Sermon for April 12, 2020

Good morning everyone,,, watching by video.

What a wonderful Easter morning,,, and I say that because of what we are celebrating,,, and not even the fact that we are celebrating it apart from one another because of a virus can change that!

Before I begin with my sermon,,, as I did last Sunday,,, I wanted to begin this morning with an opening prayer and lead into the Lord's prayer like we usually begin our worship service.

Invocation and Lord's prayer

Dear Lord, I thank you for your continued presence among us today and every day. I thank you for those that are listening and watching by video. I ask for continued guidance for them and others. So we ask for healing for all of those that are sick this morning,,, we ask for safety and guidance for our healthcare workers and all others that must work during this time.

We ask these things in Jesus's name who taught us to pray, by saying:

Our Father, which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever.

Amen.

This morning I'll be reading Matthew chapter 28 verses 1 through 10.

I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

These verses show us the way the women were going to begin their day. It changes dramatically when they get to the tomb and discover that Jesus' body isn't there! Once we realize the importance of the empty tomb, it should be dramatic for us as well.

1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men. 5 But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” 8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there.”

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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On Wednesday,,, I saw a post on Facebook that someone shared comparing our time of trials to the plagues of Egypt and the thought that we might need to use this time of isolation from the distractions of the world so that possibly we could have our own personal revival and focus on the Only thing that truly matters,,, "Jesus"!

Right after that I saw a post that said, If the saying,,, "We don't Go to Church, We are the church" is true, Why do I miss going so much?

I realized when I saw those two post that they meant more to me this week since we are apart during the Easter services.

I also realized,,, like several people have made reference to,,, that after Jesus was arrested,,, crucified and buried,,, everyone was shut up somewhere,,, staying out of sight,,, confused and scared,,, and all of that is similar to our situation today.

So hopefully by the time that I finish this morning,,, I can explain why I use these two post and we can use this scripture to help us see how we can use this time to make our worship time better,,, both today,,, worshipping separately,,, and later,,, when we finally are able to worship together again!

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Verse 1 says: 1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.

I've often wondered how they thought that they would roll the stone away or even if they even thought of it before they got there.

That is never explained.

What I do know is that they loved Jesus so much that nothing was going to keep them from returning to the tomb where He had been placed.

That's the kind of relationship that we should have with Jesus,,, a relationship that will only be made stronger by any hard times that we go through.

Even by a virus that tries to come between us and Jesus this morning doesn't stand a chance because I believe that the time that we have spent apart has made us look forward to our time together in church once we are able to come back together.

Just like the two Mary's written about here in this verse,,, we have realized that we just cannot make it without Jesus in our life and praise God because of what we celebrate this morning,,, we don't have to,,, because He is with us,,, wherever we are at!

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Verses 2 & 3 say: 2 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow.

Matthew is the only gospel writer that mentions an earthquake.

All of the other gospels,,, Mark,,, Luke,,, and John,,, mention the stone but not how it is rolled away.

My Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes says that the earthquake reference could have just been a reaction to the sight of the angel because that would have been enough to terrify the guards as we see from the next verse.

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Verse 4 says: 4 The guards were so shaken from fear of him that they became like dead men.

These Roman soldiers had been sent to guard the tomb but their power and might was useless once the angel presented himself there.

Apparently they fainted from fright maybe,,, either way,,, they were not able to do anything when the angel descended from heaven.

These would have been men that would have been picked because they were trustworthy since the religious leaders were worried about the disciples stealing the body of Jesus.

If you go back and read you will see where the religious leaders remembered that Jesus said that He would rise in three days even though the disciples do not.

They go to Pilate and get permission to post guards and seal the tomb so that no-one will be able to get in.

Normally the soldiers would have been in a lot of trouble for not doing their job but the religious leaders take care of them and give them money to spread the rumor that the disciples had stolen Jesus' body while they were sleeping,,, found in .

Another point that I want to bring to our attention,,, Jesus' resurrection can bring terror to those that don't know Him,,, while at the same time,,, it can bring comfort to those that do know Him.

As we see here,,, in verse 5 we have the angel telling the women what he apparently didn't tell the soldiers.

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Verse 5 says: 5 But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

"Don't be afraid",,, that's a phrase that is used countless times by angels when they descend to earth to bring us news from heaven.

The angel had good news for the women and made sure that they understood that they had no reason to be frightened of them.

We are also told over and over in the Bible,,, "do not fear",,, but do we truly listen to that advise?

Rick Warren says in one of his sermons that we are told "fear not" 365 times in the Bible,,, one time for each day of the year.

Now,,, I haven’t counted to see if this is correct or not but,,, God knew that this would be a problem and He has tried to help us if we will just pay attention.

And here the angel is just trying to help also,,, by telling them,,, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

The angel continues with the good news in verse 6.

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Where he says: 6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. (10:28)

Even though the soldiers were afraid,,, the angel had a special message for the women.

He wanted to let them know that Jesus was no longer there,,, that He had risen,,, just like He had told them that He would do.

Jesus had told them several times that He would rise but they never fully understood.

And the best proof that they could have,,, was the empty tomb!

That's why the angel said, "Come and see the place where He lay".

I know that you've heard this before,,, but I believe that it bears repeating,,, the stone was rolled away so that they could see inside,,, not so that Jesus could get out of the tomb!

That's why the angel said, "Come and see the place where He lay".

It was very important for them to see that the tomb was empty and Jesus wasn't there.

It was also important for them to hear the words of the angel in the next verse.

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Verse 7 says: 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”

These faithful women,,, women that had stayed with Jesus even after all of the disciples had deserted Him,,, were chosen by God to take the good news back to the disciples that Jesus has risen and was going ahead of them into Galilee.

These women weren't doing these things for this honor,,, they had spent their time with Jesus simply because of their love for Him.

(12:10)

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Verse 8 says: 8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news.

The women obeyed the angel’s instructions because they hurried away from the tomb,,, intending to find the disciples and tell them the good news.

They were filled with joy over the fact of the Resurrection,,, but they were fearful because they couldn't really understand what all of this meant,,, it seemed almost to good to be true.

But then they met the resurrected Jesus!

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Verses 9 & 10 say: 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there.” (13:06)

I'm sure this was a most glorious sight.

Even though they had heard the words of the angel,,, I'm sure that the sight of Jesus really calmed their soul like nothing else could.

Jesus repeats the words of the angel,,, telling them not to be afraid,,, then He tells them to "tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see Me there.”

By Jesus using the term brother,,, He is wanting to let the disciples know that even though they abandoned Him they are still very dear to Him,,, that Jesus wasn't disappointed in them.

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What a glorious morning this turned out to be for them!

What a glorious morning it has always turned out for us as well!

These women went to the tomb with sadness in their hearts,,, but came running back with joy!

The way that they were going to begin their morning changed after they found the empty tomb.

These women were going to the tomb that morning to prepare a body,,, but instead came back with news of a resurrected body,,, and that totally changed their perspective for that day!

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We began this year looking forward to an Easter celebration in each of our churches but that changed as the virus hit our state.

We began this week possibly in a little bit of a bad mood since we knew that we couldn't meet in our churches today.

And I know that I've said it and others have said it,,, that the building isn't the church,,, we are the church,,, and that's true,,, but the coming together as a community is missing when we don't gather on Sunday.

The fellowship that we share while we praise God together is just not the same when we do it from home.

The sacrament of Communion is missing when we aren't allowed to gather together.

But I know that better days are coming in spite of our days apart,,, and they will probably be made much better now that we truly realize what they mean to us,,, now that we cannot be here together at this time.

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If you remember at the beginning,,, I mentioned a post about this time of being quarantined being similar to the plagues of Egypt and the fact that we should use this time to have our own personal revival and focus on the Only thing that truly matters, "Jesus"!

If we will spend our time concentrating on Jesus during this time of quarantine,,, and we really will have our own personal revival by doing that,,, then how much more of a celebration will we have when we are finally allowed to meet back inside our churches again.

The thought of that celebration and the joy that will bring,,, helps me to feel so much better this morning as we celebrate Easter apart because I know now that better days "are" coming,,, just like the joy that the women experienced as they left the empty tomb that first Easter morning!

(16:23)

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