Message: When She Turns / John 20:1-18

Today is Easter Sunday. This is the day we proclaim that Christ is risen. It is a day of joy and hope. But the Easter story in today's reading does not begin with celebration. It begins in the dark.

Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early on Sunday morning, before sunrise. The world around her is still dark. Her heart feels no different. She comes with grief and sorrow for the one she has loved.

When Mary arrives, she finds the stone rolled away. She is shocked. Her first thought is not resurrection. She thinks someone has taken the body away.

She runs to Peter and the other disciple and says, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” The two disciples run to the tomb. They look inside and see the burial cloths lying there, but they still do not understand what has happened. Then they go back home.

But Mary stays. When Jesus died on the cross, she stayed near him. While other disciples ran away, she remained. Now again, she does not leave. She stands outside the tomb and weeps. The empty tomb makes her heart feel empty too.

Mary does not hide her pain. She does not rush past the moment. She looks into the tomb again. This time she sees two angels sitting there. They ask, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She answers that someone has taken Jesus away.

Then she senses someone behind her. She turns and sees a man standing there. It is Jesus, but she does not recognize him. Grief can do that. Tears can do that. She thinks he is the gardener. In deep distress, she says, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."

Then Jesus says, "Mary." Just her name. One word. It is the moment everything changes. She recognizes him in the voice she has longed to hear. She turns and cries out, "Rabboni," which means “my teacher”. It is a more personal and intimate way of saying “Rabbi.”

The Greek word used here for "turn" is “strepho”. It appears twice in this scene. The first time, Mary turns when she senses someone behind her. She looks at him and speaks to him, and still does not know who he is. The second turning is different. It happens the moment Jesus calls her by name. What turns is not only her body. Her whole being turns. She turns from sorrow to wonder, from loss to presence, from despair to life. When she turns, the whole story turns with her.

The resurrection does not become real to Mary through arguments or theories. It becomes real when she hears the voice of Jesus and turns toward it. This is often how Christ meets us. Not first through clear answers, but through encounter. Not first through certainty, but through relationship. Not first by long explanations, but by a short call.

Then Jesus says something unexpected. He says, "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.” He is telling Mary that their relationship cannot continue in the old way. She cannot take him back into the past, back to the roads of Galilee, the familiar meals, the old pattern of following him from place to place.

Instead, the resurrection opens a new way of belonging. The risen Christ draws people into the life of God. The God of Jesus becomes the God of all who follow Christ. This is what Mary is sent to announce.

Then Mary turns away from silence and toward witness. She goes and says, "I have seen the Lord." She does not need to explain everything or prove anything. She simply speaks of what has become real to her. She heard his voice. She recognized him when he called her name.

Today we also come before the empty tomb. We do not all come in the same way. Some come with joy. Some come with heavy hearts. Some come with questions they have carried for a long time. Some come because they want to hope again, but are not sure how. This story makes room for all of us. Mary comes in the dark, looking for Jesus, without knowing what God is about to do.

The risen Christ meets us there. He does not wait until we are ready or until our faith is settled. He comes near while we are still searching, still grieving, still trying to hold on.

When Mary turns, she is not given just a private moment of comfort. She is given a new direction. She is called out of the tomb and into the world. That is the movement of Easter. The risen Christ meets us where we are, but does not leave us there. We are not asked to have every answer before we speak. We are asked to bear witness to the One who meets us, knows us, and calls us into life.

When we turn toward others with hope and care, Easter becomes visible. Wherever grief is met with compassion, wherever those who feel forgotten are reminded that they are seen, wherever those who weep are called by name, the life of Easter breaks in.

Easter is not only about believing that Jesus is risen. It is also about trusting that our lives can turn. Hearts can turn. Communities can turn. Even a world full of sorrow can turn toward new life. The darkness is real. Grief is real. The wounds of this world are real. But they do not have the final word. The final word belongs to the living Christ, who still comes near, still speaks our name, and still turns us toward life.

Christ is risen. Christ calls us by name. And when Christ calls, we turn.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Min Hwang