Adapted from a message included in the Concordia Publishing House Lenten Series Witnesses to Christ
Mary Magdalene
Text: John 20:1-18
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If I were to say the word orchestra, you’d probably picture woodwinds, brass, and strings. But there’s one orchestra that’s a little different than that. It’s made up of kids who play instruments made out of trash. It’s called the “Recycled Orchestra of Cateura” (in Paraguay). Cateura isn’t really a town. It’s actually a slum built on a huge landfill.
Every day, about three million pounds of waste is dumped in Cateura. Many families living there are able to survive only by scavenging trash from the landfill to resell. Kids get pulled out of school to help support the family by digging through the trash. And as they do that they’ve found ways to make instruments out of many of the things they find. A 16 year old named Noelia has made a violin out of cans, wooden spoons, and bent forks. One of the ensemble’s cellos uses an oil drum. Another teenager plays a saxophone made out of a drainpipe, melted copper, coins, spoon handles, cans, and bottle caps.
Several years ago the group made a short video hoping to raise $175,000 to make a full-length documentary. Not only did they raise the money, but the video went viral. Since then, the Recycled Orchestra has performed all over the world. The group plays Mozart, Paraguayan folk music, even Frank Sinatra.
It just goes to show that beautiful music can be made with all sorts of unconventional things. God too, makes music with misfits. That’s what Easter is all about! God loves to make music with misfits! It’s me! It’s you! It’s all of us! We all fall short of God’s will and ways. But God has chosen us to make some beautiful music!
What do I mean? The biblical orchestra is made up of the most unlikely musicians. Take Peter for example. He denied Christ—three times! Or Paul. There was a time when Paul was the biggest hater of Christ and even persecuted Christians. What about David? Womanizing, bloodthirsty—yet repentant David. God used them all to make beautiful music in His orchestra. Today, on this Resurrection Day, we add another unconventional musician to the group. Her name is Mary—Mary Magdalene.
Mary begins as a mess. “Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.” There are five Marys in the New Testament, which is why this one is identified with “Magdalene.” Magdalene isn’t her last name. Magdalene refers to her hometown—a little fishing village on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee called Magdala.
Luke tells us that Mary had been demon possessed—with seven demons, the biblical number for a complete set. Can you imagine being in her shoes?
Here’s how it happens. Maybe it’s a compulsion to prove. We begin a job or a task or a class with high hopes and high endeavor. “I’ll show them! I’ll be the best!” It’s all done with intensity. We arrive early. We stay late. We give it all we’ve got. And then, to keep going, we begin to deprive ourselves. Maybe we stop exercising, stop getting enough sleep, or stop reading our Bible and attending church. We pick up bad eating habits. “More donuts will do the trick!” Our thinking becomes distorted. We tell ourselves, “Things will get better after I finish this project.” “I’ll get back on track with my family after tax season or after this business trip.” And then comes the denial. People close to us begin to see what we can’t see. We have less joy in a hobby, in a sport, or in life in general. We’re often tired. We begin doing all the things that get us nowhere and only put us further behind.
Eventually we become disengaged. Life becomes a checklist of things to do. One thing after another. We live for vacation, and then vacation never lasts long enough. People who don’t even know us see that something is wrong. Our survival strategies become unhealthy: too much internet, too much eating, too much sleeping, too much shopping, too much caffeine. And in the end, we become robotic. Just going through the motions. We play the part, we put on a face, but we’ve got nothing left in the tank. We hit rock bottom. We internalize everything. We talk to no one. And we can feel as though someone or something else is controlling our lives. Just like those demons were in control of Mary’s life.
We can all get in a mess like Mary. We can all get down, depressed, and hit rock bottom. Did you know that 20 percent of all people on disability are on it because of severe depression? Did you know that, despite being the richest nation on earth, the United States is, according to the World Health Organization, also the most depressed nation on earth? Did you know that just since 2016, depression among American teenagers has increased 300 percent?
When people, teens and adults alike, hit rock bottom it may seem that there’s no way up. That’s Mary’s problem and it’s ours as well when we don’t seek the help we need from the only true source of help. Mary was down, but her Savior lifted her up! She received assistance from the only place from which true help can be found. Jesus lifted Mary up from her pit of despair. That’s why Mary Magdalene follows Jesus all the way to the cross and is there to watch her Savior bleed and die.
Mary’s Messiah is your Messiah too. His face is caked with spit and blood. His throat is so dry He can’t swallow. His voice is so hoarse He can barely speak. To find the last time Jesus received a drop of moisture on His lips, we need to rewind the clock twelve hours to the meal in the Upper Room. Since drinking from the Passover cup, Jesus has been betrayed, condemned, mocked, beaten, and crucified. No liquid has quenched His thirst. The Savior has no song to sing!
That’s how things stand just before dawn on Sunday. There had been so much hope, so much promise. But now, it had all come to what? Nothing! The famous Rabbi? Dead. His disciples? In hiding. Other followers? Scattered. One—Judas Iscariot—has even killed himself.
Mary Magdalene gets up early on Sunday to anoint Christ’s dead body. But the body isn’t in the tomb! And Mary does what any normal person would do in that moment. She breaks out crying. She tells her story, first to Peter and John, and then to the angels, and now, for a third time, to a man she thinks is the gardener. “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
And what does she hear? “Mary.” The voice is unmistakable. “Mary.” No one ever said her name with such tenderness. “Mary.” She looks up and, in sudden recognition, cries out, “Rabboni!” It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus! He’s not dead. He is risen from the grave. He’s alive. Christ is alive!
Can you imagine the emotions flooding Mary’s heart?—as she transitions from the depths of grief and sorrow to the heights of ecstasy and joy. Just when it appeared as though it was all over— to the shock and surprise of everyone—the Father raised Jesus bodily from the dead. Mary’s song—her symphony of celebration—commences with great joy!
Mary’s music is a five-word song: “I have seen the Lord” “Lord” isn’t just a polite way of talking about Jesus, like “Sir” or “Mister.” With “Lord,” Mary is saying, “I have seen God, the King of the universe.” “I have seen the One through whom and for whom all things were made.” “I’ve seen the One who is coming again, riding on the clouds, as King of kings and Lord of lords!” That’s why Thomas’s confession on Easter evening, in John 20, has these words: “My Lord and my God!”
What’s it all mean? It means that there’s more to our lives than what we think. It means that there’s more to our story than what we see. It means that there’s more than just death and taxes. Christ’s resurrection means that, just like Mary Magdalene, we have a song to sing!
Remember? God loves to make music with all sorts of people! And t’s time for all of us to make some music! We’ve all been given an instrument to play in this orchestra we’ve been invited to join. We just need to figure out what it is and play it to His glory.
One thing’s for sure. We have a song to sing! And we sing it with our lips and with our lives. I don’t know what your song will be tomorrow or the next day, or how you’re going to sing it with your lips and your lives, but today our song is simple. It’s this – I know that my Redeemer lives! So, let’s sing it together. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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