Scripture Passage : John 20:11-18

 

Sermon Text

Mary came to the tomb after Jesus died. Mary truly loved Jesus. You know, the deeper you love a person, the greater loss you feel. She was in deep sorrow. You know, in deep sorrow, you cannot see things around you. She saw the angels, but she did not really recognize them. She saw Jesus, but Jesus was only a stranger to her. We become blind when we are in deep sorrow. Our tears blind our eyes, and we cannot see anything. We see a lot of tears these days. Their loved ones are sick, and yet, they cannot even be with them. Some of them die alone without the presence of their family. There are a lot of tears in this world. People are dealing with their pain in their own ways. Some of them suffer quietly. There is so much pain in this world.

Jesus Wiping Away Our Sadness

God sees our tears, and he comes to us. And that’s what Jesus did, Jesus saw Mary’s tears, and he came to her. Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” It wasn’t a criticism about her crying. Jesus knew, very well, why she was crying. Jesus simply wanted to be with her, and help her. “For whom are you looking?” A very profound question, actually. “For whom are you looking, Mary?” As a matter of fact, Mary was looking for the dead body of Jesus, the corpse. She was crying because the dead body of Jesus was gone. Now Jesus wiped the sadness that blinded her, and opened her eyes and let her see, not the dead body, but the risen body of Jesus. She was looking for the dead body, but now she sees the risen body of Jesus. That’s why she called him, “Rabboni!” which she used to call him during Jesus’ life time. Then she went to see the disciples and cried out, “I have seen the Lord!”

God Shedding Our Tears

I want Jesus to wipe all our tears. I want Jesus to wipe your tears that blinded you, and let you see the risen Christ. When you are hurting inside, on the outside, you shed tears. Tears are not a bad thing. It’s just our hurt and pain flowing out of us. God sees that pain. God sees that tear. And God sheds that tear too. God sheds our tears. That pain of God is the pain we go through. It is our pain. When we go through our pain, it hurts God. That pain of God is God’s compassion and mercy. The cross is Jesus’ pain of embracing our pain. That is what the cross is. When you embrace others’ pain, that is what it means to carry your own cross. That’s when healing comes.

Embracing Other’s Pain through Love

My friends, often and too often, one’s pain hurts others rather than healing them, because they are just carrying the raw pain, the raw hurt within them. Unresolved pain, they carry within. They don’t even know that they are hurting inside. When you carry your unresolved pain within you, that hurts others. Only when our wound is healed by Jesus, and when our tears are wiped away by Jesus, then we can have the power to embrace others’ pain. Love is not just a good feeling. Love is embracing others’ pain. It is the power to embrace others’ pain. This love brings about the power of resurrection. Pain causes pain. Death causes death. But when there is love, our pain causes our compassion, and our death causes life. That’s why Jesus’ cross brought about the resurrection.

Crying Out to God for Healing

You don’t need to hide your hurt. Don’t hide your hurt. When it remains in you, no matter how much you pretend that you don’t have it, it’s still there. It still hurts you. And the worst thing is: it hurts others. We need to come humbly before God, and simply cry out, “God will heal us. God will wipe away our tears.” That is when we can accept each other with compassion. Then this will bring new life. What we need right now is healing, and the hope of resurrection. Let us turn our eyes to Jesus. You will see the risen Christ. We will be able to stand up again, and go out to embrace others’ pain. That is the power of the resurrection, and that is the message of Easter.

Happy Easter!