Written on March 14, 2008

[For the March 23, 2008 lectionary: Easter - John 20:1-18.]

THE SECOND TURN by Larry Patten

In the absence of news, there has been lots of speculation.

Did people in China or Brazil care that New York governor Eliot Spitzer was caught paying for prostitutes?

Will anyone care about his stupidity, when these words are read a few days or years later? But as I write this, Gov. Spitzer’s affairs were all over the news. No, excuse me, not news. In a National Public Radio comment I heard, the opening sentence was closer to the truth: In the absence of news, there has been lots of speculation.

For good, and too often for bad, we humans speculate. And with a voraciously hungry 24/7 media machine, speculation or gossip or the endless repetition of isolated “facts” are chewed up and spit out by smiling news anchors or secretive bloggers. No facts? Speculate. No news. Speculate. No coherent resolution to a “news” story? Speculate.

Speculating is easy to do, and easy to criticize. But it’s also part of my sacred text. The Bible, I believe, speculates. In the absence of news or facts, it speculates.

With Easter, the central celebration of Christianity, it would seem that the Gospel writers spend time speculating. It doesn’t seem like they have their “news” or “facts” in order.

In Mark, considered the earliest Gospel written, Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb.

But wait! In Matthew, it’s Mary Magdalene and “the other” Mary. In Luke, we read about Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women and—eventually—Peter “witnessing” the empty tomb. Finally, in John, it’s only Mary Magdalene in the early morning visit, although Peter and “the other disciple” race for the tomb after she returned to share the empty tomb “news.”

You’ve read the Easter accounts; I’m not sharing anything revelatory. I could, of course, speculate about why one Gospel (John) had one person trudging toward the tomb on the worst morning of her life, and another Gospel (Luke) implied that at least four or five—and maybe more—women made that awful trek to the tomb.

But we still gather! Happy Easter! He is risen. Christ is risen, indeed! We rejoice. The pews are crammed and cramped, even 2,000 years later. But how much is speculation?

But I say, let Easter be speculation. Let us wonder and not know. Let us rejoice and have nothing concrete and factual dull our hopes and restrain our living and lively faith.

Let Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, Peter, an unknown disciple (with better foot speed than Peter), and two or two hundred other unnamed, unremembered women guide our celebration. Guide our speculation . . . not in the worst, but in the best sense of what that word can mean.

By now (though of course you knew) it’s obvious only one person was a “constant” at the tomb: Mary Magdalene.

And one of the things this singular woman does, in John’s account, may be complete speculation . . . and yet is also a cornerstone of my faith. Alone, she first visits the tomb and finds that the stone was removed. Alone, she retreats to share this “news” with the disciples. Then, with Peter and another disciple, she returns.

But Peter and the other disciple, following a brief look-see, quickly depart. So long! After conversing with two angels (ah, speculation?), this singular woman is alone. Again.

The Gospel of John then writes—and speculates, I believe—that she turned around and saw Jesus. But wait! She thinks he is a gardener.

And then she will turn again (John 20:16). She turns a second time at the sound of her name. She turns a second time when she realizes this is not merely a gardener. She turns, and maybe (speculation) catches her breath and senses what is new and possible and wondrous.

I’ll be heretical and brazen here and say that her literally “seeing” Jesus may have been speculation on the part of the Gospel’s writer. But, still, and stunningly, she turned.

I like that she thought she saw a gardener first. It reminds me of the myth of Eden. And it reminds me of this real earth as a joyous garden, a place of bounty and beauty. Don’t we often experience the Holy in the world around us? Nikos Kazantzakis wrote, “I said to the almond tree, '’Friend, speak to me of God,’ and the almond tree blossomed.”

But the writer of John has Mary turn twice. She sensed, felt, and experienced Jesus’ call to a way of life in a completely new way. This way is not only discovered in the world blossoming around us, but the world within us. God’s love overcomes death. God’s love is as real as a tear, as shared laughter, as unbroken trust.

I don’t proclaim and claim Happy Easter because of an empty tomb or a faulty checklist of witnesses or discarded linens or angelic messengers. I am thankful, instead, for bold speculation. For a Gospel writer like John having the singular Mary turn, and turn again, to realize—for her and, thanks be to God, for me—that God’s love can never be vanquished.

in Peace,

Larry