Easter Sunday (Seeking: Who are you looking for?)

read John 20:1-18

commentary | Rev. Danielle Shroyer

Nine questions have guided us on our Lenten journey. And this Easter morning, they bring us to the culminating question: “Who are you looking for?” All this time, we have been seeking: seeking answers, seeking guidance, seeking Jesus. But the responses we get depend very much on what—or who—we are looking for.

In every question, a picture of Jesus has been forming in your mind. Who is he to you? What is he capable of? What does he want? The way you feel about that determines greatly how you hear his response.

As Mary weeps at the empty tomb, the picture she has formed in her mind is one of tragedy. Jesus has died, and now someone has gone so far as to steal his body. I imagine she thought enemies of Jesus did this, the same who wanted to squelch his voice and end his movement. This is her cry, even in the face of two mysterious figures robed in white. And then she turns around. She sees a man standing there. She does not see that it is Jesus. She sees only in her grief, and only through the lens of tragedy. (What else could she do?!) In the Aramaic translation, Jesus says to her, “Why do you weep? And who do you want?”

“Who do you want?” What an interesting question. Of all the versions of Jesus out there, which one do you believe? For which Jesus are you crying? Who do you want?

I believe the world heard the glad tidings of Easter because her answer revealed her wholehearted love of Jesus—beyond teacher, beyond healer, beyond savior. For Mary, Jesus truly became fully God and fully human. She loved all of him, because through him she had experienced a love that embraced all of her. This is the wholeness that heals the world and brings us into eternal life.

What would it look like for us to see Jesus as he is?

Reflect: What would it mean for you to love Jesus with your whole heart, and live for him from that wholeheartedness?