Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
John 20:1-18
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 I was a kid, I had this incredible oversized 3-D postcard of the Shroud of Turin. The thing was awesome. If you held it to the light one way, you simply saw the shroud. But if you moved your hand just a little, that shroud morphed into an artist’s rendering of the face of Jesus, inspired by the photographic negative of the shroud. But if you continued to move the card around, at a certain angle the eyes of Jesus would pop open. I used to spend hours flipping back and forth, watching those eyes open and close, and all the while wondering: “What if I am looking at the very face of Jesus the moment he was resurrected?”
Believers in the Shroud’s authenticity maintain that this image of the broken body of the Lord was not made by traditional artistic methods. Instead, they say, it was burned onto the cloth at the very moment of Resurrection, by a sort of radiation, a side effect – if you will - of all that life-giving glory. For these folks, the shroud is physical proof of that most foundational of all Christian beliefs – that Jesus of Nazareth, crucified by Rome, dead and buried, was raised to new and everlasting life by the power of God.
For some folks, the shroud is a way to try to grab hold of Jesus. It’s as close as we will ever come to an eyewitness account. Because there were no eyewitnesses. All four Gospels agree on that frustrating point. As theologian Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “Whatever happened in (that) cave happened in the dark. …it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air.”[1]
So, no one saw the actual event. But lots of folks claimed to have experienced the aftereffect. Ordinary people, like you and me, at different times and in different places claimed to have had encounters with the strangely elusive figure of the Risen Jesus, who appeared and disappeared at a moment’s notice. We don’t know exactly what they experienced, but whatever it was, it was enough to change their lives forever. Whatever it was, it started a world-wide movement that has become the world’s largest religion. Whatever it was, it was enough that 2000 years later, here we are, in this room, to celebrate it.
Very early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark; while it was dangerous and unseemly for a woman to be traveling alone, a grief-stricken Mary Magdalene went to the grave of Jesus anyway. And when she got there, she noted with fear that the stone had been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. And so, she ran to tell Peter and another unnamed disciple that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. That was, of course, the most logical conclusion.
Upon hearing this distressing news, the three of them ran back to the graveyard, but they found it exactly as Mary had told them. The tomb was indeed empty, except for the grave clothes that had been neatly folded and placed on the slab, and the face cloth that had been carefully rolled up. No grave robbers would have taken the time to do that. So, this was really perplexing to all of them. But the notion of Resurrection never crossed their minds.
Well, the two men, being men, needing to be in charge, decided that they had to do something, anything about all this! So, they ran off to tell all the others. They ran off… and left Mary by herself, still unaccompanied, still grief-stricken, and in the dark.
Suddenly, from the shadows, a stranger appeared. This startled Mary at first. But then she decided it might be the gardener, there to start his day. So, she asked him if he knew where the body of Jesus had been moved to. “Please tell me,” she begged, “so that I can go and take the body myself.” -- As if she could.
The gardener did not answer her question. But he did speak. And when he did, he simply said her name: “Mary.” And that moment was like a flash of lightening. Because she knew that voice. And the gears of her mind began to turn. And the well of her hope began to bubble up. And the impossible somehow seemed possible. “Rabbouni; my teacher” she cried. And she grabbed hold of him, hanging on for dear life. But then Jesus made this odd statement: “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.” “Do not hold onto me…” “
And in that odd statement, an essential truth about the Resurrection is revealed. Because it cannot, in any tangible way, be grasped or held onto. Resurrection cannot be codified, or put in a box, or neatly explained, or proven in a debate. Because Resurrection was then, and always will be, an experience.
So, was it real? Was it a dream? Was it the hallucination of a sleep-deprived, grief-stricken woman? I don’t know. But whatever happened to Mary Magdalene in that garden was enough to convince her that Jesus was alive. And so, she ran back to where the men were now hiding in fear for their lives. She ran back, no longer chained by her grief and fear. And Blessed Mary Magdalene preached the first Easter sermon ever, boldly proclaiming: “I have seen the Lord.”
If only she’d had her iPhone with her! If only Jesus had whispered the secret word in her ear that only he knew. If only he had given her something to prove that she wasn’t crazy. But all she had was her experience. All she had was that flash of the Resurrection. And quite frankly, that is all anyone has ever had.
Flashes of the Resurrection. Maybe that’s why you came to church today, seeking a glimpse of the Risen Lord. The great 20th century Swiss theologian Karl Barth said that the reason people come to church on Easter or any other Sunday is the unspoken question that clings to our hearts and our minds: “Is it true?”
In a marvelous short story entitled “See the Other Side” author Tatyana Tolstaya writes beautifully about the human struggle to believe what we hope is true, but cannot prove. She writes: “We hear whispers, but we plug our ears; we are shown, but we turn away. We have no faith: we’re afraid to believe, because we’re afraid that we’ll be deceived. We are certain that we’re in the tomb. We are certain that there’s nothing in the dark. There can’t be anything in the dark.”[2]
Except that the Risen Jesus is so often found in the dark. What proof do I have? Only my own experience. For you see, there have been moments in my own life when I have been so low. Like you, I have buried those I love. Like you, my health has faltered. Like you, my relationships have crumbled. Like you, I have lost my job. Like you, I have sometimes lost my faith. And like you, I have indeed doubted this incredible nonsense about a dead man being raised to life.
But… time after time after time, at the very edge of despair, in the deep darkness of doubt, in the midst of grinding grief, there is this Presence that knows my name. It’s always just a flash - but it’s enough for me to say with Mary: “I, too, have seen the Lord.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor
[2] The New Yorker, March 12, 2007
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
John 20:1-18
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 I was a kid, I had this incredible oversized 3-D postcard of the Shroud of Turin. The thing was awesome. If you held it to the light one way, you simply saw the shroud. But if you moved your hand just a little, that shroud morphed into an artist’s rendering of the face of Jesus, inspired by the photographic negative of the shroud. But if you continued to move the card around, at a certain angle the eyes of Jesus would pop open. I used to spend hours flipping back and forth, watching those eyes open and close, and all the while wondering: “What if I am looking at the very face of Jesus the moment he was resurrected?”
Believers in the Shroud’s authenticity maintain that this image of the broken body of the Lord was not made by traditional artistic methods. Instead, they say, it was burned onto the cloth at the very moment of Resurrection, by a sort of radiation, a side effect – if you will - of all that life-giving glory. For these folks, the shroud is physical proof of that most foundational of all Christian beliefs – that Jesus of Nazareth, crucified by Rome, dead and buried, was raised to new and everlasting life by the power of God.
For some folks, the shroud is a way to try to grab hold of Jesus. It’s as close as we will ever come to an eyewitness account. Because there were no eyewitnesses. All four Gospels agree on that frustrating point. As theologian Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “Whatever happened in (that) cave happened in the dark. …it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air.”[1]
So, no one saw the actual event. But lots of folks claimed to have experienced the aftereffect. Ordinary people, like you and me, at different times and in different places claimed to have had encounters with the strangely elusive figure of the Risen Jesus, who appeared and disappeared at a moment’s notice. We don’t know exactly what they experienced, but whatever it was, it was enough to change their lives forever. Whatever it was, it started a world-wide movement that has become the world’s largest religion. Whatever it was, it was enough that 2000 years later, here we are, in this room, to celebrate it.
Very early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark; while it was dangerous and unseemly for a woman to be traveling alone, a grief-stricken Mary Magdalene went to the grave of Jesus anyway. And when she got there, she noted with fear that the stone had been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. And so, she ran to tell Peter and another unnamed disciple that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. That was, of course, the most logical conclusion.
Upon hearing this distressing news, the three of them ran back to the graveyard, but they found it exactly as Mary had told them. The tomb was indeed empty, except for the grave clothes that had been neatly folded and placed on the slab, and the face cloth that had been carefully rolled up. No grave robbers would have taken the time to do that. So, this was really perplexing to all of them. But the notion of Resurrection never crossed their minds.
Well, the two men, being men, needing to be in charge, decided that they had to do something, anything about all this! So, they ran off to tell all the others. They ran off… and left Mary by herself, still unaccompanied, still grief-stricken, and in the dark.
Suddenly, from the shadows, a stranger appeared. This startled Mary at first. But then she decided it might be the gardener, there to start his day. So, she asked him if he knew where the body of Jesus had been moved to. “Please tell me,” she begged, “so that I can go and take the body myself.” -- As if she could.
The gardener did not answer her question. But he did speak. And when he did, he simply said her name: “Mary.” And that moment was like a flash of lightening. Because she knew that voice. And the gears of her mind began to turn. And the well of her hope began to bubble up. And the impossible somehow seemed possible. “Rabbouni; my teacher” she cried. And she grabbed hold of him, hanging on for dear life. But then Jesus made this odd statement: “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.” “Do not hold onto me…” “
And in that odd statement, an essential truth about the Resurrection is revealed. Because it cannot, in any tangible way, be grasped or held onto. Resurrection cannot be codified, or put in a box, or neatly explained, or proven in a debate. Because Resurrection was then, and always will be, an experience.
So, was it real? Was it a dream? Was it the hallucination of a sleep-deprived, grief-stricken woman? I don’t know. But whatever happened to Mary Magdalene in that garden was enough to convince her that Jesus was alive. And so, she ran back to where the men were now hiding in fear for their lives. She ran back, no longer chained by her grief and fear. And Blessed Mary Magdalene preached the first Easter sermon ever, boldly proclaiming: “I have seen the Lord.”
If only she’d had her iPhone with her! If only Jesus had whispered the secret word in her ear that only he knew. If only he had given her something to prove that she wasn’t crazy. But all she had was her experience. All she had was that flash of the Resurrection. And quite frankly, that is all anyone has ever had.
Flashes of the Resurrection. Maybe that’s why you came to church today, seeking a glimpse of the Risen Lord. The great 20th century Swiss theologian Karl Barth said that the reason people come to church on Easter or any other Sunday is the unspoken question that clings to our hearts and our minds: “Is it true?”
In a marvelous short story entitled “See the Other Side” author Tatyana Tolstaya writes beautifully about the human struggle to believe what we hope is true, but cannot prove. She writes: “We hear whispers, but we plug our ears; we are shown, but we turn away. We have no faith: we’re afraid to believe, because we’re afraid that we’ll be deceived. We are certain that we’re in the tomb. We are certain that there’s nothing in the dark. There can’t be anything in the dark.”[2]
Except that the Risen Jesus is so often found in the dark. What proof do I have? Only my own experience. For you see, there have been moments in my own life when I have been so low. Like you, I have buried those I love. Like you, my health has faltered. Like you, my relationships have crumbled. Like you, I have lost my job. Like you, I have sometimes lost my faith. And like you, I have indeed doubted this incredible nonsense about a dead man being raised to life.
But… time after time after time, at the very edge of despair, in the deep darkness of doubt, in the midst of grinding grief, there is this Presence that knows my name. It’s always just a flash - but it’s enough for me to say with Mary: “I, too, have seen the Lord.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor
[2] The New Yorker, March 12, 2007
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