Weekly Liturgy : April 14-20
- Matt
- Apr 14
- 4 min read
John 20:1-18
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.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
REFLECTIONS
Thoughts from Matt:
"I have seen the Lord!" This exclamation of Mary Magdalene echos through the text, but for a while she and the other disciples of Jesus didn't see. The passage starts out with Mary's observation that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb entrance. This caused a panic and a frantic run back to Simon Peter and John (the other beloved disciple). Where had Jesus' body been taken — and it must have been taken, right?!
These disciples were looking for Jesus, but didn't find him there. As the story unfolds, we learn that they find evidence that Jesus had been there: graveclothes inside in the tomb. Why was Jesus not where we expected him to be? Should we blame the Romans or the Jewish religious leaders? Or maybe some other disciples had stolen the body for some reason?
Mary was deeply saddened by her unresolved search for Jesus. Then comes along the gardener. "Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" he asks. And then Jesus says her name, "Mary!" — and she immediately recognizes Jesus for who he is, not a gardener, but her teacher and friend.
I do not doubt Mary's sincerity and love for Jesus. She was making meaning from the information available to her. But I wonder: how often do we, like Mary, look for Jesus in places he has already left? And, how often do we fail to see Jesus where he, in fact, is? In this compelling, grueling, complex work among the least of these, our unhoused neighbors, am I seeing through a lens of hope, life resurrected, or am I more focused on tending graves?
Greg Finke, in his book, Joining Jesus on His Mission, simplifies it this way: “In order to join Jesus on his redemptive mission all we really have to do is: enjoy people; and seek, recognize and respond to what Jesus is already doing in the lives of the people we are enjoying.”
PRACTICE:
Outward Mindset Application
Make a point of greeting everyone you meet by name today. Introduce (or re-introduce!) yourself if you need to.
Non-Violent Communication Question of the Week
Sometimes the information that we are seeking and that we desperately want is right in front of us. In this story, Jesus patiently waits for Mary to realize that the person she seeks is standing right in front of her.
Oftentimes we use information as power to lord ourselves over others — “I know something you don’t know!” How can we use knowledge and information to empower and encourage others?
Pathways toward Centeredness
Enjoy a walk around your neighborhood. Take some time to stop and smell the roses or other blooming flowers as you pass by.
Questions for Reflection
Where have you seen Jesus recently — in your work, at home, in the community?
“Liturgy” refers to the habits and practices humans use to form community around shared values and meaning. At Church at the Park, we desire to be a community of practice, becoming people who see the world through the eyes of the marginalized, making meaning through the lens of pain and suffering, and committing ourselves to non-violence in a wounded world. This weekly email is intended to provide pathways of practice for becoming the type of people who embody these values.
Many of our reflections on each week's text come from other sources. If you're interested in reading more of what inspires us, here our our two favorite reflections.
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