04-17-2022 Mary on the Run

Thomas J Parlette
“Mary on the Run”
John 20: 1-18
4/17/22, Easter

                When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance – what did she do?
                She ran!
                Mary ran to Simon Peter and to John, the one referred to as “the one whom Jesus loved.” Then the two men ran back to the tomb, with John outrunning Peter. Don’t be misled into thinking Easter morning was a quiet, reflective time of contemplation. It was anything but! Easter is a morning full emotion, intensity and action!
                Very similar to the morning of a marathon.
                Tomorrow morning will be like that for the runners taking part in the 2022 Boston Marathon. On Monday, April 18th, thousands of runners will line up in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and run into Boston.
                Did you know that exactly 50 years ago today, April 17th, 1972, the Boston Marathon started allowing women to compete. Nina Kuscik emerged from the field to win the women’s race, and all eight of the female runners entered completed the 26.2 mile course.
                The Boston Marathon didn’t officially have a place for women for 75 years. They were underestimated, ignored and shut out – one running coach believed the distance was too much for what he called “fragile” women. But then Roberta Gibb became the first woman to run the full Boston Marathon in 1966. She couldn’t get an official race number, so she hid in the bushes and jumped into the race when it started.
                The next year, Kathrine Switzer registered as K.V. Switzer, not identifying herself as a woman. When she began to run, race officials tried to remove her from the marathon. One of them frightened her, grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to rip off her bib number, but her boyfriend shoved the man to the ground, and she finished the race in about 4 hours and 20 minutes.
                Only when the Amateur Athletics Union accepted women into long-distance running did Boston open the race to women. Now, of course, women are running in Boston every year, as well as in marathons all over the world.(1)
                Just as 1972 was a turning point for female marathoners, Easter morning was a moment of truth for the followers of Jesus. Until then, Mary Magdalene wasn’t mentioned much in the Gospel of John. The only clear report is that there were three Mary’s standing near the cross of Jesus - his mother Mary, his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
                Obviously, the name Mary was very common among Jewish women of that time, and John tells a number of stories about another Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.
                But suddenly, Mary Magdalene slips into the race. Like Roberta Gibb, popping out of the bushes, or Katherine Switzer, running as K.V. Switzer, Mary Magdalene makes a dramatic appearance. Early on the first day of the week, while it is still dark, Mary comes to the tomb. She is the first of the followers of Jesus to make the trip. She arrives before Simon Peter… before John… before any of the other men. Like a woman training for a marathon, she hits the road early, and Mary is on the run!
                What Mary sees is that the stone had been removed from the tomb. This discovery upsets her, since she assumes that grave robbers have been at work. So she runs back to Simon Peter and John and tells them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.” Notice that she calls Jesus “the Lord” and she says that ‘we don’t know where they have laid him.’ By calling Jesus “the Lord” and using the plural “we,” she is identifying herself as part of the community of Jesus followers. So clearly, there were more than 12 disciples, and not all of them were men.
                Beth Moore is one of the most effective Bible teachers in the Christian community, especially among women. She has spoken at big-name evangelical churches, and her studies can be found everywhere. In fact, a leader of the Southern Baptist Convention has said that it would be hard to find a church “where at least some segment of the congregation has not been through at least one Beth Moore study” And this is in a denomination known for its predominately male leadership.
                But now, Moore has been transformed, “The old way is over,” she says. “The stakes are too high.” She is appalled by the sexual misconduct in the world of politics and the church. She is adamant that Christian men should always treat women exactly as Jesus did: “always with dignity, always with esteem, never as secondary citizens.”(2)
                Jesus treated Mary Magdalene with dignity and esteem, never as second-class. And I would argue that that seems to be the attitude of Peter and John here in John’s Gospel.
                In Luke, the women’s story was dismissed as an idle tale, but not here in John. Here, Mary’s story is taken seriously. And now it’s the men’s turn to get in the race. Peter and John race each other to the tomb, with John arriving first. John looks in and sees the linen wrappings, but he doesn’t go in. When Peter gets there, huffing and puffing from the run, he enters the tomb and sees both the wrappings and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head. Strangely, the cloth is rolled up in a place by itself. Perhaps a clue that this was no grave robbery. Why would a grave robber take the time to roll up and cloth and carefully set it aside?
                Finally, John enters the tomb and the gospel says that he “saw and believed.” That is a curious phrase, isn’t it? It leaves us wondering exactly what he saw and what he believed. Perhaps he saw that the tomb was indeed empty, and he believed the truth of Mary’s story. That may have been enough for him at that moment. He heard Mary’s story, and he believed her.
                Now it’s probably true that John did not yet believe that Jesus had conquered death. For us, it seems pretty self-evident what happened. We rattle off our beliefs quite easily. The tomb was empty, Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and gives us eternal life. As modern Christians, all that rolls off our tongues pretty easily. But there are actually a number of belief steps there. For now, John just believes that something happened, alright. Mary’s right - Jesus’ body is gone. But what that means is not clear yet. We need the rest of the story in order to understand.
                At this point though, it’s enough to see the empty tomb and believe. Then Peter and John return to their homes. They are done running, for now.
                But Mary, even though she is weeping, dos not drop out of the marathon. Looking into the tomb, she sees two angels in white and tells them she is weeping because someone has taken away her Lord. A moment later, she turns and sees a man that she assumes is the gardener, and says, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” For Mary, Easter morning begins not with joy, but with weeping and struggle.
                If you are feeling that same way, don’t lose heart. Hang in there, just like Mary did. She is hitting her Heartbreak Hill at mile 20 of the Boston Marathon. It is natural to struggle with doubt and uncertainty, especially when you are being challenged by something you have never encountered before.
                Then Jesus announces himself to her, “Mary!” he says. She turns and says “Rabbouni”, which means “teacher.” In the middle of her pain and struggle, Jesus sees her for who she is. The very same is true for all of us. Wherever you are on the marathon of your faith development, Jesus sees you and recognizes you. All you have to do is respond, and let Jesus be your teacher.
                Finally, Jesus sends her. He says to Mary, “Go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He is saying to her – run Mary, run! The race isn’t over yet. So she does, and she announces to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she tells them what Jesus said to her.
                Mary crosses the finish line as the very first Apostle – a word which literally means “one who is sent off.” Although she had been struggling at mile 20, she flies past mile 26.2, carrying forward the message that she has seen the risen Jesus. Easter is the anniversary of women on a mission, but it’s significance goes far beyond gender. Easter is an invitation to men and women to run together. Whatever our gender, we are people who are equally recognized by Jesus, and equally sent off to be his people in the world. We are the ones sent to announce “Christ is Risen.”
                For more than 1400 years, a Cathedral dedicated to St. Paul has stood at the highest point in the City of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of this great city with so many historic sites.
                St. Paul’s was designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London destroyed an earlier cathedral that stood on the same site.
                Before work could begin on the new cathedral, the remains of the old cathedral had to be cleared away. Once the site had been cleared and the necessary measurements taken, Wren asked a workman to bring a stone to mark the center of the new building. By pure chance, the worker handed Wren part of a gravestone from the old cathedral. On the stone was the inscription RESURGAM, which means, “I shall rise again.”
                Sir Christopher Wren was so moved that the words “I shall rise again” should appear on that stone strictly by chance, that he had the word RESURGAM engraved on the exterior of the new cathedral, where it can be seen today above the great south door.(3)
                Jesus had tried many times to tell his disciples before his death on the cross that he would rise again. But they didn’t understand.
                So today, we are called to announce to the world the bedrock of our faith – “Christ is Risen, He has risen indeed!”
                Would you join me in the Festival of Resurrection printed in your bulletin….

1. Homileticsonline.com. retrieved 4/2/22.
2. Ibid…
3, Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p73.