. 436 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,680 The truth about this story is that the first. 437 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:41,360 Day of the New World is not over, I think paying attention. 438 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,920 Is the the spiritual practice that Easter? 439 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,200 Calls us into, not just the. Belief in the. 440 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,840 Resurrection as an intellectual. Exercise. 441 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,120 That we can sort of assent to and say. 442 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:56,920 Yeah, I think. Jesus was raised from the dead 443 00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,240 back in the day. Check. 444 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,440 We're being called into a way of seeing and learning to notice 445 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,680 the ways that new creation is actually breaking through into 446 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:13,800 our lived reality in places that we might otherwise. 447 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:19,800 Walk past without a second thought there. 448 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:25,320 Are moments of unexpected kindness from someone you may 449 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:30,120 have completely written off, conversations that were supposed 450 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:34,040 to go one way and end up going someplace else entirely. 451 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,080 There are moments when we think a relationship in our life is 452 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:43,160 finished, and it takes one small, unexpected step toward 453 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:48,240 reconciliation, toward resolution in a morning when you 454 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,880 wake up and something that's been. 455 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,640 Heavy for a. Long time suddenly. 456 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:59,400 Feels a little bit lighter. Almost inexplicably, these are 457 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,120 not small things, these. Are the first day of new? 458 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:07,160 Creation crashing into the. Present there's a a little. 459 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,280 Passage from Thomas Merton that I always think about when I when 460 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:11,400 I think about this. Idea. 461 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:14,880 He had a moment like this in 1958. 462 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,160 He was a monk. He was someone who spent years 463 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,640 living behind monastery. Walls by. 464 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:24,400 Choice and lived in Kentucky. He went into Louisville on some 465 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,120 errand and was standing on a street corner, 4th and Walnut, 466 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,320 and suddenly something cracked open in him and he wrote about 467 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:33,600 it. Later I was. 468 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,200 Suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I. 469 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,720 Loved all those. People that they were mine and I 470 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,640 was theirs. That we could not be alien to 471 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,160 one another, even. Though we were total. 472 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,200 Strangers. It was like waking from a dream 473 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,040 of separateness. And then he wrote this line. 474 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,360 Which I haven't. Been able to get out of my head 475 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,080 all week. There is no way of telling 476 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:03,520 people that they are all walking around shining like the sun and 477 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:04,960 friends. I think this. 478 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,560 Is one of the places where the resurrected Jesus meets us. 479 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,440 Most intimately when we have the opportunity, when we have the 480 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,520 presence of mind, to slow down and to notice. 481 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,600 People to notice the God. In people. 482 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:25,800 The ways that that. The imprint of the gardener is 483 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,880 on our neighbors, is on the people that we rub. 484 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,480 Shoulders with at work. Is on our difficult family 485 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:38,760 members. This is resurrection language. 486 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:41,240 It's what it. Looks like when we finally 487 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,760 suddenly. See the first day of new. 488 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,440 Creation breaking in all around us because something is shining 489 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,120 through the ordinary world. That we would have. 490 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,600 Completely missed 5 minutes. Earlier. 491 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,000 And I think it's important to note that Merton didn't have 492 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,400 that moment in a sanctuary. Sanctuaries are beautiful. 493 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,120 I'm so happy to be here with you this morning, reading the 494 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:12,520 scriptures and singing songs. But resurrection moments 495 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:16,360 probably most often come to us in our ordinary. 496 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,320 Everyday lives. Merton had this moment on a 497 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,640 street corner in the middle. Of a busy city. 498 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,160 The new creation was. Already at work in the world. 499 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,200 And for just a moment. He could see it. 500 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,160 The English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote it this way. 501 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,400 The world is charged. With the grandeur. 502 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:43,040 Of God it will. Flame out like shining from 503 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:48,000 shook foil. He knew the darkness, and when 504 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,560 you read this poem in in its entirety, it wrestles honestly 505 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:55,000 with. Why, if the world carries this 506 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,080 charge of beauty, it's so easy? To miss and the answer that he 507 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,040 gives. Is that we're distracted. 508 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,080 And we're pressed down and we're worn smooth, he says. 509 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,120 By the weight of. Ordinary living the world. 510 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:11,880 Is smeared with. Trade and toil. 511 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,400 And we lose the. Capacity to notice but this 512 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,520 isn't where the poem ends it pivots and he. 513 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,680 Writes because the Holy. Ghost over the bent. 514 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:25,600 World broods with. Warm breasts and with, ah, 515 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,280 bright wings. The Spirit is still. 516 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:34,720 Brooding over the world that you and I live in, the spirit that 517 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,880 animates the. Life of the first day of the 518 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:39,280 new. Creation and the way. 519 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,200 That the. Spirit moved over the. 520 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,040 Waters at the very. First, creation. 521 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:48,360 God's presence is moving over the waters of the unformed. 522 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,880 Parts of the world. Around us, beckoning this life 523 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,360 into the present. And so the question that's put 524 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,640 to us is not only. Do you believe? 525 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:03,520 That this happened, it's. Are you learning to see it? 526 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:08,760 This is the crucial question that we must ask ourselves 527 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:10,880 every. Time we reflect on the 528 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:17,560 resurrection of Jesus the God man come as a human. 529 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,520 Put to death, swallowed by death. 530 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:23,960 But conquers death and comes out the other. 531 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,560 Side. Are you learning to see it? 532 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,400 Where is the Spirit? Bringing life to you right now. 533 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,920 Is it in your relationships? Is it in your neighborhood? 534 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:39,520 Is it in parts of your own inner life that you'd maybe quietly 535 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:43,440 given up on? Where is resurrection pressing 536 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:46,800 through? Where is the gardener standing 537 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,080 waiting for you to? Hear your. 538 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:54,520 Name and I want. To also briefly say. 539 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,720 It's not just our individual. Lives that are caught. 540 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:02,800 Up in this to stand up on a morning like this one and say. 541 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,840 Christ is. Risen is an act of defiance. 542 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,400 The resurrection is. The church's counter. 543 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,480 Proclamation to every system to. Every power to every. 544 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,400 Empire that runs on the logic of doom and hopelessness. 545 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,320 Every way that. As Hopkins. 546 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,000 Said the world presses. Us down and wears us smooth. 547 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,800 We push back against it by standing up on this morning and 548 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,440 confessing Christ is risen. It's a it's. 549 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,480 A refusal to concede. To every voice. 550 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,040 That's insisting that what's broken stays broken and only 551 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:40,840 gets. Worse. 552 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,080 And that what's lost is simply gone, it says. 553 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,880 That the God who spoke light out of the. 554 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,800 First, darkness hasn't gone quiet on us. 555 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,320 And so. I want to close with Mary still. 556 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,040 In the garden, she came before dawn. 557 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,360 While it was still dark. With grief and pain coming 558 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:06,080 because she loved someone who was dead and she didn't come. 559 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,600 With faith. Or answers or certainty or any 560 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,040 of those things. And she was the one who ended up 561 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,480 being the first person to carry the news. 562 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,880 That the world had. Changed forever and so friends. 563 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:20,199 Those of you who. Find. 564 00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:23,159 Yourselves here. In a moment where you look 565 00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:26,120 around and and it might. Feel like it is still dark? 566 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:31,320 My encouragement to you is that you may very well find 567 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,159 yourselves being the first person. 568 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:35,880 To carry the. Good news that the world has 569 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,960 changed forever back into your the brokenness in your family 570 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,760 system. Or in your workplace, or just to 571 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:44,719 the. Parts of your inside life that 572 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:46,520 you've not quite been able to make sense of. 573 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:51,600 Friends, Jesus, resurrection and these ordinary resurrection 574 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:52,960 moments. Are where we. 575 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:54,600 Become awake. To. 576 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:59,040 The love of God in our lives. And we don't have to wait until 577 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,200 we have everything sorted, until we have all of our questions 578 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:05,560 answered, until we can make sense of the circumstances 579 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,720 around us, until we find ourselves. 580 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:10,400 A little bit less depressed. Or a little bit less anxious, 581 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,560 they come crashing into the. Real world. 582 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,080 The world that we. Live in. 583 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:22,240 The real world. And it's a world that's being 584 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:25,760 invaded by the joy and the unrelenting. 585 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,000 Love of the God who? Who? 586 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,680 Loved it into being. So we are still. 587 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,440 In that first day, it's not behind us. 588 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,840 The first day of the new. Creation is the age that we're 589 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:42,280 living in right now, where this present age and the age to come 590 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:47,280 are intertwined, and the gardener is still standing in 591 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:53,040 the garden and is still speaking the names of the ones. 592 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:58,400 Who look for their teacher. And the invitation of the 593 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,120 resurrection is to be people who are paying attention. 594 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,280 People. Who are learning to see people 595 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:08,640 who can say I have seen the. Lord, because they. 596 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:10,920 Heard their name called. While it was still dark. 597 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:14,920 And so as we. Move toward worship. 598 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:16,680 And ministry. I want to invite the worship 599 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:22,520 team back up and I want to say something directly to anyone who 600 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,080 might be in the room who hasn't made a decision to. 601 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,400 To follow Jesus. The resurrection is not 602 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:33,160 primarily about getting your individual soul into heaven. 603 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,960 I know that's. A popular A popular take, but 604 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:38,640 the. Resurrection is about the 605 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,400 remaking of the whole cosmos, the. 606 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,080 Whole. Creation, everything that is, 607 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,400 everything that ever has been, the whole human story. 608 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:52,200 And God isn't just patching up the old. 609 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,520 World. He's making a new one, and it's 610 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:56,720 already begun. That's the scale. 611 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:58,360 Of the thing that we're talking about when. 612 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:03,120 We read this story. And the thing about that? 613 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,400 Story is that it's so big that there is. 614 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,800 Room for you to live inside of it. 615 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:14,520 There is room for you to. Look at a story where. 616 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:19,360 The God who makes the world, who sees its brokenness, Who sees 617 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,000 your pain, Who sees. The ways that your. 618 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,440 Life is messed up and says the restoration that I'm bringing, 619 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,720 the ways that I'm repairing the world are. 620 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:31,440 So big that. Even you fit inside of it. 621 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:39,240 And so I just want to encourage you not as a transaction, but as 622 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:41,480 an orientation. Of your whole life. 623 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,840 Toward the one who spoke the world into existence. 624 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,080 If you've never done that. If you've never. 625 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:52,280 Thought to yourself, the story is so big. 626 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:53,560 The story is so. Good. 627 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:58,440 The person of Jesus is so incomprehensibly kind that I 628 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,320 want to turn. All of it over, I'd love, I'd 629 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:03,400 love. To pray with you this morning. 630 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,080 One of our team would love to pray with you this morning. 631 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:12,360 Mary showed up in the dark and the risen Jesus called her name. 632 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:18,520 And if any of you find that that is happening to you today, come, 633 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,760 come and find one of us. Jared might have a couple things 634 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,400 for for ministry, but I just want to say. 635 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,120 If. If today is full. 636 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:29,960 If you're full of joy. If you're full of hope, If 637 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,160 you're full of faith, let it be. Full bring the joy. 638 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,160 And if you are carrying. Something incredibly heavy or 639 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:40,000 you find yourself just feeling a little bit. 640 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,720 Confused or skeptical about all of that? 641 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,920 That's OK. Mary came to the tomb while it 642 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:48,640 was still. Dark. 643 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,920 And so I would just encourage you to bring whatever it is, 644 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:53,760 anything that you would want to receive. 645 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,840 Prayer for. To to one of our. 646 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:57,520 Team will be posted. Up around the room.