John 20:1-18; April 5, 2026; Easter Sunday
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Part 1
“Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.” – John 20:3-4
I love John. It’s not always my favorite gospel, but man, here at the end, I just love the stories he tells.
For here, in part one, he gives us “The Great Foot Race.” Where Peter and the unnamed disciple compete like schoolchildren to see who can outpace the other to the tomb. It’s comical almost. No, strike that, it is comical. It’s funny! But it’s also allegorical and timeless.
This race to see who can get there first, and who would be declared winner, and thus supposedly better is the stupid metric the disciples so often lived by (debating who amongst them was the greatest in all three synoptic gospels: Mark 9, Matthew 18, Luke 22); and it’s also the same stupid metric that so many of us still live by. Who is richer, who is stronger, skinnier, handsomer. These measuring sticks that are all so ridiculous and made infinitely worse by social media, where every day we compete with the mirror and with each other, but I digress…
John puts the disciples and all of us in our rightful place, equalizing the whole playing field here at the end, just as in his life and death and return back to life again, Jesus neutralized the grave and brought us all together to live forever with Him. Amen!?
“Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Then [the unnamed disciple] bent down to look in…but he did not go in.” – John 20:3-5
Look at how the one who gets there first, who beats Peter, doesn’t go in first… almost as if John is saying that just because you might pace the race or finish this life in pole position, doesn’t mean that you will also finish first in the end, in Heaven.
For you see, there are no fast passes or lighting lanes into Paradise, my Disney friends. Once you die, you’re on standby like the rest of us in the same line. All waiting for Christ to greet us equally with those same wide-open loving arms. There is no first, nor second, for even the last shall be first and the first shall be last. For listen again:
“[the unnamed disciple] saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. …But Simon Peter, following him, went into the tomb [first].” – John 20:5-6
The second one, the slower one in “The Great Foot Race” — Peter… is the one who is admitted first. John thereby telling us that there is room in the place of salvation even for us sluggish types. The ones who don’t get it at first. The ones who aren’t always running so fast. And the ones who were never quite sure of what we were running to or for in the first place.
And just listen to how John ends this story!
“Then the disciples returned to their homes.” — John 20:10
After seeing the empty tomb, these disciples return to their homes together. There is no acknowledgment of who gets back first. There is no more name vs. name, or who comes out of the blocks first.
No, they simply return to their homes, just as we all will one day return to our enteral home in Heaven; where there is room for each of us, the fast and the slow, saints and sinners alike, breaking bread, together, now and forever more.
Amen.
Part 2
Ah, and now we have Mary’s story… another great Johannine story, though this one a lot more personal and beautiful.
It is said that Mary came to the tomb first and stood outside weeping. There is no one racing with her or against her. Rather, she is like so many of us who are simply crawling through this life, grieving, and standing alone.
And as she stands there, at the tomb, at death’s door, she is overcome with great emotion. Just like us, when we have stood outside the hospital door, the bedroom door… Like us, Mary is so overcome with emotion that her mind and her heart can’t process what her eyes are seeing.
And so, she confuses Jesus for being the gardener and frames before him the most innocent heart-breaking sentence of all… “Sir, if you have carried him away, please show him to me so I can take him away.” – John 20:15
Unlike the men who seemingly just wanted to prove who could get there first, Mary is the one who arrives and stays, and who tries to treat Him first… to care for his body.
You see, Mary shared a closeness with Jesus, which by all accounts was unique. She was at the cross. She was at the tomb. And she was entrusted with the task to testify before others that she had seen the risen Lord.
So many of our great apocryphal texts speak of Mary and Jesus’ special relationship, and we will get to those in September after Homecoming when I lead a three-week educational series on them. And yes, that is the most shameless plug you will ever hear on Easter. But you all better be here. It’s going to be awesome!
But because of their closeness, because of what Jesus meant to her, Mary is so overcome by grief that she doesn’t even recognize who she is talking to until Jesus says her name… “Mary.” Mary…
You know, I once had a girlfriend, lonnnnnnng ago, who said that just saying “I love you” wasn’t enough. That those three words could be reserved for anyone: an aunt, a dog, a favorite ballplayer, rock star… Radiohead. But when you add a name to those words, like… I love you, Anya. I love you, Seth… it’s then that those words carry all the weight in the world.
So, when Jesus calls Mary by her name, her weight too is entirely lifted. The scales drop from her eyes and she sees Christ as if for the first time; and she runs to him to hold onto him.
And that image just takes my breath away, that perfectly captured moment of the intimacy of love.
And I know it takes your breath away too.
For we have all lived it, and experienced it, somewhere, sometime. When those whom we have loved by name, who we once ran to and held onto, have also been rendered unrecognizable to our eyes, as their final breath was taken away by death.
But here’s the glorious thing, my friends, that last breath was also their first. Of a life regenerated, resurrected with Him.
For the saying is sure as it is true: He is risen! He is risen indeed!
And so are we! So will we.
So let it be.
Alleluia.
Amen.
