Pride and Humility

April 12; Easter Sunday (John 20:1-18; Philippians 2:1-11)

Christ is risen!
Easter morning we are asked to draw close to what is most foundational and what
is most elusive to our faith. The resurrection is central to our confession and unique in
our understanding of Christianity and yet it is not as concrete and tangible as the law in
Judaism or the Quran in Islam or even in the Bible in our own tradition. There is
something about the resurrection that is impossible for us to grasp and hold on to though
it has always been the Christian’s tendency to try and do so. Jesus’ most intimate
followers kept within their grasp certain ideas of who Jesus was and what his plans
included. Throughout his life Jesus attempted to loosen people’s grip on life. To the rich
he said loosen your grip on your money. To families he said loosen your grip on family
traditions and expectations. To the religious he said loosen your grip on who you think
God is. And to his disciples he said, “Take nothing for the journey – no staff, no bag, no
bread, no money, no extra tunic. Freely you have received, freely give.”
What is most valuable to you cannot be stored in bank accounts or worn or lived
in or achieved through strength, cunning and intelligence. What you have as a follower
of Jesus is the ability to bless and to heal and the gift in being able to receive blessing and
healing. Jesus demonstrated and taught about what life looks like when in fact you are no
longer trying to grasp it. “Whoever would lose their life for my sake will gain it,” Jesus
proclaimed. If you will loosen your grip on life I will place in your open hands a greater
and abundant life. This message may perhaps bring us close to the seventh and final
deadly sin in our Lent series, pride.
Pride is being so confident in our strength, beauty, talent, family, wealth, status,
country, community or intelligence that we forget that these things are limited, partial and
unable to sustain and nourish us. We forget that at any moment these things can be
completely stripped from us. What then can we hold on to? We are called to hold on to
Jesus, right? On Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. There
are things we trust, things we can never let go of. There are things we must defend and
preserve. These statements sound good but this unfortunately is not the image we are
given in our Gospel reading this morning.
Our resurrection story begins in darkness, much like many of our readers
experienced last night experienced, where light and morning are only still a promise.
Mary Magdalene comes, she is first on the scene. Mary if you will remember is the one
who was gripped by seven demons. Perhaps she represents our common humanity
reflecting all seven of the deadly sins pride, lust, gluttony, anger, sloth, greed and envy.
Her body was gripped by death and Jesus released her from it. Her body and spirit
became loose, relaxed and at peace. She immediately left her old life behind and
followed Jesus wherever he went. And then we can only imagine the horror she
experienced as Jesus was arrested, whipped and crucified. I wonder if she did not begin
again to feel the demons swirl around her. That she was not beginning to feel rage stir
within her. Perhaps she wanted to ease the pain with the temptations of lust or gluttony
or simply to withdraw in the dwell in apathy and sloth. Her demons or sins were again
pressing in on her and so she returned to the grave where the one who healed her and
released her from their grip lay.

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 Thinking that it could not possibly get any worse she came to the tomb and found
that the stone entrance was opened and the tomb was empty. She ran back to the other
disciples in despair saying, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t
know where they have put him!” Even this trace of hope, this remnant of someone and
some experience so dear to her is taken away. She can’t even come to the tomb now in
memory and hope of what Jesus had done. Now there is nothing and the demons and sins
begin to find cracks and crevices trying again to make their home within her.
The disciples return with Mary to see that indeed the tomb is empty and in time
each of them return to their homes, except for Mary. Mary stands outside the tomb and
weeps. As she weeps she leans once more into the grave. This time she sees two angels
in white seated where Jesus would have been one at his head and the other at his foot.
This positioning is important. These seated angels are a remembering of God’s presence
in the past and a foreshadowing of God’s future. As I may have mentioned in the past the
two angels seated in the empty tomb create the imagery of the Old Testament Temple and
not just of the Temple but of the most sacred place, the Holy of Holies where it is was
said the presence of God dwelled on earth.
Despite all the ritual, law, tradition that structured the Israelites in the Old
Testament the centre of their faith was that empty space between the two angels on top of
the Ark of the Covenant. Where other religions placed an image of bull, a tree, a man or
woman the Israelites were forbidden to place any image at the centre of their faith. They
were forbidden from having something they could grasp and hang on to. Israel’s God
was not one that could in any way be manufactured by them. And so Mary came to the
tomb of Jesus with good intentions trying to find something she could hang on to.
Gazing into the space between the two the angels they speak to her saying, “Why are you
crying?” Mary again cries out that she cannot find Jesus. She does not know where the
body is and so there is nothing for her to hold on to. At this point she hears a voice
behind her again asking why she is crying. Mary did not at first recognize Jesus. Mary
was still grasping after a dead Jesus and did not understand who was standing before her.
And then Jesus says her name, “Mary” and she sees the one who cured and healed her.
Then before anything else can happen to Jesus, before anyone can arrest him or kill him
again Mary thrusts out her arms moving towards Jesus attempting to lay hold of him with
all her might so that she would never be apart from the one who gave her life. The text is
not fully clear whether Mary actually got a hold of Jesus or not but in any event Jesus
responds by saying, “Do not hold on to me.”
The life of Jesus is the possession of no one individual or group. Jesus’ desire for
us to loosen our grasp on control extended even to his own body, identity and presence.
There is a simple example that professors use to teach students the difficulties of
translating ancient Hebrew manuscripts. The texts were written with no spaces and no
punctuation marks making it difficult to always understand what was intended. An
example would be like the sermon title printed in your bulletins. What does that say?
God is no where or God is now here? If this phrase would have been found in the
resurrection accounts it would be difficult to decide which translation to choose. On one
level the resurrected Jesus remains elusive sometimes unintelligible gone before he was
ever fully recognized. Other times Jesus is overwhelmingly present like when he asks
Thomas to place his finger inside of his wounded side. Jesus is preparing his disciples to
know that God’s Kingdom remains unfinished, unfounded and ongoing. This is the same

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calling for God’s people. We cannot secure and control the presence of God and so our
lives must become a posture of openness in which we let go of our control and turn in
worship of the one who lives within and beyond us.
Paul tries to point us in this direction when he wrote to the church in Philippi.
Paul is equipping them for the future knowing that they cannot trust in and hold on to the
securities of the world. Paul knows this first hand as he is writing his letter from prison.
Paul tells the church that Christ will be exalted in his body whether by death or by life.
For Paul to live is Christ and to die is gain. Turning to the church he tells them then that
whatever happens stay in keeping with the Gospel. Do nothing out selfish ambition and
vain conceit. Do nothing out of pride, out of those things we hold on to to give us value
and status. But in humility consider others better than yourselves. You must align your
thinking to that of Christ who is the same essence as God but did not look to this God-
likeness as something to control and secure things with. No instead this led Jesus to
become nothing, emptying himself, letting go of any earthly privilege or advantage. And
so as a human Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death. But what was Jesus
obedient to? Jesus obedience was to keep his hands open so that he could pray, give,
point and heal. This obedience did not even close it hands in the face of death. Because
of this obedience Jesus was exalted, raised out of and lifted above death and God poured
into him the name that is above all names.
Jesus clung on to nothing but left his hands open to God and to neighbour. What
a challenge . . . and what a gift. What an opportunity to live a new life. Let this message
be both judgment and grace. Paul goes on to say to the Philippians that they should
continue to work out their salvation in fear and trembling for it is God who works in you.
Tremble before the one who calls you out of your securities. It is natural to tremble
before the one who sees through all of our facades. God sees all those things we are
grasping at. God sees how we try to find meaning in our abilities, possessions and looks.
The disciples were left with nothing after Jesus died. Most had lost favour with their
families, communities, and their religion. The disciples were hiding in fear of what
might happen. Then in midst of that fear and trembling the resurrected Jesus comes to
them and three times he says these words, “Peace be with you.”
When you have been stripped of or renounced methods of control and security
you may well feel as though God is no where. When even the remnant of Christ’s body
has been taken from you. Then open your hands in prayer. Hold another’s hands in
fellowship. Lay open hands for comfort and healing. And as you are doing that open
your ears and your eyes to see that God is now here. When you are in sorrow or
celebration God is now here. Wherever your life may take you God is now here. There
is much beauty and tragedy in life. Do not try and grasp and control it open your hands
to it and receive the gift of life, for God is now here.

Amen.