His first steps led away from the tomb
John 20:1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2So she left and ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she told them, “and we don’t know where they put him!”
3So Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. 5Bending over, he saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in.
6Then Simon Peter, who was following him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there. 7The cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who arrived at the tomb first, also entered. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.)
10Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11But Mary stood outside facing the tomb, weeping. As she wept, she bent over, looking into the tomb. 12She saw two angels in white clothes sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. 13They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She told them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”
14After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not know it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”
Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you carried him off, tell me where you laid him, and I will get him.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned and replied in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means, “Teacher”).
17Jesus told her, “Do not continue to cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God.’”
18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” She also told them the things he said to her.
Surely God is my salvation. I will trust him and will not be afraid, because the Lord, yes the Lord, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation (Isaiah 12:2). Amen.
Everything was fine when Joshua came to Racine for a visit. Since he was a popular lecturer, he scheduled some speaking engagements at local churches and schools. While he was visiting, he gathered his friends together for a celebration meal at a local restaurant on Thursday evening.
Everything stopped being fine very early Friday morning. Joshua was taken to Ascension Hospital. Everything hurt. His hands. His feet. His head and back. He had trouble breathing. He didn’t eat anything. He could barely drink anything.
The women in Joshua’s life did what women are gifted by God to do. They were there at the foot of his bed. His mother was there. So was his good friend Mary.
It was scary how quickly Joshua’s condition worsened. After only six hours, he was dead.
Joshua’ mother was poor. She couldn’t afford any of the services provided by the funeral home. There was no embalming or funeral. Joshua’s friend, Joe volunteered that Joshua could be laid to rest in his burial plot. So, Joshua’s body was buried late Friday at Graceland Cemetery, only a short walk from Ascension Hospital.
Everything had happened so quickly that Mary did not have any closure. Her grief was overwhelming. So, early Sunday morning, as the sun was coming up, she walked the slow, difficult steps of mourning to Joshua’s grave.
Everything was fine when Jesus came to Jerusalem for a visit. Since he was a popular rabbi, he taught in the temple courtyard on Monday and Tuesday. He gathered his disciples together for a celebratory Passover Meal in the Upper Room on Thursday.
Everything stopped being fine very early Friday morning. Jesus was taken to Golgotha’s hill and crucified on a Roman cross. Everything hurt. His hands. His feet. His head and back. He had trouble breathing. He didn’t eat anything. He could barely drink anything.
The women in Jesus’ life did what women are gifted by God to do. They were there at the foot of the cross. His mother was there. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons were there (Matthew 27:56).
It was scary how quickly Jesus died. Crucifixions can last for days. But after only six hours, Jesus was dead.
Jesus’ mother was poor. She didn’t have money for a family burial plot. So, Jesus’ covert disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, volunteered his grave. There was no time for a proper preparation of the body before burial because of the Sabbath. So, Jesus’ body was quickly wrapped in cloths and laid in Joseph’s tomb late Friday afternoon – only a short walk from Golgotha.
Everything had happened so quickly that Mary Magdalene didn’t have closure. So early Sunday morning, as the sun was coming up, she walked the slow, difficult steps of mourning to Jesus’ grave.
You know how both Mary’s felt – both present day Mary and Mary Magdalene. You’ve been with your sick child at Children’s Hospital. You’ve visited your grandmother at the nursing home. You’ve said goodbye to your father in the hospice home. You’ve held your spouse’s hand when he or she took their last breath.
You know the slow steps you take to go to the room of your dying loved one. You know the heavy, plodding steps you take after your loved one has died. They are steps filled with grief, sadness, dread, fear, and loneliness. No wonder they are so heavy. They are carrying a lot of emotions.
Your loved one may have been taken away from you after a long battle with cancer or a long bout with an illness. Or your loved one could have been ripped from your life by an accident or a sudden attack. Death has removed your loved one from your life. Your family has been torn apart. Your emotions are raw. Your fear of the future is real.
We stand weeping at the closed grave of our loved one. We are looking for something to calm our fears, another hug, one more day. This is why the annual trip to the tomb with Mary Magdalene and the other women every Easter morning is so important for us as Christians.
After his third day resurrection, Jesus took his first steps that led away from the tomb. He marched down to hell and preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19). There he made a public spectacle of them (Colossians 2:15), announcing that he was victorious over the devil, the demons, and death itself.
Jesus’ next steps from hell took him back to outside his briefly borrowed tomb. There the angels told the women: “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:5). Later, Jesus himself told the women who were hurrying away from the tomb: “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:10). Easter evening, Jesus told his fearful disciples: “Peace be with you” (John 20:21). And it is fitting that Jesus reminds us repeatedly: “Do not be afraid.” “Peace be with you.”
Whether it’s Mary Magdalene, the women, the disciples, or us, we are often filled with a mixture of fear, powerlessness, and hopelessness. But suddenly we all learn together that our dear Lord is no longer dead. Death held no power over the Son of God, just as he had promised. In his saving power, none of us have any reason to live in hopelessness and fear.
Mary exclaimed to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” That is our exclamation, too, this Easter. We have no reason to be afraid. With the eyes of faith, we, too, have seen our resurrected Lord! Easter proclaims that there is nothing in ancient times, current times or future times that can rightfully make us afraid – not plagues or pandemics or World Wars or anything else that brings death.
Fear that leads you away from faith in the Lord is one of the most treasured tools in Satan’s toolbelt. But you have no reason to be afraid. God will keep you safe until the day he has set from eternity for you to die. You will not die one moment sooner than that. God did not create you to live in fear.
Jesus promises, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last—the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell” (Revelation 1:17, 18).
Dust and ashes mortals like us like to hide our fears. Honestly acknowledge your own fears, but also rely upon the Easter hope that answers your fears. This Easter message, after all, had its first proclamation in a graveyard that suddenly became a place of hope rather than fear.
Our lives have never truly been in our own hands. Our lives rest in the nail-marked hands of the crucified and risen Christ. And even though fears still want to spook our hearts until heaven, yet we regularly walk to the open tomb to silence those fears.
Fear is often the result of hopelessness. As Christians, though, hope overcomes fear. Our hope is not in ourselves. Our hope is not in mankind. Our hope is not in the media, medical experts, or government authorities. Our hope is not in family genetics, healthy eating, or plenty of exercise. Our hope is in the God who wondrously created us and still more wondrously restored us to himself in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. Our hope is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. His resurrection is the firstfruits of all those who fall asleep in him (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Even in a fallen world where Death rides its pale horse to haunt us and hunt us down, Jesus still patiently reassures us: “Do not be afraid.” Death's back is broken. Satan has been stomped. The gates of Hades have been ripped off their hinges. Christ rides victorious on his white horse (Revelation 6:2). He has conquered and he continues to conquer. “Death is the last enemy to be done away with” (1 Corinthians 15:26), If Death is done, nothing else can win. If Death has been destroyed, then there is nothing else to fear.
Death lies broken and defeated. And now you get to decide whether the rest of your troubles, the worst of your fears, and the greatest of your anxieties are worth your worries. Can the terrors of troubles outweigh trusting in the Almighty God? Can the worries about war overshadow the Lord of Armies? Can the dread of demons live up to their demands? Can the panic of pandemics be greater than Christ walking victoriously out of his grave? Can the anxiety over ailments, the cares over cancer, or the despair over dementia be stronger than the almighty Son of God who slammed shut the prison doors of hell and threw wide open the gates of heaven?
We must all admit that fear often leads us to the dark side – to the devil’s side. That’s why we need to be reminded that we Christians alone have an answer to human fear. That answer is found in a graveyard. It is found at an empty tomb. It is found in a message that calms our fears while simultaneously making us messengers to the fearful hearts of others. “Surely God is my salvation. I will trust him and will not be afraid,” says the prophet Isaiah, “because the Lord, yes the Lord, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). “Do not be afraid,” says the angel. “Do not be afraid,” says the risen Lord. “Do not be afraid,” say you and me. “I have seen the Lord” says Mary and all Christians who are witness to Christ’s third day resurrection.
Because Jesus took his first steps from his grave, now we are assured that on the Last Day, Jesus will call out to us to take our first steps away from our grave. If Jesus calls us, be assured that he will also be calling your Christian loved ones out of their graves, too. Then there will be a blessed reunion, just like there was with Mary and Jesus.
“Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! You have no reason to ever be afraid again. All because Jesus’ first steps led away from the tomb. Amen.
Give thanks to the Lord! Proclaim his name. Declare among the peoples what he has done. Sing to the Lord, for he has done amazing things! Let this be known in all the earth (Isaiah 12:4, 5). Amen.