Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from John 20:1-18
on Easter Sunday, March 29, 2008, at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas
"Where's Elvis?" is a book game for small children. The object of the game is to find Elvis who is hiding inside a crowded background. Mary Magdalene played a similar game when she went looking for Jesus' bones on Easter Sunday. The risen Jesus was standing right in front of her in a dark tomb. Yet Mary had a hard time recognizing Jesus. Even today some people are still searching for Jesus' bones. Let's join them in the quest for Jesus' bones. We may find Jesus bones in this sanctuary today. I think we will.
Some archaeologists claim they have found the long buried bones of Jesus of Nazareth. They presented their findings in a Discover Channel movie called The Lost Tomb of Jesus. They say the bones of Jesus were hidden in a 2,000-year-old tomb containing 10 boxes of bones. In Jesus' lifetime, the dead were left to decompose in a cave. Their family collected their bones a year later and buried them in bone boxes called ossuaries. Archaeologists found inscriptions on 6 of 10 ossuaries in a single tomb. The inscriptions indicate a 1 in 600 chance these are the bones of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and a son, along with other family members.
Not everyone is convinced the archaologists have found the bones of Jesus. Professor Kloner of Hebrew University, who oversaw the original archaeological dig 27 years ago, says: "It makes a great story for a TV film, but it's completely impossible. It's nonsense. Since Jesus was from the Galilee area, there is no way he and his relatives would have had a family tomb in Jerusalem." Hebrew University archaeologist Leah DiSegni said because the names found in the tomb were among the most common names of the day it would be like finding a tomb with the name "George" on it in the future and people asserting that it must have been the tomb of President George Bush." It's not only professors who doubt the movie, an informal survey by the Kansas City Star newspaper found 73% believed the tomb of Jesus had not been found. Moreover, 73% of people surveyed said their faith would not be effected even if the movie were true. The archaologists behind the movie, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, represent a long line of people going all the way back to Mary Magdalene who have been searching for the bones of Jesus.
Mary's quest for Jesus bones started on the first Easter Sunday when she went to search for Jesus' body. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?" This is where our Western culture is today. We are weeping because we can't find the bones of Jesus. We do not know how to connect to Jesus Christ in our scientific, postmodern world. We went to college with a pre-rational faith and met professors who challenged us to move toward the rational level of faith. Many of us left behind our childhood, pre-rational faith, in college. But what so many people fail to understand is that there are levels of Christian faith beyond the pre-rational level.
There is a rational level of Christian faith and even a post-rational level of Christian faith. Many of us left behind our pre-rational view of the world when we became adults. We no longer find meaning in playing the "Where's Elvis" game in regard to Jesus. The challenge and opportunity of our Christian journey is to evolve into ever deeper and broader levels of faith. Centering prayer helps Christians move onward toward their next level of faith. Centering prayer acts as an escalator that takes us toward our next level of faith development.
Mary Magdalene moves to a higher level of faith on Easter Sunday. She enters Jesus tomb at the rational level of faith and leaves the tomb at the post-rational level of faith. She stands inside a tomb looking for Jesus' bones. She sees someone with her in the tomb and she thinks it must be the gardener who tends to the tombs. "They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him. Jesus was standing right there in front of her but she didn't see him. Let me reread that line from the Gospel According to John so we don't miss it. This is the key sentence: "Jesus was standing right there in front of her but she didn't see him."
Jesus asks her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?" She was weeping because she couldn't recognize Jesus even when he was standing right there in front of her. She was talking to him but could not perceive that is was Jesus. Sadly, we have the same problem. We search for Jesus bones in the Bible, in the church, and in the sermon. Yet we don't recognize Jesus even when he is standing right in front of us because, like Mary Magdalene, we don't expect to see Jesus standing right in front of us. We come to worship on Easter but we don't expect to meet Jesus here. Jesus is standing right here in front of us and we don't recognize him.
Where's Jesus? He is right here in front of us if only we have ears to hear him and eyes to see him! We have seen Jesus in the scuttling feet of the children coming down the aisle for the children's sermon this morning. We have heard the voice of Jesus as the choir as they sang the anthem. Jesus will be riding with us on our way home. When we look at ourselves in the mirror we will see him. According to the Apostle Paul, you and I are the body of Christ. We are the bones of Jesus! Look around this sanctuary this morning and you will see the bones of Jesus inside the people in these pews. We are the body of Christ. We are the bones of Jesus. Look at your own hands and you will see the hands of Jesus. Look at the face of the person who is sitting beside you and you will see the face of Jesus. We are the bones of Jesus!
All our lives we have been on a quest to find the bones of Jesus. All this time he was standing right there in front of us and we didn't recognize him. We never expected Jesus would be hiding within the bones of our family, our friends, our neighbors but he is there. We never imagined we could look beneath our skin and find the bones of Jesus. Yet we are the bones of Jesus. We don't need an ancient ossuary or a movie to help us find the bones of Jesus. For those with eyes to see, he is right here in our very midst today. Mary Magdalene is not the only person who has seen the risen Christ. You and I have seen him too on this Easter Sunday!
Now if tomorrow or the next day we forget what the risen Christ looks like; Or if we begin to doubt we really saw Jesus here this morning, all we need to do is go stand in front a mirror and look ourselves squarely in the eyes and say, "These are the eyes of the risen Christ!" Let's recognize in ourselves the risen Christ for truly he lives in us. When we look with the eyes of our heart we see the risen Christ in ourselves and others. Then we go share the good news! We have found the bones of Jesus! All this time they were right in front of our eyes: Hidden beneath the cloak of our skin.
We are the bones of Jesus. So let's use Jesus' bones in our hands to heal the sick. Let's use Jesus' bones in our fingers to feed the hungry. Let's use Jesus bones in our feet to bring good news to the poor. We do these things because that is what Jesus did with his bones when he walked this earth 2000 years ago. And that is what Jesus wants to do with our bones today. Jesus is counting on us to do these things for him and take care of his business on earth. We are the only bones he has available now. We are the bones of Jesus on earth some 2008 years after that first Easter Sunday. Let's use his bones in our bodies to continue his work in the world today.Today we join Mary Magdalene, saying: "I have seen the Lord." And we do what Mary Magdalene did on Easter Sunday. We go tell everyone we know the good news that we have seen the risen Christ. For now we have completed the quest for Jesus bones and discovered a great mystery. We have learned the post-rational truth that we are the bones of Jesus. We are the body of Christ. Let's live into that truth in the Easter season that spreads before us. We are the bones of Jesus!
