In The Garden, Jesus Calls Us By Name (SonRise Service)

Sermon Title: In The Garden, Jesus Calls Us By Name

Good News Statement: Jesus resurrects us

SonRise Service @7:00AM

Preached: Sunday, March 31, 2024 at Dogwood Prairie United Methodist Church

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): John 20:11-16 Today’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of John chapter twenty verses eleven thru sixteen. In this text we are encouraged to walk with Jesus in the garden, but that eventually we need to leave the garden to share the good news of resurrection. Listen to these promising words of John…

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, ¹² 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. ¹³ 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.” ¹⁴ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ 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.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not touch 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.’ ” ¹⁸ 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.

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

Introduction:

Happy Easter Everyone! We begin this wonderful celebratory Sonrise service with a poem titled, “Easter Morning” written from Derry’s Heart Poems:

This is the dawning of our joyous Easter morn,

Our delight can never end,

For Jesus is risen… He is risen from the dead.

We are embraced in love, He has taken all our death,

His light has broken the night, He has risen, as He said.

The precious One has fought and won – to go ahead,

Calling …”Come”, It is all done.

Joy is now set free, in the hearts of everyone.

On this beautiful Easter morning, Jesus has certainly risen: he has moved the stone away, walked out of the tomb, and is no longer bound by strips of cloth. Love fills the air, light has conquered the dark, the battle has been fought and won, joy is now set free, and God is looking down upon us and saying, “It is good….This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). In the words of Deanna A. Thompson, “By Christ’s death and resurrection we have been set free.” The light has conquered the dark!

We are gathered here this morning, at a very special time of day, to allow the resurrection of Christ to motivate us, to save us, and to renew us as we walk out the tomb with Jesus Christ. We are here at “sunrise.” And I can’t tell you the last time I deliberately got up before the sun rose to see the sun rise! But today, is a different day: a day that instills in my heart the eagerness to rise, to see the beautiful Son rise and to have the world go from dark to light.

Of all the sunrises that have happened since the very first one, I can’t imagine any greater morning than the third day after Jesus had been crucified.[1] Annette Wynne poetically writes in her poem, The Sun,

Long before the postman comes, the sun begins to rise,

Far in the East if you should look, you’d find it in the skies.

At first it’s just a streak of light then all at once the world gets bright.

God created sunrises in such a way that the sky is streaked with every beautiful color known to God as it brightens up the world below it. Each sunrise signals the start of a new day which in our minds brings with it promises of good things, good hope, and the comfort that God is watching over us wherever we go. It’s no wonder that God said, “It was good.” The miracle of the Son rising is our reminder for a new day, of going from darkness into the light; and it all began, according to John, in a garden and with someone Mary Magdalene identified as a “gardener.”^[2]

 

Body:

John writes in his gospel about this joyous occasion: “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)” (John 20:11-16).

We find on that first Easter morning, another miracle besides the beautiful sunrise. We find the miracle of the Rise of the Son of God , the Son of Man, the Messiah, Teacher and Rabbi. (“Sonrise”). You see, Jesus Christ did not stay dead once He offered Himself on the cross. No, death did not have the last word! The cross did not keep Jesus silent. And the tomb could not contain him. Jesus paid for our sin and set us free from the cross and then rose from the dead and conquered death according to the scriptures. With His Resurrection, His mission and life purpose was complete. Matthew wrote in 20:28, the Son of Man is “to give his life as a ransom for many.” Furthermore, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus predicts his death and resurrection on three separate occasions in the presence of his disciples. Throughout his teachings, Jesus affirmed, then reaffirmed, and then reaffirmed again that he will rise again therefore fulfilling his mission. But it wasn’t until that first Easter morning in which the disciples finally believed: they finally realized that no amount of darkness and not even death could conquer the power, light, and love of Christ. Let us go back to that silent and peaceful garden where Mary met her “Gardener.”

One day in March, 1912, composer C. Austin Miles had this to say, “I drew my Bible toward me; it opened at my favorite chapter, John 20 [1-18] . . . That meeting of Jesus and Mary Magdalene had lost none of its power to charm. As I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life, when she knelt before her Lord, and cried, “Rabbouni!”. . . My hands were resting in the Bible while I stared at the light blue wall. As the light faded I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches….I awakened in full light, gripping the Bible, with muscles tense and nerves vibrating. Under the inspiration of this vision I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the poem exactly as it has appeared.”[3]

This poem that C. Austin Miles wrote is titled In The Garden, and it is one that we sing every year during the Easter Season. Today, I encourage you, on Easter Sunday, as the sun is rising over our church, to place yourself in the garden with Mary Magdalene as she weeps for Jesus, witnesses a “Gardener,” and decides to stay in the garden where her life was changed.

Movement One: “I Come To the Garden”

John begins his account of Jesus’ resurrection with these words, “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb…” (John 20:11).  Notice, in this text, that John doesn’t report a joyous or happy or even an exciting moment: he tells us that Mary, the one whom Jesus saved by casting out of her seven demons, is weeping outside a tomb that she saw sealed three days ago but is now open. Mary is weeping. Mary is grieving. Mary is experiencing suffering and sorrow. She is not joyous, she is not happy, she is not excited, and she certainly isn’t elated. Mary is weeping.

Before she even bends over to look into the tomb, she is weeping. She knows that what she sees (and doesn’t see) isn’t supposed to be like this. Mary is probably scared. What happened to Jesus? Where is Jesus? Who took Jesus? Why is the tomb open when it should be sealed? What is she going to tell the disciples? What is she going to tell Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of the one who should be in the tomb? In a peaceful garden, tears cover the ground, cries of uncertainty wake up the animals, and the shadow on the earth reveals a woman kneeling with her hands covering her face as the sun continues to rise over the tomb. Remember, Mary came alone: she came alone to this garden: no one else was weeping with her.

C. Austin Miles begins his poem with these words, “I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.” Have you ever taken the time to walk through any garden or field early in the morning? If you haven’t, I encourage you to do so because in the stillness of any garden or field there is a deep connection to what is around you: you become part of God’s creation. For those that have walked through a garden or field, you can relate to Miles’s words: you see the undisturbed dew, the stillness of the plants, and soil becoming unsettled by insects emerging from their slumber. At the Seminary I attended in Evanston, IL, just outside the main building, resting beyond the small old chapel was a garden. The name of the garden is “Shakespeare’s Garden.” It was small and simplistic, but once in a while I would walk through it and sit on the concrete bench at the end of the path just taking in the stillness and peacefulness of what was before me.

At times, I was alone. At times, I saw the dew on the flowers. At times, I witnessed vibrant and not so vibrant plants blooming under the rising sun. At times, as I sat on that concrete bench, I thought about Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning. She went to a garden alone. The dew on the roses could have been reminiscent of her tears as she walked to the tomb. The voice she heard that fell on her ear could have been God’s comforting voice or it could have been the sound of her weeping over someone she loved. She came to the garden alone to be with Jesus, who wasn’t there but was there.

Miles helps us understand what Mary could have been feeling and experiencing in that garden. At times, we need to see our risen Lord by ourselves: we need to approach the tomb not with joy but with sorrow in our heart so that we can hear his voice falling upon our ear and letting us know that everything is going to be okay. It’s okay to weep today. It’s okay to walk through the garden alone. It’s okay to bend over and look into the tomb and see nothing. It’s okay to hear the voice of Jesus in your life. In the garden, just like Mary, we began to go from darkness to light because Jesus speaks to us and wipes away our tears and reminds us that we are not alone.

Movement Two: “He Speaks to Me”

John continues. “…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’” (John 20:12-15).

There is a lot that takes place within this text! Mary sees two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus should have been lying. The two angels notice that Mary is weeping and ask her, “Why are you weeping?” The two angels address Mary as “woman” which is the same title that Jesus gives his mother when he gives her into the care of John, the beloved disciple, just minutes before he takes his last breath and cries out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Then Mary, whether she realizes that these two beings are angels or not, answers them with concern that she does not know where Jesus has been laid. Then, she turns around and sees someone that looks like a gardener, who notices that she is weeping, and asks her, “Why are you weeping and whom are you looking for?” This gardener figure addresses Mary with the same title that the angels do, “Woman.” Finally, still not realizing that this gardener is Jesus, Mary simply tells him, “Sir, if you have taken Jesus, my Lord, please tell me where he is so that I may take care of him.” There is a lot happening in this text. It’s overwhelming; but everything that is happening is concerning why Mary is weeping.

The more you read this text the more you hear the tone of concern in Mary’s voice. Mary is concerned about where Jesus is, and who took him, and what she is supposed to do now. She isn’t concerned about the three strangers that have appeared before her, nor is she concerned that they address her as woman and never ask for her name or who she is. Notice in the text, her concern and worry is so strong and so evident, that she doesn’t call Jesus by name: she calls him Lord and continues to weep. Mary just wants to know where her Lord has gone, but her concern has prevented her from realizing that her Lord has just spoken to her which is why she calls him a gardener: a worker, planter, and caretaker to the plants that he cares for. She doesn’t realize that this gardener wants to take care of her during her time of concern.

C. Austin Miles poetically wrote in verse two, “He speaks, and the sound of his voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing, and the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing.” Jesus has spoken to Mary! In her weeping, she has heard him speak to her, but she doesn’t yet understand or even realize who he is. I can imagine, as Mary’s concerned tone fills the garden and that Jesus’ tone of voice does hush the birds, calms any breeze that may be blowing through the trees, and ceases the nearby streams of water from their rushing. Jesus is speaking directly to Mary without any distractions so that she can begin to hear the melody that is ringing in her heart.

Our time in the garden should be a moment in our busy lives where we make it a point to hear Jesus speaking to us. Have you ever been so busy that you have found yourself tuning out the voices who care about you, and the only voice you hear is your own? Have you ever found yourself listening to others rather than to the voice of Christ? When was the last time you listened to the melody of Christ’s love and grace ringing in your heart? In the garden, Mary heard Jesus speak to her; she began to see the light and experience the hope found within the comforting tone of Jesus’ voice. In the garden, he speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet….sweet enough to make you want to stay in the garden with him. Do you hear Jesus speaking to you like he spoke to Mary when life seemed overwhelming and out of control?

Movement Three: “I’d Stay In the Garden”

John ends his account of the garden with these words, “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher)” (John 20:16). With a single word, Jesus rescues Mary. With a single word, Jesus provides comfort. With a single word, Jesus answers all of Mary’s questions. With a single word, Mary finds her Lord, who he is standing before her as her tears are wiped away. With a single word, Mary is no longer alone in the garden.

Jesus could have used a plethora of words to get Mary’s attention. He could have said, “Hey,” “Hey you,” “Hello,” “What’s up,” or even “I know you.” But instead, Jesus calls her by name. Why? Because he loves her, because he chose her, and because he has accepted her and noticed her. It doesn’t matter what others may have called her in her past, all that matters is that Jesus knows her name. And when she says, “Teacher,” she recognizes who Jesus is in her life. Jesus is someone who knows her name, who sees her for who she is, who knows her every thought, who has seen every tear that has fallen, and who heard her when she called. Jesus knows her name and Mary knows that he has formed her heart. With a single word, Mary has been saved.

C. Austin Miles ends his poem, “I’d stay in the garden with him, though the night round me be falling, but he bids me go; thru the voice of woe his voice to me is calling.” Jesus is calling, and Mary wants to stay in the garden with him because she has found what she has been missing. She has found her savior, alive, and standing before her, and talking to her. I would probably be like Mary at this point. I would want to stay. I would want to continue to talk to Jesus. I would simply love being in his presence. In the garden, in the peaceful garden where everything seems perfect, I would want to stay because outside the garden chaos and worry and stress prowl like roaring lions waiting to devour me (1 Peter 5:8). But Jesus knows that, although the garden is peaceful, this is not where he needs his disciples to be. Jesus needs his disciples, you and me, out in the world sharing the good news that the tomb is empty and that he has risen from the dead. I would love to stay in the garden, but Jesus is telling me it’s time to go.

I’m sure you, too, would love to stay in the garden. Everything is perfect, there is nothing to worry about, and no one is telling you that you have done something wrong or is putting you down: life is peaceful in the garden. However, it’s time for us to leave the garden and listen to his calling. Jesus told Mary, “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). So Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18). Mary is longer weeping. Mary is no longer concerned. Mary is no longer worried. Why? Because she has seen the risen Lord, the one she was looking for just a few moments ago. Mary’s life has been turned around because Jesus called her by her name and wiped away her tears.

Although Mary wanted to stay in the garden, Jesus knew that there were other places and people that needed to know that he had risen according to the scriptures. People needed to know that death did not have the last word. People needed to know that the tomb could not contain him. And people needed to know that he is the light of the world that no amount of pain or darkness can put out. People needed to know that Jesus had risen! As much as we love the garden, as much as we love the garden because of its peacefulness and serenity, Jesus needs us to leave the garden and share the good news that he has been resurrected. Jesus is calling you to share this wonderful news, but are you willing to leave the garden to spread his light?

If you are worried about not being able to share the good news of his resurrection, don’t worry. Jesus promises you that he is never going to leave nor forsake you and that nothing can separate you from his love. Additionally, he promises, just like he promised Mary, that he is going to walk with you, and talk with you, and tell you that you are his own; and the joy that he shares with you as you walk side-by –side in the garden is something that “none other has ever known.” Jesus will provide for you what you need to tell about his resurrection. He is walking with you and talking with you along life’s narrow way. In the garden, Jesus prepares you for what he needs you to do: share the good news and tell the whole world about his resurrection. If you feel so inclined, go tell it on the mountain that Jesus is risen!

Conclusion:

In 1913, C. Austin Miles wrote a poem that put all its readers in the shoes of Mary as she wept before the empty tomb in a garden in front of two angels dressed in white and someone she thought was a simple gardener. “In The Garden,” invites us to experience the resurrection of Jesus Christ as we tarry there with him by our side listening to him call us by name and telling us what we need to do. In the garden, we meet Jesus, a simple gardener planting his seed of wisdom within our heart, but at the same time we meet Jesus, the savior of the world and the forgiver of our sins. In the garden, we meet the Jesus that saves us and reminds us that we are never alone.

The garden is peaceful, which is why I spent many hours walking through the garden at the seminary I attended, but sooner or later the garden needs to experience its own peacefulness; and at that moment, Jesus is calling us to leave the garden and tell the world that he is risen. I encourage you to spend some time in the garden, God’s peacefulness, so that you can hear the voice of Christ calling you by name. But remember, sooner or later Christ needs us to leave the gardener to share the good news.

[4]The resurrection of Christ is just the beginning: it is our fresh start to following him, of leaving the garden and sharing the great news that Christ is Risen! Indeed, the Son is risen today![i] Let the Son-Rising today by the eternal sun rise in your life, lighting your path today and every day.

 

Communion Transition:

To celebrate the risen Savior, let us join together around a common table and partake in Holy Communion. Through this meal may we ask for forgiveness, seek a fresh start, be filled with hope, and accept a new and eternal life in Jesus Christ.

 

Benediction:

Christ is Risen today! Raise your joys and triumphs high! And hail the Resurrection! In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go, transforming lives as you share the good news that Jesus is risen today. Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

 

[1] Friday brought denial, trial, pain, and death. Saturday was a day of hopelessness for many, possibly a day spent in darkness, and worry. Yet on Sunday, that first Easter “sunrise” (S-U-N-R-I-S-E) brought with it an actual “Sonrise” (S-O-N-R-I-S-E), and this “Sonrise” shone a miracle of light upon our heart.

[2] This sunrise of Easter brings with it such promise for us. More than any other sunrise on any other day in history, the sunrise of Easter gives us such hope for a fresh start and a new chance in life. The sunrise of Easter gives us reason for optimism that we have something to live for in this life and strength to face the day and even tomorrow. The sunrise of Easter promises us a brand new life and a change on the inside.

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-i-come-to-the-garden-alone

[4] As the hymn “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” reminds us, “Christ the Lord is risen today! Earth and heaven in chorus say! Raise your joys and triumphs high! Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply! Love’s redeeming work is done! Fought the fight, the battle won! Death in vain forbids him rise! Christ has opened paradise!” Today, Christ has risen! Today, Christ has left the tomb! Today, Christ has given us a triumphal love that deserves an Alleluia! Today, the Resurrected Christ has given us paradise!

[i] He is Risen Up by Micah Betzner:  “A bruised heel, a pierced side, On cruel cross my Savior died. He did not stay in death’s cold grave, But risen up, He vict’ry gave. Though He was slain, and under laid, He rose again, our sin-debt paid. According to the Scriptures true, He giveth life free unto you, He is in Heav’n, our Christ and Lord, He giveth grace to trust His word. Though Satan toils us to accuse. If we trust God, we cannot lose.”