April 16,
2017 Easter Sunday - "Mission Possible – I’ve Seen the Lord", John
20.1-18 Pastor Jacqueline Hines
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We gather here following behind centuries of those who have
celebrated, not only Resurrection Sunday, but the coming of spring. Spring
makes this Resurrection Sunday even easier to celebrate. [ slide # 1 spring] We have plenty of sunshine, green grass, budding
trees and brilliant flowers that brighten our mood. [slide # 2 daisies]
Spring brings out the playful child in us and we are more apt to
gather for picnics with those who love us. [slide # 3 picnic] For ancient cultures, springtime especially meant preparing for
harvest time. Crops would soon be coming in abundance and there would be more
than enough to share with the neighbors.
We know what that is like at Bethel. For when the local gardens
bear their fruit, we find baskets on tables at every meeting. The baskets are
filled with all varieties of tomatoes, squash, and peppers both hot and sweet. [slide # 4 basket of
vegetables] We share and celebrate just as humans have
celebrated since the beginning of time.
So verse 1 of John chapter 20 finds us on the first Easter morning. It was very
early on the first day of the week. The first day of the week, Sunday, would
become a safer day to seek Jesus and to worship him. For Christians seen
worshiping on the Jewish Sabbath or Saturday were likely to be persecuted.
While
it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. [slide # 5 Mary in a dark tomb] Mary
did not come to celebrate. She came to mourn. She came to show her respect for
Jesus who had been crucified. She came even though she had no idea how the
stone would be removed from the tomb. She would soon learn that angels went
ahead of her and rolled the stone away. [slide # 6 angels rolling the stone away] No doubt
since last Easter you have had one heavy burden or another lifted from your
life, too. [slide
# 7 Jesus holding man up] Halleluiah!
She
looked in the tomb and saw that Jesus was not there. She began to cry according
to verse 11. [slide
# 8 Mary crying at tomb] It was hard to
have closure in her mourning since she could not actually see Jesus. Perhaps
you have cried in the past year. Perhaps there is a situation for which you did
not have closure. The people you looked for had gone and you did not know where
to find them. Unanswered questions left you with a broken heart and weeping
wounds.
As
Mary wept, the angels in verse 13 asked her an unusual question for someone in
a cemetery: Why are you crying? [slide # 9 Why are you
crying] Angels are messengers who know that
our tears tell more than one story. Do you know all the stories behind your
tears?
In
verse 15, Jesus asked Mary the same
question the angels asked. Why are you crying? [slide # 10 Jesus and Mary] The question is an important one when angel messengers ask it. The
question is twice as important, when Jesus asks, because Jesus gets into even
deeper depths of our heart. Why are you weeping? Our tears may have more than
one story. Our stories may have more than tear. Why are you weeping?
Are
you weeping for fear or anger? Are you weeping tears of remorse or repentance?
At times, we may shed crocodile tears. The crocodile tears are the tears of a
salivating predator, crying just before they attack their prey. Sometimes we
cry tears of relief or tears of joy. Why
are you crying?
Whatever
our reason for tears, like Mary, in our heart of hearts, we are all seeking to
be with Jesus. We may not always recognize him. We may not always see that he
is the resurrection and the life, but in our hearts, we will always long for
him.
Mary
came with spices to anoint his body for burial though he had said he would be
alive by Sunday morning. She came like one who prays for rain and leaves the
umbrella at home.
It was hard to believe
in a resurrection just three days after a crucifixion. It is hard to believe in
love after your partner tells you they want a divorce. It is hard to believe in
healing after you get sick. It is hard to believe in God after you have been
beat down and beat up by the Devil. When there are no signs of rain, who
bothers to bring an umbrella? Believing is a choice. As one poet put it:
“I believe in the sun even
when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when there’s no one there. I
believe in God, even when he is silent.” And in a time of trial, a voice rises
within me saying ‘hold on my child, I will give you strength, I will give you
hope, just stay a little while.’
Lee Strobel [slide # 11 Lee
Strobel] was a reporter for the Chicago
Tribune and an avowed atheist in the 70’s. The story is told that when his wife
Leslie became a Christian, his first words to her included several ugly expletives.
His second words included something about divorce. But, as he watched her life
change to be kind and respectful to him, he was intrigued about her Godly
attitude and he began to do his own research on Christianity. He saw and
experienced the evidence of God’s love, and he converted to Christianity and
wrote a book entitled A Case for Christ.
There is also a movie about his conversion. [slide # 12 Lee and Leslie Strobel]
There
is evidence that the God of love is alive in our lives. You may
see that evidence in the life of someone close to you. The evidence may be in
your own heart and in your own experience. If so, you have found the truth of
that song children sing around the campfire. “It only takes a spark, to get a
fire going. And soon all those around can warm up to its glowing. That’s how it
is with God’s love. Once you’ve experienced it. You want to sing, it’s fresh
like spring. You want to pass it on.”
Regardless of how dark
it is when we come looking
for Jesus, on Easter morning, it quickly dawns on us that there are many reasons
to celebrate. We realize that he is
risen just like he said he would. [slide # 13 he is risen] We
are compelled to go and share the truth of the power of God’s love that lives
within our heart. We know he lives, for, like Mary, we too have seen the Lord. Amen. [slide # 14 Jesus hands]
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