"Who are you looking for?" said a voice. The woman, lost in her tears, thought she was alone in the graveyard. Her name was Mary, from the town of Magdala. There’s been a lot of interest in Mary Magdalene in recent years. But there’s only one detail about her that the Gospels actually provide. Mark and Luke refer to her, as a woman possessed – the woman Jesus freed from 7 spirits. Now, whatever else that might have meant, it most certainly indicated that Mary's life was dominated by other things and out of her control. Forces beyond her or perhaps within her had been driving her daily existence – driving her to distraction.

Perhaps you've experienced life beyond your control, dominated by other things driving you. It needn’t be some mysterious force, but really quite ordinary things. They can be influences beyond us -- work, school, busy calendars, financial demands, people's expectations, the responsibilities of family life, or simply the effects of the passage of time. All sorts of forces external to our selves can seem to control our lives. Last Sunday’s newspaper had an article on this very thing, entitled, Stress Rehearsal. It seems that many of us are driving ourselves to distraction, and feel out of control – stressed out and disconnected from others, our selves and God. We can experience ourselves as so many pin balls –- bouncing haphazardly from one external impulse or demand to another without reason to our daily existence, except to keep going, lest we fall, like those metal spheres, into oblivion. Outside forces can drive us to distraction.

Forces within us can dominate us, too – our need to please and find approval, our urge to succeed or at least to avoid failure, regret about the past, discontent with the present, anxiety about the future, the urge to control or the need to resist the control of others, the hunger for more and more prestige, popularity, or possessions. Then there are our fears – fears of insignificance, loneliness, loss, danger, illness or death. Such inner impulses may seem to serve us until they grow to such an extent that they actually take on a life of their own, and diminish our freedom of choice or fullness of life.

Perhaps that's the reason we're not told much more about Mary Magdalene. Perhaps there wasn't that much more to tell. Perhaps she'd lost herself along the way. Through life's challenges, perhaps she gave in to several of those forces, and somehow lost herself along the way. That can happen. We can lose track of who we are, of what life is about -- experiencing ourselves as empty or dominated by forces beyond our control.

When Mary crossed paths with Jesus apparently that changed. Something about Jesus, about God in Jesus, broke the power of those forces that had dominated her life and released her from their grip. She became Mary again or perhaps for the first time. Her life took on new meaning. She had new identity, new hope -- all because of Jesus, because of God working through Him. Mary's new life and hope may also have hinged on what Jesus would accomplish as Messiah.

Imagine how upset, how undone, Mary must have been. She’d gained a new life, through Jesus, and had reconfigured her life around His mission. He gave her life new meaning. But suddenly, he was snatched away -- arrested, executed, dead, and buried. What now -- alone, grief-stricken, directionless? What would become of her? How would she live? What would she do? Who would she be? Who?

No wonder Mary went to the grave that morning! She wasn't there only better to prepare Jesus' body for burial. She wanted to be near him again, even if it was just his corpse. The body wasn't there, though. The tomb was as empty as her prior life had been. Someone had taken even that consolation away. Even the touchstone that his dead body might have been was gone now. No wonder she was frantic! No wonder she ran for help. No wonder, later, she stayed there alone -- weeping. Where would she go? What could the future hold? Who would she be? Through her tears, she must have asked herself, "Who?"

She heard a voice -- almost a surrealistic echo. The voice said "Who?" She saw someone through her tears. It was a man, perhaps a gardener. He asked, "Who? Who are you looking for?" Who was she looking for? She couldn’t even say. Instead, she frantically replied, almost mid sentence, "If you've carried him away, tell me where you put him..." Then, as if answering his own question, the voice said, "MARY." Was she looking for Mary? She recognized the voice.

Once I was leading a chapel service for preschoolers. As the children scurried to their seats, they buzzed with enthusiasm, as usual before a holiday. Seizing the moment, I asked, "What special day is coming?" "EASTER!" they shouted, and so I asked, "What does Easter mean?" Their hands shot up in the air. In her four-year-old way, with a twinkle in her eye, one girl shouted, Surprise! What better word to explain Easter - surprise! It’s better than fertility symbols like eggs and flowers. Surprise! "Surprise, Mary, I'm alive!" It was Jesus.

Not once in this gospel story did Mary even suggest the expectation or venture to hope that Jesus might come to life. She never imagined anything but that his body had been stolen, never hoped for anything but that they might find it. But there He was, risen and alive, standing with her. She knew Him by heart, not by sight. She recognized His voice when He spoke her name. It wasn't her head or her eyes that convinced Mary of Jesus' resurrection. It was her heart and her spirit that resonated to His living presence. She knew that he was alive again because she knew herself alive again in His presence, calling her by name.

For 2,000 years people have debated Jesus’ resurrection. Ultimately what proves it isn’t dogma, but experience -- the experience of the risen Christ -- and the transformation He brings to people’s lives. That’s what Emery Professor, Luke Johnson claims. In his book, The Real Jesus, he says, "The only real validation for the claim that Christ is risen is to be found in the quality of life demonstrated by those who make that confession. Sharing in this new life through the power of the Holy Spirit is essential to the knowledge of the resurrection."

You see, encounter with the risen Christ changes lives, and that’s what proves the resurrection. That’s what makes Easter people -- encountering the risen Christ and being recreated by Him. Could anyone really believe that Jesus rose again because the primary witness was a formerly possessed woman, afflicted with psychosis, claiming to have heard His voice? Of course not, God must have a sense of humor. What convinced the apostles, even skeptical Thomas and the outright hostile Paul? Not Mary, but encountering the risen Christ themselves. That’s certainly what wooed me from my adolescent agnosticism -- not dogma, but the experience of the risen Christ -- in the quality of love that those who claimed to know Him demonstrated and then my own first-hand experiences of Him. That’s what led me into ministry -- not a vocational choice, but hearing the risen Christ calling me to serve.

Like Mary Magdalene, we may not be able to see Christ clearly or tangibly (in fact it's most unlikely) but we can feel His presence and, inwardly, hear his voice, calling us by name. Like Mary, people can find their lives, out of control, gripped by forces beyond them or within them, but the risen Christ can break their power and set people free. Like Mary, people may not know exactly who they are, but the risen Christ is one in relation to whom people discover their identity as God created them to be. Like Mary, people can find their lives rather empty or fragmented, lacking cohesive meaning and purpose, but the risen Christ fills emptiness and integrates the disparate aspects of life. Following Him provides direction and purpose. Like Mary, people sometimes find themselves despairing, but the risen Christ brings joy and the hope of God's enduring love, forgiveness, new beginnings, and the assurance of eternal life with God, hereafter. That’s what makes Easter people, like Mary -- as infectious in their faith as she was -- passing on the experience of the risen Christ in word and deed. That’s what makes Christ’s resurrection real, here and now, and from generation to generation -- the living love of the risen Christ empowered by God’s Spirit -- acted out through those who’ve experienced Him.

Come, Lord Jesus, and make yourself known to us, that we might pass on the news that you are risen. Amen. Pass it on: Christ is risen!