Betwixt and Between

Luke 24:1–6 “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen...”

I wonder how many sunrise services have been held since Jesus’ resurrection?

I wonder if the disciples held a sunrise vigil every year.

They would have known the exact location of the tomb.

They could have gone there every year for the next 40 years or so.

It is interesting to me how the Lord has managed Jesus’ memory for us.

Very shortly after Pentecost - I didn’t research the timeline but it couldn’t have been but a few years.

Stephen gets stoned to death.

Acts 8:1–3 “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

They were all scattered except the apostles.

It was literally a “run for your life” scenario.

But some brave, intrepid souls remained behind.

Maybe they went to the tomb at sunrise on resurrection day.

But even that couldn’t last.

In AD 70, the Romans sacked Jerusalem.

They destroyed the temple.

They killed a ghastly amount of people.

They laid waste to the entire area - the Jews had poked the bear one too many times.

At that point, persecution, war and simply the natural progression of time removed all of the eye witnesses.

The location of the tomb was lost.

In the 300’s ad, Emperor Constantine of Rome became a Christian.

He sent his mother to Jerusalem to find the spot where Jesus was crucified and buried.

When she said, X marks the spot

They immediately built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre right there.

But was she right?

It had been 300 years.

Who really knew?

But that’s the point.

The Lord didn’t want us to have a place to go.

He didn’t want people to own splinters of the cross they could venerate.

He knew if there was a Shroud of Turin that people would worship it.

And claim it had miraculous powers.

Just like people do.

And the Lord didn’t want that.

The Lord wants us to be living betwixt and between.

Are you old enough to remember your elders using that phrase?

We just live betwixt and between.

It’s not then - but it’s not yet either.

Kind of, stuck in the middle - waiting for the not yet.

With nothing to hold onto except a faith that Jesus was raised to new life by the glory of God.

And a promise - and nothing more than a promise

Paul said, Romans 6:5 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

We shall certainly be.

A promise of a guarantee, but with nothing in writing.

No signature, no small print - nothing but a 2 to 4 thousand year old book written by various people at various places at various times.

All saying He did came to seek and to save the lost.

All saying that we “shall behold him.”

All saying that He will one day come in the clouds to judge the quick and the dead.

But no guarantee that we can put our hands on and say here it is.

Other than a sense of His presence we call the Holy Spirit.

And our faith.

That is by His design - and that is all we need.

Life is not easy and it’s not getting easier.

On Thursday evening, a member of FBC passed away.

He fought a battle against cancer for eight years.

Innumerable doctor’s visits

Tests, treatments, pokes, prods.

Medicines totally multiple thousands of dollars for a single month’s dose.

And pain - lots and lots of pain.

At the same time there was another tragedy happening in another family.

And on Friday morning, another tragedy happening for people on their way to Macon to work.

Life is not easy, and it’s not getting easier.

And yet - we cling to this promise tenaciously.

We are like soldiers in a war zone with our heads on a swivel

Except we aren’t looking for the enemy

We are looking for signs of Jesus.

And we see Him, we see Him all around us.

In the birth of a child

In the death of a saint

In the work of the church

In the giving of food and drink

In the welcoming of a stranger

Or a visit to the jailhouse

Of clothing someone in need

Or taking a meal to someone sick that you might barely even know.

Not because we are such great people.

But because we live betwixt and between

And while we wait for the not yet, we do what Jesus said to do.

Because we know.

Because we know.

But it is hard sometimes

With all of those around us like the Pharisees demanding a sign

We don’t have a sign to give.

We don’t have a tomb that says, “Jesus wuz here.”

We don’t have an authenticated piece of the cross with a speck of His blood.

There are no pictures of His ascension into heaven.

There is only a promise in a very, very old book.

And yet, in our heart of hearts, so deep down in our souls that it can never be moved

There is a belief - a belief that is more than a belief.

A conviction - a certainly - a confidence - an assurance

Just like Job who sat on the ash heap

And every friend he had - good people - religious people

People he loved and cared about

Harangued him about his misfortune.

“You lost everything - what did you do?”

“It must be your fault.”

“There must be sin in your life.”

“Something is wrong with you, Job.”

And all the while Job sat there while the world beat him up

Day after day

Relentlessly

He sat that and endured the bitter onslaught that the world rained down on him

Sustained under the thrashing of their blows

By one simple promise

Job 19:23–27 ““Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”

Let the world assail us.

Let friend and foe alike turn on us.

Let our bodies fail and sickness ravage us.

Still, we will stand on the promise.

Revelation 22:4–5 “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

We will see His face.

His name will be written on our foreheads.

And we will - those of us who live in a dark, dark world, we will one day echo Mary Magdalene.

Her life had been hard.

She had been possessed by seven demons.

And one day in Magdala, Jesus met Mary and set her free.

And she felt that least she could do now that He was dead was help prepare His body for burial.

And now - even that had been stolen from her.

Distraught that she couldn’t find Jesus - that someone had stolen - stolen the man who had saved her life - stolen him from her.

She heard a voice.

“Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you seeking?”

“Mary.”

Our response will be the same.

We’ll fall to our knees.

We’ll wrap our arms around his legs.

We will cry and laugh

And with Mary we will say, “I have seen the Lord.”

That’s the promise that we will not give up.

We live betwixt and between

No longer and not yet.

But the yet is coming and we shall see Him as He is.

Let us pray:

Thank you Jesus for the blood applied

Thank you Jesus, it has washed me white

Thank you Jesus, you have saved my life

Brought me from the darkness into glorious life.

Sing this prayer with me:

Glory to His name

Glory to His name

There to my heart was the blood applied.

Glory to His name.

Ephesians 3:20–21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”