by Rev’d Dr Eliza Jane Getman 

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, o God the ground of our being, the source of our liberation and the horizon of our boundless belovedness. Amen.

“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” This was the final line we heard your classmate read today. But this is not the end of the story.

Our Easter gospel tells us the women went very early in the morning to pay their respects and to honour the radically loving Jewish Palestinian rabbi – Jesus of Nazareth – who had transformed all of their lives. Our gospel story starts early in the morning when the sun had risen. Those women must have gotten up in the dark – our story starts in deep grief – in the darkness of the tomb. But then the impossible happens. Something shifts. The door which they expected to be firmly closed is already open – and the unnamed young man dressed in a white robe is waiting to deliver a message of hope that will change the world.

In the Orthodox Church, Mary Magdalene is understood to be one of Jesus’ disciples. In fact, she is known as the apostle to the apostles. “The sent one to those who are sent” to tell the good news. The story of Mary Magdalene is significant. Some say that the name Magdala means Tall Tower (and that this was the affectionate nickname bestowed on her by Jesus). In any case, Mary Magdala was an independent woman of means and influence who supported the ministry of Jesus. Her reputation was destroyed by early church fathers who demonised her and called her a prostitute and said she ought to be ashamed of herself and penitent. Oscar Wilde famously said: “The only difference between saints and sinners is that every Saint has a past while every sinner has a future.”

Many have come to see this woman as a beloved disciple of Jesus. According to our gospel stories she was the first witness of the resurrection – the first believer and the bearer of the good news that Christ is alive. In the French Catholic Tradition, there is a legend that Mary Magdalen was considered, like Jesus, to be a threat to the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. So after his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension she was put on a boat with no sail and no rudder and cast out onto the Mediterranean Sea with the expectation that she would drown and never be heard from again. But miraculously, the little boat washed up on the shores of France near Marseille and then Magdalene converted the pagans with her great beauty and powerful preaching.

Another story of Mary Magdalene comes from the orthodox tradition: After the first Easter, Magdalene travelled to Rome and secured an audience with the emperor Tiberius. She explained the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection using the metaphor of an egg. Out of that which looks like an inanimate stone – new life hatches.

The emperor scoffed at such nonsense and declared that resurrection was no more possible than if the egg in her hand were to turn red. Which of course it did. Instantly. And the emperor believed the good news.

Ever since, orthodox Christians celebrate Easter with red eggs.

The good news is that death is not the end of the story. The good news for Christians is that resurrection is always possible. I will only believe in a God who liberates and transforms our lives. A God who works through our lives to assure us that we can always begin again.

Nelson Rolilhalha Mandela. Affectionately and respectfully know by millions of South Africans as Madiba – which was his Thembu Clan name. Madiba means “the beloved one”. Was Mandela a good guy or a bad guy? Was he a freedom fighter? Or was he a terrorist? For a long time, it depended on who you asked. He spent 27 years in captivity because the South African apartheid government wanted him silenced when he called for freedom and for justice. But the wheel turned and Mandela was released from prison and became the first Black democratically elected president of the new South Africa and he was awarded the Nobel peace prize. He was the only person allowed to call the Queen “Elizabeth”. And she loved him. Know this: apartheid governments fall. Occupations and wars end. We can bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice.

Mandela told the world that change is in our hands. It’s up to us to roll away the stone. “We are the ones we have been waiting for”. The heavy stones of preconceived notions and firmly held opinions and fear can all be rolled away. We can open the doors to the prisons of our own making and we can walk out into a brave new world together. Faith and hope and belief in resurrection don’t protect us from the darkness. Difficult things happen in life. Difficult, painful, scary things happen to all of us. But we do not need to be defined by those difficult things. We can choose to be defined by how we come back after those things have happened. How we resurrect. How we experience resurrection. How we grow and learn and support each other through even the hardest things – even death. Darkness and misery do not define us. Love is stronger than death. Just like Mary Magdalene and the other women showed up for Jesus – even after the worst has happened, we can still show up for each other. And the story doesn’t need to end on a fearful note with people trapped in the past. We can move freely into a new chapter of transformed life.

Let’s recall again how the gospel passage we heard ended: “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

But the story doesn’t end there. The Bible offers more than one ending to the gospel of Mark. It’s kind of a choose your own adventure. The longer ending of Mark starts like this: “Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.”

Mary Magdalene is disbelieved – But it’s still not the end of the story. The very end tells of the Ascension of Jesus: “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.”

2000 years later we are still telling this story – because hope triumphs over fear. 2000 years ago, Jesus was seen as threat to the Jewish and Roman authorities. He was executed because he would not bow down to their Gods of law and coercive power and control. But love changes everything. Jesus – Emmanuel – God with us – taught people how to be human – how to roll away our hearts of stone and make space for hearts of flesh to beat steadily and steadfastly in our bodies. It’s never too late to rediscover our humanity. Jesus knew that God was love and that we are all God’s children. And that there is no room for fear in love. We love because God first loved us. So: Good guys? Bad guys? Saints or sinners? It depends on who you ask. Maybe we are all both good and bad – and striving to be better. But this is the undeniable truth, the stones can miraculously be rolled away. Some stones hatch. We can experience new life through new eyes even in the darkest places. Resurrection is always possible. It’s in our hands. Do not be afraid. Amen.