Title: Mary Magdalene and the Resurrection Lord
Mary Magdalene and the Resurrection Lord
John 20:1-18, Easter, April 24, 2011
Today is Easter 2011. Easter is traditionally the oldest and largest holiday in the Christian church year. It can be said that Christianity began with Easter. In contrast, Christmas was accepted as a church feast quite later. Easter is celebrated as the same day in all churches around the world, but Christmas is a little different. The Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church celebrate December 25th, and the Orthodox Church celebrates January 6th. This points to the fact that Easter is central to the Christian faith. In celebration of Easter, Korean churches hold united worship services in each region. It's the biggest festival, so it's worth it. Sometimes they baptize and share eggs to inscribe the meaning of resurrection. Some churches also offer Easter music services. It is also meaningful in its own way to hold various events in a variety of ways.
Instead of staying at such events, we need to think about the fundamental meaning of the resurrection. First, ask yourself a question. What does the saying that Jesus was resurrected refer to? What does Jesus' resurrection have to do with us? There is a big misconception among Christians about the resurrection. Resurrection is considered to be reincarnation from the dead and raised again. Like the story of the widow's son or Lazarus in the Gospels. This doesn't even make sense conceptually. It is against God's justice if a dark-skinned person becomes dark-skinned, and a disabled person comes back to life with a disability. Even in the world of the resurrection, if the relationship between my father and mother, friends and brothers is maintained, and if a person who has lived alone without a family is still alone, the world of the resurrection cannot be said to be an absolute world. Jesus also said that the resurrection world is not a way of marrying and getting married, but a life like an angel. Resurrection is not a return to the life we are experiencing now.
Some of you may be wondering if this explanation is correct, and if there is any basis for it. Fortunately, we know of a resurrection event in history. It is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, an event in which the eschatological life event was preempted into history. If it had not been for His resurrection, we would still think of His resurrection as vaguely. At best, I would have thought of it as a reincarnation in Buddhism. Even the Jews of the Old Testament were vaguely aware of the resurrection. It was believed that when people die, they all go down to Gehenna, that is, the underworld. Through their historical experience, they came up with more advanced thinking, which is apocalyptic. These ideas have not yet reached the reality of the resurrection. Now, through Jesus Christ, the Church of Christ has come to know and taste the concrete world of resurrection that all religions and ideologies that value life have not yet known. The Church is the community of witnesses to the fact that the resurrection event, which secured the future of all mankind, occurred in the fate of Jesus. Today, we too are witnesses of the resurrection at a point in such history.
In today's sermon, only Mary Magdalene appears. In the Gospel of John, Mary and Martha are treated as important disciples of Jesus, but in this resurrection tradition, they are defeated by Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene notices that the stone has been removed from the tomb and informs the disciples, believed to be Peter and John. Mary thought that the body of Jesus had been removed from somewhere and asked the disciples for help. Peter and John ran to the tomb, but saw no body in the tomb, only the linen cloth that wrapped the body. They each went home without knowing what was going on.
Mary's experience of the resurrection is not separate from the early Christian belief in the resurrection. Today, if we can enter the resurrection faith of early Christianity through the various testimonies of the Gospels and the various testimonies of the epistles, even those who have not seen Jesus in person can experience the resurrection faith like Mary, and go further and become witnesses of the resurrection. It must be so. If it is not for such experiences and faith as witnesses, all of our religious lives are no different than building a house on sand. If you have decided to live as a Christian, come into the center of your faith. At the center is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The cornerstone that transforms our impermanent life, which cannot be filled with anything, into eternal life, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do not spare the spiritual effort to enter the center of the Christian faith. At some point the resurrected Lord who appeared to Mary Magdalene, but now ascends into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, will call you in a way you never expected. ?쏦ey Maria!??