The Day the Lord Has Made by Rev. Paul Berghout
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Corinthians 6B-8
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So, she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." John 20:1-3
Piety
The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. By the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes. Psalm 118:22-23
Study
John, called the Beloved Disciple, is clearly the hero of Easter morning!
He runs the fastest.
He has superior love and understanding.
Between him and Peter and Mary Magdalene, only John had faith in the Physical Resurrection of Jesus-- He “sees and believes” at the empty tomb without even having a complete grasp of the Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead.
He is an ideal disciple.
The rest of them needed some time.
Don’t we all? I am reminded of the story one grandma told. “I was teaching my 3-year-old granddaughter, Taylor, how to shoot baskets on her child-sized basketball hoop. After missing three shots in a row, she gave me the ball and said, “Grandma, this thing doesn’t work!”
Yet, despite John’s faith, as some commenters note, the Beloved Disciple has "no narrative impact” because, in John’s Gospel, he does not communicate his discovery to others. His coming to believe affects no other character in the account.
Rather, its Mary Magdalene, who was also a devoted disciple, and who was even delivered from demonic possession by Jesus (Luke 8:2), and she was also at the Cross with John—she has the biggest “narrative impact” although she was also the most clueless on the first Easter morning!
Why is that?
Maybe it is because the clueless in you honors the clueless in me.
An expert on a recent book sums it saying that your cluelessness is usually worth sharing because it can help others feel less alone. You could, maybe, learn to use empathy as a portal to compassion, for other people and for yourself. Little humiliations can bring people together if we let them.
Mary Magdalene’s first misunderstanding was her stubborn persistence that someone had carried Jesus body away.
Next, when the Risen Jesus appears to her, Mary Magdalene does not even recognize Him and thinks that he is a gardener.
Despite her slow start, Christ actually appeared to her first, and then he sends her on a mission to communicate this good news of his resurrection to others.
She makes the first proclamation of Easter faith: "I have seen the Lord." Which speaks of her life-transforming experience.
Action
The message for us this Easter: In the Gospel of John, believing is a process.
Whether one believes nothing yet or has come to a partial understanding, believing is a process of uncovering errors and weaknesses and coming to a deeper, more authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God.
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