It Was Still Dark

It Was Still Dark

Easter

The Collect of the Day: Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preceding us, thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Gospel: St. John 20:1-10

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

From noon till 3:00 P.M. on Good Friday a supernatural darkness covered the site of the crucifixion. Then Jesus died. While the sun came out again, darkness continued to engulf the souls of Mary his mother, the eleven remaining Apostles, and his followers. Their hopes for the kingdom of God died with him.

So it was entirely appropriate that when the first visitor set out for the tomb on Sunday morning it was still dark.

1. Mary and the Body of Jesus

Jesus was crucified on Friday. The day for Jews began at 6:00 in the evening, so Friday afternoon the Jewish leaders began to worry about the fact that Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, was fast approaching. Since burials should not take place on the Sabbath, the leaders asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken. This would hasten their deaths, because they would no longer be able to support themselves in order to expand their chests. This would lead to quicker death by asphyxiation. The soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals crucified with Jesus, but they found Jesus had already died.

John tells us about the burial of Jesus:

...Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.  So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. (St. John 19:38-42)

The body of Jesus lay in the grave beginning late Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Then early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene (and from the other Gospels we learn at least two other women) set out for the garden tomb. They also took spices wanting further to anoint the body of Jesus. By the time they got there the dawn was beginning to break. When they got to the garden tomb they found to their shock and dismay the stone which covered the cave had been moved. So they went to find Peter and John, two of the disciples closest to Jesus and said: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Why did the removal of Jesus’ body so distress Mary?  Why do families of soldiers and airmen who are missing in action in Vietnam and Laos so desperately want to recover any remains that can be found now - more than 40 years since they were lost? Why, when people die, do we not send their bodies to the garbage dump? Why, even when bodies are cremated, do families receive the ashes in an urn and then place them in a columbarium or other special place? Why don’t we put them in a plastic bag and send them off with the rest of the garbage? Because bodies matter.

We often try to pretend that bodies don’t matter. We say of them, “The real body is just a shell. The real person is the soul.” That is not the Christian faith. It was the Greeks who demoted the body and elevated the soul or spirit.

Why do Christians honor the body?

First, because humans are made in the image of God in both body and soul, and the body and soul are so intertwined that nothing can separate them but death, and then only temporarily.

Second, because when the Son of God became incarnate he took to himself a real human body and soul. He was a human being who had both body and soul made in God’s image.

Third, because when our Lord was raised he rose bodily. His body was changed and immortal, a glorious resurrection body beyond the touch of death and decay, but a real body. He bodily ascended to heaven; he bodily resides in heaven; he will bodily come again.

Fourth, because he has promised to raise our lowly, corruptible bodies and make them like his glorious, incorruptible body. Our eternal destinies as Christians is to live as fully human persons, made like Christ, with perfect unity and harmony of body and soul.

We express our Christian faith when we mark the deaths of Christians with the Christian funeral service in our Prayer Book, and when we dispose of their bodies in a way that testifies to the dignity and future of the human body.

2. Peter and John and the Tomb of Jesus

Mary informed two disciples that the stone covering the tomb of Jesus had been removed. One was St. Peter and the other calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” This is the way St. John designates himself throughout this Gospel he wrote.

Both ran toward the tomb, though John was faster, and arrived first. When John arrived he stopped at the entrance of the tomb, stooped to look in, and saw that the linen grave clothes were there but there was no body. When Peter arrived he characteristically did not stop but went right into the tomb. He saw the same linen grave clothes, and the cloth that was wrapped around the head, which was separate from the other clothes and folded. There are many good reasons my wife would admire Jesus more than she does me, but not least among them is that he was neat and folded his clothes.

The significance of the way the grave clothes and napkin were found is that it makes it very unlikely the body was stolen, whether by enemies or friends or some other persons. But it is unlikely that anyone taking the body of Jesus would have taken the time to unwrap the grave clothes from the body and to fold the head napkin.

That’s the way John saw it when he followed Peter into the tomb and surveyed the scene. As John himself describes it, “he saw and believed.” That is this was the beginning of his faith that Jesus was not dead but alive, of his belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

Neither John, nor Peter, nor any of the other Apostles were predisposed to expect the resurrection of Jesus. They did not understand at this point that the Old Testament Scriptures taught that the Messiah must rise again. It was only later in the light of the resurrection and the further teaching of Jesus. The evening of the resurrection walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus Jesus said, “O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter his glory?” By the day of Pentecost Peter saw it all clearly and preached:

      “... David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,

   for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;

therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

   my flesh also will dwell in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

   or let your Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

   you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

It was dark on Friday. It was dark when Mary went to the tomb on Sunday morning. And then there was light - the resurrection of Christ which brought life and immortality to light for all believers.

The Lord is risen!

He is risen indeed!