Our Father who is in heaven…Our Father…
Even someone like myself who, I confess, many times would rather take a bag of books alone into the woods, is starting to feel that inward design to need community.
Our Father…
This prayer is a model for us given by the incarnate God himself. It is no mistake that the opening words are those…
This Resurrection Sunday will be the most obvious of Sundays without corporate worship. This one Sunday above all else is what drives Christianity. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity would be like every other belief system. It is only Christianity that has the supernatural means to deal with sin. Only because of the sinless life, sin-crushing death and pure resurrection are we able to rightly utter the words: Our Father.
Every movement and tradition, every conflict and joyful progression of sanctification in Christianity happens in community. It is the one thing we do not have right now. Dear sister do not think that this very moment in time is without design by Our Father. This moment in history has been created before the beginnings of time (Deuteronomy 29:29; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Lamentations 3:37-38; Proverbs 16:4, 33; John 3:27).
On a Sunday when even the heathen come to worship corporately how will we do this?
There is another moment in time that I believe is appropriate to see during days such as this. One of my favorite Bible passages is John 20:1-10 & 11-18. John writes from the perspective of the heart of a woman who is confused about the times in which she is living. Nothing in that moment is making sense. Is all lost?
Mary Magdalene is seeking to make sense out of what she witnessed just 2 days before. Maybe open your Bibles and read this passage with me.
Before daylight Mary, another Mary and Salome (see Mark 16; Luke 24; Matthew 28) arrive at the tomb in which Jesus was placed. Unmistakably the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Notice how John’s gospel removes Mary from community and zooms in on her personal reaction on this first Resurrection Sunday. She peers into the tomb after Peter and John leave. Mary sees angels. Let me say this again: Mary sees angels. So Mark says he is dressed in white, but both Luke and Matthew describe them as dazzling or having the appearance of lightning. These ‘ministering spirits’ (Hebrews 1:14) could not draw Mary’s attention. For John, in his gospel, the angels are not the focus. The angels speak gently to her, calling her ‘woman,’ a gentle way to address women in that day.
Yet:
Mary’s only thoughts are of her Saviour. Mary’s focus is on him and him alone.
Think for a moment about what is going on in her world right now. The followers of the Messiah are holed up in a room because of the realistic fear that the Romans will arrest them. This would be a very common response for the Romans. They have seen these insurrections time and again from these feisty Jews. Their best recourse was to imprison or execute or both anyone attached to them. Yet: Mary’s mind and heart are focused on Jesus.
Mary turns from the angels. She sees another man, “The gardener” she thinks. The man (whom we know to be Jesus) asks her a similar question to the angels, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” What she says brings tears to my eyes every time: Overcome with grief Mary diligently seeking her Lord: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” She is emotionally and physically drained. I believe she is just in deep despair.
What happens next is, to me, one of the sweetest exchanges in all of Scripture:
Jesus is already there greeting Mary. “Mary,” he says to her first. The Scriptures record no one else of the earth meeting Jesus before Mary does. This is a moment frozen in time. Mary overcome with grief and confusion is met by Jesus. She believes she is seeking him, yet he has been waiting for her. At the risk of being dramatic, ladies: This is a time, separated from our normal communities that we can find the essence of community; the designer of community. This is a moment created for us. Mary had that sweet moment and then it was over. Don’t let this moment be over for you.
Whatever conflicts and sanctification or confusion or loneliness are going on in your isolated community do not miss that these are unusual days which have been designed for us by our Creator…because then it will be over…
“…go to my brothers (community) and say to them ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”
Our Father