Brown's Daily Word 4-28-11

Good morning,

Praise the Lord for this new day. It has been thundering and raining much of the night. The new day is dawning; praise the Lord, the author of Salvation. He blessed us with a beautiful Wednesday evening gathering. The fellowship and study are always a blessing.

I have been reading the Resurrection passages again about the first Easter people. One of the first Easter people is a woman named Mary. The story of Mary Magdalene meeting Jesus at the empty tomb is found only in John’s gospel. The vignette ends with the mourner turned into a missionary, running to tell the others what she has just seen and heard.

Although Mary Magdalene played an important role in the life of Christ, we know surprisingly little about her. She is one of at least five different women named “Mary” in the New Testament; this much we know. The Lord had cast out seven deadly demons from her. When Christ set her free, he liberated her from the evil impulses that had kept her chained figuratively and perhaps literally. She became living proof that those whom the Son sets free are free indeed. Having been liberated from demonic bondage, she said to herself (and perhaps out loud), “I love him for what he did for me. I will follow him wherever he goes.” It has been often said that Mary Magdalene was “last at the cross and first at the tomb.” This is a high honor that can be said of none of the men who followed Jesus. She was the first to see him alive and the first to hear his voice. The irony of the story is that when she first saw him, she didn’t recognize him. Yet, when the truth hit home, she became the first evangelist in Christian history. Christ bestowed this great honor on her because she loved him so deeply and so devotedly.


Craig Barnes is pastor of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In an article called “Easter in an Age of Terror” (you can find it online at www.christianitytoday.com), he points out that Easter is both good news and also terrifying news. It is good news that Jesus came back from the dead. It is terrifying news because Easter confronts us with the awful reality of death. The biblical accounts of the crucifixion stress that many people watched it from a distance. They wanted to see what would happen but they didn’t want to get too close. That’s how most of us handle death, by keeping it at arm’s length. We avoid going to funerals if possible and we never just drop by a funeral home to have a cup of coffee. We work out and lose weight and lower our cholesterol and we try to be careful so that death won’t come too close to us. However, sometimes death comes and knocks at the door. At other times death it breaks down the door and comes barging into the living room whether we like it or not. That’s what happened on September 11. Death entered every home in America. No one could escape the anger, the horror, the shock, and the terror. In one dark moment, all our illusions of security were utterly destroyed.
Death is never easy to deal with. Most of the time we can avoid it or postpone it or keep it far away from us. But sometimes death stares us in the face and we don’t know what to do or how to respond. That is why Mary was standing alone at the Garden Tomb about 6:30 AM on the first Easter Sunday.


“But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him’” (John 20:11-13).
Mary wept because the tomb is empty. She wept over an empty tomb; the very thing that should have been good news broke her heart! Today we say today that the empty tomb is one of the greatest proofs of the Resurrection. Yet Mary wept. We often do the same thing. When faced with trials and unexplainable tragedy, we often weep over our circumstances.

Note the question Jesus asked, “Who are you looking for?” He did not ask, “What are you looking for?” That is altogether a different question. Mary was looking for a what, a dead body. She was looking for something; Jesus pointed her to someone. The answer to our deepest needs is not something, but someone, the Lord Jesus Christ.


“ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).

“Mary.” He still knows her name!

“Rabboni.” She calls him, “My Master!”

She knew his voice and he knew her name, so Mary went and told the disciples what she had seen and heard. The Greek is very vivid. Literally, “Mary came telling!” She couldn’t stop talking about her encounter with the risen Lord. The mourner became the missionary! So it is with all who meet the risen Lord. We are called to do as Mary did—to run and tell all who will listen that we have seen Jesus! Mary has firsthand knowledge and so do we.

Jesus asked Mary, "Why are you weeping?" The time for tears is over. The time to tell the Good News has come. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/yzzqhaLl_8w

Saturday evening worship service.

Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott

Saturday, April 30, 2011
5 PM Indian Buffet at the First UMC, Endicott
6 PM Coffee Fellowship

6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music: Laureen Naik, Emma Bronson
Speaker: Rev Bill Turner