Thursday 23 April 2009 Teaching

DAILY BYTE

We read yesterday about a seemingly ordinary gardener in the resurrection story. Now, awesomely, out of his mouth comes Mary’s name. He calls his own by name, helping her see who he is and helping her remember who she is – a student, a friend, a grace-saved sinner, and a follower of the risen Lord.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves when it takes us forever to find Jesus outside the tomb because even Mary Magdalene had to turn around twice before she noticed him standing right beside her. Perhaps though, she really wasn’t paying attention the first time, when she thought she was ‘just’ speaking to a gardener. But when that gardener speaks her name and she realizes that she’s hearing the voice of someone with whom she has a significant relationship, she gives him her full attention.

And she responds with a breathtaking word. Rabbouni, she says. Teacher. Even after the Lord’s death, he continues to teach that his love and presence are not defined by any human boundaries. His Spirit goes where it will and often inhabits the most surprisingly ordinary and downtrodden people and places. This teacher teaches us about where his body has been laid. It has been laid in the body of Christ – the community of people who believe in him. It is not enough simply to proclaim that the Lord is risen, and it is not even enough to go looking for where he is. It is the Christian journey to look for Jesus with one another!

The pastor theologian Jim Wallis says that “The purpose of God in Jesus is neither simply to redeem individuals nor merely to teach the world some new thoughts. God’s purpose in Christ is to establish a new community that points to the plan of God for the world.”

I heard a story about a preacher once who had been preaching sermons for a lifetime. Everywhere he went, in everyone he met, he saw a story for a sermon. But this preacher finally retired, and he found he could not stop looking at the world as though everything and everyone in it was an illustration of the gospel. And so, he wrote down sermon after sermon in books, even though no one would ever read them.

He had developed gospel resurrection eyesight to view the world, and he couldn’t stop seeing it and sharing it that way. I have since learned that this is what happens with sermon writing – that’s why you’re always taking a risk when you become friends with a preacher! You never know when your life might show up in the pulpit on Sunday…. But in all seriousness, I’ve found that what the eyes of my heart are seeking in the world shifts slightly when I am writing a sermon. And I have begun to wonder why my sight is not in resurrection mode all the time? Why am I not constantly seeing and acting out Jesus’ resurrection in the community?

This scripture calls us all constantly to be standing in the presence of the teacher, Jesus. When Mary leaves her teacher, she leaves with Jesus’ commandment not to hold onto him but instead to go to her brothers and tell them what she’s seen. She is told to keep her resurrection glasses on all the time and to witness to her community the surprising way she has seen the risen Lord. Are you striving for resurrection eyesight all the time?

GUIDING SCRIPTURE – John 20:16-18

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…

Start up a conversation with someone with whom you would not normally speak. Talk and listen to someone whom you normally overlook or even look down upon. Approach them with a singular thought in your heart: Where do I see Jesus in them?