The Good Shepherd

Based on John 10:11-18

Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a common and rich image for us as Christians. The Bible is filled with references to sheep and shepherds. The great King David was a shepherd. We all know of that beautiful Psalm 23 which begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” In many of the prophetic writings the image of the shepherd and the sheep is used to instruct or to warn the leaders of the people about their role as shepherds of the sheep who are Israel, the people of God. This idea of the leader as a shepherd has found its way into a term we often use for ministers of congregations: pastor. As a pastor, my responsibility is to watch over you as a shepherd watches over their flock. In fact, sometimes I have heard people call a congregation they serve as their flock. I was appointed to be your shepherd by my shepherd, which is Bishop Palmer. He has the responsibility to watch over all the pastors and churches in the West Ohio Conference. By the way, that’s nearly 1,000 churches and over 1,000 pastors. Bishop Palmer has his team of shepherds which we call district superintendents who help him in this challenging work of shepherding so many people. I have to say though that when it comes to watching over pastors it’s less like herding sheep and more like herding cats! This metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep is an old one and is useful in getting a handle on the relationship between a pastor and their congregation.

But this passage read today from the gospel of John is not primarily about my role as a shepherd. That said, the part about the hired hands does get my attention. I pray to God that I not become like those hired hands who are only in it for themselves and are quick to run away if their flock is threatened. That little bit about the hired hands should get the attention of pastors to warn them about their motives and their responsibility. But most of this passage from John is about who Jesus is and his relationship with God and with us, me included, who are the sheep. This is what we are going to focus on this morning. What does this passage reveal to us about Jesus and his relationship with God and with us?

Jesus says about himself, “I am the good shepherd.” What makes Jesus the good shepherd? Ezekiel 34 gives us an answer. This passage is a word from the Lord, given to Ezekiel about God as a shepherd. Jesus, who is God in the flesh, is this shepherd described in this prophetic vision given to Ezekiel.

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the Lord God.

Jesus is also the good shepherd because he is opposite of the hired hands, who do not care for the sheep. These hired hands are also mentioned in the passage from Ezekiel 34, verses 1-6.

The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them – to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

So, as we see, the hired hands do not have a relationship of mutual love with the sheep. They are with the sheep for their own reasons, in order to take care of themselves. They use the sheep as a means for their own comfort while the sheep are not cared for. And when the going gets tough, the hired hands abandon the sheep and leave them to fend for themselves.

What makes Jesus the good shepherd? He is the exact opposite of the hired hands. Jesus seeks the lost. He brings back the strayed. He strengthens the weak. He never abandons them. He lays down his life for the sheep.

To lay down your life for another is an act of love, and obviously not an act of self-interest. The only reason to lay down your life for another is because you love the other and wish to protect or save them from death or harm. Remember this passage from scripture? Paul writes in Romans 5:7,8, “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” Christ died for us so that we might be saved. He proved his love for his flock by laying down his life for their, for our salvation. Jesus has a relationship with us that is so dear, so meaningful, that he laid down his life for us. But also, Jesus laid down his life for us because of his relationship of love with his Father. Hear again vv. 14, 15 from John 10: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” Then skipping down to vs. 17, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” When Jesus speaks of being known, he isn’t just talking about having head knowledge. He is talking about an intimate knowing, the kind of knowing gained through intimate relationships. It’s not about knowing a name or recognizing a face. It’s about knowing how someone ticks, knowing their hopes and dreams, knowing their heart. This is what makes Jesus the good shepherd. He has an intimate knowing of you and me. He knows our hearts. His love for us is deep, just as his love for the owner of the sheep, the Creator God.

Jesus demonstrates his love by laying down his life for us. But he also took his life back up. Did you catch that in vs. 17? “The Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” Jesus not only took his life back up again, he ascended back to heaven as a human. To this very day, Jesus is still fully human and fully divine. What is more, Jesus died so that he could destroy the power of death. If death and sin could be characterized as the wolf that attacks and kills the sheep, Jesus allowed himself to be killed by the wolf in order to defeat the wolf. Jesus did not run from the wolf. Nor did he kill the wolf. Jesus tricked the wolf. He allowed himself to be killed by the wolf only to come back to life, showing the wolf that the power of death has been broken. Death no longer has the final word because of Jesus.

This is why the Father loves the Son. Jesus obeyed the command of his Father, to lay down his life in order to defeat the power of the wolf. Jesus cares for and protects the sheep that belong to God. Jesus and the Father are of one mind, in a perfect interdependent relationship. Jesus was not a martyr. He was not a victim. He lay down his life of his own free will, just as God wanted him to do, because they are on the same page. Out of love for his Father and for us, Jesus freely laid down his life, only to take it up again, defeating the power of the wolf.

This passage from John also describes who comprises the flock. Jesus says there are other sheep that he must gather. This is probably a reference to us as Gentiles. There is to be one flock comprised of Jews and Gentiles. This is about a unified people of God which includes everyone, not just one ethnic group but all the nations gathered around one shepherd. There are not many flocks with many shepherds. There is only one flock and one shepherd. And the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. They listen to his voice in prayer, in the reading and hearing of the scriptures, in reflecting on his life, and in that still small voice that speaks to us in our times of trouble.

Finally, Jesus is the good shepherd because he completely identifies with his sheep. He did this by becoming a sheep himself. Our good shepherd is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The shepherd is a sheep. God became human. God became one of us so that we can see, and hear, and follow our shepherd in a language we can understand. In a way, God became a sheep so that God could speak sheep language! God became a sheep so that we can recognize God and follow God, the one who leads us to green pastures and still waters, the one who feeds and restores our souls, the one who leads us along paths of righteousness, and eventually to that land on the other side of the river where we will dwell to the ages of ages.

Show Me

Based on Luke 24:36-49

Missouri is famously known as the “Show Me” state. There are many stories about how Missouri got this moniker. The one that is most likely the right story, according to Missouri’s government website, goes like this:

The most widely known legend attributes the phrase to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903. While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia. In a speech there, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me." Regardless of whether Vandiver coined the phrase, it is certain that his speech helped to popularize the saying.

“Show me, don’t tell me”, “seeing is believing”, these are often heard phrases that point to our need for evidence to support what people are asserting to be true. Certainly, for those who are skeptical and don’t want to be duped, they are unwilling to take things at face value. They want to see the data. They want to go and see for themselves. They want video evidence. Especially if the stakes are high, we want claims and assertions to be backed up with facts and evidence. Nobody is going to trust a Coronavirus vaccine just because a drug maker says it is effective. There needs to be a lot of evidence to support that claim before the vaccine is injected into the arms of millions of people. People are found guilty in court trials based on evidence, not on what someone claims. There must be proof to back up the accusation. But what do you do if you know something to be true, but you can’t produce any evidence to back up your claim? I shudder to think of how many perpetrators of assault have never been held to account for their actions because there was no evidence to back up the claim. Sometimes truth claims have to be believed without visible evidence. You have to take it on faith and trust that what the person is telling you is the truth. That’s easier for some to accept than others.

Let’s consider what the disciples of Jesus had to contend with after Jesus rose from the dead. They were blessed with physical evidence that demonstrated that Jesus truly was alive. He showed them multiple ways that it really was him and not a ghost. He had them see the wounds in his hands and feet. He let them touch his body. He ate a piece of fish in their presence. This was clear evidence that he was alive again. The disciples did not have to take the word of the two disciples who said that they were with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. All the disciples could see for themselves physical evidence that it was true. Jesus is alive.

Having seen for themselves that Jesus is alive, Jesus now opens their minds so they could understand the scriptures that were written about him in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. Which scriptures were these? Oh, how I wish Luke had been more explicit! Which scriptures did Jesus point to when he opened the minds of his disciples? Maybe from Moses Jesus pointed to Numbers 21:8-9, “So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.” Or Isaiah 53, “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and by his bruises we are healed.” Or Psalm 22, “Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn.” Whatever the scriptures were, we see a process unfolding. Jesus had pointed to the scriptures while he was with them but they didn’t understand. They had to have some experiences first. They had to experience Jesus being arrested, beaten and executed. They had to endure the grief and confusion of the immediate aftermath. They had to experience Jesus standing in their midst as the resurrected Christ. It was after these experiences that they were ready for Jesus to then open their minds so they could come to an understanding of what the scriptures said about Jesus. Experience is followed by or informs the interpretation of scripture as their minds are opened to a clearer understanding.

The disciples are now equipped. They have had these experiences. They have seen with their own eyes and touched with their own hands the resurrected Christ. They have received from him these scripture based teachings that demonstrate who Jesus is as the messiah who suffered and then rose on the third day, the one from whom repentance and forgiveness of sins can be obtained. Once they are empowered with the Holy Spirit, they will begin in Jerusalem and then move out into the rest of the world proclaiming Jesus and witnessing to their experience. And from generation to generation this witness of the resurrected Jesus has been passed down up to this very day. Billions of people on earth currently believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that in his name there is forgiveness of sins. 

Still, there is that nagging need for evidence. Jesus gave the disciples physical evidence of his resurrection. He enabled them to understand the scriptures. But the disciples could not bring Jesus along with them when they went out to proclaim the message. Jesus left. For people to believe the disciples they are going to need some kind of evidence to back up these claims without having the evidence, which is the physical presence of Jesus. How will they do this? How will they be able to back up their claims to a “seeing is believing” world?

I think this passage from Luke gives us a few clues of the evidence that the disciples will have available to demonstrate the truth of what they are saying. The good news for us is that what evidence they had to use is also available to us as we continue this work of bearing witness to the resurrected Jesus.

I talked about this last week, but notice that when Jesus appears in the midst of the disciples the first words he speaks are, “Peace be with you.” Jesus is the giver of peace. In the midst of confusion and fear, Jesus offers inner peace. This is one of the pieces of evidence that the disciples carried with them as they went about their work of bearing witness to Jesus. They experienced much persecution and abuse. But when faced with great resistance, they possessed an inner peace that Jesus bestowed on them. It was that inner peace that provided evidence of the truth they were proclaiming. And if the many stories of the martyrs are to be believed, in which Christians were tortured and killed in many creative ways, and faced their suffering and death with an inner peace and calm, that is some powerful evidence.

So, Jesus gives the disciples peace as evidence, and he gives them the capacity to forgive sins. I immediately think of how Jesus models this when he is on the cross and looks down at his accusers and says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That capacity to forgive is also a powerful form of evidence. When the disciples contended with their own suffering and abuse as they gave witness, they had the capacity to offer forgiveness to their accusers and abusers. Evidence of the risen Christ.

There is one more piece of evidence that Jesus supplies to the disciples that is hinted at in verse 49. Jesus said to them, “I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” What is it that the Father promised? The Holy Spirit, which descended on the disciples as they were gathered together in that room on Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the resurrection. The presence of the Holy Spirit within the disciples is a powerful demonstration of evidence. The book of Acts catalogues many of the ways that the Spirit provided evidence to support what the disciples were saying about Jesus. For us, we can look to the fruits of the spirit as the ways we can provide evidence of at least our trustworthiness: the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

This is the big point that I want to make. Our mandate is to bear witness to the good news that Jesus is the messiah and that in his name there is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. The evidence we possess to support this claim really lies in our character. Lacking the physical evidence of Jesus walking around with us, the only way our witness can be convincing is by a demonstration of our trustworthiness, our personal credibility. We build and demonstrate that credibility in our capacity to maintain inner peace in the midst of chaos, the capacity to forgive people, and the demonstration of the virtues that manifest the Holy Spirit. These are the evidences that we provide to support our claim that the resurrected Christ is the savior of the world.

There’s another popular phrase coined by St. Francis that perhaps many of you have heard: “Preach the gospel at all times, use words only when necessary.” So much wisdom in that statement. For people to come to belief in the gospel they have to experience it first and then be given the language to unpack and understand what they have experienced. It’s the same process that we see in this passage from Luke. The disciples had to experience for themselves the grief of losing Jesus and the joy of seeing Jesus with them again before they could comprehend the words about Jesus in the scriptures. Experience leads to openness and understanding. This is the method that we are called to embody in our daily lives. In a way, our lives become the evidence of the truth of Jesus. We become known as followers of Jesus by our love. And as people experience us, and the Spirit stirs up openness to receive our words, we may yet have that necessary opportunity to speak with words the good news that in the name of Jesus there is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God along with the promise of everlasting life in our own resurrected bodies.

It Starts with Trust

Based on John 20:19-31

My heart goes out to those disciples. They found themselves in a situation that must have felt way over their heads. Three years before they were leading ordinary lives. But now they find themselves gathered together behind locked doors in fear of their lives. And they weren’t sure what their next move would be. Should they lay low until people moved on from the scandal of Jesus who claimed to be the messiah but now was crucified and buried? Should they make a break for it and scatter to the winds, live in hiding? It must have been a scary time.

But then things got even more intense. Jesus appears before the disciples. Locked doors would not keep him from standing in their midst. He makes it clear to them that although he can just show up, materialize out of thin air, that he is not a ghost. He still possesses a body. He eats fish in front of them. He really is alive! And then he says to them, “Just as the Father sent me, so I send you.” And he breathes on them, just like how God breathed on Adam and Eve back in Genesis, making them alive. Something deep is happening here, like some kind of new creation or something. The Spirit of Life is being blown into their bodies. The disciples are commissioned and empowered to go out into the world to continue what Jesus started. Of course, as we learn, Thomas wasn’t there for some reason and missed the whole thing. He had to deal with the rest of the disciples talking about all this and feeling frustrated that he missed it. It didn’t help that he refused to believe them unless he could see Jesus for himself. That’s showing quite a lack of trust in his fellow disciples. Did he think they were making all this up? Why would they lie to him? Well, after all, what happened was a mind-blowing experience.

There is so much here to take in. In fact, there’s too much to include in one sermon. I want to zero in on what Jesus did to prepare his disciples to get out of that room with the locked doors and into a world that was not safe to continue the work of reconciling the world to God.

First, let’s consider the mission that Jesus gives the disciples. He said to them, “Just as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” This is where the link is made, where the disciples are invited in to join this great work. What again did the Father send Jesus to do? John 3:16-17 gives the answer. God loved the world so much that God gave the Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. God sent Jesus into the world to save the world. How is the world saved? Those who believe in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. It is all about believing that Jesus is the Son of God. Those who believe are reconciled with God. Their sins are forgiven. This is the big mission. God wants to be reconciled with humanity. The reconciliation is made possible by believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

So, while Jesus was going about his life, he demonstrated in all kinds of ways that he is the Son of God, from turning water into wine, to raising Lazarus from the dead, to rising himself from the dead and now standing before the disciples eating fish. And the next week, when Thomas sees Jesus for himself, he falls to his knees and says, “My Lord and my God!” That’s the confession of truth that saves, that forgives sins and reconciles people with God, believing that Jesus is who he says he is.

Now, he is going back to heaven. Somebody has to keep talking about Jesus, bearing witness to who he is so that others can come to belief and be reconciled with God. That’s where the disciples come in. Jesus is commissioning them to go and tell what they have seen and heard. But it’s not just about testifying. When Jesus gave them the commandment to love one another just as he loves them, he said the world will know they are his disciples because of their love for one another. It’s more than talk. It is their love for each other that will draw people in. Talk and action go together in this work they are being commissioned to do.

Now that all sounds great. But the disciples are going to need some assistance because the world behind those locked doors is not a safe place. Jesus himself was mocked, beaten and crucified. It would be foolish for the disciples to go out there and think that people will come around and accept the truth of Jesus. To be honest, most people will likely be like Thomas. If you can’t show me Jesus, then all I’m hearing is a delusion or a made up story. No one is going to take these disciples seriously. How will anyone believe them? On its face, what Jesus is commissioning them to do seems like a fool’s errand.

Jesus supports them in two ways. First, he breathes on them the Spirit of God. The very Spirt of God now dwells in their souls. It’s like they have been born anew. They are qualitatively different because of the indwelling of the Spirit. They are possessed by the Spirit just as Jesus is possessed by the Spirit. In a way they have become colleagues with Jesus. They are possessed with the same Spirit, the Spirit of Life. This is what is going to make it possible for them to get out there into a disbelieving world and witness to what they have experienced even as they love one another as Jesus loved them.

The second thing Jesus does is give them peace, that is, an inner peace. When Jesus gave them peace, that does not mean that their lives are peaceful. Far from it. These disciples, when they leave the room with the locked doors, are going to be as lambs among wolves. They will experience a lot of abuse. Many of them will be killed. All of them will be laughed at and not taken seriously. There will be nothing peaceful about their lives. Yet, they will have an inner peace in the midst of the chaos. Maintaining that sense of inner peace, as they love one another, and as they bear witness to what they have experienced of Jesus, this all adds up to a powerful witness. And although there will be plenty of people who will not believe what they are saying about Jesus, there will be those who will be moved by their peacefulness, their love, and their unrelenting firmness that what they are saying is true. Those people who will come to believe in Jesus because of their witness, not because they saw Jesus for themselves, will be blessed indeed.

How did you come to believe in Jesus? Who bore witness in your life? I was blessed to have so many people early in my life tell me about Jesus. But what they told me wasn’t just information. It wasn’t about making arguments to prove to me that Jesus was real. No, they told me about their relationship with Jesus. They spoke of how with Jesus they found meaning in life. They spoke of how much it meant to them to know that they were loved by Jesus. They spoke of a relationship. And those who told me of their relationship with Jesus were people who had a peaceable spirit about them. They were loving people. These were people that not only told me about Jesus, they loved me. They made me feel safe, accepted, wanted. As I look back on my life, it should not be surprising that I came to belief in Jesus as a teenager because by that point I had been told enough times about Jesus from people who loved me that I could trust that what they were saying about Jesus was true. I didn’t have to see Jesus for myself because I trusted those who were telling me about Jesus.

Isn’t that how we come to believe in Jesus for ourselves? At the root of it, for us to believe in Jesus we have to trust that what people are saying about Jesus is true. We have to trust them. We have to have faith that Jesus is not a fairy tale or a made up story but that there must be something to it because people have been talking about Jesus for 2,000 years. And when people who love us, who we trust, tell us about their relationship with Jesus, that can be convincing. That’s how the work continues: when people who have come to believe in Jesus bear witness to their belief with a peaceable spirit and in the context of expressing love for others.

Here is our challenge. As we make our way in this world, can we commit to be a people known for our love? It seems to me that before we can have a platform to tell others about Jesus we need to first establish that we are safe and trustworthy. It is by cultivating that peaceable spirt in the midst of the chaos of life that helps set us up as trustworthy witnesses of Jesus. It also requires expressing love. People are more apt to trust you, listen to you, believe you, if you are a loving person. And people can tell if your love is authentic or if you are being manipulating or fake. Love can’t really be faked. So, you see, for us to continue the work that Jesus started, we have our own work to do. We need to nourish the capacity to hold an inner peace in the midst of chaos. We need to authentically love others. All of this lays the foundation from which we may have the opportunity to bear witness to how we have come to believe in Jesus.

Just know that this is not something you are meant to do by yourself. The disciples were gathered together when Jesus came. He didn’t sidle up to each disciple one by one. He commissioned while they were gathered together. This is a group activity and not a solo effort. We are gathered as a community of faith so that we can help each other develop the capacity to receive that peace that Jesus gives us, and so that we can assist each other in loving well. The work of bearing witness to Jesus is something we do together. Yes, you will have one on one conversations. But never forget that you belong to the community of believers. We are all in this together.

With Gratitude to the Three Women

Based on Mark 16

They were ready to go, these three women. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had gathered together the spices to anoint Jesus’ body as soon as they had the chance. They could not do it on the Sabbath because it is a form of work. So, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, they could do nothing but wait. Wait for the sun to rise on the first day of the week so that they would have light to work with as they made their way to the tomb. But as they walked to the tomb early that morning, they tried to figure out together what to do with a big obstacle to fulfilling their loving act of devotion. There was a very large stone that blocked their entrance to the tomb. And they were not confident that they would have enough strength to move the stone themselves. They could use the strength of some men. But where were they? Where were the men disciples? They were in hiding, afraid of being associated with Jesus for fear that they might also be arrested and maybe even crucified themselves. Whether the women didn’t think they would be arrested or their devotion to Jesus outweighed their fear of what might happen to them, they were determined to make their way to the tomb to properly anoint Jesus’ body. And when they got there, they would just have to do their best to get that very large stone moved out of the way.

As they approach the tomb, they are surprised to find that the stone has already been rolled back. Have some of the male disciples come to move the stone for them while under the cover of darkness? At any rate, that must have been a relief to them to have that obstacle removed so that they could enter the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body.

As they enter the tomb they are surprised again. They find a young man sitting on the right side. He is dressed in a white robe. Who is this? Let’s pause for a second and focus on who this young man is. First of all, our tendency is to identify this young man as an angel. After all, in the other resurrection stories we find in the gospels it is an angel that is identified as the one who talks to the women. But Mark is very precise with his details. He does not identify this figure as an angel. He specifically identifies him as a young man who is dressed in a white robe. As we remember about Mark, he is very sparse with his details. Each detail is weighed with meaning. So, if this is not an angel but a young man, who is he and why is he sitting inside the tomb?

If we follow the story back to the garden when Jesus was arrested, we find another young man. In 14:51 we read, “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.” Who is this young man? Could he be the same young man sitting in the tomb who is now dressed in a white robe? Let’s think about this white robe. The last time we heard of a white robe was when Jesus was on the mountain with Peter, James and John and was transfigured before them. His linen robe became so dazzling white, whiter than anyone could possibly bleach it. Is this young man dressed with a similarly dazzling white robe? What is going on here?

I have heard it explained to me that the young man who ran off naked is actually a parable. This figure represents all the disciples who fled from Jesus. The young man running away naked symbolizes the disciples running off and leaving behind their loyalty to Jesus. They left behind their identity as disciples, symbolized by the simple linen tunic. But now, after the resurrection, the young man who represents the disciples is back and he is dressed in the white robe of Jesus’ transfiguration. The young man represents a symbol of hope, of restoration. The disciples who abandoned Jesus will return to Jesus and take on his dazzling white robe. The disciples who fled will become the ones who represent Jesus in the world. Those who abandoned Jesus will draw close to Jesus again.

Now, back to the story. The women walked into the tomb expecting to anoint Jesus’ body. But instead, they see a young man dressed in a white robe sitting where Jesus’ body is supposed to be. Another surprise. What is going on? They are alarmed. But the young man tells them not to be alarmed. He knows that they are there to anoint the body of Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. The young man is the first to announce, “He is risen.” The young man says to them, “Look, he is not here. See, he is not where they laid him.” If you think proclaiming that Jesus was alive again was shocking, the next thing the young man says is possibly even more shocking than that. The young man says to the women, “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” OK, we have to pause here. What the young man has said is so heavy with meaning that this one sentence could become a sermon in itself. Let’s just break this down very quickly.

First, he tells them to go tell the disciples and Peter. Why is Peter separated out? Some have said that if you compare the sin of Judas and Peter that Peter’s sin was the worst. At least Judas was honest about and acted on his decision to abandon Jesus. The other disciples merely run away to avoid being arrested. But Peter, the one who often took the lead in proclaiming his devotion to Jesus, the one who, when Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet, wanted his hands and head to be washed as well to demonstrate his commitment to Jesus, when faced with the question of whether or not he was a disciple, publicly stated three times that he was not. His betrayal was the most disappointing and hurtful. When Peter did it and realized how he utterly failed Jesus, he broke down and wept bitterly. Peter’s betrayal was so profound that he was no longer even classified as a disciple. He was expelled from that group. Even still, after the resurrection, Peter will be welcomed back into the community. His betrayal, as painful as it was, does not keep him out. He will be restored into the community again. What amazing grace. No matter how far someone runs away from Jesus, there is always the possibility for restoration.

Second, the young man says Jesus is not going to Jerusalem. He is going to Galilee where the disciples first met Jesus. They will see Jesus again back where it all began. It’s like they will be starting over in their relationship with Jesus, except this time they will be relating to the resurrected Jesus. Something new is about to begin. Their fellowship will be renewed back where it all started. Sometimes, for restoration to take place with Jesus, you have to go back to where it all began when you first came to know Jesus in your life, to recapture and reclaim that first love.

But third, this is the shocking part. The young man told these women to go and tell the disciples all of this. Women are given the instruction to be the first to announce that Jesus had risen and that he would see them again in Galilee. For women to be entrusted with this kind of information and the responsibility to declare it to the men flips on its head how men and women related to each other in those days. These women are being empowered to do what only men were allowed to do. Women would never be entrusted with this type of information. To now go and tell the men what is happening and what they need to do…this crosses all kinds of gender norms of the day. Would they have the courage to speak up? Would the men even listen to them? This direction to go and tell is way out of the comfort zone of these women.

A trip to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body has now become something completely different. What the women thought they would be doing has completely gone in a different direction that they would have never conceived. Understandably, when the young man tells them not to be alarmed that goes right over their heads. They are freaking out. And, just as the disciples did in the garden, the women flee from the tomb. And they don’t tell anyone anything. Who would believe them? What does all this mean? We can’t underestimate the impact this experience had on these women. The emotional impact is massive. Wonder, fear, hope, anticipation, alarm, anxiety, all these feelings. It is all so confusing. They are going to need some time to sit with this experience, talk it through, and figure out what they are going to do. This has rocked their world and they will not be able to move on until they can process it together.

Mark’s gospel ends here. What happens next? I’m thinking of Paul Harvey who would tell these amazing stories about people we know. He will identify their name at the end of his account and then say, “And now you know the rest of the story.” It’s almost like Mark could have added that line to the end of his gospel, “And now you know the rest of the story.” Obviously, at some point the women were able to clear their heads, step into their authority, and tell the men what happened and what they need to do. And the men heard them and believed them. They got the message to Peter. They went to Galilee. They saw Jesus. The community was restored. The disciples symbolically put on their dazzling white robes and represented Jesus in the world. And 2,000 years later, here we are. Today, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and the promise that one day we will all wear our dazzling white robes in that land on the other side of the Jordan with all our kin who have gone before us, let us give honor and gratitude to Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, who together were able to confront their fear and with courage complete their assignment, to be the first to declare to the world, Jesus is risen.