Not as Children of Death: Stroupe on the Resurrection
Magdalen of Night Light By George de la Tour [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Death, according to Nibs Stroupe, casts a heavy screen over our vision, beclouding not only our view of the surrounding world, but also hiding from us our true identity as beloved children of God. In a sermon on the encounter in the garden between the Risen Jesus and Mary of Magdala (John 20:1-18), Stroupe interprets resurrection as "recognition." Deeper Waters: Sermons for a New Vision , By Nibs Stroupe (edited by Collin Cornell) (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2017). Mary is the only individual mentioned in all four Gospel accounts of the resurrection, and in the passage from John, she is the first witness to meet the risen Lord. The church, as Stroupe notes, has often been embarrassed to name women as primary witnesses to the resurrection. (If even the Apostle Paul neglects to mention Mary and other women in is paradigmatic resurrection keryma -- I Cor. 15 -- it is hardly surprising ...