First Baptist Church on Littleton Common    

Came to Believe

John 20:1-18

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene made her way through the dark and still quiet streets of Jerusalem towards the tomb of Jesus.   It had been a stunning and horrific few days for his followers and friends.  The future with Jesus had looked so promising during the Palm Sunday celebration however things went downhill very quickly.   Before they knew it Jesus had been arrested, accused, beaten, crucified and then died on a hill near the garbage area outside the gates of the city.   How could things have changed so quickly – from a time full of life to death on a hill?  How can things change so quickly?  These are the questions that I imagine Mary was pondering as she slowly made her way through the city, very early that morning.  She probably had had little sleep, was lost in her thoughts, overwhelmed with disbelief and was moving at a surreal pace.

Mary came to the tomb.   However when she arrived she was surprised yet again to see that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.    I imagine that she stood there experiencing more moments of bewilderment and confusion before she came too – turned and ran back into town to tell the others.   She cried out to them in a state of disbelief, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”   

Simon Peter and an unnamed disciple begin a race towards the tomb.   The unnamed disciple, probably John, arrives first but stops at the entrance and looks in.  Peter passes him, steps inside the tomb, sees the strips of linen and the burial cloth now folded and laying on the slab.  It is then that John enters, and the text tells us that he saw and believed.  It is as if he came to and everything that Jesus had spoken about all began to make sense.  The light dawned and he believed!   The disciples return to their homes, leaving Mary behind who was still crying and weeping.

Mary was still in a state of shock.   She must have been overwhelmed and watching this in a daze.  However now she ventures over to look inside the tomb and sees that there are two angels there.  The angels notice her tears.   “Why are you crying?” they ask.  Mary still assumes that the body of Jesus had been moved or stolen.   She turns around and sees a man whom she does not recognize – but yet he too notices that she is crying.  He asks her the same question.  “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”    She is still in a daze – not seeing clearly through all those tears - until he speaks her name.  “Mary.”   “Mary.”

And then Mary comes to.  She understands, recognizes Jesus, turns towards him and calls him “Rabboni” meaning teacher.   Mary has her Easter moment when she came to.  She turn and goes back to the disciples a different person – because she has had an encounter with the risen Lord.  She is able to witness to the others, “I have seen the risen Lord!”

Mary came to the tomb.  Mary came to.  Mary came to believe. 

The phrase “came to believe” comes from the second step in the Twelve Step programs.  The twelve step programs offer a journey of recovery and restoration within a very safe and anonymous community.  It is also a very spiritual program.  

The first step states that, “We admitted we were powerless over ….(something such as alcohol, drugs, food, worry or control) …and realized that one’s life had become unmanageable.”

The second step is, “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” 

“Came to believe” is the first three words in the step.  

Once someone realizes that they are powerless over whatever addiction it is they are struggling with then they can begin a process of restoration by “coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” 

People are encouraged to come, come to and come to believe. 

This happened to Mary so early in the morning on that first day of the week.   She came to believe as the events of the week and the day unfolded.  Mary was powerless over the events that had happened; she was confused and dazed and did not yet know what the future held and what the next steps in her life would be.  

But she came - and she discovered the empty tomb.

She came to – and recognized Jesus even through her flood of tears.  

She came to believe that Jesus was alive – and it turned the direction of her life around. 

Many of us could share those same types of moments when we “came to” our senses and really understood what Jesus did for us.  We have different names for that “coming to” our senses.  Conversion experiences - “ah-ha” moments - transformational moments and spiritual awakenings.  Many of us could share those times where we had a spiritual awakening and our life was turned around.  Those are our Easter moments.  Barbara Brown Taylor says that   “Easter began the moment the gardener said, “Mary!”and she knew who he was. That is where the miracle happened and goes on happening - not in the tomb but in the encounter with the living Lord.”    Easter moments where we come, come to and come to believe in the resurrected Lord – still happen and we still tell those stories to others.

We come this morning not just to remember an event of long ago – but to remember that the power, hope and the life of the resurrection occurs when we come to and connect with the Living One.  Easter begins when Jesus calls our name and we can recognize him in a way that changes us.  We turn our lives around and go in a different direction. 

I love this version of the resurrection story.  I have Easter moments when I read and remember that Jesus notice Mary’s tears.  I am comforted to know that Jesus sees us when our hearts our breaking and those we are also able to see him through our tears.  Jesus calls us by name.   I read this week a comment that people who have undergone difficult times, those who are suffering and struggling, can relate to this version of the Easter story in a very deep way – because “like Mary, they can see the risen Christ through their tears.”  We have spiritual awakenings often when we least expect it.  Moments when God just wakes us up!     

Leith Anderson, who is now a minister, tells about a moment of “awakening.”  He says "I was an 18-year-old college student when the measles canceled my summer study program at the University of Minnesota. So I sat behind the wheel of my 1961 Volkswagen Beetle and started the long drive to my parents' home in New Jersey.

"After driving all night, I was finally on the hilly, twisting, tunneled old Pennsylvania Turnpike. It was morning, but I was so tired that I fell asleep behind the wheel.

I was awakened with a jerk, only to see the front of a huge Mack truck directly ahead of me.

I thought I would die.

 But -- it was being towed backwards.[1]

All of us want to move forward in our faith, fully awake to the possibilities of living when we walk with Jesus.    

The Good News is – that this Easter morning you came.  You came to church to be with a Christian community to celebrate life over death.  You came and Christ is here.  Recently I have had a couple of different people share with me how glad they were that they came to church.  One said “I am so glad that I came” and another shared with me how thankful he when he is driving home – that he came.   This morning on the way out of the sunrise service – a woman who I do not know to me that this was her favorite service of all – and that she was so glad that she came.  That feeling of gratitude after worshipping together is because Christ is here today amongst the gathered community.  We can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who loves and calls us by our name – but we also find Christ within the gathered community.  There is a power greater than ourselves  - the body of Christ - that helps us when we share stories, music, tears and laughter, together.  That give us strength and hope.  Paul says that “we are the body of Christ and individually members of one another.”  Thanks be to God for one another.  

And so on this first day of the week you came to encounter the living and risen Jesus Christ.   I pray that you have met him personally and you have met him within this body of Christ.  May you always come to Jesus Christ – because He will never turn you away.   And may your days and your life ahead have many more rich encounters with Jesus Christ who has come – so that we might believe. 

Christ is Risen Christ is Risen indeed!  

Amen.

Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard