The gospel as antidote to competition
Easter | John 20:1-18
This gospel always makes me laugh. I know that’s not an appropriate response. But 1) I do sometimes laugh when I’m nervous and 2) these two disciples are really looking like jerks.
The messiah is dead and they’re racing each other?
And it’s even more meta than that. Because the author of the gospel wants you to know that the mystery disciple that Jesus really loved actually won the race, but kinda lets Peter go in first. I don’t know why really. Maybe out of deference.
It strikes me a lot like when two dudes hold the door open for each other. And one has to prove he’s the better man by holding it longer. Seriously, no, you go.
Yeah, look at Mr. Special. He’s super awesome and clearly the most humble.
Congratulations on your resurrection, Jesus! Now, tell us which of us you actually love more.
It also kind of reads like it could be a one-sided race. Like Peter’s just running and Mr. Compensation has to make a deal out of it. Sometimes siblings do this. They don’t compete with each other so much as one competes with the other.
The Contrast
What a contrast this makes with the other part of the story.
Mary Magdalene is at the tomb. Alone. Witnessing. Grieving. Being present. She goes to tell the disciples. She comes back and lingers. This isn’t a race. No getting it over with. She doesn’t jump to conclusions and leave.
She lingers.
And that’s when Jesus shows up. In the lingering.
The contrast between these parts of the story couldn’t be greater. The literally racing disciples and the lingering Mary.
And their competitiveness, needing to win and be the best, is proven utterly worthless. Worse, actually. It costs them. It costs them the chance to witness.
Racing each other, they miss Jesus.
Mary, lingering, witnesses. The angels. The sight. Jesus in the flesh. And he gives her the plan. Only her.
It’s fitting it would be Mary.
After all, she was the one through it all. She was there.
And if Elizabeth Schrader’s research on Mary Magdalene in the gospel of John is correct, she is the central disciple in the book.
She who knows what Jesus is really capable of. And believes in him. And calls him, “Lord.” The word Paul names as the great acclamation of faith: that we claim Christ, and not Caesar, as Lord.
Mary showed up for it all. When the twelve were cowards. When Peter denies knowing Jesus three times! Mary lingers. She stays with him. She is there for the crucifixion and death. The burial and the resurrection.
All of this paints that tendency to laugh at this gospel in a new light, doesn’t it? It really is insane that the two guys are racing. That there’s any competition among them at all. Especially when Jesus makes it clear that’s not how it works. Get there first on earth, last in heaven.
And since our work involves making this place more like that…well, let’s just say those running times might seem like they earn you rewards, but that’s just in our culture. That’s not with God.
God doesn’t glorify our victories. There is no cheering louder for the winning team. [And no, they didn’t win because they prayed harder either.]
God marvels in sport, not victories. When we overcome obstacles for the chance to compete. That’s the real glory.
Going fast means you miss the chance to be.
Our Responses
We know this intuitively. And it is fodder for so many movies and other works. The image of the Dad who works all of the time so he misses his kids’ lives. The Mom who seeks an escape from the daily frustration of…life and family. You know, the stuff we claim is most important to us and then we fast forward through.
And here is where we might get it a little twisted. Because we have two consistent go-to responses with information like this.
- The Individualistic Response — It is my problem and I need to do something about it. Which isn’t wrong, it’s just…it’s also everyone’s problem. And not everyone can individually fix their own problem. Like the person working two or three jobs really doesn’t have as much time as other people.
- The Universalistic Response — Because it seems to be a human thing, it actually becomes something we can’t actually fix. Because it is baked into our DNA or some other nonsense.
The thing about these two responses is that they are both sort of true. Just not fully true. Because they miss the more pressing point.
That our culture loves two dudes racing to prove which is the better disciple. We love that stuff.
And our culture hates ligering. We hate slow. We think it is lazy and unproductive. Stupid and useless. Silicon Valley is built around not only making you addicted to their products. They do so knowing that our instant, on-demand culture is breaking our brains.
We’re also cutting recess and outdoor activities when research proves more of it would be better. Why? Because our culture hates play and loves competition.
It isn’t just about what you can do when your culture forms you to race. And it isn’t just human nature that is doing this. We are choosing to live this way as a society.
The Contrast Redux
A lot of ink has been spilled throughout history on who this “beloved disciple” is. Why he is here. He shows up in the text in the Last Supper, attends to Jesus’s Mother at the crucifixion, outruns Peter in the Easter race. But why is this even a thing?
John doesn’t give him a name, but then, in the end implies that it is him. So that the author of the gospel gets to be Jesus’s favorite. Which, let’s all be honest, doesn’t come off as cheeky so much as smarmy and gross.
At least Paul has the good sense to be far more humble about how awesome he is.
But it strikes me differently to see him in contrast to Mary. That his specialness belies his own place in the story. He serves in this moment as the dupe—the one who does it wrong.
Whether the author truly gets that is not the point. His own selfish pride sets up the contrast with Mary’s humility.
A humility that makes her the epitome of discipleship.
On Us
As we Easter our hearts out today, sharing in baptism, trying to find as many eggs as possible, worry about how much more chocolate someone else has, let us also look forward to afternoon naps, baseball on the radio, and not trying to be the best.
Get bored! And linger. Play. Rest. Take your time.
Because life is a team sport. It is a cooperative, infinite game. There are no winners and losers.
And “on earth as it is in heaven” takes time. Effort. And a willingness to stand up, stay, endure, and be there. Otherwise, we’re bound to miss our chance.