Part 5 - Freedom
The complexity had shifted into Divine Potent Simplicity. What happened next defined the course of history and marked the world for eternity.
Sunday morning, it was early and still dark when Maryam from Magdala (known today as Mary Magdalene), arrived at Jesus’ tomb to complete the burial process left unfinished because of Passover. When she reached it, the rock sealing the entrance had been moved and the tomb was empty. She ran to find Peter and John.
In those days tombs were often robbed. That would explain the moved rock, but the body was something else. Bodies weren’t usually the target just the contents of a tomb, besides it had been wrapped, tightly in linen covered in about 34kg (75lbs) of ointment, too heavy for grave robbers to bother with. The linen, which were expensive and sellable, was in the tomb but not the body. It made no sense. No Jewish person would touch a dead body let alone unwrap it. And why would anyone take the naked body of Jesus, it would cause outrage or increase his following, - or both. Besides there were guards posted at the tomb.
The men ran to the tomb, saw the linen and the cloth that covered Jesus face, then they understood and believed - Jesus was alive. He said he would rise on the third day and he did. Then they went home. Maryam didn’t, she just stood there and wept.
“As she wept, she stooped and looked in, She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him. ”She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!”. John 20:11-16 nlt
Mary couldn’t wait until it was safe to go out, she needed to complete the burial rites and honour her Lord. Her teacher, her Rabboni. Her distress sent her to those disciples who also loved him, her acquired family. The men saw, understood, believed and left. Maryam just couldn’t, she desperately need to respect his body, his sacrifice, and honour him according to the Jewish burial requirements. Her focus was on what he did and how he lived, the price he paid and not knowing what had happened to him distressed her in a way she had never felt before. She couldn’t loose him.
The angels, and Jesus, addressed Maryam with “Dear woman”. This was how Jesus addressed his mother from the cross - respectful and deeply personal. This was a significant shift from a public relationship to an intimate personal encounter with the risen Christ. The whole purpose of the crucifixion and resurrection. Maryam was the first person to see him. She was also the first person to be commissioned as witness to the creation of the resurrection. She was also the first person to be commissioned to ‘go and tell’ others about the resurrected Christ and the relation with God that it brings John 20:17 nlt.
The first to proclaim the Freedom Story.
The Jewish leaders saw Jesus as a threat to themselves and Rome. Pilate considered him an innocent man and the victim of religious and political scheming, in which he became complicit. They thought that killing Jesus opened to door of power. All it did was defeat them because they complied with Gods plan. They lost their power by doing what they though they needed to do to gain it. They became the ultimate illustration of the paradox of humanity required for freedom and missed the mark.
surrendering control to gain freedom
abandoning, dying to your desires to gain freedom
handing over you life to YHWH to live in freedom
losing you life to gain eternity with God
“It is for freedom that Christ haas set us free”
Galatians 5:5 nlt
“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”
2 Corinthians 3:16-17 nlt
