Do we miss the drama of the Easter Story?

I love the Star Wars Saga, for many reasons (future post). The scene when Vader tells Luke that he is Luke's father is one of, if not the, most dramatic plot twists in cinema history. 

I can still remember watching this scene in a theater in Austin, TX while in college.  I won't ever forget it. 

It's sad though for younger generations that they mostly  can't experience the Saga in the same way. Knowing this twist in advance just severely reduces the impact of the films. So much so in fact that there is a recommended "Machete" order in which to watch the series. If one has never seen the films, the best order to watch is Episodes 4, 5 (that contains the scene above), 1 (if you must; can actually be skipped), 2, 3, then wrap up with 6. Of course now you can add in Rogue One after Episode 3 as well as add in 7 and soon 8 at the end. 

I think the Easter story is kinda like that. Knowing how it all turns out spoils the story in some ways. It's harder to measure the impact the events of the original Easter weekend had on the Apostles and those with them knowing the story from this side. We kind of glance over what the disciples did between Friday and Sunday and how shocking Sunday morning must have been. Truly, if you could show the scene of Jn. 20 to an audience that doesn't know how it ends, it would perhaps be the most dramatic scene ever, eclipsing even Star Wars!

In the account of one of those closest to Jesus, John records the event like this:

"Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance."

Whoa. What's up with this?  The closely guarded grave is empty. Grave robbers?  Vandals? Man, adding insult on top of such deep tragedy. 

"She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!""

So Mary is assuming someone has taken Jesus' body for some unknown reason. Who would do such a thing, and why?  Where would they take him?  So many questions. 

"Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first."

So Peter and John (the "other disciple" is the writer, John) hear this news and they jet off to see for themselves. It's at least a 15 minute run to get to the tomb. But they are running. What is going on in the minds of the two closest disciples of Jesus?  "Is Mary crazy?  Maybe she was mistaken. If not, what's going on?"  

I always figured Peter as a hunkering man, and so I can see him getting winded as John stretches out ahead of him and reaches the tomb first. 

"He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings."

John gets there first but then stops in his tracks when he reaches the entrance. But he can see inside and it's clear Mary wasn't crazy or mistaken. But nevertheless, John hesitates to go into the tomb. But not ol' Peter. He's never hesitated about anything ever. He doesn't give any thought to becoming "unclean" or worrying about what could have been a smelly, gross scene. 

And what do these two best friends of Jesus find?  Not only is the tomb empty but the burial linens are neatly folded in the burial chamber. Who does that?  If the body was stolen, why would they leave these linens behind, let alone to fold them neatly?

"Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead."

Boom. At least for these two. It's that moment in time when you go "Oh" and the light suddenly comes on. They go from being as despondent and disillusioned as one can be to 15 minutes and a fast run later realizing that everything you thought about life, God, yourself...everything...is changed. And NOTHING will ever be the same. Ever. Thank God!

"Then they went home."

So what do you do after your world has just been turned completely upside down?  Go home, naturally. 

They are probably still in shock and of course not knowing where Jesus has gone or what happens next, they just go back to their home to think things through most likely. 

"Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in."

But not Mary. Sometime after the boys had made their discovery Mary goes back to the tomb herself. The boys hadn't appereny taken the time to fill Mary in on what they now understand about what has happened. She's just standing there, just outside the entrance to the tomb, crying. For her, this is still sorrow upon sorrow. The man who completely changed her life and whom she had put her complete trust in was brutally, unfairly executed and now, to make things worse, if they could even get worse, she can't even experience the dignity of honoring her friend's memory and paying proper respects. It's just the bottom of the barrel for Mary. As hard or difficult as life may have been before she met Jesus, this is much worse. This is the death of hope, and not just a "maybe this could happen" but a hope she had experienced for a time in a real way. 

"She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. "Dear woman, why are you crying?" the angels asked her.

"Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, "and I don’t know where they have put him."

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him."

Suddenly, she notices two beings of some kind (since she doesn't freak out at this they must have just looked like people) sitting inside right were Jesus had been laid. They ask her why is she crying, which had to seem like the dumbest question ever, or maybe even an insensitive question. But she just tells them, she is upset because someone has moved Jesus' body and it's all just so wrong. She wants to know where his body is. 

Then she notices someone else standing there outside the tomb (didn't this have to be startling?). She doesn't know who it is. 

"Dear woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who are you looking for?"

She thought he was the gardener. "Sir," she said, "if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him."

Man, more people asking Mary why she is crying. She has to be thinking, "Why does everyone want to know why I'm crying. I mean, it's a tomb. Why would someone be crying around a tomb?"

But this dude asks her who she is looking for. She guesses this man is the landscaper of the burial grounds. Maybe he knows something. Maybe he helped take the body. She just wants to know what happened to Jesus' body. 

""Mary!" Jesus said."

One word. One word is all it took to take off the blinders. One word is all it took to change Mary's world forever. With one word, "Mary", Jesus revealed himself to his close friend and disciple. Again, it's that moment in a life when everything changes. A moment Mary surely remembered, cherished, for the rest of her life. 

Wow!  The emotion in this moment is out the roof. Can you feel it? Put yourself at that tomb, at that moment. Can you see it?  

Now, you know what's truly just as fantastic as this amazing scene?  It's your scene. It's closing your eyes and getting silent and still long enough to hear. Listen closely. Can you here it?  Yes, it's YOUR name. It's being called by the King of all creation. Can you recognize the One calling it?