Do you know where the very first Easter
egg came from? I’ll give you a clue. It was not from the Easter Bunny. He
hopped along later. No, the original Easter egg, practically 2000 years ago,
was brought by none other than Mary Magdalene.
According to an ancient story, Mary Magdalene
had an audience before the Roman Emperor, Tiberius Caesar, a few years after the
resurrection, to him to tell him about Jesus, and the unfair treatment he’d
received from the imperial governor, Pontius Pilate, who had Jesus crucified. But,
Mary said, Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to her and his
disciples.
Now, anyone who appeared before the
Emperor was supposed to bring him a gift. Mary’s was a plain, ordinary egg—a
symbol of the resurrection, like the tomb which will be broken open with new
life. When she came before the throne, she held out the egg in her hand and
greeted the him saying: “Christ is Risen!” (Just as we said this morning).
Only the Emperor said to Mary, “How can
anyone rise from the dead? That’s as impossible as that egg turning red.” And suddenly,
the story goes, the white egg in Mary’s hand turned a deep red. It was the
first colored Easter egg. As a result, we often see pictures of Mary Magdalene,
especially in Eastern Orthodox icons, holding a red egg. (Now, when you see an
Easter egg, whether real or chocolate, you’ll know that they are not only fun
to eat, but also a sign of the resurrection, going all the way back to Mary
Magdalene).
Mary Magdalene is often called the apostle
to the apostles, since it is she who first proclaims the extraordinary story of
Jesus’ resurrection. In fact, as we read in the gospels, Mary is the first
person Jesus appears to on Easter morning. There was something extraordinary
about Mary’s faith and her willingness to set aside her fears and her doubts,
to share the good news of God’s love and power—to Jesus’ friends, to the Emperor,
and now to us here today. “I have seen the Lord,” she tells us. “Christ is
risen.”
But, she didn’t believe right away. At
first, Mary was perplexed, sad, even and depressed. She doubted. Not only had
her friend been killed, but his body was missing. Her life was falling apart. Deep
in her soul, she probably felt as if she had been crucified with Jesus. We can probably
relate. Sometimes we feel confused and depressed, sometimes we doubt, and it
can seem as if our world is falling apart. Deaths of people we love. Unwelcome or
uncertain health diagnoses. Work struggles. Family struggles. Challenges that lead
us—like Mary—to question and to doubt. Not only about God, but about ourselves.
In fact, as we read in the gospel account,
Mary was so sad, so depressed that she didn’t recognize Jesus when he appeared
to her. There are abundant theories about that—one being that maybe, probably,
Jesus looked different after the resurrection. Another theory is that she
didn’t expect to see Jesus—who would? I don’t really expect to see my father who
died years ago. You don’t expect to see people you love who are no longer here.
We wish we could. We dream of them. But we know they are not going to appear
before us. That’s not how things work. Not in real life.
But even more, I think Mary didn’t see or
recognize Jesus because of her grief. Her eyes were filled with tears. Her
heart was broken. And when we feel that way, it takes a lot for good news to
break in. The shell of the egg can be hard indeed. The stone is heavy and hard
to roll away.
As we read the story, it was only when
Jesus called to Mary, when he addressed her by name, that she realized he was there
with her. Only when he touched her soul—in the same way he had before the
horrible events of the last days—that she believed he was alive. Only after she
looked up, and dried her eyes, did she feel the power of God’s love—love for
her.
Here’s the thing: The resurrection is an event that happened long ago, in a
garden in Jerusalem. And it happens
every day, every moment, every time we,
like Mary, hear God’s voice calling us
by name and inviting us to live. Telling us that we, too, are loved. That we,
too, are alive in him and with him. That’s what Jesus did for Mary in the
garden. And it’s what he does for us. The resurrection is God’s way of
transforming us, from the inside out. Because Jesus didn’t rise for himself, but rather so that we, too,
might be raised. So that, like Mary Magdalene, we might have the power and the
courage and the conviction of saying that we have seen the Lord.
Let’s go back to the story of Mary
Magdalene and that first Easter Egg. Now we don’t know if it’s really true. It’s
a fantastic story. Maybe hard to believe. But then, so, too, is the
resurrection. So, let’s imagine it is true. When Mary went to the emperor to
say that Christ is risen, she wasn’t only reporting an amazing miracle that had
happened to Jesus. It was a miracle that happened to her, as well, and to Jesus’
disciples, and to all people. Mary was telling the emperor that God lives. In
Christ. In her. And in us. And no emperor, no king, no illness, no crucifixion,
not even death itself can defeat the power of life in God. The emperor didn’t
believe Mary. But we can. And we don’t need the sign of an egg turning red to
know that her testimony is true.
God is alive in Christ and God calls to
each of us by name, like Mary in the garden. God offers us hope when we are afraid,
peace when we are anxious, and the gift of faith, even when we doubt. Most
especially, God offers us life. New life. Abundant life. Resurrection life. Life
with Christ. Life in Christ.
“Mary Magdalene went and announced to the
disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’.” May we also see, and then proclaim, with
her and all the faithful, “Christ is Risen!” Alleluia. Amen.
© The Rev. Matthew
P. Cadwell, PhD
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