Easter: Open Tombs
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Easter egg hunt yesterday. Anyone do that with the kids or grandkids. Ok so it was our first one with a kid that could walk. This is a zoo yall. I am mean I have been to these for years being in ministry but it was just yesterday that I understood the glazed over look on dad’s face. I mean this was like the scene in braveheart with kids making faces at eachother from either side of a playground or parking lot…digging their feet in, examining the battle field. and charging when the word was given.
All the while our little guy stood zombie like not interested in eggs at all.
There was a whole array of emotions at the easter egg hunt. People all over the spectrum.
I am aware that Easter morning and worship brings an array of emotions to this place as well. Honestly when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus I think there is an array of emotion. Some of us if we are honest are a little skeptical. Some are all in and freak out the others around you.
My job today is simple. It is to tell the story again. To proclaim the good news of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the the lynch pin of our faith. Without it our faith is futile according to Paul.
Let’s tell the story:
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Pray.
Let me set the scene a little so we are grasping the weight of emotion here. Things are dark for the followers of Jesus. They just witnessed the most brutal death of the one who they thought was their answer, their truth, the one they gave up everything for.
From NT Wright:
From NT Wright:
“The cross we note already had symbolic meaning throughout the Roman world, long before it had a new one for Christians. It meant: we Romans run this place, and if you get in our way we’ll obliterate you—and do it pretty nastily too. Crucifixion meant that the kingdom hadn’t come, not that it had. Crucifixion of a would-be Messiah meant that he wasn’t the Messiah, not that he was. When Jesus was crucified, every single disciple knew what it meant: we backed the wrong horse. The game is over. Whatever their expectations, and however Jesus had been trying to redefine those expectations, as far as they were concerned hope crumbled into ashes. They knew they were lucky to escape with their own lives.
As a pastor I have walked along some in the days after losing a loved one. Those are hard days. Difficult to make decisions. Difficult to process normal life things.
This is the place that we see these followers. Joseph of Arimathea, in the text just preceeding ours, begs Pilate to let him have the body so that Jesus might get a proper burial. The women on that Easter morning are going to do the burial rites. Like a mom going to the grave of a son to bring flowers and pick the weeds away from the tombstone. They are in such a glaze they have not even thought about practicality of moving the tomb stone.
Then as they turn the corner and see the tomb, amazed and a little alarmed the stone is moved aside. They are met by an angel of the Lord that proclaims the evvangelion.... the gospel good news. The first Easter proclamation.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Mark 16:
Then the women leave in a glaze similar to how they arrived, except this one is not grief it is bewilderment, fear, and doubt.
Why is the resurrection necessary to the faith? Why is this so important?
Christianity is nothing more than moral platitudes and social constructs with out Jesus, the Son of God, and his life/death/resurrection.
Thomas Aquinas
because justice required that the humbled be exalted:
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
The resurrection is about justice. Jesus was on a mission for the least, the last, and the lost. God’s mission was always about redemption and that redemption was showcased in the cross and tomb. Whereby the humble and the lowly today have the same promise: Blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor, blessed are the broken hearted.
2. because faith in his divinity is thereby kindled
For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.
Jesus is more than a man. He is more than some religious leader, some anointed one. This is the difference in Christianity and any other faith.
3. because it gives believers hope that they too will rise again
1 Cor
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?
Jesus appeared to many in his resurrected body. He becomes the hope of that first church. He is the one that Stephen looks to in that first martyred death. The one that John walks intimately with as he is exiled to an island. The one who Paul sang to in prison cells. They all knew one thing…no matter what this life might bring, death…the one thing that comes for us all....has been defeated.
And these last two mean everything to me today....
4. because by it we too may die to sin and walk in newness of life
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
This is the good news church, the resurrection means whatever tomb you find yourself in today, you can be set free.
Preach
and....
5. because only by the resurrection is God’s saving work on the cross confirmed
Friends without the resurrection, the real historical death of Jesus is simply an infamous assassination that can be talked about in the history books. The cross jewelry we wear and put on our walls are like glorified check marks on sneakers. They are trendy. Perhaps even a significant symbol. But no power. But if in fact, Jesus walked out of that grave then we know that His work on the cross has been confirmed.
So let me just preach to you for a second....
What do we do with this story today?
The resurrection means there is no obstacle to grace outside of the obstacles you create. Repeat that.
I love that the women on the way there start trying to figure out how they are going to open that tomb and get to Jesus.
Come on! How many here can relate. Except instead of Jesus tomb, it’s our tomb. And we are trying to figure out a way to open it. To get close to Jesus. To work this thing out. Or wait till the kids get to a certain age.
One of the things I have become so aware of in this job is that we all (myself included) we wait until things are too bad before we ask for help. Right, like no i can fix this marriage, or addiction, or whatever and then all of a sudden its too late.
Listen your pride is putting up an obstacle to grace.
Friends, hear this today.... WE DON’T OPEN TOMBS. But God does.
The resurrection of Jesus means you can have life…today.
2. Resurrection comes in unexpected ways.
The women go looking for something and what they find is something completely different. I am pretty sure they leave that encounter with the messenger and have no clue what just happened.
Stop waiting for the stars to align. Stop waiting for Morgan Freeman’s voice to come from heaven. Maybe God is waiting for you to take a step!
My story from a guacamole live at OTB
3. Finally, It is your ending.
Mark’s ending is all kinds of crazy. There are two versions. Did you know that? They are weird for their own reasons. I like them both and let me tell you why....
most scholars think it was not original and added later on. And that is problematic for some. I think it is ok if it was written as an addendum of like oh by the way....this is what started to happen as a result of the cliff hanger. But what really drives people crazy about this version is that it is a lot of weird stuff in it. First people start to meet the Resurrected Jesus and then all of these signs and wonders begin to take place. Demons are cast out, snakes, poison drinking, sick people getting healed, dead people coming alive.
The second version:
most scholars think it was not original and added later on. And that is problematic for some. I think it is ok if it was written as an addendum of like oh by the way....this is what started to happen as a result of the cliff hanger. But what really drives people crazy about this version is that it is a lot of weird stuff in it. First people start to meet the Resurrected Jesus and then all of these signs and wonders begin to take place. Demons are cast out, snakes, poison drinking, sick people getting healed, dead people coming alive.
I love this because when people start to meet Jesus crazy stuff starts going down. I have seen it friends. people are being healed, set free from addiction and suffering. prayers answered. Miracles.
the first version
the first version
is a cliff hanger. The women leave in fear and that’s it. No encounter with resurrected Jesus like we see in the other gospels. Even worse than a cliff hanger, it leaves it in a desperate place....with the idea that they might not doing anything with it.
Mark is begging us to respond. To leave the tomb. To flip the women’s response of doubt and fear into boldness and joy.
He is not here, the messenger proclaimed, HE IS RISEN! Thanks be to God. Amen.
As a pastor I have walked along some in the days after losing a loved one. Those are hard days. Difficult to make decisions. Difficult to process normal life things.