Philip Yancey, a Christian author and editorialist,
calls it one of the most terrible words in the English language. He tells
of how he first learned its meaning when he was a young boy and he was
finally allowed to own a kitten. His mother wasn’t a cat lover so the
thrill of having a small cute kitten wasn’t lost on young Philip. When they
first got it, only weeks old, it was solid black except for white marks on
the ends of each paw. It’s as if each of his paws had been gently dipped in
a can of white paint when he was first born. So, of course Philip would
call his new pet Boots.
His mother was adamant that this new member of the
family would not be allowed inside the house, nor was it allowed to go
outside until it could learn to defend itself. So for the first number of
weeks he and his brother would play with the little kitten on their screened
in porch where it lived in a cardboard box, among wood shavings, and a comfy
pillow. Philip’s mom even set a day when they would be allowed to finally
take it outside. The day was Easter.
Philip couldn’t wait for Easter to come, but the day
finally arrived. He went to the obligatory morning worship but as soon as it
was over he tore off his tie and ran home to release his kitten into the
beauty of a Georgian spring day.
He will never forget how little Boots sniffed her first
blade of grass, batted the flower of a daffodil, and stalked its first
butterfly, jumping up into the air to catch it only to miss and bring
laughter to Philip and the rest of his family.
Soon a crowd began to gather, kids from the
neighbourhood began flooding into the back yard for a pre arranged Easter
egg hunt. And then it happened. Friends from next door came over and they
left their gate open, allowing their pet Boston terrier Pug to run free and
bound into young Philip’s yard. As soon as Pug saw the little kitten, he
growled, pounced on the defenseless kitten and with its powerful jaws
grabbed it by its neck.
Philip went into shock and the kids all tried to
distract Pug, making threatening motions, but it was no use. Pug shook that
little kitten like a discarded old sock.
Then finally the dog let it go, Philip went running to
its side. Little Boots was still alive, mewing softly, but essentially she
was a pile of fur and blood. Philip was hoping that it had survived the
attack, but when the parents came they made it clear - the kitten’s neck had
been broken. “She’ll never make it,” they said.
And though he couldn’t articulate it at the time Philip
learned the meaning of the most terrible, ugly words in the English language
– irreversible. 1
Irreversible. We all know the word. We’ve all heard
it before. I’ve heard it many times as I’ve stood at the bedside of a
parishoner suffering with cancer. The family is gathered round – “The doctor
says the cancer has spread, it is irreversible.”
I’ve heard it from doctors about our son Mark – his
autism is irreversible. I’ve felt its darkness as I’ve stood at the foot of
my father’s casket and realized that he really was gone. You’ve all been
there. You all know that most terrible, ugly word in the English language –
irreversible.
The early disciples knew the word – they certainly
lived under its dark grip. They had been there when our Lord was arrested,
some of them witnessed the trial, the flogging, the bitter mockery as the
soldiers beat Him and called out, “Hail, King of the Jews”. They all
watched Him carry His cross to Golgotha and some were present as He hung on
the cross with blood dripping from His open wounds.
They knew that Jesus had died and that Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus had wrapped the body according to the custom of the
day and placed Him in the garden tomb. It was done. It was over. The
death of Jesus was irreversible.
But out of love for Jesus some women came to the tomb
early on that first Easter morning – we read this in the gospel of Mark.
John focuses on one in particular - a woman named Mary Magdalene. In the
gospel of Luke we read that Jesus had cast seven demons from her (Luke 8:2)
so her love for Him was strong. She is one of many women who supported
Jesus and the disciples “out of their own means.” (Luke 8:3). She
was present at the cross and was now going to anoint the body of Jesus.
When she sees that the stone has been removed from the
entrance to Jesus’ tomb, she immediately runs back to tell Peter and
presumably John what has happened. They run to the tomb and see the grave
clothes as lying as they would – undisturbed – as if someone had just risen
out of them.
It is one of the great proofs of the resurrection. The
linen strips with which the body had been wrapped was lying there - it
proves that no one stole the body. It proves that Jesus didn’t unwrap
Himself, leaving the linens strewn all over the tomb. No, the picture that
John conveys here is one of a risen body and the linen strips lying there
like a deflated air mattress.
The two disciples go home. But Mary comes back to the
tomb and in verses 10 through 18 we trace her story and as you do, you see
that she does what many of us do in the face of all that irreversible.
First, she weeps. Not just with tears trickling down her face, the Greek
word here suggests sobbing. She is convulsed with her weeping.
It is natural for us to cry in the face of what is
irreversible, when we have lost that which is precious to us, when we have
missed an opportunity we were hoping for, when we are faced with great loss.
With the irreversible, we cry.
When she sees the angels, they ask her, “Woman, why
are you crying?” The question is not sarcastic or mean-spirited. It is
to suggest that she has nothing to cry about.
Mary doesn’t understand the fullness of the question
and she responds by telling what she knows – what she has seen, what she has
heard and what she feels and says, “They have taken my Lord away and I
don’t know where they have put him.”
In the face of all that is irreversible, we not only
weep, but we often despair. We lose all hope. It’s like someone has turned
off all the lights and we can’t find any light to banish the darkness. Our
spirits can only hear the negative and our everything seems to pull us down,
down, down. We not only weep, but we despair.
Then Mary turns and sees someone she believes to be the
gardener. He asks her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it that you
are looking for?”
And she responds again. Not only is she weeping, not
only has she fallen into despair, but she does what many of us do in the
face of all that is irreversible – she tries to fix the situation herself.
And she says, “Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have put him and I will get him.” It is quite a
suggestion – she is willing to go get the body of Jesus - even if Jesus was
slight and weighed only 125 pounds say, we know that His body was wrapped
with at least 75 pounds worth of spices (John 19:39). That would put the
body at over 200 pounds. And she’s offering to carry it back to the tomb?
What is she doing? She’s bargaining. She is willing
to do anything in her power to change the situation. In the face of all
that is irreversible she is willing to do what it takes to change the
situation.
And we do the same. We make bargains, we plea, we do
our utmost to try to change that which appears to be unchangeable. The most
terrible, ugly word in the English language is irreversible.
But there is another story told in these verses, woven
in with Mary’s story is the story of Jesus, risen from the dead. And for
each of Mary’s reactions to all that is irreversible, our Lord has a
response.
Throughout this text we are able to see God at work –
changing the unchangeable, bringing hope to the hopeless, reversing what
seems to be irreversible.
I often imagine myself walking through the corridors of
heaven and coming to a large door with the word Library written on
it. It will be my favorite room, filled with books to read that I didn’t
have time to read while here on earth. And I was thinking as I was
preparing this sermon if we walked into the library of heaven and went to
the reference section and found the dictionary of heaven, the dictionary
that lists all the words of God’s vocabulary and begin reading through the
letter “i” – and read through all the words beginning with the letter “i” in
God’s vocabulary – eventually we come to “iris”, “Irish”, “iron” “irradiate”
(to throw light upon a subject) “Ishmael”
And we stop and we say, “Wait a minute there is a word
missing.” We read it again, “Iris, Irish, iron, irradiate, Ishmael.” And
we realize that the most terrible, ugly word in the English language is not
in God’s vocabulary. The word irreversible is not in God’s dictionary.
And so for Mary’s tears she is given a fresh vision of God at work.
The angels ask Mary, “Why are you crying?” Jesus asks
her the same question, “Why are you crying?”
It’s not that Christianity is against crying. It’s not
that we Christians should never cry and always have a stiff upper lip.
Nonsense – it is that in the midst of our tears in the midst of what we
think is irreversible, Mary is invited, we are invited to see that God
hasn’t stopped working. God is at work and bringing about that which we
often think is impossible! For our Lord is far above, unconstrained or
unhindered by the rules of this world. He is able to bring life out of
death – irreversible is not a word in His dictionary. Jesus rose from the
dead!
The old call to worship – you know it – the pastor
says, “He is risen”, and the people respond “He is risen indeed.” It is a
shout of triumph, it is a shout that proclaims that our God is greater than
the evil of this world, our God is greater than what we perceive to be
unchangeable.
Our God is able - He is able to bring hope to the
hopeless, He is able to change our mourning to joy. He is able to wipe away
our tears and brings shouts of gladness. He is able to transform that which
is beyond our reach and ability to change. He is able to reverse the
irreversible – for Jesus is risen from the dead. Irreversible is not in
God’s dictionary.
Jesus goes on to ask Mary another question – “Who
are you looking for?” She responds much the same way as she did before
and Jesus responds by saying her name as only He can say her name – full of
grace and truth and Mary recognizes Jesus. In that moment it’s clear that
while Mary is looking for a dead body, God who knows nothing of the word
irreversible gives her a risen Saviour.
But more – the story of Mary’s meeting with the Jesus
is told with such brevity that it is necessary to add certain parts,
particularly the motions of Mary, to understand it.
Toward the end of their encounter when Jesus said,
“Mary” she recognized Him. She cried, “Teacher!” Then though John does not
say so, she must have rushed to Him impulsively and thrown her arms around
Him for sheer joy of having Him back again. For Jesus’ next words are, “Do
not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to
my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to
my God and your God.”
Mary had expected Him to be the same old Jesus, as well
she might. But although He was the same, He was different too. They had
known Him in the flesh, but now they were to know Him that way no longer.
He had risen from the dead and was now to reign as Lord over the emerging
church.
Mary came looking for a dead body – she found a risen
Saviour. She came looking for her old friend – she found a reigning Lord.
It all adds up to one glorious truth - Jesus is alive.
And that makes all the difference. In the midst of our
tears we are called to remember that God is at work. In the midst of our
despair over what we think is irreversible, we are called to realize that
Jesus is alive. Not just that He has risen, but that He is alive.
I listened to a sermon this week and the preacher
happened to be preaching on Acts chapter 1 and he paused at Acts one verse 3
where it says that after His resurrection Jesus gave His disciples many
convincing proofs that He was alive.
And the preacher asked, “Why did Jesus have to give the
disciples many convincing proofs that He was alive? How many convincing
truths does a person need? Wouldn’t it be enough to stand in front of them
and say, “BOO!” I’m alive. Why many convincing proofs? I would suggest
that we are so conditioned to the irreversible that we forget that
irreversible is not in God’s vocabulary. And what you and I need to know,
what the disciples need to know is not that Jesus was not only raised but
that He is alive. It is one thing to believe that He was raised. It is
another thing to believe that He is alive.”2
Jesus is alive and it changes everything – it changes
everything that we know about irreversibility. When you face a crisis that
seems irreversible, you remember Jesus is alive and if He is alive then all
things are possible through faith in Him.
When you face a diagnosis that you never planned and
all hope seems to be gone, you remember Jesus is alive and you know that
when God promises that He will in all things work for the good of those who
love Him, it can be and will be realized in your life.
When your heart is broken and your spirit takes a dive
into that sewer called despair you remember that Jesus is alive and it
really is possible for God to turn our mourning into gladness; and give them
comfort and joy instead of sorrow as He promises us in Jeremiah 31:13 –
because Jesus is alive!
When you face the death of loved one and are separated
from them, you remember that Jesus is alive and you realize that death has
been swallowed up in victory, The sting of death is sin, and the power of
sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because Jesus is alive. All of God’s promises
are realized for us in Jesus Christ and are affirmed by the fact that Jesus
is alive.
And you realize especially that Isaiah 61, which our
Lord Jesus Christ went to the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of his
ministry and began to read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to
release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And as He rolled up that scroll and gave it back to the
attendant He said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
We realize that because Jesus is alive, the rest of the
Isaiah 61 is a reality in our lives – because He is alive He is able to
comfort those who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow
on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of
mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
The word irreversible is not in the vocabulary of
Almighty God. So in the face of what we think is irreversible we often weep,
but God calls to us wipe away our tears and see Him at work. He is able to
bring change.
In the face of what we think is irreversible we often
despair, but God calls us to hope and understand that Jesus is alive and has
reversed the great irreversible, death itself. In the face of what we think
is irreversible we often try to fix the situation ourselves, but God calls
us to trust Him – it’s called faith.
The truth that Jesus rose from the grave, the truth
that Jesus is alive, the truth that God is able to reverse the irreversible
is staggering, it is far above us, it is far outside the realm of logic and
reasoning. It is beyond anything that we have ever experienced
But we are called to take the step of faith, to trust
that our God is able. To believe that it is true. That if God is God, He
really is able to do that which is outside the realm of our experience, our
thinking, and what we think is completely irreversible.
Philip Yancey writes, on the day that Jesus was
crucified, “His disciples had let the relentless crush of history snuff out
all their dreams. Two days later, when the crazy rumors about Jesus’
missing body shot through Jerusalem, they couldn’t dare to believe. They
were too conditioned to the irreversible. Only personal appearances by
Jesus convinced them that something new, absolutely new, had broken out on
earth. When that sank in, those same men who had slunk away in fear at
Calvary were soon preaching ot large crowds in the streets of Jerusalem.”3
Do you dare believe? Do you dare believe that Jesus is
alive and that God is able to change the unchangeable? Do you dare believe?
It is the dare that Jesus gave to Mary as He told her go and tell the other
disciples that the Lord is risen.
Do you dare believe? Do you dare believe
that irreversible is not a word in God’s vocabulary?!
Copyright MBC and Rev. Dr. Tom Cullen -
April 2009
-
An essay entitled, “Easter
Sunday” in a book entitled Epiphanies. Edited by Eugene H.
Peterson and Emilie Griffin. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003)
138-140.
-
In a sermon by Charles
Price “The Continuing Work Of Jesus Christ, Acts 1:1-5” Series I
of “Acts I, The Birth of the Church”.
-
Ibid., 144.
