The Update

He is Risen!
For those of you who were at church this morning, you would have seen the video of John's account of Jesus' return to life. In the video, Jesus appears to Mary but his face is blocked by some plants. She thinks he's the gardener, I think he's a dork.
There he is, freshly returned from, you know, dying... and he still has the presence of mind to hide his face and mess with Mary a bit.

He asks her, "Woman, why are you crying?" As though he doesn't know. He's playful and clever, he shows a sense of humor. This is the first thing Jesus does (as far as we know) after coming back to life... after beating death.

That has to tell you something about the nature of God. That Jesus beats death, proves himself the Messiah, and forgives all the sins of every man who has ever lived, and the first thing he says is, "Hey Mary, what's wrong?"

Sometimes I think we get way too caught up in trying to sound holy, trying to "be serious" about Christianity that we forget Christ's example. If there is one point in history that a man would be justified in saying, "Behold! The power of God hast been unleashed upon these lands, let us rejoice in the comeuppance of our Lord." this would be that time. But instead it's a simple, "Why are you crying?" A playful question, that perfectly set up a miraculous appearance.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus had a great twinkle in his eye when he asked this question of Mary, I am certain he had a innocently mischievous smile. He knew full well why she was crying, and he knew what that she was about to be amazed. In the midst of our greatest sorrows, or times when we don't feel like we understand what's happening in life (much like Mary didn't know where Jesus' body had gone) I think God asks us, "Hey, what's wrong?" Now I realize that what he's really saying, with that twinkle in his eye, is "Hey, watch this!"