Whom are you looking for?

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 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. 

When Mary comes to the tomb looking to take care of Jesus’ body, she comes expecting to find the dead. Jesus had done so much good.  Jesus had been the very embodiment of what God would be like in human form.  If there was anyone who deserved to be saved from suffering and a cruel death, it was Jesus.  How could God allow such a thing? How is it that God doesn’t just step in and set the world straight? Are we like Mary,  expecting to find the dead?

In the passage we read from the book of the Acts of the Aposles, Peter has had an aha moment.  “Truly, God shows no partiality.”  Everyone can experience the love and fullness of God.  There are no favored children.  There is no heavenly pecking order.  All are loved and all are known.  It is a little intimidating.  God shows no particality.  God is with all who have reverence for God and do what is right.  Peter didn’t say that God loves only those who are called Christians.  It is not the name we carry but the way we live.

As Christians, our faith unlike others, declairs that we can and even must change through out our life if  we are to reach our fullest potential.  Other faith practices might say a person is stuck with life the way it is because of current or past wrongs.  Other family members and even some friends might want to keep us in boxes  with lables limiting us. Maybe some of us have even put those lables on ourselves.  How can we seek after God and the fullness of God’s love when  we have put a cap on our own growth? How can God continue to be revealed to us when we have limited the possibilities of revealing who we are to ourselves?

Mary came seeking the dead Jesus.  She did not find the dead Jesus in the tomb. But here is the real question: would she find the living Jesus in your heart? 

Have you welcomed in that love poured out to you? Just as the water was poured over Keana at her baptism this moring, that love of God is poured out to each of us.  It is not something you have to earn.  It is not something you can understand.  It cannot be bought or sold.  It is like the air all around us.  Like the air we breath, it is here with us.  It is everyday stuff.

This Christian life does not promise us that we will be spared suffering.  Actually, not even Jesus escaped suffering or death. Neither will we.  And, we have the living God to be with us.  We have the love of God to help us find our way through the dark valleys.  And with God, we have the promise of Easters in our own life.  

When Mary meets Jesus on Easter morning, things have changed.  He cannot be with her or the others as he had before.  Now, his Spirit would be with them always.

Who are you looking for? A god who pulls strings and sets everyone on a path with no free will?  Not the God of Jesus.

Are you looking for a God who brings trouble upon those who do wrong and blessings on those who do right? Still, not the God of Jesus.  Those who have blessings are to share them.  Those who have trouble are to overcome them with the help of those who have blessings. and so on.

Whom are you looking for?  Open your hearts.  Let the living Christ in that you may be the love of God to yourself and to others.