Catching Fog

Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”

“They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.

Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”

She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”

Jesus said, “Mary.”

Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”

Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’ ”

Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her. (John 20:11–18)

The angels asked Mary a question: “why do you weep?” From Mary’s perspective, it seemed obvious: Jesus was dead, someone had moved his body, and now she couldn’t even mourn properly. An already bad situation had gotten even worse.

Moments later, someone else asked her the same question, “why do you weep?” She was distraught, she had tears in her eyes. Jesus was supposed to be dead. So she didn’t recognize it was Jesus himself asking the question that time.

Jesus asked her the question for the same reason that the angels had. Of course they understood she was sad, and of course they understood why. Neither the angels nor Jesus were asking for enlightenment. They were asking to make Mary reexamine her situation. She didn’t have a reason to weep anymore. Couldn’t she see that?

When Jesus spoke her name, she suddenly could see that. Her tears probably didn’t vanish in that instant, but they certainly took on an entirely different character: they became tears of joy.

Mary realized her circumstances were radically different than what she had imagined. The storms and trials of life can buffet us so severely sometimes that we lose sight of the fullness of our own circumstances. Although our suffering is no less real, no less painful, if we can keep our eyes on Jesus, the storms of life will not buffet us quite as hard.

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On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened. (Luke 24:1–12)

When the women came to the tomb that Sunday morning they were very sad; it was the third day since Jesus had been crucified, and they wanted to properly prepare his body that had been buried hurriedly before the Sabbath began. Now, with the Sabbath over, they could do the job right.

The women did not suspect, did not imagine, had not conceived of even the possibility that Jesus’ body would not be in that tomb. Their primary concern was wondering exactly how they’d get into it to do the final tasks that they thought they owed him, given that the stone blocking the tomb entrance was large and heavy.

The angels that met the women at the tomb wondered why they were looking in a tomb, of all places, for Jesus. Then they quoted Jesus’ prediction of his resurrection. Even then, confronted with the reality of the empty tomb, they had trouble understanding Jesus’ words.

God often surprises us, not so much because he hasn’t told us ahead of time what to expect, but mostly because we simply didn’t understand what he told us. Thankfully, he isn’t dependent upon our understanding in order for him to act on our behalf.

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“The older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’ ” (Luke 15:25–32)

The good son who always did what he was told, who had never disobeyed his father, became upset over the fuss being made over his wayward sibling. After living a disreputable life, after wasting all his part of the inheritance, he came home to a party. The good son just could not make sense of what he was seeing. He couldn’t see the justice of the situation.

The parable of the prodigal son was told in response to Pharisaical criticism of the time Jesus spent with “tax collectors and sinners.” It followed the parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin. Jesus argued that fairness has nothing to do with how God related with us. It was not about settling accounts, or getting what we deserve. Instead, it was all about God’s great mercy. The good son—like the Pharisees he represented—appeared unmerciful, self-absorbed, and unkind. All he cared about was himself and his desires: he failed to love his brother. And he failed to love his father.

Our relationships with most people are not all about settling scores and balancing accounts. Rather than focusing on what’s best for us, or what we perceive of as fair, we instead simply want to know how we can help those around us. It’s not about whether we think they deserve our help or not. We didn’t earn God’s mercy, and we can’t expect anyone else to earn ours.

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Peter began to tell him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.”

“I assure you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children, or fields because of Me and the gospel, who will not receive 100 times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. They were astonished, but those who followed Him were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, He began to tell them the things that would happen to Him.

“Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death. Then they will hand Him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him, and kill Him, and He will rise after three days.” (Mark 10:28–34)

Jesus once again spoke in paradox. After the incident with the rich young man unwilling to sell everything and follow Jesus, Peter told Jesus that he and the other disciples had left everything. Peter’s words were a hunt for reassurance.

So Jesus reassured Peter that those who had left much would receive eternal life, even as they still had parents and fields in abundance—with all the persecution those things would bring. But Jesus was not suggesting that if we give up everything, we get more physical stuff back in return. What had Jesus elsewhere said about mothers, brothers, sisters? That those who do the will of God are his mothers, brothers and sisters (Mark 3:33-35). Likewise, Jesus said the fields being white unto harvest and to pray for harvesters to go out into them (John 4:34-38). Jesus was not promising wealth and prosperity for those who sacrificed for him. Instead, he was promising what we would gain from spending ourselves for God. We gain the harvest of righteousness and the harvest of more souls for the kingdom. And inevitably, our proclamation of the Good News can bring persecution sooner or later.

Though in this world we may seem to have lost everything because of our devotion to Jesus, come the kingdom, we will be rich indeed. Where our hearts are, that’s where our treasure is.

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