Easter – Year B – John 20:1-18
The evidence is clear—Jesus is not in the tomb. The stone has been rolled aside and the grave cloths removed. Mary Magdalene is the first to arrive, and the first to report it to the others: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Isn’t it intriguing that faith in this risen one grows from the small dark seed of not knowing? In a time of awe-inspiring uncertainty, not knowing is to be expected; it is simply the nature of post-resurrection life. Soon enough will come assurances and creeds, and the growing need to appear to be always certain. But we can benefit from returning to this morning of mornings, when all things are born anew, when not knowing wins the prize. What we do not know frees us from the weight of certainty and makes room for belief. Not knowing allows us to see with new eyes.
Where is Jesus? How might he appear to us? We do not know. Is he gone for good, or nearer than we might guess? Mary sees a stranger, a gardener perhaps, who asks her why she is weeping. She answers, because we do not know where he is. Then he says her name, the sound of his voice awakening her sight. Teacher! Beloved! Such will be our own fresh encounters with him when we begin to notice how little we know. Yet how very close we might be even now to the source of all knowing. With the eyes of faith we can begin to see him alive in our world.
What are you particularly aware of not knowing these days? Is it helping you catch sight of the resurrection?
