Sermon

Jesus asks Mary when she didn't recognize him, "Whom are you looking for?"

In our contemporary world many people question the ideal of a literal resurrection or postulate theories such as the followers of Christ only experienced a new understanding of Jesus or that it was only a spiritual resurrection.

But the question that Christ asked of Mary, he is still asking today, "Whom are you looking for?"

Mary stood before an empty tomb, fearing that someone has stolen the body of Christ, not knowing that the most incredible event in humanity had happened within her lifetime. Jesus the Savior, the Messiah had risen from the dead. At the very moment that Christ stood before her in his glorified form, she did not recognize him.

We having the benefit of 2000 years of Christian witness that recognize the resurrection, and we probably have too much scripture scholarship that does not recognize Christ in his glorified body. Many people say that the resurrection is just impossible to believe: it goes against nature.

But, that is the point of the resurrection--God can step into human time and change the world. God did things that seem impossible. He can and he does perform miracles. In the words of a Baptist minister from my childhood, Jesus got up out of the grave and declared that "all power on heaven and earth are in my hands" "That time that has been shall be no more." Jesus changed the story. Jesus offered humanity the chance to be rescued and restored.

Resurrections are happening right now in our society. When you see a drug addict become clean because of his encounter with Christ, when you see a prostitute give up a demeaning life, when you see a homeless person not only gain a place to live, but an entire new outlook on life, you have seen a resurrection--and it is entirely possible to believe that Jesus could literally rise to new life.

Whom are you looking for? Are you looking for a dead god or a living god? I chose a living God who does intervened in our lives and cares enough to send to the world a savior to deliver humanity from eternal death into eternal life.

Whom are you looking for? Are you looking for a Jesus that supplies your every need--not in the manner of some grand version of a sugar daddy--but who can make possibilities out of impossibilities.

Whom are you looking for? A Jesus who turns hearts of stone into hearts of gold? A Jesus who is a revolutionary that overtakes unjust systems by force, or a Jesus who overcomes unjust systems by changing the hearts and minds of those who maintain the unjust system?

Whom are you looking for? A Jesus that is just one great prophet among many others, or a Jesus who says "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"?

Mary stood before an empty tomb because Jesus had changed the story. We stand before the empty tombs of depression, despair, war, poverty, and hatred and fail to see the resurrected Christ that can turn all those negative things in our world around and make new creations out of old, decayed, and dying people.

Whom are we looking for? We are a looking for a glorified Lord and a renewed and restored people. We are looking for people whose lives have been changed because of their encounter with the Risen Christ.

When the stone from the tomb was rolled away, Christ rolled away all the old baggage that held humanity back from eternal life. When I look at how far God has brought me, when I think of the goodness of God, when I think about how Jesus changed my life, I just have to say "Thank Jesus! Thank you for coming into the world to save us, redeem us, and offer us the opportunity for eternal life."

In the words of the Roman Eucharistic acclamation, "Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life, Lord Jesus come in Glory." We are looking for you!!

The Rt. Rev. P. David Strong
The Apostolic Catholic Church in America
Seattle, Washington