I love Easter. I don’t love Easter simply because all of the candy, which
keeps appearing at my office door in a plot, I suspect, to put me in a sugar
coma. I don’t love Easter simply because
of all the nice outfits, although I must say that from where I stand you all
look very nice. I don’t love
Easter simply because of the great music, but I have to say, it’s great music,
as we all knew it would be. I
don’t love Easter simply because the church is full, although I enjoy looking
out and seeing such a great crowd, and I appreciate each and every one of you
being here. I love and appreciate
all those elements of Easter, but what I love about Easter, certainly, is what
it represents, one of which is that Easter represents the fact that we are
bound to something so much greater than ourselves. All around the world this weekend, believers gather to
celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and we are part of that large fellowship
of hundreds and hundreds of millions of people. And for some of those people, it is difficult and
dangerous. In Egypt, members of
the Coptic Christian churches will gather with the fear that they may face
another deadly attack. Throughout
the Middle East, Christians will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus while they
worry about attacks and persecution, but still they gather, in spite of the
danger. In China, millions and
millions will gather in house churches, breaking the law as they do, and will
risk persecution not only for attending Easter worship, but also for daring to
defy the government’s decree that churches must be officially sanctioned and
approved before they are considered legal. In some parts of the world some people will most likely lose
their lives for the act of worshiping and proclaiming the resurrection of
Jesus.
That’s an incredibly powerful message, isn’t
it? It is a message that has
captivated the hearts and lives of so many millions of people throughout
history and to today. The message of the resurrection of Jesus is so powerful
that it moves millions and millions of people to not only risk their lives but,
if necessary, give their lives.
What a powerful message to inspire that level of faith! The resurrection is the heart of our
faith, so hear the story of the resurrection from Luke’s gospel –
Luke
24:1-12
1 On the first day of the week, very early
in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the
tomb.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3 but when they entered, they did not find
the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were wondering about this,
suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5 In their fright the women bowed down
with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for
the living among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember
how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over
to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”
8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When
they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to
all the others.
10 It was
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who
told this to the apostles.
11 But they
did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
12 Peter,
however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen
lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
I have no
idea what it was like on that first Easter morning as the women made their way
to the tomb where Jesus had been buried.
Perhaps it was one of those early spring mornings when you feel the new
life surging in our veins and it’s a glorious feeling. I like to think that it was. You know the kind of morning of which I
speak. You rise early and step
outside as the birds are singing and the sun is rising. There are the smells of trees and
flowers in bloom and of the freshness of the earth. Except for one detail, it could have been a perfect
morning. It was a rather large
detail, as the women were going to complete the gruesome task they had not been
able to finish, which was to prepare the body of Jesus for burial.
Consider
with me several themes from the resurrection story this morning –
1. Look for life where life is found, and
experience the power of resurrection.
I am not
much of a yard person. In fact, I
am one of the worst yard persons in the history of yards. Before we moved, we lived between two
retired guys who mowed every other day.
I finally told them both, can you
give me a break? I mow our
yard and do some work in the yard, but you will never find me working
meticulously outside in the yard, nurturing a good stand of grass. If you are that kind of person, God
bless you. Really, God bless
you. My great fear is that upon
being welcomed into eternity one day God is going to say come on in! Now, I’ve got
some good news and some bad news. The
good news is that we have a mansion for you! The bad news is that it needs some yard work. But on the bright side, you’ve got a
lot of time to work on it.
But
somehow, in spite of my sad attempts to keep a lawn, it grows, and grows, and
grows, because you cannot stop life.
Life blooms and blossoms all around us, and the resurrection is
certainly prove that in the hands of God you cannot stop life, even when death itself
has stood in the way.
Why
do you look for the living among the dead, the women are asked in verse
5. There is no death here, they are saying, to which the women could
have easily replied, oh yes there
is! This is a cemetery. No one comes here to experience life! But life had come to that cemetery on
the first Easter morning! Life is
bursting forth all around us! God
is a God of life! Easter is the
celebration of that life and the celebration of new life!
But as life bursts forth
around us, we must remember there are places that are not conducive to life and
that do not nurture life. We live
in a time when there is, all around us, the tragedy of addiction. There is no life in addiction. Addiction robs us of life. All around us there are many who are in
the grip of fear and anxiety and fear and anxiety do not bring life but rather
they rob us of life.
Look for
life where life is found, in God, and experience the power of resurrection.
2. Remember what God has done and what he
has said, and experience the power of resurrection.
I find it amusing
that many of you have the mistaken idea that I have a good memory. No doubt, about twenty of you will test
my memory as soon as the service is over by giving me something to
remember. I think people believe I
have a good memory because I do not often refer to the manuscript of my
message. I can assure you,
however, that I do not have a good memory. Ask my family if you don’t believe me. When I’m speaking, you have no
reference point to know if I’m actually sticking to my manuscript or not. I could be totally winging it for all
you know.
To help me
remember, every Monday morning, one of my first tasks is to print out this list
of reminders to help me keep up with what I need to do, where I need to be,
etc. You can see where I add to it
and on the back of some of the pages I write ideas for my message and other
thoughts that I hope will be helpful.
Without this, I’m kind of lost.
Actually, I would really be lost.
Listen to what the men say to
the women in verses 6 – 8 – 6 He is
not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still
with you in Galilee:
7 ‘The
Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on
the third day be raised again.’” 8 Then
they remembered his words.
Memory
experts tell us that we need to process a piece of information in several ways
if we hope to retain it.
Obviously, the disciples had a difficult time retaining what Jesus told
them beforehand about his
resurrection. On numerous
occasions, Jesus told his disciples exactly
what was going to happen. Exactly! And, once again, they are reminded in this passage – remember how he told you, while he was still
with you in Galilee.
Interestingly, that is not phrased as a question. Look at the text; it doesn’t end with a
question mark. It is a statement
of command – remember! You
have to begin taking to heart the things God has been saying. Remember that he is working on your
behalf. Remember that he loves
you. Remember that he is with you. Remember that he is not going to leave
you. Remember! Remember! Remember!
At the resurrection,
everything lined up and made sense.
The followers of Jesus could look back and see how everything fell into
place. They could see how the entire life of Jesus, and especially his final
days, when it was a challenge to walk like him. Looking back at the final days, they could see how the
Triumphal Entry was a challenge to remember that to walk like Jesus means we
forsake pride and embrace humility, looking back at the final days, they could
see that the Last Supper was a challenge to embrace the great command of love
and a life of service, looking back at the final days, they could see that the
Garden of Gethsemane was a challenge to walk in the paths of Jesus even when
the walk is difficult and challenging and to seek the will of God rather than
our own will and, finally, looking back at the final days, they could see that the
crucifixion was a challenge to embrace forgiveness, as Jesus did as he hung
dying on the cross.
And then there is the
resurrection, which challenges us to never forget that life has conquered death. Since last Easter, some of you have
experienced the sting of death. You
have lost people near and dear to you, and that loss stings a great deal. In the power of resurrection, God
certainly wants us to remember this –
Death
has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (I Corinthians 15:54-55). The resurrection of Jesus is not the
only resurrection, it becomes our resurrection as well.
3. When nothing seems to make sense –
including faith – receive the power of resurrection.
I do not hold to the idea that
everything in life either must make sense or will ever make sense. I still have questions that I hope to
have answered some day – and while I doubt they will be answered in this life, I’m
okay with that; honestly, there’s a lot of questions I no longer stress
over. Some things just don’t make
sense because we simply won’t understand everything.
Verse 11
says that the disciples did not believe the women, because their
words seemed to them like nonsense. That’s probably an apt description for
how some people look at faith; it doesn’t make any sense to them. To some people, faith is nonsense. As we gather this morning, there are
the skeptics of the world who will shake their heads and think us foolish
because we follow after and believe what they claim does not make any sense.
But
just because we don’t have every question answered, and just because all things
do not make sense in no way diminishes the reality and the truth of those
things. Faith doesn’t always make
sense to us. Faith doesn’t answer
every question. But I don’t find
that in any way diminishes faith, the reality of faith, or the truth of faith. The disciples could not believe the
news of the resurrection because they did not believe such an event was
possible. We really don’t see as
objectively as we believe that we do.
We generally see what we believe rather than seeing what is reality. It is not necessary that every question
be answered and every doubt erased and everything line up perfectly in order
for something to be true.
I used to
exercise in a graveyard. I did so
for a couple of reasons; one, because it was not far from where we lived and
the paved road that wound through the cemetery grounds made it very convenient. But the bigger reason might have been
that walking through a cemetery gave me a greater motivation to work out, as I
wanted to put off as long as possible my entry into that place.
When you
walk through a cemetery you notice that they can be busy places. A lot of people come and visit
cemeteries. I would often see
people sitting and talking to their departed friend or loved one. Often, it was obvious they were crying,
still feeling the sting of loss.
At such moments, the power and reality of resurrection became very real
to me. I would often think, I don’t want that small plot of ground to be
the very end. I believe there is
more.
The
resurrection proves that there is.
Believe in the power of resurrection! Hope in the power of resurrection! Receive the power of resurrection!
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