Sermon Tone Analysis

The Day That Changed The World

Let me ask you a question.

What do you think of when you think of Easter?

Well, pastel colors, Easter egg hunts, the Easter bunny, of course, cute little chicks.

I remember when I was a kid, you could actually buy for Easter little bunnies and little chicks, which doesn't seem like a great idea about three months later, when your house is overrun with rabbits and full-grown chickens.

But a lot of people don't even know what Easter is all about.

I remember as a little boy going to my mother and actually asking her, "Mom, what is the meaning of Easter"?

And her answer was, "I don't know".

She knew.

She was raised in the church.

She had been running from the Lord for years and I think went out of her way to try to keep me from knowing anything about God or the Bible, and then I ended up becoming a Christian and becoming a preacher.

So, a lot of people don't know the meaning of Easter.

I heard a story about a Sunday school teacher that was talking to her class on Palm Sunday.

She said, "Okay, kids, does anybody know what the meaning of this day is"?

A little girl raised her hand and the teacher called on her.

And the little girl said, "Today is Palm Sunday".

And the teacher said, "Right, what is the meaning of it"?

The little girl said, "That is the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of the donkey and they lay palm branches before his feet and cried out 'Hosanna.'"

The teacher was very impressed.

She said, "That is exactly right.

Now," she said to the class, "can anyone tell me what next Sunday is"?

Same little girl raised her hand.

The teacher called on her, "Yes, what's next Sunday"?

"That's Easter Sunday," the little girl said.

And the teacher said, "And what is the meaning of Easter Sunday"?

The little girl said, "That is the day that Jesus rose again from the dead".

And before the teacher could congratulate her, the girl continued on and said, "But if he sees his shadow, he has to go back underground for seven more weeks".

I think she got it confused with Groundhog Day.

Yeah, we get a little confused, but let me just say this in case you don't know.

Easter is a day where we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

And now I wanna talk to you about that day that changed the world, the day that Jesus rose again from the dead.

They took Jesus down from the cross of Calvary and there was a man named Joseph of Arimathea that came to take the body of Jesus and place it in his tomb.

Joseph was a wealthy man and he had a large tomb available for Christ.

I've been to Israel many times and I've been to what is called the Garden Tomb.

Many believe this could be the very tomb that Jesus was laid in after his Crucifixion.

If it's not the actual tomb, it's a first century tomb so you get a sense of what it would look like.

But when you step into this tomb, there's a bed, if you will, carved out of the rock.

Jesus was tightly bound with bandages in almost like a mummy-like shape, laid there, and they put Roman soldiers on guard.

That's interesting to me because Jesus said he would rise again and what did the disciples do?

They go into hiding.

They're devastated.

What do the Romans do?

They said, "Put extra guards on the tomb because the deceiver," their words, "said he would rise again from the dead".

And they said, "Maybe the disciples will try to come and steal the body".

That wasn't the real concern.

They thought, "He might rise again from the dead and we need to stop it from happening".

You can't stop God from fulfilling his promises.

Three days later, exactly as Jesus said, he rose again from the dead.

The stone was rolled away from the opening and he was not there.

The disciples came to anoint his body.

Mary and some of the other ladies, and they found the tomb empty, and the angel said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is risen as he said he would rise.

Go to Galilee and he'll meet you there".

And they were filled with great joy, hearing that amazing news.

On the way from the tomb, we read in Matthew 28 these words: "As they went to tell the disciples, Jesus met them, saying, 'Rejoice.'

And they came and held him by his feet and they worshiped him".

This is really interesting.

This phrase "met them," it's used here in Matthew, it could be translated that it was a common greeting.

Let me try to explain.

They're seeing the risen Lord.

They're overcome with emotion and joy and happiness, and Jesus just greets them, almost like, "Hey".

You know, you would think Jesus would say, "Ta-dah"!

No, it's sort of like, "Hey, how you doing"?

You know in different parts of the country we greet each other in different ways.

If you're from the south you go, "Hey, how y'all doing"?

If you're from Australia, you might say, "Good day, good day, mate".

If you're from Hawai'i you might say, "How's it?

Aloha" And if you're from New York you say, "What are you look at me"? Right?

But it was a casual greeting which I find very interesting.

Jesus said, "Yeah, I fulfilled the prophecy.

Here I am.

Greetings to you," and they were so excited to see the risen Lord again.

Now, Mary stays at the tomb.

She has nowhere to go.

She still has not seen the risen Lord.

Remember, this is Mary Magdalene.

He cast seven demons out of this woman.

We can't even imagine how tormented her life was to be possessed by seven demons.

But she loved Jesus.

Everything that she'd experienced happened because of Jesus.

She followed him, she supported him financially.

But he was gone.

And then we pick up this beautiful account of what happened early Easter morning in the Gospel of John chapter 20 and I'm reading:

"Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.

And saw two angels sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

They said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?'

She said, 'Because they've taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they've laid him.'

And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking?' She, thinking he was the gardener, said, 'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away.'

And Jesus says, 'Mary!'"

Oh, she recognized the intonation of his voice, the familiar way he spoke her name, "Mary".

She's so excited, she cries out, "Rabboni"!

which means Teacher.

"Jesus turned to her and said, 'Don't cling to me, for I have not ascended yet to my Father and your Father; but I will ascend to my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God,'" wow.

Her persistence paid off, didn't i?

There she was meeting the risen Lord.

He says, "Don't cling to me," I find that interesting.

Because earlier we read the disciples took hold of him, and worshiped him, he didn't say to them, "Don't cling to me".

But to Mary he says, "Don't cling to me".