Resurrection Sunday – April 4, 2010
John 20:1 – 9
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
In the two verses before this passage begins, we’re given an important piece of information about the burial place of Jesus. John 19:41 – 42 says this:
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
This was a virgin tomb, so to speak. It had never been occupied.
In these few verses, the narration moves quickly from pointing out that “no one had ever been laid” there (19:41), to “they laid Jesus there” (19:42), to “they have taken the Lord out of the tomb” (20:2).
What these followers of Jesus found on that morning was not the body they anticipated finding, but clothing lying in the tomb.
On this Resurrection Sunday, I wonder if there are some deeper meanings for us in these words. John usually does intend some underlying meanings, so we might explore a couple of them.
First, is it possible that all tombs are in some way “virgin tombs”? Might the Gospel lead us to believe that burial places are not permanent abodes?
I’ve already been to more funerals than most people will attend in a lifetime, and I can tell you that everything about a funeral is made to affirm death’s permanence. The quality of the burial equipment (caskets and grave liners), the rites and rituals we follow at the time of death, and the shape of the funeral itself all point to death’s permanence. We’re trying to say to the loved ones of the deceased that death is for real and for good.
If Jesus’ burial is a paradigm for us, though, he used the garden tomb for a period of time, but then was no longer there. It held him for a few hours, but could not hold him permanently.
So the Apostle Paul later wrote about death as the enemy, but then issued this challenge: “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55). Jesus’ “death” was a very hollow victory for death. Jesus’ life extracted the “sting” from death.
I’m also wondering what the “clothes” in this passage represent. Is there a symbol or image behind this account that reports on Jesus’ grave-clothes being left behind in the tomb? His person is not there, but his clothes are there.
Think of what clothes represent for you. What do they represent in our society? More than anything else, clothes mark us and give us a name, an image. They suggest how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others. Surely you will admit that the easiest way to manipulate the opinions of strangers about you is to carefully choose your clothing. It’s the reason so many of us get so uptight about what we wear and how we look. Our image is at stake, and our clothing communicates what we want others to think about us.
Jesus isn’t found in the tomb, but his clothes are. He didn’t choose these clothes; others chose the clothing for him. The clothing with which he entered the tomb said about him: “Dead!” But that estimation of him was wrong.
Clothing never tells the whole story about us. It creates an illusion, a false front. That’s why it may hold across the board that tombs don’t hold people (the soul is luminous and eternal!), but they do hold clothes.
And it may be that when we finally exit the tombs and dead-end spaces in which we live, we’ll have to symbolically leave our own clothing behind.
The term in spiritual life for this “leaving behind” is freedom. What better word could we carry through this Resurrection Sunday than freedom? It’s what I hope for you today as you follow Christ out of the virgin tomb, and as you leave your grave-clothes behind with his.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
In the two verses before this passage begins, we’re given an important piece of information about the burial place of Jesus. John 19:41 – 42 says this:
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
This was a virgin tomb, so to speak. It had never been occupied.
In these few verses, the narration moves quickly from pointing out that “no one had ever been laid” there (19:41), to “they laid Jesus there” (19:42), to “they have taken the Lord out of the tomb” (20:2).
What these followers of Jesus found on that morning was not the body they anticipated finding, but clothing lying in the tomb.
On this Resurrection Sunday, I wonder if there are some deeper meanings for us in these words. John usually does intend some underlying meanings, so we might explore a couple of them.
First, is it possible that all tombs are in some way “virgin tombs”? Might the Gospel lead us to believe that burial places are not permanent abodes?
I’ve already been to more funerals than most people will attend in a lifetime, and I can tell you that everything about a funeral is made to affirm death’s permanence. The quality of the burial equipment (caskets and grave liners), the rites and rituals we follow at the time of death, and the shape of the funeral itself all point to death’s permanence. We’re trying to say to the loved ones of the deceased that death is for real and for good.
If Jesus’ burial is a paradigm for us, though, he used the garden tomb for a period of time, but then was no longer there. It held him for a few hours, but could not hold him permanently.
So the Apostle Paul later wrote about death as the enemy, but then issued this challenge: “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55). Jesus’ “death” was a very hollow victory for death. Jesus’ life extracted the “sting” from death.
I’m also wondering what the “clothes” in this passage represent. Is there a symbol or image behind this account that reports on Jesus’ grave-clothes being left behind in the tomb? His person is not there, but his clothes are there.
Think of what clothes represent for you. What do they represent in our society? More than anything else, clothes mark us and give us a name, an image. They suggest how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others. Surely you will admit that the easiest way to manipulate the opinions of strangers about you is to carefully choose your clothing. It’s the reason so many of us get so uptight about what we wear and how we look. Our image is at stake, and our clothing communicates what we want others to think about us.
Jesus isn’t found in the tomb, but his clothes are. He didn’t choose these clothes; others chose the clothing for him. The clothing with which he entered the tomb said about him: “Dead!” But that estimation of him was wrong.
Clothing never tells the whole story about us. It creates an illusion, a false front. That’s why it may hold across the board that tombs don’t hold people (the soul is luminous and eternal!), but they do hold clothes.
And it may be that when we finally exit the tombs and dead-end spaces in which we live, we’ll have to symbolically leave our own clothing behind.
The term in spiritual life for this “leaving behind” is freedom. What better word could we carry through this Resurrection Sunday than freedom? It’s what I hope for you today as you follow Christ out of the virgin tomb, and as you leave your grave-clothes behind with his.
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