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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
Out in the world they say that this is marathon season: the Boston Marathon is tomorrow, and the London, England, Marathon is next Sunday. Each year some 500‑thousand Americans are said to run such a more‑than‑26‑mile event, and so they are said to have a “love affair” with the marathon. (Here & Now.) A marathon is part of the modern Olympic games, but marathons also have at least a legend, if not historical facts, that go back to before the time of the New Testament (Wikipedia). It may not be more than 26 miles, but there is running in today’s Third Reading, too, as here in the Church we begin the Easter season. Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, who is usually understood to be St. John the Evangelist, and Peter and John ran together, but John outran Peter and reached the tomb first. This morning we consider today’s Third Reading under the theme “Running to Jesus”.
Some of you may be familiar with the reality T‑V series called “The Amazing Race”, in which different teams of two race around the world, facing various challenges and usually also elimination each leg of the race, and winning one‑million dollars if they get to the end of the final leg first (Wikipedia). Bible scholars who fit the different events of this morning’s Third Reading with the other Gospel accounts of the morning of our Lord’s Resurrection almost have to navigate as many challenges as the T‑V show, with different people coming and going in different directions and at different times (see for example, John Wenham’s Easter Enigma). Only, in the case of our Lord’s Resurrection, there is more than one “winner”, as multiple “teams” end up seeing Jesus.
In this morning’s Third Reading, Mary Magdalene apparently leaves other women at the tomb to run and tell Peter and John that the Lord had been moved from the tomb. So, Peter and John run toward the tomb, but John outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Perhaps we are getting a glimpse of St. John’s unique style or life coming through the Divinely‑inspired Word of God recorded by him, as we hear not one but two references in the Reading to John’s reaching the tomb first (we are not told explicitly that they left at the same time, nor whether John knew a shortcut, nor whether John ran faster because he was younger, though that is a usual explanation). The Holy Spirit may have seen fit to preserve a little of John’s apparent rivalry with Peter and youthful pride in winning that race to the tomb, though the Holy Spirit also reports that neither Mary, nor Peter, nor John apparently yet understood the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead, and that could be a reflection of John’s own deep regret about that failure (Lenski, ad loc Jn 20:9, 1345).
Although ancient Philosophers before the time of the New Testament warned against training one’s body to run at the expense of saving one’s soul (Baurenfeind, TDNT 8:228), there is no indication that too much physical and not enough spiritual training was Mary’s or Peter’s or John’s problem, nor is it necessarily any of our problems. Rather, Mary, Peter, and John’s problem and our problem seems to be that the Lord’s resurrection—not to mention the idea of our own resurrections—is so contrary to our fallen human reason that we simply cannot understand the Scripture that speaks of Jesus’s and our own resurrections. Mary, Peter, and John may have thought they were “running to Jesus”, but, in fact, since Jesus was not at the tomb, they were not, at least not initially. On our own, of course, we cannot run or will ourselves to Jesus, but, like the father in the parable ran to his “prodigal” son (Luke 15:20), God comes to us: the work of Holy Spirit is necessary to convert us (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, II:55), so that we repent of our sin and also trust God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake.
When John went into the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself, John believed (John was not inspired to tell us whether or not Peter also saw and believed). Likewise, for Mary Magdalene sight also eventually led to belief that Jesus was not taken from the tomb dead and laid elsewhere but in fact was risen, as He said He would be three days after His crucifixion—His crucifixion for the sins of the whole world, including their sins and ours. For Mary and John, at least, the Seven Words from the Cross on Good Friday may have been still ringing in their ears, especially that “word” of Jesus’s being forsaken by His God and Father, on account of their and our sins. Yet, they get past the sound and sight of the crucified Jesus after experiencing the sound and sight of the resurrected Jesus.
That move from unbelief to belief is different for those who did not so see the resurrected Jesus, including us. In today’s Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:1-11), with what may be an early creed or hymn, St. Paul reminds the Corinthians of the content of the Gospel he preached to them: especially that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day, both His death and resurrection in accord at least with Old Testament if not also with New Testament Scriptures. So St. Paul and the other apostles preached, so the Corinthians believed, and so also we preach and believe! The Holy Spirit works through the Reading and preaching of the words of Holy Scripture, through the Word and water of Holy Baptism, through the Word and touch of individual Holy Absolution, and through the Word and bread and wine that is Christ’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. God’s Word and Sacraments are where we in our time find the resurrected Jesus, and, rightly expressing the teaching of Holy Scripture, our Lutheran Confessions say we should “be willing to run to the ends of the world” in order to obtain the promises of God (Large Catechism, I:166). In fact, our Lutheran Confessions repeatedly refer to our being willing to run as fast as we can, with joy, even more than 100 miles, especially to individual Holy Absolution (Large Catechism, VI: 23, 24, 27, 30, 34). When we turn in sorrow from our sin and trust God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake, then God forgives us all our sin—God forgives us all our sin through these, His means of grace.
Some of you know that a little more than three years (and about 80 pounds!) ago, I completed a half‑marathon with my sister and brother-in-law. (My sister did not want to be left alone, so I ran/walked it with her at her pace.) I miss running regularly and want to get back to it, if I can, although like the ancient philosophers, I think that our secular world puts too much emphasis on exercise and competitive sports such as running (Baurenfeind, TDNT 8:227). In the Bible, far more important than such literal running is a figurative running the race of our lives as Christians. Perhaps referencing the end of an ancient road race, before the crowds in the arena, the author of Hebrews writes (confer Strathmann, TDNT 4:491):
… since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV)
Jesus Christ’s life and death first and foremost accomplish our salvation from sin, but they also serve as an example for us, an example of laying aside whatever gets in the way of our lives as Christians and of patiently enduring whatever afflictions we face, in order that, by God’s mercy and grace, we might cross the finish line into the eternity of heaven with resurrected and glorified bodies.
In today’s First Reading (Exodus 14:10-15:1), the people of Israel successfully navigated a leg of their amazing journey to the Promised Land, not that they were racing anyone or even got there all that quickly. God’s miraculously delivering the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt pointed forward to God’s miraculously delivering us from our slavery to sin. As we, so delivered and enabled by God, are “Running to Jesus”, we can join the people of Israel and the servant the Lord gave them in singing their song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously.”
Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +