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Thank you for joining us for a sermon from Sojourn North.

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Well, there's a kind of waiting that we all know. It's a kind of waiting that's dissettling to the soul or unsettling to the soul. It's a kind of waiting that after something troubling happens or difficult happens, you're waiting for a phone call or a text. And as you wait, you start to realize no one's going to respond. And you're just left with that. And sometimes we sit with the reality that we wait and we wait, and then we come to the conclusion sometimes good things don't happen. And if you hear on Easter morning, what I want you to remember as we celebrate this service that Easter morning did not start with celebration. It started in the darkness. It started with massive despair and hopelessness. It started with people who were crushed. But then everything changed. When we look at the Easter story, we're looking at John chapter 20 today. John's Gospel is the last gospel written. And it's interesting, he could have written about anybody to focus on in the Easter story and resurrection. But who does he choose? He chooses Mary Magdalene. And so as we read this story today, what I'd invite you to do is let's stand beside Mary and let's see ourselves in her. So with that in mind, I invite you for the stand or to stand for the reading of God's Word. We're going to read John chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. The Apostle John records this. On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb, so she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, They've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they put him. At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. Stooping down he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths, but was folded up in a separate place by itself. The other disciple who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. For they did not understand what the Scripture had said that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying. But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus' body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you crying? Because they've taken away my Lord, she told them. I don't know where they've put him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. Woman, Jesus said to her, Why are you crying? Who is it that you're seeking? Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, Rabbini, which means teacher. This is the word of the Lord. Maybe seated. So the first Sunday, the first Easter, there's not a crowd that John focuses on. There's not a huge celebration. He puts us right next to Mary Magdalene. And this morning, this invitation to come stand with Mary and to find ourselves in her story is one that we need to take. And so we start with the resurrection, but it begins in darkness, which is our first point. Like it says in verse 1, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark. And so this isn't just an add-on that the Apostle John puts. He puts it that it literally was dark, but it was also dark in people's souls because there had been so much destruction that had taken place, so much chaos, so many hopes that were crushed. I like art, and so sometimes I go to art to just help me sense what was going on. And I have a couple of pieces of art that I found. Mary weeping outside the tomb, just sensing her desperation and not even knowing that Jesus is there. And the next one is well, just sensing the depth of her sorrow. She loved Jesus. And so Mary had a story, just like you have a story. And so let's hear a little bit of Mary's story. Who is Mary Magdalene? There are a lot of things that history has said about her, but the scripture says just a few things. And what scripture says, though, is very clear. In Luke 8, it says, Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. So Jesus had delivered her. She had been deeply affected. Jesus brought profound healing and freedom to her. And because of this, she had love and gratitude for Jesus. And so she comes alongside Jesus early in her ministry. The Bible also teaches that she's one of the women who supported Jesus and the disciples' ministry financially. So when you think about Mary, she's not someone who just comes at the end. She's been with Jesus. She's given up everything to follow him. She's not a casual observer. And so when she comes to the tomb, she's heard all the teachings of Jesus. She's seen all the miracles of Jesus. She saw Lazarus raised from the dead, and she is there at the tomb in despair. And that's good news for us today. Because Mary knew Jesus. Mary knew the teachings of Jesus. Yet she was still in despair in this moment. Something happened there, and it's it's powerful. And so my application for you is this. Where do you find yourself today? Here on Easter Sunday. I remember growing up, we didn't have a lot of money, so my mom would sew us clothes. And so there was one Easter in my baby book a picture of a suit that she made, me and my brother, and we had the same suit on. And uh it looked like it'd been sewn. It was something else. But we got we got all dressed up, and I, you know, little kid with a tie on, it's choking you, but it was a clip-on, so it didn't choke you. So that was the brilliance of it. But we go, I don't remember anything about the services. I remember hunting for Easter eggs like the kids will do today, and then because I was slower than everyone, I would only get like two eggs. So then my parents would feel bad and they'd find me stuff around the house and say, hey, you can have this, and it's like a cracker or something. It's like, oh, thank you. But you may come today and people are dressed up, and you look at everybody, you look at Facebook, and you're like, everyone's life is all together. And let me tell you, no one's life is all together. I know something about you. You ready for this? You are desperately insecure. You know how I know that? Because I am desperately insecure. And I'll say this about you, not always, but sometimes. Sometimes it's always for some of us. But the good news is that God meets us in that place. He knows your whole story, he knows everything about you, he knows the number of hairs on your head, he cares for you deeply. And when we see John writing about Mary Magdalene and not some huge celebration, we see the heart of God that it is for individuals. It's for you. It's for me. Where are you in darkness today? Where are you not recognizing Jesus in your story? Not to shame you, but just so you can look in a different way. But the truth is this without darkness, we wouldn't see the light. And the truth is the whole world is in darkness, but they don't realize it. But as that grace comes and we see the darkness, we realize how bright the light of Jesus is and his love. Because the resurrection doesn't just awaken in the darkness, it awakens us in presence. We read this, and I love this, I love how the Apostle John he's writing this, and he talks about him and Peter running to the grave. And what is he? It's like he puts in a little jab. He's like, and the disciple Jesus love outran Peter. He was faster. Yeah, I was faster. So you can take that for what it is. But it's inspired word of God, so it's true. So there you go. But chapter 10, I'm sorry, verse 10. Then the disciples return to the place where they're staying. So they come, they look in, Peter goes in first, and then John goes in. And then I believe because of fear, they go back, because we see in the gospel accounts that they go into a locked room because they're afraid of the authorities. But who stays by the grave? Mary. And God surprises her with presence, and she gets to witness the miracle of the resurrection before anybody else because she stayed. First, she witnesses it through the angels, and they say to her, and this is a tender term, it's not going like, woman, why are you crying? It's dear woman, why are you crying? They know why she's crying, don't they? Sometimes God asks us questions so that we'll sit with them. You can't force insight on people. Has anyone ever tried? It's like, if I can get you with the perfect logical argument, and as a I I consider myself a logician, if I can prove to you logically, then your mind will be changed. Guess how often that works? Very rarely, very rarely. There's something about the human soul that we have to come to an awakening on our own. It is through the power of God, and it is through, God does use us in the midst of it. But just like in the garden when God's walking, he knows where Adam and Eve are.

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He says, Where are you?

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The angels say, Why are you crying? And she gets to proclaim why she is crying. Then the most powerful of all, having told she told the angels why she's crying, having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus. And so she's weeping. Her eyes are filled with tears. We don't know if Jesus' appearance is hidden from her in some mystical sense, or maybe she's just weeping so much she can't even look up. That's not the important point. The important point is she doesn't know who she's talking to at first. So she turns around, sees Jesus standing there, but John says, She did not know it was Jesus. And he says, Woman, why are you crying? And hear the desperation of Mary's voice. Supposing that this was the gardener, she replied, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him and I will take him away. Mary loves Jesus so much. Just tell me where the body is and I'll take care of it, sir. She encounters Jesus without recognizing. Here's a principal again, Mary, who heard all the teachings of Jesus. She was brave enough with the other women to stand at the cross. While the disciples ran for their life, John tells us that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there, and Mary's sister, Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. While everyone else had fled, these brave women, it wasn't that they weren't afraid, but their love had them stand there and witness the resurrection so Jesus would not be alone. And we know John wanders up and Jesus charges him to take care of his mother. And the love, the heart of Jesus is shown. But Mary Magdalene, a brave woman. Brother and sister, sometimes Jesus, and I'll say Jesus is always with us, he'll never leave us or forsake us. He's there, he's here, but we don't recognize him at work. We just think of gardeners walking around. There's a powerful book. I read it in college over and over again during About a Depression. It's a children's book, too. It's C. S. Lewis's A Horse and His Boy. Anyone know the Chronicles of Narnia? Yeah. So it's it's a lesser-known one from the series, but it is my favorite. And in this book, I won't, there may be a little spoiler alert, but it's been out since 1940s or 50s. So if you haven't read it yet, you can't say you're gonna read it tonight. But Shassa's a character in the story, he's a boy who's had a hard life. And he's escaped from his abusive adopted father. And he's riding a horse, and terrible things have happened. Lions have been chasing him, and he's feeling sorry for himself, and he notices as he's walking that something is walking beside him in the dark, but he cannot tell what it is. So he'd been chased by lions, and he fled. He lost, got lost by his party. But then in the midst of this scene, this other, it's called the unwelcome traveler, fellow traveler in the book. This one says, Tell me your sorrows. And this is what Shasta, the boy, says. He talks about being raised by a harsh and abusive man who didn't love him. He talks about being forced to flee from his home. He talks about being chased by many lions. He talks about being separated from everyone he knows. And to all of this, it's a long chain of misfortune. Sorrow after sorrow after sorrow. And then this voice beside him gently interrupts, not with harsh correction, but with tenderness. And he reinterprets Shasta's story. He doesn't take away the pain and say, that didn't happen, it did happen. But Aslan is the lion, he's the Jesus character in the series. Aslan says this the lion who chased you, it wasn't many lions, it was me. I did that so that you would go the right direction and that you would go fast enough to escape the ones chasing you. As a baby boy, this child was put into a raft, a little boat, and Aslan directed that boat to shore so that he would be found. At the end of the day, the loneliness Shasta had felt, he was never alone. His loneliness was real, but he was never truly alone. And at one point, Aslan says, I was the lion. What Shasta thought was random, it wasn't. What he thought was against him was actually for him. What he thought was abandonment was presence. And everything changes when Shasta sees that he was known. Back to our story. Mary. Before Mary understands what happens, she realizes she is known. All it took was Jesus saying her name.

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Mary.

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Mary. And that leads us to our last point. The resurrection awakens us into purpose. From the darkest moment of her life comes the greatest joy. I just, it doesn't tell us in scripture. I just have my holy imagination. I wonder if she thought she was going crazy. She's seeing Jesus. She reaches out, the scriptures say she clings to him, and he says, haven't resurrected the Father yet. So there's some interesting things said. And she said he says this in verse 17, the second half. Go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my father and your father. Do you see the presence there? To my father and your father. We're in the same family. To my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went to the scared disciples and said, I have seen the Lord. And she told him what had happened to her. She gets to be the first witness to the resurrection. Mary Magdalene. And be encouraged, brother and sister, today for this reason. In the world's eyes, she was not prominent, she was not powerful. She is forever recorded in history as being the one who declares the resurrection to the disciples. She is present, she's honest, she's devoted. And I sum up her life like this. Mary Magdalene was a woman who had known deep suffering. Have you known deep suffering? But she was restored by Jesus. Jesus is still in the business of restoring. Mary stayed when others left, and she becomes the first to witness the death that was not the end. Because life always wins. God gives purpose to our stories. The scars still remain. Do you know when Jesus appears to the disciples? Thomas isn't there at first. And he still won't believe because it's too unbelievable. He still has the scars. God uses our whole stories. My depression and my story. He uses that. My suffering. My anxiety. My love for him. The gifts he's given me. The same thing for you. Mary called Magdalene. Her past wasn't disappeared, but it was redeemed. She had been saved from seven demons. What about Peter? The one who runs. He denied Jesus. He's the one that said, I will stay with you till the death, Jesus. What's he do? He bails. That story's not erased, but he becomes the pillar. Peter the pillar. And then we have the apostle Paul, who was Saul, persecuting the church, giving approval for people to be killed, arresting Christians, trying to destroy the faith until Jesus appears to him. His story isn't erased, it's redeemed. That's what the resurrection does, it redeems our stories. There's a movement that we've had during Holy Week. Palm Sunday is disorientation. Because they were celebrating, and then you look over on the side after the triumphal entry, and what is Jesus doing? He's weeping because people would not accept true peace. And we get to Good Friday, and there's judgment raining down. But when death occurs, it's not judgment on those who deserve it. It's on the one perfect, sinless Son of God. And here on Resurrection Sunday, there is an awakening that this was the very plan of God from the beginning of time. And we see it summed up like this, brothers and sisters, that our greatest need is not to be released from our pain. Our greatest need is not to have stuff in this life. Our greatest need was to be connected to the creator of the universe because we were separated because of sin. But because Jesus takes the judgment that was yours and mine, we by grace, not because of anything we could ever do, we don't work for it. We can receive it for free, the free gift of salvation. And if you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus, today is your day. I'd invite you to turn from your sin, the things that you thought would bring you happiness and peace. They've led you over and over again to grief and sadness and despair. Nothing in this life will fill you. Nothing can. God won't let it. Only him alone. And he saves us because he loves us. And all you have to do is turn to him and invite him to be your savior and follow him. No matter where you are today, the resurrection awakens you. It awakens me. And here's your sentence to carry for this week. In the dark, he speaks your name, and everything begins to change. In the dark, he speaks your name. Can you hear it?

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He said, Mary. Jesus said, Fred, Diana, Troy. Bobby Joe. Jason. Tyler, Taylor.

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Kristen. I'm not gonna go through everybody. I was going through it. Someone's pointing. Yeah. I have known you with an everlasting love. I have your name engraved on the palm of my hand. I hold you like a lamb to my heart as the Good Shepherd. And we celebrate this every week. If you don't have a church community, I'd invite you to come hang out with us. We're a low-pressure community. We're not going to force you to do anything. We do have a mug with chocolates to try to tempt you to come hang out more. But we'd love for you to hang out. Get to know us. Beautiful people here. Beautiful people. But we'd invite you to come hang out. But we have two sacred symbols that we celebrate. One is communion, the other is baptism. We get to celebrate both today. So communion is representative of the broken body and the blood of Christ that was shed for us. And if you're a believer here in Christ, I'd invite you to come after I pray and take some juice and some bread back to your seat and just hold it. And I will lead us all to take it together. We'll be having a song with lyrics up. You can let that song wash over you. Or you can sing. But just reflect. Where is Jesus? He's there. He's here. And then we're going to celebrate through baptism as well. But through this all, let us hear this. Jesus knows you and he loves you. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for this amazing story. That this really happened. That Jesus, you did not stay in the grave, that for the joy set before you, you endured the cross, bearing its shame, so that we would not have to. And Father, I pray for those here today as we partake in communion, as we've sat under your word, as we've sung these beautiful songs, as we continue this time of reflection and celebration, that you would move in our hearts, that hope would rule this day. Because you are good and you're for us. We ask you to move in our midst, and we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.