I want you to imagine for a moment that you have been handpicked by Jesus, chosen to participate with him in his ministry.  You have heard him teach about God’s kingdom as an earthly possibility.  You have seen him heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and unlock chains of captivity.  But today is different.  Friday changed everything, for this was the day that Jesus died, crucified by the Romans.  But for you and others, much more died on that day than just Jesus.  Your hopes died.  Your dreams died.  Indeed a part of you had died as well.  Yes, he had talked about his death, and even his resurrection, but such words are easy to dismiss, especially when you don’t want to hear them.

          Now it is the first day of the week, early in the morning.  Mary Magdalene had startled and awakened you with words about Jesus’ body being taken.  Jesus never spoke about that.  Peter and John had run to the tomb, but all they saw was that it was empty.  Can you imagine how you might feel and the thoughts you might have?   

          But then, Mary once again shares words that startle your heart and awaken your soul. Can you imagine the conversation that took place upon hearing these words? 

“I have seen the Lord,” she said.  

 “What do you mean you have seen Jesus? 

“I mean I just saw him.” 

“Where”? 

“At the tomb.  I had gone back, hoping that maybe I was a mistaken, that maybe Jesus’ body had not been taken like I first thought.  I wanted to see for myself, so I looked inside.  Then I turned around and there he stood right in front of me.”

“What did he say?”

“He asked me why I was weeping and then he asked, ‘Whom are you looking for?’ ” 

“Were those his words?” 

“Yes, why?” 

“Because he asked me the same thing three years ago.  I was standing with John the Baptist and Andrew and Jesus walked by us.  John looked at him and said to us, ‘Behold the lamb of God.’  So we began to follow him and it was Jesus who turned around and asked, ‘What are you looking for?’” 

“What did you say?” 

“I asked him where he was staying, and by that I did not mean where he was lodging.  I wanted to know about his relationship with God because I wanted to know if I could have one too, and he invited me to so as he said, ‘Come and see.’”

          “Mary, when he asked you that question, what did you say?”

“Well, I did not know it was Jesus.  I guess my grief had blinded me  to all sorts of things.  Instead, I thought he was the gardener and so I asked him if he had taken the body, just tell me so I can have him back. I  just wanted Jesus back.  But then he called me by name and I realized it was Jesus.  I was so glad he was back and I thought to myself how we could pick up right where we had left off.  Even though I could see his wounds, as well as feel my own, because of the horrible thing that had happened, I remember thinking, ‘But now that was over and we can move on.’  I thought once we all were gathered again, like the old days, Jesus could again be our leader.  But that is not the way it is going to be.” 

“How do you know?” 

“Because he said to me, ‘Do not hold on to me because I have

not ascended to the Father.’ And then he told me to tell you that he was ascending to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God.’”

          Indeed Jesus was telling Mary that things were going to be different and that even though resurrection had occurred,  it could never be the same again.  Bringing back, or going back is about resuscitation.  Resurrection moves life toward the future. And the God we profess is the God of resurrection, not resuscitation. 

          Now, I want you to imagine for a moment that you have been handpicked by Jesus, chosen to participate with him in his ministry.  You have heard him teach about God’s kingdom as an earthly possibility.  You have seen him heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and unlock chains of captivity.  But today is different.  Today is the Sunday after Easter which we celebrated last week in fine fashion.  The stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty, so where is the body?  

It is one thing to shout “He is risen! the tomb is empty!”  It is another to say, “I have seen the Lord.”  Have you seen him?  Where is the body?  It has been 2000 years.  I don’t know about you, but I have not seen Jesus of Nazareth lately. Have you?      Again I ask, “Where is the body of Christ?”  The apostle Paul tells us, in writing to the church in Corinth, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”  And you know that twice now I have invited you to imagine being chosen by Jesus to participate with him in his ministry. Well guess what. You have been.  And not only have you been chosen to participate in his ministry, you have been chosen to be the body of Christ. The church is the body of Christ, we are the body of Christ, collectively and individually.

Teresa of Avila was a nun, and is viewed as very much a reformer and mystic. She wrote:

Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

          Question:  When people look at this church, do they say to others, “I have seen the Lord?”  When people are in the midst of crisis as was Mary, needing healing in their lives, needing hope, needing comfort, needing compassion, needing food, needing release from whatever holds them captive, needing guidance, needing inspiration, needing to know God loves them, needing to know that they are of supreme value and worth to God, needing to know that they are forgiven, needing to know that they are significant in God’s eyes and in God’s heart, needing to know there is a way to be in relationship with God,  do these people in need see Christ in us or mistake us as the gardener? 

          When people are seeking something in their lives because they are empty, because they are lonely, because they know there is something more to life than getting up in the morning, going to work all day, and going to bed at night, so they seek something of higher significance and meaning, do they ask to see where we are staying?  Do people see in us and in you a loving intimate relationship with God, a relationship that has been made possible because Jesus has shown us how, a relationship that is Christ-like?  When they see you, do they see the body of Christ or the gardener?

          Perhaps, when they see us as simply the gardener, is it because that is how we see ourselves?  We see ourselves not as the body of Christ, but as its caretaker, tending to its needs, giving it water when needed, tilling the ground so it will grow, taking in the plants at night so they don’t freeze, sweeping off the porch and unlocking the doors in case someone was to come by—someone who may be seeking, someone who may be needing.  But hey, what can we do, we are just the gardener.   Wrong.  

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”