2023.04.09 | Stolen Jesus
“Stolen Jesus”
The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ, Hayward, California
Easter Sunday 2023
April 4, 2023
Good Morning, Church!
The way that John tells the story, Mary Magdalene went early to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. But when she got to the cemetery, she found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.
So she ran to Peter and John and told them that someone had stolen Jesus’ body, and she didn’t know where they had taken him. The two men ran back to the tomb with Mary in hopes of finding out what happened to Jesus’ body.
Grave robbing was a thing back then, so some--maybe most--of the disciples thought that Jesus' tomb had been ransacked and his body removed by thieves.
But according to John’s gospel, the beloved disciple had a different view. John reached the tomb first, went in, confirmed that the body was missing, but instead of assuming that his body had been stolen, John announced that Christ had risen.
The other men were less sure. They left for home confused and perplexed.
Unlike the men, Mary Magdalene stayed behind at the tomb weeping. She saw two angels seated where Jesus’ body had lain. One asked why she was weeping.
She stated the obvious: “Someone has stolen my Jesus, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
Then, Mary Magdalene turned around and saw someone standing next to her. According to John, that someone was Jesus, but she did not recognize him.
Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”
Supposing Jesus to be the gardener, which was another name for grave tender, Mary Magdalene said, “Sir, if you have carried Jesus away to make room for another body, tell me where you laid him, and I will give him a proper burial.”
Then, Jesus called out to Mary Magdalene. When she heard his voice, she realized that this mystery man was the risen Christ. He told her to go and tell the disciples that he was ascending to God, and she did as he commanded.
Mary Magdalene left the cemetery in search of the disciples. When she found them, she announced that she had seen the risen Christ and that he was ascending to God (John 20:17-18).
II
By my count, there are six Easter stories in the New Testament. John’s is one. There are two in Mark, one in each of the Synoptics, and a sixth in the Acts of the Apostles. Each of these Easter stories is unique, and the uniqueness is associated with the community in which the Easter message was received.
I refer to John’s version of the Easter story as the “Stolen Jesus” version, because it grapples with the disappearance of Jesus’ physical body, and the irony of him reappearing and his closest followers (except for John) NOT recognizing him.
The concern and confusion surrounding Jesus’ apparent MIA status isn’t unique to John’s gospel. Modern followers of Christ have described similar experiences.
Over the 35 years that I’ve been an ordained pastor, I’ve heard many people, even whole denominations, bemoan the fact that someone has stolen their Jesus.
The stories are numerous, but the underlying narrative is the same. It goes like this: the believer turns on the news and hears a self-identified Christian claiming to represent the true Jesus, but their descriptions doesn’t sound anything like the Jesus we’ve met in the New Testament gospels.
These self-proclaimed authorities on Jesus portray him as a gun-toting, anti-Semitic, homophobic, transphobic, racist, misogynistic, card-carrying Christian nationalist, whose words and deeds are neither Christian nor patriotic.
Historian Kristin Kobes DuMez, who teaches at Calvin College, an elite evangelical college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, explains that these self-proclaimed Christians and patriots have substituted the Jesus of the Gospels with the mythic Hollywood figure, John Wayne, who is portrayed as a misogynistic, racist, domineering white man.
In her 2020 New York Times best-selling book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicalism Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Professor DuMez describes how white evangelicals rallied behind the least-Christian president in the history of American in the 2016 General Election, and contorted their faith into a fanaticism that has damaged our faith tradition and our nation.
Ironically, left-leaning Christians are not the only Christians who feel that someone has stolen Jesus and run away with our democracy—a remnant of biblically grounded and theologically astute white evangelicals do too.
I agree with Professor DuMez’s assessment that a large number of so-called Christians in our nation have traded the biblical Jesus for the Hollywood John Wayne.
How else do you account for 80% of white evangelicals voting for a libertarian who, as DuMez explains, “...lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith, and is...the least Christian president in American history.”
And I would add, shows us that he owns a bible, but--if he has read it--has not integrated the prophetic Hebraic teachings that Jesus espoused into his own walk or talk, as an espoused disciple.
I also agree with Professor DuMez’s assessment that the groupthink mentality that has swept through much of white evangelicalism has been damaging to the Christian community, and it poses a significant threat to American democracy.
What, pray tell, is a person striving to live a godly life to do in these situations?
III
We could just stand at the empty tomb and weep, like Mary Magdalene did at first. Or we could run and hide, like some of the disciples did. I have deep empathy for these people. Either option is understandable. Yet, the more faithful path that the gospel of John goads us to do is to pursue the path of the beloved disciple, John, and the path that Mary Magdalen eventually took.
John held fast to the teachings of Jesus. John said, “No!” to the mythic John Wayne Jesus, who promoted fake news, false gods, and white supremacy. John named hypocrisy when and where he saw it, and he embraced the gospel of the resurrected Christ who offered new life, new hope, and new meaning to all.
Similarly, Mary Magdalen eventually opened her eyes in the depths of her despair, and discovered the risen Christ in the stranger standing next to her. Then, she went and told others what she had seen and heard, and she compelled the faithful to join her in the healing of all nations--not just one.
John, the beloved disciple, and Mary of Magdalen, remind us that the first century disciples had choices and we twenty-first century disciples have choices. We can let others steal the identity and message of the real Jesus, and run away with the gospel, or we can stand our ground, speak truth to power, and demonstrate the liberating love of Christ for all, in all that we do.
I’m fixing to lace up my sneakers, and recommit to the real Easter Jesus--the one who came for one and all--and to proclaim the Easter Hope in all that I say and do. I trust that you are too. Amen.