By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Crying is for Funerals…

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“He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?  Who is it you are looking for?'”
John 20:15a New International Version

There are some places that tears make a lot of sense.  Places of sadness, loss, grief, pain, hurt.  I have cried with people in hospitals, divorce courts, car accidents, and especially, in funeral homes.  Tears are especially an expression of the intense, drastic loss that comes with death.

And so it makes sense for Mary to be crying outside the open tomb.  She has experienced the greatest loss of her life.  The death of Jesus, her Lord and Teacher, has destroyed her hope.  Even more than at the recent loss of her brother, Lazarus, this death, this grave is a place to weep.

Except for one little problem.  To have a funeral, to have a loss, to have a grave, you need a dead person.  To experience weeping, there must be death.

And here there is no death.  For Jesus is not dead, He is alive.  He is raised from the dead and He confronts the weeping Mary just outside the tomb He has just vacated.  “Why are you crying?”, He asks.  “Who is it you are looking for?”, He queries.

Jesus knows something that Mary and you and I have trouble comprehending; that Jesus is not dead, He is alive.  All those who believe in Him will live forever and they will be with Him where there are no tears, for there shall be no sin and no death and no loss.  Because of Jesus, all tears will be wiped away and all sorrow will flee.

Tears?  Save them for the funerals.  This day it’s all about life forever in Jesus.

Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Hallelujah!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado