Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Waking up on Easter morning, my kids are usually out of the bed by 5:30 a.m.

(We make them get back in bed until 6:30 a.m.).

But they want their easter baskets which are hidden somewhere in the house.

They have to run around looking for them.

When they find them, they look at them for a while, beg that they can eat candy for breakfast.

We let them have one piece so long as it’s not the giant bunny.

While they are looking, Amanda is getting our Easter Breakfast tradition where she tells the story of Jesus’ resurrection using a marshmallow, cinnamon/sugar and Pilsbury crescent roll down.

She calls them resurrection rolls.

Then I’m off to get ready for the service.

Easter for a pastor is the easiest regarding picking a passage to preach, but the most stressful sermon.

You all know the story.

It’s like going to the movie to watch Titanic.

You have a pretty good idea what’s going to happen.

The challenge is to preach the same story in such a way that doesn’t feel stale.

Which honestly is only a self-imposed challenge.

Because imagine thinking that the greatest event in human history; an event on which the entire work has turned could ever be STALE!!!! Whether you believe Jesus rose from the dead or not, you can’t deny the fact that people who believed that he rose from the dead then turned the world upside down.

In 1969, the world watched in awe as the USA landed men on the moon and returned them safely to earth.

People thought that event would change the world.

It didn’t.

We haven’t been back to the moon in 50 years.

Today, many people will celebrate Easter with no regard for the reason behind it.

They’ll gather as family and friends.

Some have come to church today because that’s what you do on Easter.

Some may even have decided not to go to church because they have family to get ready for.

They’ll give and receive easter baskets.

They’ll eat a honey glazed ham.

My family is having pizza, because we’re rebellious.

But whatever their Easter tradition, Jesus and the resurrection shouldn’t play a minor roll.

Maybe this year is a good time to remind ourselves of what Jesus did for us.

Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark 16:1-8.

Like I said there are 4 accounts of Jesus’ resurrection in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

While each account is slightly different depending on the emphasis of the writer, they all agree that Jesus rose from the dead while people, including His disciples, had trouble believing it.

It’s hard to believe that the first Easter was nothing special in the eyes of most people.

For the Jewish people, it was just another day.

It was the continuation of the feast of unleavened bread.

For Jesus’ disciples, it was another day of great mourning.

But it shouldn’t have been.

In fact they should have known.

Mark’s account is the shortest and shows a simple picture of how people responded or didn't respond on that first day.

Introduce:

Authentic Principle: Let your Easter Celebration be centered on Jesus.

Read: Mark 16:1-8

Authentic Principle: Let your Easter Celebration be centered on Jesus.

1. Don’t think like a man.

(Mark 16:1-4)

Explanation: The first Easter was centered on Jesus, but not in a good way.

It was centered on His death and the mourning that resulted from it.

And it shows how often we miss things because we are thinking about them in the wrong way.

It started with the women, led by Mary Magdalene, who were going to finish preparing the body of Jesus for burial since their process was rushed on account of the sabbath starting at sundown on the day of His death.

(Interestingly, crucified bodies weren’t typically buried.

They were left for the birds.)

But in this case, Joseph of Arimatheo had already asked for Jesus’ body to burial Him.

And the women saw where he was laid so they could come finish the job later.

When they arrived at the tomb on that Sunday morning, they fully expected to finish giving Jesus a proper burial.

You might ask, why did they wait until the sun came up.

Well the Sabbath went from Sun down to sun up.

They couldn’t get there until after the sun came up.

Additionally, this lines up with the prophecy that Jesus would be in the tomb 3 days and and 3 nights.

It’s interesting that the only words recorded by women was asking the question, “who will roll away the stone.”

Now I do not think this is an issue of men verses women.

But it does beg a question, “Where are the men?” Honestly I think that’s what Mark is getting at.

Still what those women expected when they arrived at the tomb were based on their human thinking.

From a human perspective, the story was over.

Jesus was dead, in that tomb.

The only thing they could think about was trying to honor Him in the best way they knew how.

If only they knew this was just the beginning.

Illustration: You ever notice how infrequently we mistake bad situations for good.

You’re boss wants to meet with you in his/her office.

Do you immediately jump to good or bad?

By the way, you’re getting a promotion with a raise and a corner office.

But you will wait in fear that you are getting fired.

Why is it that we always assume the worst?

Because we’ve been burned too many times and many of us have ceased believing that things just work out.

Because too often they don’t work out.

We’ve been tricked too many times.

We’ve had our hope slip through our fingertips too many times.

Let’s just say that life is not always kind.

That’s one of the reasons why Jesus said that we are to come like children before him.

Experience steals our expectation for wonder.

Application: A man-centered Easters starts in our mind, by trying to think rationally about everything.

We have a way of looking at everything through a lens of what we think of a possible.

We even tend to limit God because we don’t expect a lot.

We don’t expect the miraculous.

But with God, all things are possible.

Still, even after all that Jesus had done and said, no one expected Jesus to raise from the dead because it was only .

They should have.

Because told them many times.

Mark records 3 pretty clear examples.

Mark 8:31–33 (ESV)

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

32 And he said this plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan!

For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

You see, Jesus told them that he would be raised from the dead.

But they didn’t get it because they were thinking like people.

They needed a different perspective.

And so do we.

We need a heavenly perspective.

And we only get that when we....