Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.14UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.54LIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.51LIKELY
Sadness
0.55LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.38UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.47UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.91LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.64LIKELY
Extraversion
0.24UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.93LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.6LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Theme: The world is different
Let us pray.
Most holy, Lord God, we gather this morning to rejoice in the miracle of the resurrection: we give you thanks and praise for Jesus’ resurrection, making us heirs with Christ in his resurrection, through Jesus Christ our risen Lord.
Amen.
In John’s gospel, the group of women who go to the tomb is reduced to one, Mary Magdalene.
It was early on the first day of the week, before sunrise.
This day begins at sundown on Saturday.
In spite of the darkness, Mary found her way to the tomb and when she got there, she saw that the stone covering the tomb was rolled away.
In John, it is not the women who come to anoint Jesus’ body.
It was already done by Nicodemus.
We are not told why Mary goes to the tomb.
But John in telling this story knows the tradition that men were not the first to see the empty tomb.
The first thought that comes to Mary’s mind is, “grave robbers.”
Grave robbers were common in those days.
Mary assumes that the body was stolen.
She did not go into the tomb.
Mary immediately ran off to tell Peter about this calamitous event.
Another, an unnamed disciple, is with Peter at the time.
They both run off toward the tomb.
The unnamed disciple reaches the tomb first.
He looks in and sees Jesus’ burial clothes in a pile.
It must have been like a teenager’s room.
He doesn’t go in.
Impulsively, Peter doesn’t stop at the entrance, he goes in.
Peter saw the burial clothes.
But he also saw the cloth that covered Jesus’ face, rolled up and in a place by itself.
Grave robbers would not have left the clothes behind.
Lazarus came out of the tomb with all the wrappings still on his body.
These have been left behind.
Something different has happened here.
The unnamed disciple went in, saw the scene, and then believed that Jesus rose from the dead.
Neither he nor Peter had put this news into the context of the Old Testament though.
They do not yet grasp the significance of the empty tomb.
The two of them went back where they came from, leaving Mary weeping outside the tomb.
They didn’t stop to ask why she was crying.
They just left.
Mary stays behind.
She has grieving to do, and she knows it.
She has tears to shed, and she knows it.
And it is through those tears that she sees the risen Jesus.
That is what moves me so deeply and touches my own experience.
So often it is through our tears that we experience the risen Christ.
Frederick Buechner says somewhere, “It is not the absence of Jesus from the empty tomb that moves us.
It is his presence in our empty hearts.”
Sometime, perhaps minutes, perhaps seconds, later, Mary Magdalene looks in the tomb and sees two angels.
She is still crying.
She is overcome with grief and sadness.
I don’t know if Mary saw an angel before or how she would recognize one if she saw one.
They were dressed in white, sitting where Jesus’ body was laid.
Perhaps the angels didn’t want to talk to the two men.
They were there especially for Mary.
The angels asked Mary why she was crying.
They asked the question that Peter and the other disciple didn’t ask.
They don’t announce the resurrection.
They are focused on Mary’s grief.
Mary told them someone stole Jesus’ body and it is missing.
Then Mary turns around and there is another man standing there.
It’s Jesus, but Mary didn’t recognize him.
After all, Jesus is dead, right?
Mary in her grief cannot think right.
She can’t recognize angels.
She can’t recognize Jesus.
Jesus also asks Mary why she is crying.
What was wrong with Peter and the other guy?
Mary asks him, if he stole Jesus’ body to please tell her where it is.
Mary was unintentionally very perceptive.
Jesus did steal Jesus’ body.
Jesus is the grave robber.
And it’s right in front of her!
Jesus calls her name and she recognizes his voice.
Jesus is the good shepherd and calls us by name.
She says, “Rabboni,” which means Rabbi or teacher in Aramaic.
Since Jesus has yet to ascend into heaven, he doesn’t want to be touched.
Mary is not to keep Jesus for herself.
She is to share with others the good news of the risen Christ.
Jesus instructs Mary to tell his disciples that he is going to God the Father.
Mary does as she is told and tells Jesus’ friends what he said and what she had seen.
I have not read this by anyone else, but I can’t be the only person this has occurred to.
And that is this: the beloved disciple is not a historical person.
I am beginning to think that John uses this literary device of the beloved disciple to mean the church.
We are to be the beloved disciple.
We are to act in faith, belief, steadfastness, and most importantly in love.
The beloved disciple is what Jesus wants us to be.
John gives us the beloved disciple as an example to follow.
That is why this disciple is not named.
The beloved disciple is to be each and every one of us.
We are to be with women at the foot of cross.
We race to see what Mary has said about the empty tomb.
We realize what the empty tomb means and we believe.
Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus is the messiah.
Jesus is the Son of God.
We devote our lives to Jesus.
We are the beloved disciple.
In his book The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight shares the moving story of Margaret Ault.
When Margaret was just about to complete her Ph.D. at Duke, something unexpected—but quite welcomed—happened: she fell in love.
She went on a date with a man named Hyung Goo Kim, and the proverbial sparks flew.
But almost as quickly as the sparks became a fire, they were doused with water.
Hyung Goo informed Margaret that he was HIV positive.
Needless to say, Margaret was devastated.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9