Easter Day, Year A
March 31, 2002
Christ Church, Covington

“Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’” (Jo. 20:18).

It’s a consistent part of the Gospel testimony that women were among those who first discovered the empty tomb, and who were first confronted by the challenge of Resurrection faith. Details differ from Gospel to Gospel, but Mary Magdalene is always mentioned, as she is in our Gospel today. Mary discovers the tomb with the stone rolled away; she summons the disciples who examine the evidence; finally, and most importantly for John’s Gospel, she has her own encounter with the living Lord.

Mary’s role in the Easter story before us today is to remind us of the difference between seeing and believing. When Mary encounters Jesus, she has examined the empty tomb; she has seen two angels sitting where the body had been laid. Yet when she sees Jesus himself, she thinks he is the gardener. Mary Magdalene, of course, knows Jesus well, so this is no case of mistaken identity. The vital point made here is that it is one thing to see the evidence, in tomb and angels and in the Lord’s own person; and yet it is another thing to believe. It is belief that makes Mary a “witness” to the Resurrection; that is, one who offers testimony that Jesus is alive, not dead.

Of course, there is a connection between seeing and believing. The empty tomb and the encounter with the risen Lord are vital parts of the Resurrection faith for the first disciples. If it were not important, it would not have happened. Our Gospel reminds us of the vital connection by recounting the experience of John the Beloved Disciple, who outruns Peter in order to be first at the tomb. Summoned by Mary, he enters after Peter, sees the grave clothes, and believes: not that the tomb is simply empty, but that Jesus has risen from the dead. There is a connection between John’s experience, between what he sees, and his belief that Jesus has risen from the dead.

Yet there is still a difference between seeing and believing. All the evidence in the world cannot guarantee that a person will come to belief. Christianity is not a mathematical proof; nor are members of the Church made by deduction or by clever disputation. We do not become witnesses in this way. What lies between seeing and believing is faith, trust in God’s faithfulness to us in Christ. What lies between seeing and believing is our faith that God will not abandon us, even in the face of disaster and death. What lies between seeing and believing is our faith that God is trustworthy and life giving. It is Resurrection faith that moves us from seeing to believing; both for John and for Mary Magdalene, it is Resurrection faith which makes believers out of those who have seen what has taken place.

Faith does not happen without a context. In the story of Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene, it is relationship that brings about faith. At first, Mary thinks that the Risen Lord is the gardener; they even converse together without recognition. Yet when Jesus calls her by name she recognizes him for who he is. She calls him “Rabbouni”, which John’s Gospel translates as “Teacher”. All well and good, yet it is “teacher” in a diminutive form, expressing affection and relationship. The move from seeing to believing, in this case, rests upon relationship with Jesus Christ, the sort of relationship which is part and parcel of faith.

Seeing is not the same as believing, which itself calls for faith built upon relationship. Resurrection faith, our belief that God raised Jesus Christ from death to life and that he will raise us too, leads to proclamation of the Good News. Mary’s experience on Easter Day is not a private one, but one she shares with the disciples. Faith built upon relationship, relationship with Jesus Christ, is something meant to be shared in community.

It is Resurrection faith which brings this community here this morning. Our prayers and our sacraments, our good works and our outreach to the needy in our community, are woven into faith and relationship. In all of it, we celebrate our faith that Jesus is alive, not dead; our faith that God is trustworthy and life giving, and that he will not abandon us to the power of death. There is a difference between seeing and believing, and it is this faith and the relationship which roots it which makes us something more than spectators. It is this faith in and relationship with Jesus Christ that makes us believers, and witnesses to the Resurrection.

The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.

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