Why is the symbol of Christianity the cross? In reality, it should be the empty tomb. Our hope is not founded on the death of Christ, but on His resurrection.
John’s account of the resurrection focuses on Mary Magdalene, one of the few who was at both the foot of the cross and at the empty tomb. She gets up early to take care of Christ’s body, but finds the tomb empty. She rushes back to the disciples and Peter and John have a footrace, which John makes sure you know he won.
When they arrive, they see the empty tomb and believe – but they do not fully understand. They take what they see at face value and go back to where they are staying.
But Mary does not. She already saw the empty tomb, but her questions remain. Her grief remains. Even when she sees angels and speaks to them her only thought is to finding Jesus body and taking care of it. She asks who she thinks is perhaps the gardener who took the body away what has happened.
Both the figures in white and the “gardener” ask the same question – “why are you crying?” Jesus cares for our tears and seeks to wipe them away.
The way he does this is relationally, engaging directly with her personally by the simple act of saying her name. This is the most important moment in human history as Christ begins raising everything from the dead. “I am making all things new.”
And our response to this is to be simple – “go and tell.” It’s the same pattern we see when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well – Christ engages with her relationally, and then she goes and tells others about the good news of this Man.
Faith is about being open-hearted. Are you able to be vulnerable before Christ? Are you able to hear Him speak your name?
Whatever your circumstance, Jesus is calling your name and asking why you are crying. He seeks to be known by you, for you to know His love and be transformed by it, to be resurrected in spirit as He was in body.
— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, April 9, 2023