Greatest Joke

John 20:1–18 CEB

Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.” Peter and the other disciple left to go to the tomb. They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb. Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. Following him, Simon Peter entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place. Then the other disciple, the one who arrived at the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. They didn’t yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying. Mary stood outside near the tomb, crying. As she cried, she bent down to look into the tomb. She saw two angels dressed in white, seated where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and one at the foot. The angels asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She replied, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” As soon as she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she replied, “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 and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, for I haven’t yet gone up to my Father. Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene left and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord.” Then she told them what he said to her.

I love a good joke, especially a good dad joke. In fact I saw one on Facebook the other day and I am going to try it here and it deals with our current situation. What is the opposite of isolate? Yousoearly. Like, I said, a dad joke. Pranks can be a fun addition to a dad jokes. I enjoy a good hearted prank where people are not injured. But, you could pull off the prank of the century in your mind but it would be nothing compared to the prank of all time. The ultimate joke has already happened. Do you want to know what it is? Alright, I’ll tell you in a minute or two, let’s get on with the sermon.

So, I want you to do something this morning during the sermon. Whenever I say Christ is Risen or He is Risen, you should respond with He is Risen Indeed. Ok, let’s practice, Christ is Risen! (response) Alright, now another one, when I say Alleluia! You should respond with Alleluia! That one is pretty simple. Let’s practice Alleluia! (response) Do we need to practice any more or are ya’ll ready? Alright let’s go! Be ready because I am going to try to catch you off guard.

So, I was reading a commentary on the Easter Story this week and the author made the point that there are three words that need to be said and heard this morning and that is Christ is Risen! (response) Because that is the point of the day, we are celebrating the Risen Savior! Alleluia! (response) We are celebrating the one that on the Thursday before dined with his disciples for the last time. Then on Friday was nailed to the cross only to rise on Sunday!

John’s account of the Easter Story is really different than the Gospel of Mark. John carries a lot of detail and information that Mark doesn’t. In John’s account, Mary Magdalene is the only one who goes to the tomb. Mark has Mary, Salome, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, all journeying to the tomb. Either way, the question I have is who was going to move the stone that blocked the tomb? In the Mark passage, the women actually ask this question and apparently none of them had thought about it before. Maybe that is part of what makes this story so great and impressive.

I mean, here is a stone, a large boulder, that was placed in front of the entrance of the tomb. It is large enough that the three ladies in Mark question how they are going to move it. That means three ladies could not move it, so it would have taken multiple, at least three if not more, men to move the stone. But, they arrive and the stone is already moved. The tomb is open. Alleluia! (response) So, to move the stone would have been an extraordinary feat. Especially considering the Roman government had posted guards because they were afraid someone would come and take the body. Which was a valid fear because there was a lot of grave looting at the time. So, how did the stone move without anyone noticing until morning? Christ is Risen! (response)

Do you think that it was humanly possible for someone to move a boulder that was used as a door for a tomb without anyone noticing? I don’t think so, but is shows a little of God’s power. Alleluia! (response) But, when the disciples enter the tomb we begin to see God’s ultimate power. It is at this point that we realize that Christ is Risen! (response) It is at this point a lot of things happen.

When the disciples realize that Christ is Risen (response), we find God doing what God does and interrupting humanities understanding of everything. See, people in Biblical times saw death as the end of everything. Death had the final say and everyone knew at some point they would die. Well, God changes this idea and says “death does not have the final say, but I do.” Alleluia! (response) I think that should be a more excited response, Alleluia! (response)

With Jesus’ resurrection there is hope for something. With Jesus’ resurrection there is something after death. With Jesus’ resurrection, God shows who holds the ultimate power. This turns the whole idea of death being finality to a temporary place of rest. All because Christ is Risen! (response) We are given hope and shown something greater.

But death isn’t the only thing that God raises us from. Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran pastor said this, “The Christian faith, while wildly misrepresented in so much of American culture, is really about death and resurrection. It’s about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves and pull us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.” What Rev. Bolz-Weber is saying is that we do things that take us away from God. You know, sin, turn our backs on God, or as Wesley would say we backslide but God continues to pull us back towards him.

God’s pulling us out of the graves we dig are resurrections within our own lives and is represented by Christ being raised. When God pulls us out of our graves we are resurrected and given a new life. This means that resurrection is not just a future event but a present event that we all have felt before. Each of us has been pulled back toward God at some point in our life. Each of us has experienced rebirth or new birth in our life. So, we have experienced the joy of resurrection in the now. But, we also get to look forward to the ultimate resurrection where death is conquered once and all and we get to stand in the presence of God for all of eternity. Alleluia! (response) Alleluia! (response)

Now, I know I mentioned April Fool’s jokes and I know some of you feel like you have pulled of the all-time best April Fool’s joke. I don’t really get into them, plus Amy hates them. I do remember one where a radio station that used to be in Atlanta claimed there was a free concert at Turner Field. They had traffic helicopters “flying” over the stadium talking about parking and traffic on surface streets. They had DJs on location. After a couple hours the calls began to come in asking where exactly was all this happening. People began to get upset until finally as the show was going off air at 10 am the DJs said April Fools.

I thought that was one of the greatest jokes of all times until someone pointed out an ever better one. If you think about it, today represents the greatest April Fool’s joke ever. Here we have the Jewish leaders and people killing the Son of God, Jesus, in order to silence him. They put him in the grave on Friday. Then three days later he was raised. In that moment, God made a joke of their plans. God said, “you thought death would stop me. Ha, I have the final say and death’s power is not as great as mine!” So, know the greatest joke ever is the one God played on those who thought that killing Jesus was a way to silence God. Which gives us the hope and joy to know that God defeated death and in that we will experience that joy of defeating death too. Christ is Risen! (response) Alleluia! (response)