{"id":10442,"date":"2005-03-07T19:49:18","date_gmt":"2005-03-07T18:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=10442"},"modified":"2025-05-15T14:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:01:07","slug":"john-201-18-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/john-201-18-2\/","title":{"rendered":"John 20:1-18"},"content":{"rendered":"

EASTER | March 27, 2005 | John 20:1-18 | Walter W. Harms |<\/h3>\n
IS THIS AUTHENTIC?
\nHollow and Dull\/Solid and Sound
\nI have this \u201cthing\u201d about chocolate Easter bunnies. I like my chocolate bunnies to be solid. I don\u2019t like to bite the ears off a bunny and discover that I have a lot of nothing together with a little chocolate. Perhaps even worse are marshmallow filled rabbits. Yuck!
\nAnd make the bunny dark chocolate, if possible. I like the real stuff.
\nA few weeks ago our family dentist of over 30 years flew the coop. He quit private practice and now works only for the military at Fort Hood (TX). Even his wife can\u2019t use him anymore!
\nWhen he wanted to know if a tooth was solid and good, he would take the blunt end of one of those dentist picks, and gentle strike a tooth.
\nFrom the sound that resulted, even I could tell, either something was not right, or the tooth was sound. A trip to the oral surgeon was going to be necessary, if the sound was hollow, dull. The sound gave it away.
\nYou will pardon me if I chew this morning on the sound of the first Easter story, as this writer John tells it. (You\u2019ll also have to pardon the mixed metaphor!) Does it sound real? Is it authentic? Does it have a hollow sound to is? Is this a made-up story?
\nIs this authentic?
\nMary Meets the Empty Tomb
\nNow I know that the writer John didn\u2019t put all the details of this resurrection of Jesus into this book of his. You can check with the three others writers and find some other details. But give a good listen to this story. He obviously got his version of the resurrection from this woman, Mary Magdalene. By the way, most people who study the story stay that the \u201cother disciples, the one Jesus loved\u201d is in reality the writer of this Good News reading.
\nEarly, while it was still dark, it was the first day of the week, that\u2019s Sunday to us, this woman, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. She went to a tomb because this person Jesus, who had been the light of her life, has had his life snuffed out on the previous Friday. She obviously knew where he had been entombed in this cave-like structure.
\nThe tomb was sort of like a mausoleum. To prevent animals from desecrating the body, a large stone was rolled in front of the entrance. It would take some strength to move the stone.
\nThe first thing that struck her was: the stone had been removed from the entrance. Someone, perhaps more than one, had removed the stone.
\nShe must have looked in and found it empty of the corpse of Jesus.
\nShe is the one who ran to Simon Peter, the leader of the disciples, and this one whom Jesus loved. There were other women because she says, \u201cWe don\u2019t know where they have put him.\u201d
\nOn Grave Robbing
\nGrave robbers were not at all uncommon. They would steal the cloth that was wound around the body to hold the spices that would prevent the odor of decay from overwhelming the family and friends who would go to the tomb to be close, at least one more time to the person. That\u2019s pretty obvious what Mary Magdalene was doing by going to the tomb.
\nBy the way, cloth for entombment was costly and you can bet people who made a habit of robbing graves would know this was the grave of a rich man. I suppose they would resell the cloth, and perhaps even the spices to an unsuspecting family that needed them. Misuse of graves, grave clothes, even cemetery plots are well known to all of us. It happens now. It happened then.
\nResponses from Two Who Saw
\nOn hearing this news about the missing corpse, Peter and, we\u2019ll call him, John made a bee line to the tomb, running. John beat Peter to the grave, but didn\u2019t go in. Peter always in front, except here, going in and see the strips of linen cloth and the cloth which covered the head and face of the corpse, just lying there. Just lying there! This was no grave robbery. Something else had happened.
\nJohn also goes in, sees the same linens, and the story says, \u201che believed.\u201d He believed what? It is not stated, but you can bet, he believed Jesus was alive! Jesus has risen from the dead. He saw and believed. That\u2019s all we know. He believed Jesus had came alive, somehow. I am absolutely certain that all the implication of what that meant had not hit him as yet. But it would, you can count on that!
\nPeter saw the same thing. It is implied that Peter did not believe.
\nJust perhaps Peter did not want to believe, because of that nasty betrayal a few days before, You know, when he denied having any acquaintance with this Jesus person at all. That was bad enough to see what slimy stuff you are really made up, when you had sworn on a stack of Bibles that you would go to his death for him. (Well, according to tradition, Peter actually did go all the way to martyrdom.)
\nThe Returning and Turning of Mary
\nThey leave, go back to their homes. Mary had come back. She was crying. Not bad enough that Jesus had been brutally killed, now even his corpse was gone! She looks into the tomb again. This time she see two angels. She is quite specific about where they were seated, and how they were dressed. In white, at the head and foot of where Jesus had been.
\nThey want to know why she is crying. Silly angels. I guess they don\u2019t know how humans feel when a person you really love dies. These angels aren\u2019t any help. She turns and believes she spots the care taker of this cemetery garden.
\nShe inquires of him about the corpse. \u201cWhere is he? If you know anything, let me know, and I\u2019ll take care of his body.\u201d
\nThen, with one word, one word, mind you, her whole world, the world of death, of the end of the presence of a very special loved one literally explodes. This gardener, no, the voice recognition is almost instantaneous. This is, it can\u2019t be, it is. It is the One who has lead her to just wonderful understanding of herself. It is The Teacher!
\nJesus\u2019 next words to her sound strange to us. I don\u2019t know if they sounded strange to Mary, or to the disciples to whom she related this event.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t hold on to me.\u201d Perhaps, \u201cdon\u2019t touch me.\u201d \u201cI haven\u2019t yet returned to the Father. Instead of hanging on to me, go to my brothers, and tell them, \u201cI am returning to my Father and your Father,
\nto my God and your God.\u201d
\nWhatever these words mean, they tell Mary that her relationship, as well as the relationship of the disciples, of all those who follow Jesus is now going to be different.
\nPerhaps changed is a better word. Turned around for sure!
\nStrange Words, but Revealing Words
\nNow the heavenly Father of Jesus is the Father of all. Now Jesus\u2019 God is the God of all.
\nIn that is a lot of inference, I believe. You and I have a heavenly Father, a God who knows me by name as he knew Mary by name. He is not ashamed to be called my God. He is not ashamed of me.
\nJesus is returning to the God who sent him, God\u2019s one and only Son into this world. Sent for a purpose, to reveal God as a God of grace, undeserved love, unconditional acceptance of all people. Jesus came to reveal God the Father to us.
\nIn that most famous passage from this book by John, we hear: God so loved he world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever, if you, when you believe in him as John did at the tomb, you will have everlasting life. That\u2019s the kind of God, Jesus shows us, demonstrates, lives and dies to reveal to us.
\nGod spares nothing. Nothing is held back. Puts it all on the line.
\nDoesn\u2019t keep something back, in case this Jesus thing doesn\u2019t work out.
\nNo, he pays the piper. And the piper wants death, death of all the people. The only one who can pay is God himself. Jesus pays that price and you get the free ticket, the admission ticket to life without guilt, without fear of death and annihilation. Your ticket to a wonderful life now is paid in full. But read the back side of the ticket, good for the abundant life now, and for life beyond the grave in the very presence of this Father, our Father to whom Jesus is returning.
\nJesus, get on with it. Go. Praise and laud and honor and riches and glory be yours always, Jesus.
\nMary Returns Once More
\nMary goes back to the followers of Jesus again. Her message is simple:
\n\u201cI have seen the Lord!\u201d The Lord the one who said he was the I AM of the name given to Moses there by the burning bush. I AM the bread of life. I AM the door to life. I AM life and resurrection. I AM the path to follow. I AM the only truth that is truth. I AM life itself.
\nFor in him who is the great I AM each of us live, move, and have our existence.
\nIs This Authentic? For me? For you?
\nSome stories ring hollow. Some stories are like hollow rabbit ears:
\npromising a lot more than they can deliver. Some ring true. Some are hot air, with a very bad kind of odor. Is this story authentic? The real stuff? Can our count on it today? Tomorrow? When death come in through the door you couldn\u2019t close? Will this story of a Mary, a Peter, and a John about an open tomb forever eliminate death for you?<\/div>\n
I know that my Redeemer lives! I hope that I will go and tell others about the living Lord who has a Father who cares and knows me, as Mary did.<\/div>\n
\n

Perhaps then I will know if this is real, authentic, genuine, with a ring of solid truth that gives life. Then I shall know that, although I don\u2019t understand very much about Jesus and God and all that, I will have seen and I am believing. Amen.<\/p>\n

\n

Walter W. Harms, retired Lutheran pastor Austin, TX U. S. A.
\nComments? waltpast@AOL.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EASTER | March 27, 2005 | John 20:1-18 | Walter W. Harms | IS THIS AUTHENTIC? Hollow and Dull\/Solid and Sound I have this \u201cthing\u201d about chocolate Easter bunnies. I like my chocolate bunnies to be solid. I don\u2019t like to bite the ears off a bunny and discover that I have a lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,727,157,853,108,110,299,349,3,704,109,1174],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-10442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-archiv","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-20-chapter-20-johannes","category-kasus","category-nt","category-ostersonntag","category-predigten","category-walter-w-harms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24392,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10442\/revisions\/24392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=10442"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=10442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}