In the early morning Mary Magdalene bravely went out to anoint Jesus' body. "Who will roll away the heavy stone from the tomb?" Mary understandably pondered over and over; but when she got to the cemetery she found the stone had already been rolled away. Frightened and wondering what grave robbers would have possibly wanted with the body of one who was condemned and executed as a criminal, she fled, but only briefly. When she returned again she summoned all the courage within her and looked into the tomb. It was empty.
At this point, Mary broke down. All seemed lost. Now it was impossible even to give Jesus a decent burial. She probably felt like crawling into the dark tomb, and sealing it up behind her. Then, breaking into her despair, was a voice calling her. She wasn't immediately aware of what was said to her, she just blurted out her anxiety, "where have you taken him?" Again, a voice called out to her, and she turned, repeating her anxious question, "where have you taken him?" This time however, she heard her name, "Mary". Then, she recognized the risen Jesus before her. All her anxious concerns were swept aside in the light of the resurrection. She returned running to the other disciples not with answers but full of confident joy. She didn't need answers to support her. Rather she boldly announces, I have seen the living Lord, He is risen, alleluia, alleluia!
Easter reminds us that so often we approach life, apprehensive about finding answers to what often turn out to be the wrong or simply irrelevant questions. We become intent on looking for conclusive evidence that will never be found. Ah yes, we spend so much time worrying over how to move and lift the stones and boulders of our lives. We despair that only if we were stronger, or luckier, or had better tools would we have a chance of unsealing a secret hiding place holding the key to removing all our burdens. Of course, the world readily claims that it has an exclusive franchise on the right products and maps. If we don't buy from the world, we are otherwise left hopeless. Hence we are deceived and sold on an exhausting pursuit of secret formulas for increased strength, for greater luck, or more wealth, all peddled by charlatans.
Stories of the resurrection never tell us how the stone was moved; such questions are never answered because they are shown to be so peripheral and insignificant. The resurrection is about God calling us from frustrating distraction of digging among the tombs in the world's graveyards for the peace, meaning and security that only God can give. Easter exposes the futility of fretting over who will roll away the stone, when all the while the stone is already rolled away.
If Mary had been asked, when she ran to tell the disciples what she had witnessed, "but how and when did the stone get moved; "was the stone sandstone or granite; was it in one piece; are there any marks on it; did you see a block and tackle discarded off in the bushes?" Mary would have laughed, who knows! who cares! My teacher is alive, and I know now that no grave will ever confine him.
Soon other disciples began to have similar experiences to Mary. They set out with expectations, assumptions, fears, and questions that hindered them from seeing the presence of the risen Lord right away. As they let go of the baggage of their worries, they gradually heard Jesus calling their names. Rarely was it an instant flash of recognition or an all at once experience. Like going out at night to find the milky way, discovering the northern lights or hearing the geese flying back north again, there was a period of adjustment before they could comprehend. I suspect the same is true for most of us. We go out earnestly wanting to meet Jesus, but Jesus meets us usually under different circumstances than we expect.
Lastly, I would like to leave you with a final Easter image of Mary Madeline. I've never pictured her as holding a lily with her meekly kneeling before the risen Jesus. To my mind, she just wasn't into clutching bouquets of flowers. Rather I see her as a woman of energy and action. I see her laughing, going down the road to tell other disciples. I see Mary with her ponytail flying behind, in her Nike running shoes, shouting all the way, "The Lord has risen, the Lord has risen indeed!"
