Easter Sermon

Summary

Alleluia, Jesus is risen!  He is risen indeed, alleluia!

What a joyous day Easter is, for it is on this day that we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection…his new life.  It is a joyous day for us believers as Paul reminds us in the first reading, “…of the good news that [he] proclaimed…through which [we] also…are being saved…”

In his death Jesus conquered death’s power, and by his resurrection he breaks that power in our lives, that we can be given salvation by grace in faith.

So…today, Easter day, is a good day.

What we forget though, is that that first Easter morning was not necessarily a good day for the disciples, it was far less bad than the one which they had been expecting, but it was not necessarily joyous.  Rather, it was a confusing mix of hope, promise, doubt, and alarm.

What do I mean?

Well, let’s read certain parts of our text this morning remembering that the women were heading to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body.  There was no sense of hope in them that Jesus might have left the grave, or that Jesus might have been resurrected to new life.  No, they knew he was dead, and they simply wanted to give him the proper burial that their loved one deserved.

Their grief had moved beyond the shock of Friday, and the early grieving of Saturday, a Sabbath day in which they were not able to ‘do’ the things they felt needed to be done to care for Jesus, because it was a day on which no work could be done.

So, on Sunday morning, though they are still grieving of course, they have something to do.  They are going to anoint their beloved Jesus’ body. As they carried the spices they had purchased to the grave, they spent the time discussing how to deal with the large stone sealing the grave.  After the chaos of the previous week, especially the horror of Friday, it probably felt good for the women to just do something straight-forward and peaceful, to anoint Jesus’ body.

But, the chaos was not over.

Upon arriving at the tomb, the stone that they had been worrying over moving, was already moved, and the body they were expecting to encounter in the grave is not the one they meet.  Instead of Jesus’ they meet a young man sitting in his place!  The young man whom they meet, announces that the dead body that they were to anoint, is not dead anymore, and in fact is not there anymore either.  In fact, he tells them that Jesus has gone ahead of them all…back to Galilee, and is awaiting them all there.  They need to go and tell Peter and the others this news.

Wow!  This is not what the women were expecting.

So, does this situation and the presumed angel’s announcement of the good news of Jesus’ rising bring about a joyous celebration in the women?

No!  Of course not.

Rather they flee in terror and amazement, a mix of emotions that lent wings to their feet, as we say.  What a combination of emotions too!

So, perhaps the first question we need to ask is this, ‘Of what were they afraid?’

There is probably more than one answer to this question.  We assume, because of what we are told in the other gospels, that the young man in the tomb was an angel.  I have never come face-to-face with an angel, but time and again in the Bible when a person meets an angel, one of the first reactions is fear.  Thus, we can assume that the women were in fear of the unexpected appearance of the angel sitting in Jesus’ tomb.

Perhaps an even greater fear was that of the open and empty tomb.  Remember they had pondered upon how to move the stone, but upon their arrival it was gone, yet, so was Jesus’ body.  Their fear I think, has the greater cause of answering the question, “What happened to Jesus’ body?”

Had someone stolen it?  Was this young man part of a plot using Jesus’ death as an alibi for mischief against the Romans, or the Sanhedrin?  Or, as terrifying, because it was beyond their experience and reality, had Jesus, as the young man said, risen and gone ahead of them to Galilee.

Any, and all of these possibilities, were reasons for their fear, and their flight.  For though they had experienced much that was beyond their comprehension as they followed and learned from Jesus as his disciples, now, they did not have him their with them, to explain what they were experiencing.  It was all simply, too overwhelming…so, they ran.

We can understand the fear of the angel, and even the fear of a stolen body, but, I think we might question, why would the women be in fear of Jesus’ resurrection to new life?

Why?  Because if Jesus rose from death, back to life, it meant he truly was the Messiah…is the Messiah.  It meant that everything Jesus had been teaching his disciples concerning his suffering, death, and new life, was real…is real.  It meant Jesus truly was God…is God.

So, like you and I probably would have as well, the women, “fled from the tomb,” in, “terror…and amazement.”

Yeah, we cannot forget about the amazement part, they were amazed too.  If this was all true, then their Lord, Jesus, was…the Messiah, he was real, he was really God.

They simply needed to believe it.

[pause]

Belief, that is what this is all really about, isn’t it?  It’s about having the faith to acknowledge that the historical Jesus, was more than a preacher, more than simply a miracle worker, more than a rebel, or a mystic, or a rabbi, it’s about believing that he was, who he said he was, Emmanuel, God with us.  Jesus came to earth, because he loves us, and so was willing to die, that in faith we might live.  That we, God’s beloved children are given the gift of life with him, forever.

Remember, Jesus taught that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that who so ever believes in him shall not die, but will have eternal life.”

In other words, believe…and live.  Live in God’s love, live for God’s love, and live to share God’s love.  Though Mark writes that the women said nothing…it was only for awhile, for if they had said nothing, if they had never shared, we would not have had the chance to believe.

So, though we may sometimes be afraid of believing, or what believing in Jesus might mean for our life, let yourself also be amazed.  Be amazed that the Master of the universe, God himself, loves you so much, that he died that you might know his love, and live in his love forever.

Most importantly for us today, is to remember, and to hold onto Jesus’ promises that he will walk with us, through our sorrows and joys, our hardships and our happiness, always surrounding us with his forgiveness, strength and love.

Being loved by Jesus is amazing!  The gift Jesus gives to you and to me, is amazing.  Only God can resurrect death from life and that is what God does for you and me, by Jesus resurrection.  We were dead in our sins, and now, by grace through faith, we are alive in God’s love.

Rejoice!  Shout, “Hallelujah!”  For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Amen.

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