Late Easter Sermon

Easter (Late Service)
April 4, 2010
So What? Now What?

In the name of our risen Lord Jesus, amen. In a similar fashion to Christmas, the Easter holiday is becoming increasingly generic. Easter decorations are all about bunnies and eggs, not crosses or empty tombs. There is no reflection on the resurrection. We come to Easter and many people ask ‘So what’?

There are very few people who deny the historical fact of the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet there are many, many people who deny the resurrection of Jesus. It is not just the Bible that records Jesus’ death, but it is also Jewish history that records the death of a man named the Christ who had lots of fervent followers.

So he died. Big deal? So what? Lots of people die, thousands die everyday. Tens die by suicide bomber. Hundreds die in explosions. Thousands die in natural disasters. So what if Jesus died? He didn’t rise again because resurrection can’t happen.

The followers of Christ stole the body. They overpowered the guards, rolled the stone away and took the dead body of Jesus and then spread the lie that Jesus lives.

The women went to the wrong tomb. It was getting dark when they buried Jesus. It was early in the morning when they went to finish Jesus’ burial. They went to the wrong tomb, to one that was waiting for a dead body, so of course the tomb was empty.

Or perhaps Jesus wasn’t really dead. It was the soldier’s fault. They broke the legs of the thieves to speed up death but they didn’t do that to Jesus. They did stab him with a spear and water and blood came out, but that doesn’t prove that Jesus was dead. He passed out, fainted. They wrapped up his body and laid him in the tomb. The cold air revived him, he regained his strength, and he slipped out of the sepulcher.

Resurrection-deniers have put forth various theories about why the resurrection never happened. The most logical theory is that resurrection is impossible. How many dead people have you talked with recently?

To be entirely honest, I don’t know how Jesus rose from the dead. To continue being honest, I don’t worry about how Jesus rose from the dead. The beautiful mystery of the resurrection is not to be understood as it is to be believed, to be received for the certain hope and the enduring peace that it brings.

There are many things we do not understand and yet we still manage to go about our day. The resurrection of Jesus is given to us to receive and believe. When the angels came and announced to Peter, to John, to Mary Magdalene that Jesus was no longer in the tomb but was living, the angel didn’t explain how it happened. He simply told them. And the disciples of Jesus believed. They took the news and believed. All had happened just as Jesus had said it would.

Jesus had said many times that he would be betrayed, arrested, tried, suffer, and die. And it all happened. Jesus also said that on the third day he would rise. And according to the angel, it happened.

For you, me, believers throughout the world, believers throughout the centuries, it is not whether a resurrection took place or not, it is what we are able to do with this Good News.

Mary Magdalene was one of the disciples who went to the tomb early in the morning. She went with some other women for the purpose of finishing the burial task. They did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. The other women went back to Jerusalem but Mary stayed behind, sad, bewildered. She met a gardener and she asked if he knew what had happened. All Mary wanted to know was where her Lord had been taken. She wanted to care for her Lord in his death since no one had really cared for him those last few days.

The ‘gardener’ revealed himself to Mary. And Mary’s grief was turned completely around. And Jesus gave Mary the answer to ‘Now what’? Go and tell my brothers that I am alive. And Mary returned the other disciples with the news, “I have seen the Lord!” It was a clear message. She didn’t say that someone told her Jesus was living or that a friend’s second cousin’s brother said that Jesus was alive. Mary’s message was that with her own eyes, with her hands even, she had seen and touched the living Jesus.

Now what? We have been given the message to tell, that Jesus is living and loving. We have been set free from the fear of our sin, from the despair of aimless living, from the meaningless chase of things that don’t satisfy. With a living Christ, we are given a tremendous anchor to hold onto in a stormy society. There is indeed a tremendous amount of fear. People wonder how long they will have their job. People wonder if they can retire when they planned to. People wonder about that lump on the back of their neck and whether or not it will just ‘go away’. Our neighbors worry about putting food on the table and while we worry about having enough money to pay for school supplies for our children.

A living Christ gives us a solid anchor. The stability is found in the tremendous knowledge that the love and forgiveness of God belong to us whether we are rich or poor, healthy or sick. When the bad happens, we have the clarity to see that things are not entirely bad, that there are people who stand with us when we stumble, people who extend a hand to help us stand. When the good occurs, we praise God and give Him the glory. We point to God who has blessed us to be a blessing. Our living Christ holds us fast in this life.

Now what? We live the resurrection triumph of Christ. And that does not ask more of us than what we possess. Living the resurrection triumph of Christ means that we give what we have been given. God has forgiven our sins and so we forgive those who sin against us. God the Father has embraced us and we embrace the hurting, the hopeless, and the helpless.

God the Father through Jesus His Son by the guidance of the Holy Spirit makes us and keeps us Easter people. The death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection are real events. Now what? Now sin is powerless. Now we are free. Now we are strengthened to be the hope and the light of Jesus in this beautiful creation. SDG