Series: Next (1 of 7)
Text: John 20:11-18
Title: Who Are You Looking For?
Theme: In this series, we learn what it means to faithfully follow Jesus even if we don’t
have him physically present with us. We continue to ask, “what does faith do?” as a way
of approaching what it means to be a disciple. For Easter, we stand with Mary. For
whom (or for what) are we looking at Easter?
Prayer of Illumination for Easter
Living God, by your Holy Spirit,
open our eyes to see the new light of this day;
open our lips to tell of the empty tomb;
open our hearts to believe the good news;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Text: John 20:11-18
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into
the tomb;
12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one
at the head and the other at the feet.
13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have
taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did
not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the
Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord;” and
she told them that he had said these things to her.
The Word of God for the people of God.
A little boy and his mother, out shopping for Easter candy and decorations, ran into
their minister. Mom and the good reverend exchanged a little chitchat. Then the
reverend looked at little Johnny and asked, “So, what are you up to today?”
“Oh,” Johnny said, “We’re getting ready for Easter!” Seeing a pedagogical opportunity,
the reverend replied “Oh really? Do you know what happened on Easter?”
Little Johnny looked at the reverend a little offended. “Of course I know what Easter is.
It’s when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and they waved palms at him. Then he
got in trouble, and he was beat up and yelled at, and then they nailed him on a cross,
and then he died.”
“Very good, Johnny! What happened next?”
“Well, then they put him in a tomb, and they put a big rock in front of it. But three days
later he got raised and got out of there.”
“Johnny, that’s great!” said the reverend, pleased to know that the Sunday School
curriculum worked so well.
“But that’s not all,” said Johnny.
“Oh,” said the reverend, “what happened then?”
“Well, when the rock got rolled back, and he stepped out and looked around, and if he
sees his shadow there’s six more weeks of winter.”
It’s so great to have so many people in worship today. Thank you for being here. It
makes worship so much more inspirational when there are more people taking part in it.
I’m really glad you came today, and I hope you are, too.
Every time I approach a check out lane, the cashiers always ask the same question, “Did
you find everything you were looking for?” Clearly the expectation is that I’ll answer
“yes,” that I did find everything I was looking for. Because if I haven’t found everything
on my list, I’m still shopping, or I have already given up the search by the time I hit the
check out station. I get a little irritated with the question asked at that point in the
process, actually. I understand what’s meant – and it’s truly supposed to feel like helpful
customer service, but I wish they’d stop it. I’d rather be approached by store clerks
while I’m in the aisles and asked that question – that would make more sense.
Too often, I can wander around certain stores, feeling like a lost child, without the
slightest clue where even to begin to look to find the widget I need to replace the
broken one at home. No one seems to read my frustrated sighs or bothers to wonder
why I’m circumnavigating the store for the 6th time. No one even makes eye contact. It
seems like no one cares whether or not I find what I’m looking for. So when the clerk
asks, once I get to a cash register, if I found everything all right, I have mixed emotions
about how to respond.
Mary Magdalene might have known something about my experience as well. For
several years, Mary followed Jesus, learning and listening, tending to his needs. Mary
was a disciple. Although her commitment may have raised eyebrows, her dedication to
Jesus’ ministry, to Jesus personally, was unmatched. She remained at the foot of the
cross with his mother and a few other women long after his other companions fled. She
courageously witnessed the entire execution, she watched him die. Her arrival at the
tomb on Easter morning was not simply to tend to the Messiah, it was to honor and
care for the body of a friend.
John tells us, ”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!”
Mary asked Peter and John if they knew what had become of Jesus. The two disciples
walked away, giving Mary no indication that they heard or understood her concern. Far
worse than feeling ignored in a hardware store, Mary was left standing completely
alone, completely overwhelmed, next to an open, empty tomb, lost in her grief.
Until Jesus stepped in and asked her, “For whom are you looking?” The Greek verb
Jesus used for “looking,” zeteo, means to seek for, to search out. In the passages using
this same verb in the New Testament, it has a sense of urgency and agency. We find it
in lots of other places in scripture.
Do you remember the story of Zacchaeus? Luke tells us about him (Luke 19):
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he
was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see (zeteo) who Jesus was, but because
he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see
him, since Jesus was coming that way.
“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly.”
Or do you remember the parables Jesus told about looking for lost things? Again, Luke
tells us (Luke 15):
“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of
them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after (zeteo) the lost sheep until
he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls
his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house
and search (zeteo) carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and
neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.”
Many of us know Jesus’ instructions to, “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness”
(Matthew 6) or “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will
be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who
knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7)
All of these instances of looking for something use the same Greek verb, zeteo. When
Zacchaeus climbed the tree searching for Jesus, he had no idea what would happen next,
he just knew he felt compelled to seek Jesus. The pivotal turning point happens not
when Jesus called him out of the tree, but when Zacchaeus made the decision to seek
Jesus.
In the same way, a shepherd did not know that everything would turn out well for all
his sheep when he left ninety-nine of them in search of the one lost one. Nor did the
woman who lit every lamp in her home to turn it inside out know the outcome of her
search for the lost coin. Mary did not know what had become of Jesus, she only knew he
was not in the tomb. She was afraid he was lost until he spoke to her through her tears
and grief. The pivotal decision was made, in each case, not when lost things were found,
but when the search for lost things began.
The outcome of all these stories is transformation. Zacchaeus turns his life around
because Jesus showed up. Lost sheep and lost coins and lost children are found. Mary
and the disciples have the assurance that the promise of resurrection is true and that
Christ claims them still, “But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
It’s the process of pivotal decision-making before knowing the outcome that makes
Easter such a surprise, so delightful. It’s the willingness to hope against hope, to act
before we’re certain, to leap before we look, to live in faith even if we don’t know for
sure how it will turn out that makes Easter, well, Easter!
For what, or for whom, are you looking this morning? For what are you searching? You
came here today partly, perhaps, out of tradition, or obligation, or family pressure. God
bless you. But on a deeper level, whether or not you consciously knew it, you came here
looking for something. What is it?
You made the effort to be here today and that was your pivotal decision. The pivotal
decision is not about making or renewing your commitment to follow Christ or believe
in Jesus. It wasn’t about seeing if I could prove the story to be true this time. The
pivotal decision happened when you decided to seek, to look, to ask, to find that for
which you need.
So, what do you need today? For what, for whom, are you looking? Hope? Love?
Strength? Healing? Calm? Forgiveness? Stability? Justice? Compassion? Joy?
Companionship? Connection? Peace? Truth? Clarity? Purpose? Meaning? Direction?
Answers? Jesus?
Those are all things you should anticipate finding within a faith community along with
authentic and genuine care. Sitting all around you are people who are looking for Jesus,
too. Look around you. There’s the face of Jesus – alive and well. When we care about
one another, when we put another’s interests before our own, when we are willing to
work for justice, peace, hope and love in the world, then we are the hands and feet, the
heart of the risen Christ alive and active in and through our lives.
For whom are you looking today? The joy of Easter morning is found in the pivotal
promise that when you “Ask, [for] it will be given to you; [when you] seek, you will find;
[when you] knock, the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who
seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” When you seek Jesus even at
an empty tomb, like Mary discovered, you will find him. If the door upon which you
knock is the stone covering a tomb, you’ll find it rolled away, open, empty. Death no
longer gets in the way. Jesus is alive, waiting to help you move into a new life, a new
way of being. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
Prayer following Sermon:
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, conquering Savior, risen One, fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we
may be less of what we used to be, and that we may become more of what you want us
to be. Go before us and empower us, in the strength of your spirit, to tell the good news:
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.