Why Do You Weep? W/Pastor Ericka White

Pastor Ericka shares a powerful Easter message as we walk through Mary’s encounter with the risen Christ. What begins in weeping becomes a powerful revelation: Jesus is alive, He is calling your name, and death no longer gets the final word. Join us as we discover how resurrection meets us in our grief, transforms our perspective, and invites us to live in the reality of new life—right now.

Transcript

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I am Pastor Erica White, and so glad to be before you this resurrection Sunday as we celebrate our risen Savior. The last time we gathered in this space was on Good Friday. We gathered under the weight of the cross. We remembered the suffering of Jesus, the love of Jesus poured out for us. And much like we've done throughout this series, as Pastor Andrea mentioned, we have walked through these past several weeks standing in the reality of death. And then came Saturday. Silent, still, unresolved. The space between what we believed and what we could see. And we know that space. But Good Friday, hallelujah, was never the end of the story. And so today we come to this moment where everything begins to change. Today we get to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, his victory over sin, his victory over death. And this is the hope that changes absolutely everything. This is the moment we step into this morning. The moment where his followers first began to discover that what they thought was over was not over. So we get to hear this story again this morning. And not just from one voice, but from many. You've heard it so many Easter Sundays. But we'll be able to hear this story. And sometimes when we hear the story in our favorite translation told year after year, we stop, we're tempted to stop feeling it. But today I pray that you would uh hear it again through wonder, that you would hear it again through simplicity, through clarity. I want to invite you, adults, don't hear it through adult ears. Listen with fresh ears, as if you're hearing it for the very first time. So that you don't grow familiar with Jesus and what he's done. I want to invite Felicity, Maddox, Zarnett, and Nora to come up and they will and read.

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God's wonderful surprise, the resurrection from Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20. Jesus' friends were sad. They would never see their best friend again. How could this happen? Wasn't Jesus the rescuer, the king God had promised? It wasn't supposed to end like this. Yes, but whoever said anything about the end? Just before sunrise, on the third day, God sent an earthquake and an angel from heaven. When the guards saw the angel, they fell down with fright. The angel rolled the huge stone away, sat on top of it, and waited. At the first glimmer of dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other woman headed to the tomb to wash Jesus' body. Their early morning sun slanted through the ancient olive trees, drops of dew glittering on leaves and grasses, little tears everywhere. The friends walked quietly along the hilly path through the olive groves until they reached the tomb, and immediately noticed something odd. It was wide open. They peered through the opening into the dark tomb. But wait, Jesus' body was gone.

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In something else a shining man was there with clothes made from lightning. Don't be scared, the angel said, but they couldn't help it. They screamed anyway. The angel asked them, What are you doing here? This is a tomb, and tomb are for dead people. The woman couldn't speak. Jesus isn't dead anymore, she said. He's alive again. And the horse wept and then the angel laughed with such gladness that they fell for a moment as if they had woken from a nightmare.

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The other woman rushed home, but Mary stayed behind. How could it be true? Jesus was definitely dead. How can he be alive? Just then Mary heard someone else in the garden. Perhaps it was the gardener, she thought. He'll know where Jesus' body is. I don't know where Jesus is, Mason said urgently. I can't find him. But it was alright. Jesus knew where she was, and he had found her. Mary, only one person said her name like that. She could hear her heart pumping. She turned around. She could just make out a figure. She shaded her eyes to see and thought she was dreaming. But she wasn't dreaming. She was seeing Jesus. Mary fell to the ground, sudden tears filled her eyes, and great job shook her whole body. And all she wanted in that moment was to cling to Jesus and never let him go. You'll be able to hold on to me later, Mary Jesus said. Gently and always be close to me. Go, but now go and tell the others that I am alive. Mary ran and ran all the way to the city.

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She had never run so fast or so far in all her life. She felt she could have run forever. She didn't even feel like her feet touched the ground. The sun seemed to be dancing and gleaming and bounding across the sky, racing with her and shining brighter than she could ever remember in the clear, fresh air. And it seemed to her that morning as she ran and it seemed to her that morning as she ran almost as if the whole world had been made anew, almost as if the whole world was shining for joy. The trees, tiny sounds in the grass, the birds, her heart. Was God really making everything said come untrue? Was he making even death come untrue? She couldn't wait to tell Jesus' friends. They won't believe it, she laughed. She was right, of course. And this is the word of the Lord.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Let us pray.

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Lord, thank you for allowing us to hear this story through the voices of our children. And that's not separate from the story. It's not cute. It is embodied gospel. Because the resurrection has always been carried out this way. You've sent your word from voice to voice, from another to another. And there's something holy about being a carrier of your word. Thank you for allowing us to hear it differently again today. I pray, Lord, that in the rest of our time before your word, that you would allow your spirit to weigh heavy on us, heavy on our hearts, heavy on our ears. I pray that you would speak to us a fresh in stereo sound. Speak to us the resurrection hope that we would come alive in you.

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It is in your Son Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

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This story told simply in this translation through Mary's voice, Scripture tells us it was witnessed, in fact, by many. In the Gospel of Luke, which is the lens we will isolate today. We're told that it wasn't just Mary Magdalene, but it was Joanna. It was the Mary, it was Mary, the mother of James, and other women were present initially. Not the powerful, not the recognized. The Gospel of John wants us to know it was not the expected, but it was women. Which is hard for me to say as a woman, just standing here. I'm not triumphant for women, but I see what God has chosen. He chose women that stayed when others left. Women who loved, who hoped when hope seemed gone. Women who showed up not with answers, but with their devotion. And in a world where their voices were not centered, not trusted, not even a reliable witness, God said, in fact, you will be the first to see it. You will be the first to carry it. You will be the first to tell it. Similar to the voices of our children that we heard this morning. Voices that we may be tempted to overlook. Voices that we are sometimes tempted to underestimate. And again, this is exactly how resurrection has always been carried from women at the tomb to children in this room. God entrusts his greatest news to those who will simply show up and be compelled by love. So if you're here, if you are one of those people who has shown up, you're not overlooked in this story either. It meets us right where we are. And I'm glad we're here because we're talking about resurrection, and resurrection is communal. It is a gift for everyone, a hope for everyone. It's something that we're all invited to share in together as family. People I would have never met because of resurrection. God has brought us together. And resurrection is also deeply personal, which is how Mary experienced the revelation of resurrection. Even though Mary approached the tomb in the presence of many, Jesus, as we read, only called one name. And that's where the story begins today. This is Easter morning. The day we talk about resurrection. The day we talk about hope, about joy, about the fulfillment of God's promises. But let's be honest, the story actually, when it begins, it doesn't feel like any of that. It feels like Frightful Friday. It feels still early in the morning like silent Saturday. It begins in weeping. Mary comes to the tomb early while it's still dark. And it's not just the sky that's dark. This is at this point her world. Her world is dark. She's not coming expecting resurrection. She's coming to care for what has died, which can feel familiar to many of us in this place. Perhaps you've maybe shown up, knowing exactly what that feels like, that something in your world, something in your life feels unnatural. It feels like death. John tells us that Mary in arriving seas, then the stone rolled away, and she immediately makes an assumption. They've taken the Lord. Her grief causes her to misread this moment because grief has a way of teaching your heart to expect the worst, even when God is doing something new around you. And what unfolds this morning is not loud, it's not instant. As John says it, he says, Mary arrived seeing the stone moved. Her then running back to where they were staying to tell someone they've taken the Lord, and I don't know what they did with him. Simon, Peter, and John running to the garden, seeing the empty tomb, then noticing the linen cloths that once covered his face, right in the place where they left them, where his body was left. And so they believe Mary, the Gospel of John tells us. But it says they still do not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Each one sees something, but not everything. Still very personal. Until finally things in that garden begin to intensify and they begin to clarify and they begin to reveal themselves because resurrection often unfolds that way, not all at once, but step by step until what God has promised becomes unmistakably true. So Peter and John return to where they were staying, but Mary stays. She stands outside of the tomb. The way that you would perhaps linger after a graveside service because it feels wrong to walk away. She bends down to look, and then heaven breaks into her grief. John tells us that she sees two angels sitting where Jesus' body once laid, one at the head and one at the feet. And they ask her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she answers, the only way she knows how, they've taken my Lord. And I don't know where they've put him. And then she turns and she sees Jesus standing there, but she does not recognize him. And Jesus asks her again, Woman, why are you weeping? What is it? Who are you looking for? And I can't pass over this moment. I wrestled with this yesterday because I thought, isn't it obvious? Why am I weeping? It's not unlikely that she maybe felt a human protest in that moment. What kind of question is that? She's weeping because things aren't the way they're supposed to be. Because what she's facing feels wrong. Because it feels unfair. It's the same tension that the disciples had to be also holding. Jesus was supposed to fix all of this. He was supposed to usher in a new regime, a new kingdom. He was the Messiah. Wasn't He supposed to overthrow the kingdoms of this world? But instead, there was a cross. And then there was a death. And there was a burial and there was a tomb. And so, yes, I'm weeping because there's silence. I'm weeping because I've lost him again. So if you could just tell me where he is, I'll go and get his body. And Jesus asked this question not because he doesn't know why she's weeping, but because she doesn't see yet. She thinks he's the gardener, and perhaps he is, because God is doing this thing again where he puts seed in the ground and he raises up a harvest. Mary is still trying to solve the case of a missing body. She's looking for the Jesus she lost, not the Jesus who is alive. And Jesus changes everything we're told with one word. He calls out, Mary. Imagine Jesus calling your name. And I love how the storybook interprets what must have been happening in Mary's heart at that moment. It said, only one person said her name like that. And in the way he says her name, she finally knows her eyes open, John tells us, and she turns and says, Raboni, teacher. The one she thought was gone was standing right in front of her. And of course, of course, she reaches for him because when you've lost someone, you don't just want to see them, you want to hold on to them, you don't want to lose them again.

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But Jesus says, Don't hold me here.

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I've not yet ascended to the Father. He's saying, Don't cling to me, Mary, in the way you knew me before. Something has changed. Because he's not just resurrected, he is the resurrection. He is the resurrection. Resurrection doesn't just bring things back, it transforms what comes next. Because what Mary did not know yet, but we know now, is that resurrection was not the final step. Resurrection was giving way to what was next, to the ascension. Jesus would ascend to the Father, and He would reign as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He's the only, as we were worshiping, I thought, wow, he's the only king that died and returned. He is the King of Kings, the one who holds the authority over life and death. And from that place, he knew his assignment. What's next? He would send the Holy Spirit so that the power and the life that raised him from the dead would not stay only in one body, no. But it would be released to all of his people. And that matters because resurrection is not just something that happens. Into Jesus. It's something that is now at work in us. We don't have to wait for new life. We don't have to wait for heaven because through the Holy Spirit, resurrection life is available right now. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. I don't care if you have been here all your life. I don't care if this is your first time and you still have questions about Jesus. The grace of Jesus means his resurrection is already working on you. He's bringing life. Whether you recognize it or not, he's bringing life to what feels dead. He's breaking the power of sin. You may be in this place and say, I can't stop doing this. Guess what? He's working sin, breaking power in your life. He's restoring hope where there was despair. He's strengthening you to live differently. It's quietly unfolding. And here's the invitation. Jesus is not forcing new life on you, he's inviting you into it. We don't get to produce resurrection, we get to respond to it. Mary didn't make resurrection happen, right? She walked in on it. She heard her name and she turned. And that's where this becomes personal for us. That's where this becomes the promise for us today. Jesus tells Mary, go to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my God and to your God. Mary, go tell it. You don't have to weep anymore because death is real, but it is no longer final. Yes, sadness is real. What you're feeling is real, but it does not get the last word because I am the resurrection and the life. And wherever I stand, death is no longer ultimate. He meets us in it. Whatever you're facing, he meets us in it. He calls us out of it. And he sends us forward through whatever you face in life. So if the resurrection is true, and it is, and death is not final, then Mary, go tell it. You can live even in the midst of death. You can live as if resurrection is your inheritance because I've secured it for you. And again, that's not just a promise for Mary in a garden with Jesus. That is a promise for us today. Jesus tells us in John 5 and 24 whoever hears his word and believes has eternal life and will not be judged. But they've already crossed over from life, from death to life. And a time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and will live. And all Jesus says this all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. But those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. So when we hear his voice call, will we turn to him? My hope and my joy is that in those that have gone on before us, resurrection means that they will get up again. And one day when Christ returns, my hope and my joy is in that death itself will pass away, that creation will be made new, that everything broken will be restored, everything lost, everything you think you've lost, everything you have lost will be made whole. So you may come in weeping. But the joy is that you don't have to leave the same. Because even here, even now, we are held by a savior that makes, as our children read, death untrue. And we're held by a hope that death cannot undo. Resurrection means not that we see things differently or believe something differently, but we have been given the authority to live differently. And so hear me. This is your charge. Live like death does not get the final word. I have a friend here that usually comes up to me after I preach and he says, Thank you for that application. So let me put a pen in this. This is our application. Live like death does not get the final word. Live like resurrection is your inheritance. Not because you feel like it. Feelings change from day to day. Not because everything has been made right, but because Jesus already decided it for you. The cross didn't just save you and forgive you. Resurrection secured you. We respond, though, to the one who is alive. We surrender in the places in which he is calling us because resurrection is a gift. And like any gift, it is something that must be received. So if you're here today and something in your life feels like that place of death, hear him. Why do you weep? Why are you weeping? I am alive. And I've not left you alone. Death does not get the final word over your life. Resurrection does. And I wouldn't be me if I didn't ask you to turn to your neighbor and say, resurrection does. You don't have to have everything figured out. You just have to be willing to turn when he calls your name.

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Let's answer that call together in prayer. Let us pray. Jesus, we thank you that you meet us.

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Not after everything is figured out, but right in the middle of what feels like the impossible, of the mess, of death. Things at the point of death, right in the places where we're still weeping, where we're still wondering, where we're still learning how to see what you want us to see. So Lord, I pray right now for every person in this room, for every place that feels like a tomb, every place that feels unresolved, every place that feels like loss has had the final word. Would you speak life right there? Would you, by your spirit, help us to hear your voice and to turn to you, to recognize you're not absent, you've been there all alone. You're still calling us forward. Jesus, teach us how to live in the resurrection hope that you give us, not denying our grief, but by trusting that you meet us in it, that you're carrying us, that you're leading us into something new. And for those that are here today who are unsure, who are questioning, who are wondering, is this even real? Would you reveal yourself personally the way you did for Mary? I pray that you would call their name, Lord, and don't stop calling. Don't stop calling our name, my name. Give us the courage to turn. We're grateful for the price you paid, Jesus. The sacrifice of real love you laid down your life, and we trust what you're doing in this life. We thank you that because you live, death is not the end of our story. And we place that story in your hands.

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Walk with us, shield us, carry us in Jesus' name. Amen.