Emilie Gossiaux, has been called the Helen
Keller of the art world. In 2007,
she was accepted into Manhattan’s Cooper Union School of Art, where she hoped to further her
dream of becoming an artist. But on
October 8, 2010, Emilie was struck by a semi-truck as she bicycled to an art
studio where she had an internship. Emilie, then 21, suffered traumatic brain
injury, a stroke, and fractures to her head, pelvis, and leg. The accident also left her blinded.
On her second day in the hospital, a nurse told
Emilie’s parents that she would not recover and asked if they wanted to
donate her organs. Later that night, Emilie began to move her arm. They decided not to donate her
organs. Then the doctors said that
Emilie wasn’t a candidate for rehab. They told her parents they should find a nursing home for her.
Her boyfriend would not accept the
prognosis and began researching communication methods until he found the
print-on-palm technique, which is similar to the way in which Annie Sullivan
communicated with Helen Keller. He
drew the letters I l-o-v-e y-o-u with his finger on Emilie’s palm,
and she responded immediately. She
persevered through a difficult rehabilitation and in the spring of 2013, Emilie
returned to Cooper Union to finish her undergraduate degree. Even more
impressive, she won an Award of Excellence from the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts a few months later. It was for her sculpture Bird Sitting,
which she created two years after the
accident that blinded her. Her
sculpture was included in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in 2013.
I would
like to think that, under similar circumstances, I would have the kind of drive
and determination that Emilie demonstrated, but I’m not so sure. But we love those kinds of stories,
don’t we? We love to hear the stories where
people move from tragedy to triumph.
It’s almost as though it is printed onto our DNA to be moved by stories
where someone conquers insurmountable odds.
This
morning, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate the greatest story of triumph over
tragedy – the resurrection of Jesus.
Our text is the resurrection story from Mark 16:1-14 –
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they
might go to anoint Jesus’ body.
2 Very early on the first day of the week,
just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb
3 and they asked each other, “Who will
roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that
the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a
young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were
alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are
looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not
here. See the place where they laid him.
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter,
‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told
you.’”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went
out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were
afraid.
9 When Jesus rose early on the first day
of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.
10 She went and told those who had been
with him and who were mourning and weeping.
11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and
that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different
form to two of them while they were walking in the country.
13 These returned and reported it to the
rest; but they did not believe them either.
14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as
they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn
refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
1. With God, It’s Never Over.
Mark begins the resurrection
story by telling us that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome
came to the tomb with spices to anoint the body of Jesus. There was absolutely no expectation of
a resurrection. They fully
expected to find the dead, lifeless body of Jesus.
Listen again to verse 1 – When
the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome
bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.
When the Sabbath was over.
Think about that word over for a moment. If
ever there was a word that was descriptive of the attitude and state of mind of
the disciples at that moment in time, it was the word over. All the hopes
they had for the ministry of Jesus – over. All the excitement about his miracles – over. The large crowds hanging on his every
word as he taught – over. The
crucifixion had brought all of that and more to an abrupt and terrible end.
As you read through the resurrection story, the
sense of resignation and defeat is palpable. It’s over. Just as Jesus said “it is finished,” it
seems finished. You can almost
sense the slow-moving foot dragging as they walk to the tomb. We know that feeling, don’t we? There is a stretching out of the final
act because we don’t want our time with that person to come completely to an
end. We want to hold on a little
bit longer, so we take our time, not hurrying, putting off those final moments
that tell us it really is finally, completely, the end.
Well, guess what. They got more time, didn’t they! It wasn’t over, no matter how much it seemed as though
things really were over!
Think back over the months, since last
Easter. A lot has happened, hasn’t
it? How many good things have
happened? Quite a few, I
hope. How many tough things have
happened? Probably quite a few of
those as well. How many times did
you think it was over? How many
times did it seem as though things were so tough that there didn’t seem any way
forward? When you suffered the
loss of someone near and dear to you, and you thought that was the end.
Remember this, always – it might seem like the
end, but it’s never the end, not with God. Who has the final word? God does! It might seem there is no hope, but
there is always hope with God. It
might seem there is no way forward, but there is always a way forward with God.
Who has the final say? God does! Do you think you face an insurmountable problem and there
seems no way around it? God has a
way! Does it seem like the end
when we have lost someone we love?
It’s not the end! What do
we celebrate today? The
resurrection! And does the
resurrection apply only to Jesus?
No – it is a promise for us all!
2. When God Has A Plan, God Makes A Way.
Listen to verses three and four – 3 and
they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the
tomb?” 4 But
when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been
rolled away.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I have a
tendency to worry. I know that
probably comes as a shock to some of you, but it’s true. But I suspect some of you are that way
as well. I worry about whether or
not I have enough things to worry about.
And I suspect some of you are that way as well. I worry so much about so many things
that I’m thinking about starting a series of conferences about how to worry more
effectively. Maybe I’ll write a
few books, start a web site, and do a series of YouTube videos training people
how to be better at worrying. I
think there’s a lot of opportunity there, don’t you? But remember – I have already copyrighted this idea, so
don’t make me worry about anyone attempting to steal it away from me!
On the way to the tomb they asked one another
who was going to roll away the stone?
Now, right there is where I would count myself out. Sounds to me like a good reason not to
go. Who wants to wander into a
tomb? Not me.
But they are worried about how they will get
access to the body of Jesus because they want to complete the task of preparing
it for burial. It was, to them,
the final, loving act they could perform for someone they loved so much. And they worried they couldn’t do it,
and if they could not do what they were going to the tomb to do, that was a
really big deal. It really was
something to worry about. There
were all kinds of social and religious considerations at work, and we can have
a good deal of sympathy for them.
In fact, it makes me worry just reading about it, and I know how the
story turns out!
We worry so much and about so many things! Why do we fret and worry so? If the resurrection proves anything, it
certainly proves that if God has a plan, God will make a way. This is demonstrated time and time
again throughout the Scriptures.
Think about Abraham and the plan God had for him. But to Abraham, there were many time he
not only failed to see God’s plan, he failed to believe God had a plan, because
he continually took matters into his own hands. And we can have some sympathy for Abraham as well, because
we can’t always see God’s plan, can we?
But remember this – God’s plan is not incumbent upon our either seeing
or understanding that plan.
Abraham could not always see God’s plan, but God had a plan nonetheless. And we could scan the pages of the
Bible and find this to be true time and time again.
3. The tragedy of the past can be overcome by the triumph of
the present and the promise of the future.
Two of the characters who are mentioned by name
in this passage are Mary Magdalene and Peter. In verse 9 Mark adds this interesting bit of commentary
about Mary Magdalene – Mary
Magdalene, out
of whom he had driven seven demons. That’s Mark’s way of saying, this is
a person who had some issues.
Now, I should hasten to add that Mary Magdalene has been greatly
maligned over the course of history.
She is often portrayed as having been a prostitute, but did you know
there is not one bit of evidence to give credence to that claim? Not one bit of Biblical or historical
evidence exists to support that claim.
I believe it entered into history as a way to justify the subjugation of
women, which, unfortunately, continues in parts of the church and in larger
society as a whole until this day.
It’s also a sad commentary on the way we just cannot seem to resist
labeling, judging, and stereotyping people.
And Peter;
well, we all know about Peter and his denials. But he did better, although he continued to have his
struggles. Paul, for instance, had
to call him out publically on at least one occasion because of Peter’s
reluctance in accepting outsiders into the church (Galatians 2:11-12 – 11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed
him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For
before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when
they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles
because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group).
I don’t want to be critical, because I don’t
want anyone looking too closely at my life; there you will find a lot to
criticize; there are a lot of faults.
The truth is, we all have a past.
We all have failures. And
we’re all complicit in the problems of the day. I’m often amused by those who think that, because they
aren’t a part of the things they oppose that they are somehow exempt from the
ills and the evils of the world.
We’re all complicit. And I don’t
say that to make you feel bad, but as a reminder that we all stand in need of
God’s grace. Every one of us.
You know
what’s great about God? The way he
doesn’t hold our past against us. Isn’t
that good news? It’s not just good
news; it’s great news! That is the
good news not just of Easter but the good news for every day! Every day!
For years, I
have spent a lot of time in hospitals. I am grateful for what modern medicine is able to do very us;
very grateful. And I am grateful
to see the healing that takes place in hospitals. We are so fortunate because of the care that is available to
us. I’ve seen a lot of people go
into hospitals, and quite a few of them come home, but not all of them. Medicine can take us so far, but only
so far. Medicine can heal us for a
time, but not forever. The good
news this Easter is that there is resurrection. Christ has been risen from the dead and one day, so shall
we!
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