| “WHERE HAVE YOU PUT JESUS?” Hosea 6:1-3; John 20:1-18 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 4/4/2010 Easter |
There seem to be no end of misconceptions out there about what the nature of the Resurrection really is. For example,
there was the family who was traveling cross country by car and trying to keep their young boys in good humor by having a
sing-along. When one of the youngsters asked if they could sing the gravy song, the mother said, “Teach it to us.” And with
all innocence the little boy began singing, "Up from the gravy arose."
Or there was the preacher who tried to tell his congregation that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples
nursed Him back to health. One of the members of that church, much bewildered, wrote to a local advice column for a second
opinion, and this is the response he got: Dear Bewildered: Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes,
nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side; embalm him; put him in an airless tomb for
36 hours and see what happens.
And then there was the church that had booked a singing group called “The Resurrection” for their service on Easter
night. Unfortunately, a freak, end of season snowstorm prevented the group from making it to the church. The pastor put a
large sign out in the parking lot which read, “The Resurrection is postponed. Refunds upon request.”
Well I’m here today to reassure you that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not about gravy; it’s not a scam about Jesus
swooning on the Cross only to be revived; and it hasn’t been postponed. You don’t have to worry about needing a refund. The
Resurrection is real, so real that it has been radically transforming individual lives and whole civilizations for two thousand years.
But that is not to say that there hasn’t been confusion surrounding it even from the beginning. As we just heard from John’
s gospel, even those who should have been prepared for it were taken by surprise. As John says in v.9, “they still did not
understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” Even though the disciples had come to believe that this was
the Christ, the Son of the Living God, somehow they did not integrate the prophesies with the very words of Jesus and
conclude or fully trust that He was the One Who would conquer death by rising above it.
In hindsight, the scenario in the garden on that Resurrection morning seems almost pathetic. There we find Mary, the
woman who was absolutely devoted to her Lord and who was still reeling from the pain and grief of his death. It wasn’t bad
enough that He had undergone the cruel agony of crucifixion. It wasn’t bad enough that He died, shattering the new life she
had built around Him. But now, to add insult to those injuries, it appeared as if grave robbers had been at work. The tomb,
which had been sealed to insure the safety of the body, was open, and the body was nowhere in sight. The strange thing was
that the grave clothes, the only things of value, were still there. Poor Mary! Was some sadist playing a vicious trick? Was
there no respect for the dead? In her emotional condition, as pathetic as her behavior seems, perhaps it is understandable that
she did not seem surprised that angels were trying to console her, telling her there was really no reason to cry. Or maybe it
was her anguish that prevented her from taking it all in. All she was capable of saying was, “They have taken away my Lord,
and I don’t know where they have put Him.”
And when she couldn’t make any sense of the empty tomb, even with its resident angels, she turned in another direction
for help. There was a man standing nearby, and she was desperate enough to turn to this stranger for help. After all, he
seemed compassionate. Just like those angels, he, too, asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. She
assumed he was the gardener, the caretaker of this property. And so she asked if he had taken away her Lord. “Tell me where
you have put Him,” she says, “and I will get Him.”
Truly there is something sad and yet almost comic about Mary’s actions on that first Easter morning at the tomb. Didn’t it
occur to Mary that she could not have carried a dead body anywhere? Didn’t she remember the scriptures and the promises
that if the temple was destroyed, Jesus would raise it up in three days? Didn’t she know an angel when she saw one? Didn’t
she know better than to look for the living among the dead? Didn’t she know her Lord well enough to realize that He was right
in front of her eyes and she was talking to Him? Didn’t she have anything better to say than, “Where have you put Jesus?”
Yet before we criticize her too harshly maybe we should say a few things in her defense. First of all, no one can question
her love for the Lord, a love poured out with expensive perfume and absolute devotion earlier that week. Secondly, we know
that Jesus’ appearance had been changed in some way. His resurrection body, though very real and touchable, had new
properties and so may not have been immediately recognizable, especially if you were looking for a dead body and not a real,
live person. Thirdly, from this scripture account and one later on in Luke that took place on the road to Emmaus, it’s clear that
no one can come to recognize Jesus unless and until He opens our eyes to see Him as He truly is. So for all her searching, in
the end it was not Mary who found Jesus but Jesus who found her. Even her act of seeking Him was a sign that He was
already at work searching for her. The truth is that the desire to find Christ is a desire placed within us by his Spirit, and
anyone who comes to faith in Jesus comes to realize that He was out looking for us long before we ever “found” Him.
And so I think that we should really not be so hard on Mary. She was the one who stayed there at the tomb alone,
fervently seeking her Lord, while the others were off somewhere else. And the more I think about that almost silly question,
“Where have you put Jesus?” the more I think it is not silly—but profound. It calls on believers today to examine what we
really believe about the Resurrection. And so I ask each of you today, “Where have you put Jesus?” Have you left Him
suffering on the Cross? Have you kept Him sealed up in the tomb? Do you have Him neatly stashed far off at the right hand of
the Father? Where have you put Jesus?
It’s very tempting to put Him somewhere where we can keep Him safely controlled and predictable, so we can stay
comfortable. It’s very disconcerting for us when He gets loose from those grave clothes and slips out of our sight and starts
doing things that we don’t understand. It’s much easier for us if He maintains the same appearance that we have always
known and acts in the same way that He has always acted. It’s so hard to have to continually get used to doing new things in
new ways. Why does He insist on changing things? Can’t we just keep things the way they are?
Not if we really believe in Resurrection. Resurrection is all about change…transformation…new life—not old life
resuscitated after swooning! It’s about walking in a new direction never traveled before, seeing the world with new eyes and in
new ways so that we are never really the same again. And the changes that resurrection brings can make us uncomfortable.
So uncomfortable that we often prefer to remain un-resurrected rather take the risk of stepping out with the Lord into new life
and a new way of being.
This has been a major problem for God’s people through the ages. The passage we heard this morning from the book of
Hosea represents the voice of the people of Israel speaking very superficially about their intention to return to the Lord and
acknowledge Him. They admitted that they had been injured by God’s wrath, but their response to their misery was the belief
that in two or three days He would heal them and revive and restore them again. He would come and fix everything once
more—put it back just the way it was. But their attitude revealed a shallow faith and the absence of any genuine conviction of
sin, the kind of conviction that would lead them to true repentance and to a new direction and a new relationship with the Lord.
All of that would take major effort and a willingness to allow the Lord to have his way with them—a willingness to be
transformed into a new people. And so although they talked about pressing on to acknowledge the Lord, they really didn’t do
it. Instead, of seeking Him, they put Him aside so they could pursue their sinful and selfish ways. Maybe that’s why even the
arrival of the Messiah—the One who wanted to change them and show them a whole new way to live—was resisted and
rejected by so many of the Jews.
But not Mary. Her love for the Lord grew out of the transformation she had experienced through Jesus’ love and
forgiveness. She had faced the truth that her life was in drastic need of change, and Jesus had taken her miserable life and
turned it into a new creation. So Mary’s behavior at the tomb was not so absurd after all. Even though she was looking in the
wrong place for her Lord, and even though she didn’t realize He was standing right there beside her, at least she was really
looking. During those days of dark despair she felt for sure she had lost Jesus, but at that moment when He revealed himself to
her by calling her name, she realized that He had never lost her. Because she had sought Him with all her heart, she became the
first person to see the resurrected Jesus alive again.
Last summer I preached a series of sermons entitled Pastoral Fantasies (all rated “G”!) that included things like having so
many volunteers in the church that we didn’t have enough jobs for them all; engaged couples being more interested in planning
their marriage than their reception, and folks being willing to forgive, put the past behind them and move forward with their
lives and their faith. It occurs to me that my fantasies should also include one in which there are people like Mary running
around this neighborhood crying because they can’t find Jesus…people who would stop you on the street and ask, “Where
have you put Jesus?” If only everyone were as eager to find the Lord as Mary was.
So I’ll ask again, “Where have you put Jesus?” Will you think about that question today and this week and on into the
weeks ahead? Will you think about areas of your life that Christ may want to resurrect, if only you would turn around and
recognize the Risen Lord standing right in front of you? Ask yourself if you are among those who have relegated Jesus to the
tomb, only to let Him out on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter, weddings and funerals. Check to see if you are
someone who prefers to keep Him locked inside the church, only to invite Him home when you get sick or lose your job or
when your marriage falls apart. Or maybe you allow Him one foot out of the grave just long enough to get you through your
present crisis, but immediately bury Him again once your life is back under control. Maybe you have even become so familiar
with Him that you’ve lost the ability to recognize a new thing He’s doing right under your nose.
The bottom line for all of us, regardless of where we are in our relationship with the Lord, is to have the courage to ask
ourselves whether we may have misplaced the Risen Christ. Where have we put Jesus? There is no time like the present to
return to the Lord and seek after Him with all our hearts. Those who look for Jesus will find Him. And those who admit that
their relationship with Jesus is damaged or broken and who really desire to begin again with the Lord will find Him waiting for
them with open arms. In fact, they’ll find that He’s been looking for them all along.
Whatever your situation, Mary’s question is worth thinking about. Where have you put Jesus? In her state of despair,
Mary had no idea that she had asked a question that remains so important for believers today. She had no idea when that
morning started out that her misinterpretation of the empty tomb would be transformed into the full revelation of God’s power
to conquer sin and death. And she also probably had no idea of how well she modeled discipleship on that first Easter morning,
a discipleship that we would do well to imitate. The Good News is that her story can be our story, the story of how the Risen
Christ comes to those who seek Him; how He transforms their grief to overflowing joy, and how He sends them out to tell
others the wonderful news that no matter where we try to put Him He Is Risen indeed and alive forevermore—in every
believing heart. Praise God!
Let us pray.
there was the family who was traveling cross country by car and trying to keep their young boys in good humor by having a
sing-along. When one of the youngsters asked if they could sing the gravy song, the mother said, “Teach it to us.” And with
all innocence the little boy began singing, "Up from the gravy arose."
Or there was the preacher who tried to tell his congregation that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples
nursed Him back to health. One of the members of that church, much bewildered, wrote to a local advice column for a second
opinion, and this is the response he got: Dear Bewildered: Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes,
nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side; embalm him; put him in an airless tomb for
36 hours and see what happens.
And then there was the church that had booked a singing group called “The Resurrection” for their service on Easter
night. Unfortunately, a freak, end of season snowstorm prevented the group from making it to the church. The pastor put a
large sign out in the parking lot which read, “The Resurrection is postponed. Refunds upon request.”
Well I’m here today to reassure you that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not about gravy; it’s not a scam about Jesus
swooning on the Cross only to be revived; and it hasn’t been postponed. You don’t have to worry about needing a refund. The
Resurrection is real, so real that it has been radically transforming individual lives and whole civilizations for two thousand years.
But that is not to say that there hasn’t been confusion surrounding it even from the beginning. As we just heard from John’
s gospel, even those who should have been prepared for it were taken by surprise. As John says in v.9, “they still did not
understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” Even though the disciples had come to believe that this was
the Christ, the Son of the Living God, somehow they did not integrate the prophesies with the very words of Jesus and
conclude or fully trust that He was the One Who would conquer death by rising above it.
In hindsight, the scenario in the garden on that Resurrection morning seems almost pathetic. There we find Mary, the
woman who was absolutely devoted to her Lord and who was still reeling from the pain and grief of his death. It wasn’t bad
enough that He had undergone the cruel agony of crucifixion. It wasn’t bad enough that He died, shattering the new life she
had built around Him. But now, to add insult to those injuries, it appeared as if grave robbers had been at work. The tomb,
which had been sealed to insure the safety of the body, was open, and the body was nowhere in sight. The strange thing was
that the grave clothes, the only things of value, were still there. Poor Mary! Was some sadist playing a vicious trick? Was
there no respect for the dead? In her emotional condition, as pathetic as her behavior seems, perhaps it is understandable that
she did not seem surprised that angels were trying to console her, telling her there was really no reason to cry. Or maybe it
was her anguish that prevented her from taking it all in. All she was capable of saying was, “They have taken away my Lord,
and I don’t know where they have put Him.”
And when she couldn’t make any sense of the empty tomb, even with its resident angels, she turned in another direction
for help. There was a man standing nearby, and she was desperate enough to turn to this stranger for help. After all, he
seemed compassionate. Just like those angels, he, too, asked her why she was crying and who she was looking for. She
assumed he was the gardener, the caretaker of this property. And so she asked if he had taken away her Lord. “Tell me where
you have put Him,” she says, “and I will get Him.”
Truly there is something sad and yet almost comic about Mary’s actions on that first Easter morning at the tomb. Didn’t it
occur to Mary that she could not have carried a dead body anywhere? Didn’t she remember the scriptures and the promises
that if the temple was destroyed, Jesus would raise it up in three days? Didn’t she know an angel when she saw one? Didn’t
she know better than to look for the living among the dead? Didn’t she know her Lord well enough to realize that He was right
in front of her eyes and she was talking to Him? Didn’t she have anything better to say than, “Where have you put Jesus?”
Yet before we criticize her too harshly maybe we should say a few things in her defense. First of all, no one can question
her love for the Lord, a love poured out with expensive perfume and absolute devotion earlier that week. Secondly, we know
that Jesus’ appearance had been changed in some way. His resurrection body, though very real and touchable, had new
properties and so may not have been immediately recognizable, especially if you were looking for a dead body and not a real,
live person. Thirdly, from this scripture account and one later on in Luke that took place on the road to Emmaus, it’s clear that
no one can come to recognize Jesus unless and until He opens our eyes to see Him as He truly is. So for all her searching, in
the end it was not Mary who found Jesus but Jesus who found her. Even her act of seeking Him was a sign that He was
already at work searching for her. The truth is that the desire to find Christ is a desire placed within us by his Spirit, and
anyone who comes to faith in Jesus comes to realize that He was out looking for us long before we ever “found” Him.
And so I think that we should really not be so hard on Mary. She was the one who stayed there at the tomb alone,
fervently seeking her Lord, while the others were off somewhere else. And the more I think about that almost silly question,
“Where have you put Jesus?” the more I think it is not silly—but profound. It calls on believers today to examine what we
really believe about the Resurrection. And so I ask each of you today, “Where have you put Jesus?” Have you left Him
suffering on the Cross? Have you kept Him sealed up in the tomb? Do you have Him neatly stashed far off at the right hand of
the Father? Where have you put Jesus?
It’s very tempting to put Him somewhere where we can keep Him safely controlled and predictable, so we can stay
comfortable. It’s very disconcerting for us when He gets loose from those grave clothes and slips out of our sight and starts
doing things that we don’t understand. It’s much easier for us if He maintains the same appearance that we have always
known and acts in the same way that He has always acted. It’s so hard to have to continually get used to doing new things in
new ways. Why does He insist on changing things? Can’t we just keep things the way they are?
Not if we really believe in Resurrection. Resurrection is all about change…transformation…new life—not old life
resuscitated after swooning! It’s about walking in a new direction never traveled before, seeing the world with new eyes and in
new ways so that we are never really the same again. And the changes that resurrection brings can make us uncomfortable.
So uncomfortable that we often prefer to remain un-resurrected rather take the risk of stepping out with the Lord into new life
and a new way of being.
This has been a major problem for God’s people through the ages. The passage we heard this morning from the book of
Hosea represents the voice of the people of Israel speaking very superficially about their intention to return to the Lord and
acknowledge Him. They admitted that they had been injured by God’s wrath, but their response to their misery was the belief
that in two or three days He would heal them and revive and restore them again. He would come and fix everything once
more—put it back just the way it was. But their attitude revealed a shallow faith and the absence of any genuine conviction of
sin, the kind of conviction that would lead them to true repentance and to a new direction and a new relationship with the Lord.
All of that would take major effort and a willingness to allow the Lord to have his way with them—a willingness to be
transformed into a new people. And so although they talked about pressing on to acknowledge the Lord, they really didn’t do
it. Instead, of seeking Him, they put Him aside so they could pursue their sinful and selfish ways. Maybe that’s why even the
arrival of the Messiah—the One who wanted to change them and show them a whole new way to live—was resisted and
rejected by so many of the Jews.
But not Mary. Her love for the Lord grew out of the transformation she had experienced through Jesus’ love and
forgiveness. She had faced the truth that her life was in drastic need of change, and Jesus had taken her miserable life and
turned it into a new creation. So Mary’s behavior at the tomb was not so absurd after all. Even though she was looking in the
wrong place for her Lord, and even though she didn’t realize He was standing right there beside her, at least she was really
looking. During those days of dark despair she felt for sure she had lost Jesus, but at that moment when He revealed himself to
her by calling her name, she realized that He had never lost her. Because she had sought Him with all her heart, she became the
first person to see the resurrected Jesus alive again.
Last summer I preached a series of sermons entitled Pastoral Fantasies (all rated “G”!) that included things like having so
many volunteers in the church that we didn’t have enough jobs for them all; engaged couples being more interested in planning
their marriage than their reception, and folks being willing to forgive, put the past behind them and move forward with their
lives and their faith. It occurs to me that my fantasies should also include one in which there are people like Mary running
around this neighborhood crying because they can’t find Jesus…people who would stop you on the street and ask, “Where
have you put Jesus?” If only everyone were as eager to find the Lord as Mary was.
So I’ll ask again, “Where have you put Jesus?” Will you think about that question today and this week and on into the
weeks ahead? Will you think about areas of your life that Christ may want to resurrect, if only you would turn around and
recognize the Risen Lord standing right in front of you? Ask yourself if you are among those who have relegated Jesus to the
tomb, only to let Him out on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter, weddings and funerals. Check to see if you are
someone who prefers to keep Him locked inside the church, only to invite Him home when you get sick or lose your job or
when your marriage falls apart. Or maybe you allow Him one foot out of the grave just long enough to get you through your
present crisis, but immediately bury Him again once your life is back under control. Maybe you have even become so familiar
with Him that you’ve lost the ability to recognize a new thing He’s doing right under your nose.
The bottom line for all of us, regardless of where we are in our relationship with the Lord, is to have the courage to ask
ourselves whether we may have misplaced the Risen Christ. Where have we put Jesus? There is no time like the present to
return to the Lord and seek after Him with all our hearts. Those who look for Jesus will find Him. And those who admit that
their relationship with Jesus is damaged or broken and who really desire to begin again with the Lord will find Him waiting for
them with open arms. In fact, they’ll find that He’s been looking for them all along.
Whatever your situation, Mary’s question is worth thinking about. Where have you put Jesus? In her state of despair,
Mary had no idea that she had asked a question that remains so important for believers today. She had no idea when that
morning started out that her misinterpretation of the empty tomb would be transformed into the full revelation of God’s power
to conquer sin and death. And she also probably had no idea of how well she modeled discipleship on that first Easter morning,
a discipleship that we would do well to imitate. The Good News is that her story can be our story, the story of how the Risen
Christ comes to those who seek Him; how He transforms their grief to overflowing joy, and how He sends them out to tell
others the wonderful news that no matter where we try to put Him He Is Risen indeed and alive forevermore—in every
believing heart. Praise God!
Let us pray.
