Dear Friends,

 

I do not think there is anyone among us who cannot somehow identify with a distraught Mary as she approached the tomb of the executed Jesus.

 

We are not unfamiliar with or immune to tears of sadness. In fact, we are well acquainted with weeping. Children cry when they are afraid. Adults weep when they are grieving. So many of us have cried after having sat at the bedside of loved ones who made their transition from this earthly plane into the heavenly realm with God. Yes, we know something about weeping.

 

We wept as residents of East Palestine, Ohio, were forced to evacuate their community after a train derailment released toxic chemicals that contaminated their atmosphere and waterways … and we weep at the lack of laws that demand the disclosure of such chemicals that roll through our communities.

 

We wept as parents wrestled with their children’s addictions and recovery … and we weep because so many parents cannot adequately provide food or shelter for their families in this, the most affluent nation on earth.

 

We wept as parents and families in Nashville, Tenn., received the unspeakably horrible news that their children and loved ones were victims of an obscene mass shooting while inside their school … and we weep over our nation’s seeming inability to rise to the challenge of enacting common-sense gun laws that can protect school children, worshippers, shoppers, and Communities of Color from misguided people with guns.

 

We wept with the family and community of Mr. Tyre Nichols as we watched graphic video of his murder at the hands of former police officers in Memphis, Tenn. – persons who were sworn to serve and protect … and we weep over the continuation of the national scandal of unarmed Black and Brown people being killed by police officers who are not always held legally accountable.

 

Yes, we understand the necessity of crying. When it seems that hope has been made hollow, confidence has collapsed, and faith has failed, all we can do is cry out. All Mary could do was cry out.

 

When we are drowning in despair and surrounded by sorrows, it can feel as if we are in an endless cycle of misery, until the right person comes along, a person who knows us and understands how to attend to us.

 

This person has the ability to calm our fears and is able to dry our tears and restore our equilibrium, renew our confidence, and our replenish our faith. Sometimes it is a mother or father, and other times it could be a grandparent or a friend. The right person can lift you up and enable you to cut through the haze of sorrow and enter the next phase of life as emboldened by retrofitted hope.

 

At the height of her despair, Mary met this kind of person. After encountering two angels who served as the opening act for her reversal of fortune, she encountered a man who said, “Mary, why are you weeping?” 

 

With eyes clouded by a tsunami of tears, she assumed this man was the gardener. She may have said, “Sir, I don’t know the kind of joke you are playing, but if you have removed Jesus’ body, just tell me where it is and I will take it from there.”

 

Just then, she realized this man whom she thought was the cemetery gardener was actually the guardian of her soul, for when he called her name, “Mary,” she knew exactly who he was.

 

Maybe she remembered coming to the garden alone, as the hymn writer suggests, while the dew was still on the roses. And the voice she would hear, falling on her ears, the Son of God discloses.

 

After hearing the resurrected Jesus call her name, Mary did what modern-day Christians love to do: She made an announcement! Mary went and found the disciples, brothers who had been locked down in the witness protection program, and announced to them, “I have seen the Lord!”

 

My friends, during our era of personal crying and widespread weeping, it is quite good to know that Jesus, the Risen Savior, knows our name! Even if our eyes are clouded with tears, even if our hearts are cluttered with fears, Jesus recognizes us! He knows who we are!

 

This is the Risen Savior who was arrested on Thursday, convicted and executed on Friday, laid in his grave on Saturday, and was raised from the dead on Sunday. I like how one songwriter put it, “Up from the grave he arose! With a mighty triumph over his foes!” – This Savior knows our names!

 

The Resurrection prompted the Apostle Paul to raise these bold questions while interrogating the forces of destruction: “Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O grave, is your victory?”

 

When he calls our names, Jesus signals that death has been defeated! When he calls our names, he tells us that sin, the foundation of violence and the springboard for injustice, has been dismantled! In his resurrection, love was reinstated; hope was restored; justice was reconstructed.

 

And now, in 2023, it is our job is to make some announcements! Jesus is alive! Love is alive! Hope is alive! Joy is alive! In the words found in another great hymn, we must, “Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace! Tidings of Jesus’ redemption and release.”

        

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Because he lives,

we can take the risk of loving our neighbors;

we can take the risk of forgiving our enemies;

we can take the risk of treating addictions;

we can take the risk of standing up for justice;

we can take the risk of marching for peace.

We can transform the policies designed for community polarization into laws designed for community liberation!

       

Because he lives, we can live in solidarity with weeping students, stand side by side with weeping families and communities, and march in the streets with weeping parents! These things we do because Jesus, the Risen Savior, knows our names! Amen!

​

The Reverend Dr. Jack Sullivan Jr.
Executive Director
Ohio Council of Churches
JSullivan@ohcouncilchs.org