It’s early in the morning,
the birds haven’t even begun to chirp, perhaps there is a mist hovering over the ground, much like yesterday. The world is resting, except for Mary Magdalene who just wants to be close to her savior. She decides to get out of bed and take a walk to the tomb in which Jesus was laid to rest. She doesn’t know what to expect, she is just bringing herself.
She approached and something doesn’t quite seem right, she gets closer, and oh no, the stone has been moved. But how, how was the stone moved, it took a bunch of guards to roll the stone, who
would have moved it, why?
Poor Mary, how devastating
to think for a moment that Jesus’ body had been stolen. The fear, who stole
it, why would they steal it, oh no, what are we going to do, why did all this happen?
Why did he have to die? The emotions she must have had to face in those
moments.
But, they only lasted for
a moment, another gospel tells us: After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord,
descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing
white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be
afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come,
see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he
is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will
see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell
his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and
worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell
my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
In
just a brief moment the fear and sadness, the women felt vanished. They probably
truly hadn’t grasped what had just happened, but what they knew is that the man they loved, their savior, messiah, redeemer
and friend was standing there in front of them as though nothing had happened. The
words sound so familiar to those we heard at the birth of Jesus, do not be afraid. How
strange those words sound, for these women knew this man, they knew him better than most, and in an instance all the heartache
and tears were mere memories for here he was standing in front of them again, why should they be afraid? They should be afraid for the same reason Moses was afraid when he encountered the burning bush, God was
there present in front of them, the living God, the Word of God standing there in front of them. And for the women, although they had heard Jesus’ words over and over again, how could they be prepared
to come face to face with Jesus risen from the dead. What a stop in your tracks
moment.
Not
only was the Word of God present in front of them, but the Word of God came to pass in front of them. The words Jesus spoke came true, everything they had believed and heard for years happened before them,
as the rest of the world slept. But now these devoted women had work to do. For Jesus told them to go and find his brothers, to tell them he would be with them
soon. What a task they had before them.
Now they had to convince others that they weren’t crazy and that they truly witnessed the resurrected Lord.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Oh what a beautiful morning when the trumpet
began to sound, ok there really wasn’t a trumpet, there was no fanfare no newspaper headlines, no tweets on twitter,
no facebook status updates, no opening story on the Today show, there was nothing telling the world that Jesus had risen from
the dead, nothing but the testimony of a woman, or depending on the gospel, women. That’s
it that is the only way the world found out that the tomb was empty. Wow, can
you imagine that happening today; the word would spread faster than any other news story, going from person to person from
news source to news source from twitter to facebook in a heartbeat. Or would
it, would we hear the news of Jesus’ resurrection today? Would we hear
the wonderful news that our Savior had risen from the dead?
It’s an interesting thought, with the world connected so closely right now would we even think
to spread the news? I wonder if in the busyness of the world today if a story
like that would spread, something tells me no, it wouldn’t, for we have this news, we know that Jesus the Messiah was
raised from the dead, but how often do we tell others. How often is our leading
line, Christ is Risen? Only on Easter, one day a year, we spread the good news;
one day of the year, you know who has heard this news.
Look around this room,
see all the different faces and hear the different voices. Every person in this
room is different; every person has their own personality and interests. If we
took a poll there are probably some major things we would disagree about, whether it be a decision of General Assembly or
an act of session. Perhaps some here are angry or disappointed today, others
may be relieved and overjoyed. Some who have disagreed with others, sometimes
working against what someone else is doing. These are the things that separate
us, not only from one another, but also from the love of God.
There is however one thing that brings us all together, one thing that every person in this room is
in agreement over, one thing that if put first trumps all others, that we each believe that Jesus Christ was and is the son
of God. That he lived, was crucified and that he died, but most importantly,
we each believe that Jesus Christ rose again on the 3rd day. That our Messiah lives unites us, tears down the walls
that divide us, and seeks to unify us for a common cause, to spread the good news that Jesus Christ is lord and savior to
all.
Some of my earliest memories are of those words on Easter morning.
I always slept at my grandparents’ house the night before Easter and was woken up long before the sun was up
to get ready for Sunrise service at their church. I would put on my new Easter dress, and my mom
always made sure I had a lovely bonnet to wear with it. My grandfather always
got my grandmother and I corsages to wear and we were off.
The church dates back to pre-revolutionary days. The
service was held in the educational building in the fellowship hall. We had a
service looking out in to the cemetery and afterwards we would pick up our chairs and head to the tables that were filled
with Danishes and decorated eggs. After we finished eating, we would get balloons. I never really understood the balloons until this past week. But we would get balloons and write notes and attach them, some people would gather 5 balloons and put
messages in to a cup. After everyone was ready, we would head out to the edge
of the cemetery and the minister would say, Christ is risen, and we would all respond, he is risen indeed and let the balloons
go. Oh what a site, hundreds of balloons flying in to the sky, it seemed like
they went up for miles. And then the wind would take them and they scattered.
As a child, I just thought
this was the coolest thing in the world. Looking back on it, it really was the
coolest thing. What an amazing example of Christ’s words, go out in to
the world. Each of those balloons had the potential of sharing the good news
of Christ’s resurrection. Each of those hundreds of balloons had to land,
yes some of them might have gone in the river, especially if the wind was blowing in that direction, but most of those balloons
had to come across someone. If Jesus had risen from the dead and not encountered
anyone, would we be celebrating Easter today?
For the good news of Christ’s
resurrection to reach people, we need to go out and scatter and share the good news.
As Jesus instructed Mary in our scripture today, go and tell the disciples or as Jesus put it, my brothers. If we hear the good news of the gospel and don’t share it, have we truly heard the good news. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus, references putting a candle under a bushel basket,
by not sharing the resurrection of your Savior with all you meet your light goes out; it is hidden under a bushel basket. The words of the song Go tell it on the Mountain, are ringing in my ears, GO tell
it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born, and although it references Christ’s birth, that same enthusiasm needs
to be used to share the even greater news that Jesus Christ lives.
The women who encountered
the living God had to tell people who would never believe them. Those who would
not only doubt them because they were women, but also because what they were saying seemed so unbelievable. Although Jesus told his disciples over and over and over again that these things would come to pass, the
disciples didn’t get it, they didn’t understand what he was saying, they still had the attitude of Messiah as
conquering hero as opposed to sacrificial lamb. But Jesus was the sacrificial
lamb, having committed no sin himself, he took on the sins of the world and suffered death at the hands of those he was seeking
to save. But Jesus conquered death, he rose up from the dead, just like he said.
It is time for us to truly
encounter the risen Lord, to take on the role of the women, and share the good news that Jesus Christ is risen. As we prepare to come to the table before us, we need to remember the night in which Jesus was betrayed
and abandoned, the day in which he was sentenced to death and most importantly the day in which he rose from the dead. Jesus Christ is Risen, and all of this for our sins.
His life, his death, and his resurrection were all to save us from sin. Let
us truly understand that sacrifice and share that wonderful news with all we encounter, may our hearts be pointed towards
the empty tomb, in which we hear the words of Jesus, don’t be afraid but go and tell my brothers and sisters. Share the good news that you have seen the Lord.
