14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). John 20:14-16
“Woman, why are you crying?” The crucifixion was difficult enough to swallow. The weight of it all still heavy on her heart. And now, in an attempt to take care of his body knowing the smell of death well as she had been there when her brother died… she is now left heartbroken with flowers and perfume and oils. The tomb is empty, and she is convinced: someone has stolen the body of Jesus.
Mary’s crying represents a disappointment and sadness within each of us. The picture of Mary is a picture of humanity. THE ACHE OF HUMANITY. Now, it’s not merely a surface level let down but rather the ache of the human soul. We somehow feel let down. We feel somehow the world is not quite as it should be. We sense within our soul that there must be something more. We seek. We search. We attempt to gain a foothold of understanding somewhere along the line of life. And, somehow, we sense the letdown.
Mary had been let down by the principalities and powers of this world. One of the trademarks of Mary Magdalene was her deliverance from 7 demons. 7 is the number of completions in Scripture – it is a picture of wholeness. Her broken state had been made whole by Jesus.
We aren’t given specifics of her freedom from the evil spirits. But, we are made aware that she was able to have built wealth though we know not how. She must’ve been able to hide her brokenness well enough. Hide the pain well enough. Hide her inner ache well enough. And, somehow after she was delivered from Jesus her wealth became a means to fund the ministry of this Rabbi Jesus and his disciples.
We know that she was bound by pain. Aching for a freedom. And, it was Jesus of Nazareth who set her free. As only He can!
“Who is it you are looking for?”
This second question that is asked by the Gardener is also an appropriate question each one of us can ask ourselves: who is it we are looking for? Blaise Pascal a philosopher from centuries ago said that within each of us is a “God shaped hole.” He was well aware of the attempt of humanity to find solutions, find hope, seek salvation in the feeble knowledge it had.
Many of us have led lives that the subplot could be summarized as a pursuit to fill this hole in our hearts. Fame has destroyed many a celebrity. Wealth has consumed many a man. Power has crippled countless dynasties. Chasing of the wind is common place for our desperate lives.
Each of us at one time or another have found ourselves following the wrong leadership – leadership that leads to anxiety, fear and a driven-ness that can be exhausting. If we are honest, we didn’t quite know who we were looking for. But Jesus knows what and who we need!
“Mary” In one swoop Resurrection entered Mary’s story. Only Jesus called her name like that. He wasn’t the Gardener! He was the Savior! It wasn’t over. The plan hadn’t failed. The weight of her pain, the sting of her disappointment, the fear swirling her mind was all erased with one word: “Mary.”
In one word we are drawn to the reality of God seen in and through Jesus of Nazareth. The God who didn’t despise humanity but drew near. The God who didn’t place upon humanity the wages of death but alleviated them by bearing them Himself on the cross. The One who entered our grief, entered our pain, entered into the darkness and drove it away. Conquered the powers, principalities, and schemes of the evil one through the victory of the cross. Incredible!
So will I by Hillsong United
“And as you speak, A hundred billion failures disappear. You lost your life so I could find it here. If you left the grave behind you…So will I.”
And, here it is that Jesus looks at each of us and calls us by Name. He knows full well the pain we carry, He knows full well the weight of our actions and our attempts to eliminate ourselves from the frailty of life and the sincere power of sin, and He doesn’t give us a formula He calls us by Name. He reveals His love for us through identity.
Paul Deary 