Sermon Notes - Redemption

Easter Sunday - REDEMPTION

Bible Passage: Jn 20:11-18

On Good Friday, we looked at the prisoners on the cross with Jesus, both in the same situation. One, with the crowd, abused God for their situation, the other saw the Son of God suffering for us.

On the Cross, God offered Grace and gave us a choice and a promise for eternity with God, in paradise.

Grace (the undeserved gift) = God giving us the blessing, forgiveness, and life we do not deserve.

Yesterday, Holy Saturday, I was struck both by the celebration of the easter feastival in the park and the good news we have to share for Easter, and today, Resurrection Sunday. But also what Saturday represents. the darkest and strangest moment in human history. When, for an entire day. Jesus himself lay dead in the ground.

During Jesus’ lifetime, countless people came to him with requests = for healing, for teaching, for forgiveness, for presence, for answers and explanations. But now that he is dead.

There is nothing whatsoever to be gained by coming to Jesus. In fact, quite the reverse: it’s risky, distressing, and pointless.

And so there is something particularly moving about the selfless devotion of Mary in today's reading.

Key idea – Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story. The bodily resurrection of Jesus demonstrated that death is not final, that sin has been defeated and that no one is beyond the reach of God.

The guy doing magic at an agricultural show, and I was picked to help

The first time...

I observed how he was doing it

The second time

§ Some found it interesting or intriguing, but some found it downright frustrating that they couldn’t work out what was happening!

§ But of course, it wasn’t ‘magic’, it was essentially ‘sleight of hand’

§ People are to focus on a certain place, but in the hand was the means to make the trick work

§ It is all, as you could say, about tricking people with ‘smoke and mirrors’

· Today, we are considering that redemption is proved true and secured by the resurrection of Jesus

o The apostle Paul believes that the physical resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian message. The Message translation puts 1 Cor 15:12-20 like this…

1 Corinthians 15:12–20 NIV

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God,

...

If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. (1 Cor 15:12-20 MSG)

· I love the lines…

o If there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors…But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries

· The resurrection of Jesus isn’t like my experience with the magician and his magic wand

o The resurrection of Jesus isn’t a good sleight of hand trick

§ It isn’t ‘smoke and mirrors’

Despited whatsome people may say, we have just heard from Paul, and now we are going to hear from an eyewitness account

· Let’s consider a little bit of information about our Bible reading and Mary Magdalene from Lynn Cohick in this final message from the Encounter series.

o “When Jesus is crucified, he dies just before sundown. And that's very significant because sundown starts Shabbat. It starts the Sabbath where no one travels. Jesus's followers. And this would include now Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus want to get Jesus's body off the cross quickly enough. And placed in a tomb. This shows their respect for Him, their honour to Him. But it is also the case that in the first century, women took on more of the role of formal mourning, and so the women, like Mary Magdalene, they wanted to do what their culture has encouraged them to do and allowed them to do, which is to be at that space where they're the body of their friend is and mourn Him. The mourning is not feeling sorry for themselves that Jesus is gone. It's an act of love and an act of honouring Jesus.”

· Today, we are going to consider 3 elements of Mary’s encounter and redemption story

Redemption is the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil

§ Redemption…in the midst of…

grief and disbelief

hearing your name spoken

being commissioned

Redemption in the midst of…grief and disbelief

o There is a phrase that we use if you have been hit in the stomach

§ You are ‘winded’

· And when you are winded, you are trying to grab oxygen, but somehow you can’t get any for a small period of time, and you are left somehow gasping for air without anything being able to go in

· Grief is so much worse than this, but in this illustration, grief is like being winded

o You are hit by something

§ It may be the death of someone, the loss of a job, or injustice at work

· And as grief hits, it is like you are trying to breathe but struggling to take the oxygen into your lungs

· Well, Mary, here is grieving

John 20:11 NIV

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb

· Imagine for a moment who she has lost

o The one whom she thought she could pin her hopes, her faith and her future on

Jesus was the one who had redeemed her from evil, from 7 demons. She had significant trauma in her life, and Jesus was her rock.

· There is nothing in this account to suggest that Mary expected Jesus’ body to be missing from the tomb when she arrived there, or that she anticipated His resurrection

o Those on the road to Emmaus said it well…

Luke 24:21 NIV

but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

o At this moment, it would seem like all of those hopes about Jesus for Mary have gone up in smoke

· Redemption can come to us in our grief

o Grief about our situations

o Grief about who we are and the sin that entangles us

o Grief about Jesus (like Mary, and later Thomas, who doubts, goes through)

§ None of that stops the risen Jesus from reaching out and calling your name

· Even in the midst of your grief, God can be working a redemptive miracle

o It may not feel like it

o And we are not even saying that God ‘wanted’ the thing to happen to you that is happening

§ But in the midst of Mary’s grief, she has a profound encounter with the risen Jesus

· And her testimony could be your testimony today

Redemption in the midst of…hearing your name spoken

o One of the great joys of parenting is hearing your child speak your name (mum or dad) for the first time

o But let me tell you a funny story about a guy who had another idea

§ This man was determined to teach their child the word ‘mum’ first

§ His thought was that if the child knew the word mum, but not dad, then when the child wakes up in the middle of the night, they could only call out for ‘mum’

o I’m not suggesting this is a great parenting strategy, although when you are in the depths of that child-rearing season with the lack of sleep, we can all probably understand it a little bit if we are honest.

I hope parents were able to take advantage of the extra hour today, as daylight saving time ended.

· Back to the passage, we read that Mary hears her name

John 20:15–16 NIV

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

· We don’t really know why Mary's hearing her name triggered her to realise that it was the risen Jesus

o Lynn Cohick says very eloquently regarding Mary hearing her name

§ “You know, when you are in deep grief and emotional turmoil, sometimes you just have this one-track mind, I've got to find the body…And so she doesn't understand who Jesus is until He says her name. However He said the name, she recognised him.”

· The resurrection of Jesus means that He can call out our name

o And He is still doing that today

§ Use some people’s names from the congregation as examples and let them ‘hang’ in the air for a moment

· Jesus is saying…John, Sue

What is your response to Jesus when you hear him call your name?

For Mary, the response is one of affection and respect for the Role Jesus plays in her life.

What would that word be for you?

Jesus calling Mary’s name reminded her that she is redeemed because of Jesus, and now he has conquered death. She is the first witness, and it is not smoke and mirrors because she was in distress, and now everything is restored in the calling of her name by the risen Lord.

3. Testimony time

· Testimony from the series

o We are going to watch one small part from the coming weeks episode about how one of the guests, Carlos Campo, had an unexpected encounter with Jesus (show Enc Ep 10 Clip 3)

§ “Yes. Self-medicated. I worked my way through too many relationships and, you know, heard a lot of people during those days. And so really, really difficult as I look back on that time. But I have such a great family and so supportive, and they did better than I did working through that period and helped me stay connected to them and in some ways to the church. And in time, I honestly kind of remember where I felt like God said to me, how long? How long will you remain in this state? How long? And that hit me hard because I thought, I want to do something for God. I want to do something that's productive. And He just said, at some point you've got to stop. You've got to turn. You've got to return to life again.”

In our shared time, I would love to hear your reflections on what Resurrection Sunday means to you.

Redemption in the midst of…being commissioned

On Thursday I had a test for my into to Theo studies

To study I shared some of that teaching with Chat n Choose

The Christian Story: A Narrative Interpretation of Basic Christian Doctrine,

Fackre identifies what he sees as three different types of narrative theology:

• Canonical stories

• Life story

• Community story

A House, the garden outside and the city that we live in.

The Redemptive story of the bible is on display through the stories we share in these spaces.

We join the story in our lives and collectively as the community. We are all commissioned into it.

· As the risen Jesus redeems and brings us into the story

o We too are ‘redeemed’ into a much different present and future than we were heading for

· And for Mary, that meant being tasked with being the first person to report the resurrection of Jesus

John 20:17–18 NIV

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

· At the beginning of the book of Acts, it says it like this

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

· Mary was the first witness

o And He hasn’t stopped calling men and women to be witnesses

· You and I are redeemed and commissioned to do the same as Mary

o To point people to the reality of Jesus

· There are lots of people throughout history who have made ‘big’ claims about themselves and who they may be or what they can accomplish

o What makes Jesus any different?

o What marks Jesus off from the rest is that none of them have risen from the dead.

§ “Sir Norman Anderson states, 'One cannot hide the resurrection in a faith box or in a presuppositional way dismiss it because there is no natural cause. The Gospel writers claim the resurrection happened in time and space, in history. Jesus ate, was touched, and physically appeared...It happened out there, or it did not, and the facts declare unequivocally that Jesus lived, died, and rose again in our material world. No soft option is possible.'”[1]

Bono from U2 also said

"Jesus isn't lettin' you off the hook. The Scriptures don't let you off the hook so easily...When people say, you know, 'Good teacher', 'Prophet', 'Really nice guy'...this is not how Jesus thought of Himself. So you're left with a challenge in that, which is either Jesus was who he said he was or a complete and utter nut case...You have to make a choice on that. And I believe that Jesus was, you know, the Son of God.

This Resurrection Sunday, are you willing to share the Hope you have in Jesus and the redemptive story you are now part of

· Time of reflection/response

§ What is at least one thing that God seemed to say to me today?

§ What will I do with what I have heard?