On Easter Sunday, Pastor Doug preached a sermon entitled “Jesus and the Big Floppy Hat.” The reference is to Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene in the garden following his resurrection. Mary had come early that Sunday morning to the tomb but discovered it was empty. Mary is devastated and weeps. When she turns around, Jesus is standing there but she does not recognize him because she does not expect to see him. Mistaking Jesus for a gardener (thus the image of a “big floppy hat”), she asks the gardener to show her where Jesus has been buried. It is only when Jesus calls her name, Mary, that she realizes that Jesus is right there, beside her!
I love that imagery. It is so like Jesus to show up when we least expect him. In Luke 24, two followers of Jesus were making their way home when a third man joins them “but their eyes were kept from recognizing them.” They have been talking about the happenings in Jerusalem. When Jesus questions them, they reiterate the events of Jesus:
…the things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.
This time, even though Jesus engaged in conversation with them, it was not until they were sitting at table in their home and Jesus took “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” that their eyes were opened.
Again, it happened in the upper room when Jesus appeared to his disciples. You and I can imagine their asking, what are we to do now? It required Jesus to show them his hands and feet with the nail marks in them for them to believe that this is indeed Jesus. A similar story is told at the end of the Gospel of John. The disciples have returned to their fishing, and Jesus appears to them on the shore and shares breakfast with them. John concludes that now none of the disciples needed to ask him who he was, “because they knew it was the Lord.”
What does it take for us to realize the very presence of God through Jesus in our daily lives? When we are at our wits end, when we feel the most alone or deserted, Jesus is there. Often, if we open our hearts and minds, we see Jesus in a neighbor who has cleared snow from our driveway, a friend who has called us to check up on us, a friendly cashier at the grocery shopping, a doctor who listens carefully to our concerns, or a stranger who gives a dollar to help pay for a much-needed prescription when the funds have run out. Jesus is with us whether we know it or not. Praise God for that!
Prayer: You’ve shown up again, God! Thank you for Easter reminders of your continued presence and care for us. Thank you for being present and ready in our lives, today and always. Amen.