Unity Presbyterian Church: Sunrise Homily

Monday, April 9, 2012

Sunrise Homily

“He Calls you by Name”

Scripture: Psalm 118: 14-17 and John 20:1-18

Preached by Linda Jo Peters

April 8, 2012 ~ Sunrise Service with communion

Unity Presbyterian Church ~ Terre Haute, Indiana

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 118: 14-17
The celebratory tone, the rejoicing in the deliverance from death, the confidence in God’s mighty works: all of these themes and images are appropriate for Easter, and are entry points for how we in the modern church might recapture the passion of those first Easter experiences.
This psalm carries many images that speak to us of the Messiah who is Jesus the Christ. But here is these four verses are the heart and gift of Easter.

14 The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.

15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.

John 20:1-18

Our creation story begins in a garden and now in this text we are back in a garden remembering who Jesus really is. We recall that this gospel began with a wonderful hymn of praise:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

And today we gather in a garden to remember it is always about life and the giver of life.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

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). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to 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.’” 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.

HOMILY

Names are very important to understand who we are. When we were yet unable to make a choice, we were given a name. Over time we may grow to love our name or reject it. Rob has been called Robby, Bob, Robert and even Robert Earl. His Dad so disliked his first name which is Reginald that he has always gone by his middle name Earl. He was a Reginald Earl the second but would not pass Reginald on to a son who he loves very much. Rob passed the changed tradition on to our son, Raymond Earl.

There were a lot of Marys in Jesus’ life: Mary Magdalene[1], Mary, Martha’s sister, Mary the mother of James and of course his own mother, Mary. It must have been a very popular name. In Hebrew the name Miryam מִרְיָם as in Moses’ sister means “bitter.” But its Greek derivative Mariamme means ‘wise woman’. Mary may have been popular because of it was so close to the name of the beautiful young Jewish princess Mariamme, married to King Herod the Great of wise men encounter. Herold resented and envied the love his subjects had for the former royal family, the Hasmoneans, of which Mariamme was a member and in his madness ended up murdering most of the members of that family, including his wife, their two sons, his young brother-in-law, his mother-in-law, and Mariamme's aged grandfather. I like to think the Jewish people who had little power over their occupiers used the naming of their girl babies as a way to challenge Roman authority.

But it is more than just the naming process that makes Mary’s encounter with her beloved teacher so amazing. It is something we cannot read in the text. It is how Jesus said her name. Hearing him call her “Mary” transformed her life from a minor supporting role as someone he healed to someone who was a leader of the early church. So too Jesus is calling you. Have you heard him call your name? He calls you from death to life. Listen…

This is Easter and every day of your life, Jesus is calling. As the great hymn of faith says:

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me;

See, on the portals he's waiting and watching,

watching for you and for me.

Come home, come home; ye who are weary come home;

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!

Life’s abundance is poured out on us through this communion with God. Let us remember all he has done for us and hear him call our name. Amen.