“Who Are You Looking For?”
Preached Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023
He is Risen!
He is Risen, Indeed!
This Lent we have been engaging in a sermon series based around questions, “Seeking: Honest Questions for a Deeper Faith?”
“Is this the fast that I choose?”
“Who will you listen to?”
“How do we begin again?”
“Will you give me a drink?”
“Who sinned?”
“Can these bones live?”
“Where are you headed?”
And now, a culmination to our seeking journey, “Who are you looking for?” The question Jesus asks of Mary in the garden, early that first Easter morning. In Aramaic, a direct translation of “Who are you looking for?” would be, “Who do you want?”
Today as we ask ourselves: Who are you looking for? Who are you seeking? Who do you want? I would like to propose that when we want to see God; when we are looking for God; when are are seeking the resurrected Lord; when all we want is to find signs of Life and Love in this world - we will find them, we will find the Resurrected Lord, without a doubt, we can have assurance that, when we seek, we will always find the God of Love.
In love, in friendship, in laughter, in kindness, in moments of peace, in the actions of those who are seeking a more just, peaceable and loving world…we will find God. In the United Methodist Communion liturgy, right before we come to the table, we share about our practice of an Open Table. I say something like: Here in the United Methodist Church we practice and Open Table and that means this is not our Table, it’s the Lord’s table and all are invited to it. You do not have to be a member of this church, you do not have to be a United Methodist, you do not even have to be baptized in order to come forward and receive. All you have to want is to encounter our Risen Lord in the bread and the cup.
All you have to want is to encounter our Risen Lord in the bread and the cup.
Meaning, if you are seeking God, if you are looking for God, if you want to find God…we will not put ANY barriers in your way. No prerequisites, no requirements, no hurdles, no hoops to jump through - The God of Love is here for you.
I think of a game of hide and seek with my toddler daughter. She will be barely hiding for one second when she will shout, “Come find me!” Or, she will joyfully throw off the blanket that she was hiding under, with a fit of giggles, saying “Here I am!”
God in our world is like a toddler who is very bad at hide and seek, shouting with joy and giggles and love, “Here I am!”
When Jesus says to Mary, through her tears, “Who are you looking for? Who do you want?” He is saying to her, “Here I am! I am right here!” Yet when Jesus first talks to her, she doesn't initially recognize Jesus, she doesn’t see him for who he is. She is looking through the lens of her grief and trauma, the vision of eyes and the vision of her soul, blurry with tears. This isn’t to cast any judgment on Mary - moreover, how could she have seen Jesus? She was deeply grieving and was not looking for the resurrected Lord, an impossibility to her.
So hear the Good News: Even when we can't seek God, even when our eyes and souls are too weary with the grief and despair of this world, to look for the Risen Lord, even then…God seeks us.
In United Methodist Wesleyan theology we have this wonderful tenet of our faith called prevenient grace. Prevenient meaning “comes before.” The grace that comes before we even know there is grace to be had. The grace that comes for us, that is seeking us out, that is offered to us, even when we aren’t seeking it.
When I teach the idea of prevenient grace to teenagers, I have one of them tap the other on the shoulder like this: “Psst! Hey! Hey! Psst! I love you! Hey! Hey! I’m right here! Hey!” But the other one, the person whose shoulder is being tapped, isn’t paying attention. The Holy Spirit is the one always trying to get our attention, even if we don't hear the voice right in our ears. We just need to realize that God is right there, whispering words of Love in our ears, always seeking us, always saying, “Come and find me! I’m right here!” Even when we can’t see God, God sees and seeks us.
I’d like to end this sermon with a poem by The Rev. Sarah Speed, entitled “Lost and Found”:
“Mary wept.
Standing in the garden,
soft dirt under her feet,
sun still tucked away,
sleeping under the horizon.
The other disciples left,
but Mary stayed.
Mary wept.
Shoulders shaking,
tears running down her face.
She said, They have taken my Lord away,
and I don’t know where they put him.
But here’s what Easter taught me:
if you think you’ve lost God,
if it feels like heaven has slipped through the cracks,
if you feel like the night will never end,
then know, there is no hide-and-seek with the divine
that doesn’t end in you being found.
Stay still.
Keep breathing.
God is closer than you think.”
Know that this morning, even as we seek our Risen Lord, the God of Love, God is seeking you too.
May we all be found.
Amen.
Mary wept.
Shoulders shaking,
tears running down her face.
She said, They have taken my Lord away,
and I don’t know where they put him.
But here’s what Easter taught me:
if you think you’ve lost God,
if it feels like heaven has slipped through the cracks,
if you feel like the night will never end,
then know, there is no hide-and-seek with the divine
that doesn’t end in you being found.
Stay still.
Keep breathing.
God is closer than you think.”
Know that this morning, even as we seek our Risen Lord, the God of Love, God is seeking you too.
May we all be found.
Amen.
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