Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Easter Sunday - 03/27/16 Sermon - “Now it's official!"

Sunday 03/27/16 Easter Sunday –

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Now it’s official!”

                            

Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Gospel Lesson: John 20:1-18

          Friends, brothers and sisters, He is risen! He has risen indeed! I want to welcome you all again on this Easter or Resurrection Sunday. While every Sunday or anytime that we gather to worship is important, Easter Sunday is argued by many to be the biggest holiday in the Christian Calendar. For on this day, we celebrate Jesus Christ conquering the power of death itself. For on this day, we say “that the grave could not hold the king!”

          The historic Christian Church has long believed that on the day of the resurrection, that first Easter, that Jesus Christ did physically get up and walk out of the grave. That he conquered and overcame death. That in doing so, he showed and shows us still, that he truly is the Messiah, the savior of the world.

          This means that on the Holy/Maundy Thursday that we had a few days ago, that when Jesus Christ gave us the sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, at the Last Supper, that it meant and still means something. It means that this sacrament that Jesus gave us is in fact powerful and real, as he has risen. The gift from Thursday of the washing the feet, and the new commandment or the “Maundy,” to love each other, as Christ has loved us matters, because Jesus has risen.

          Most of all, the brutal torture, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ that occurred on Good Friday matters, as his death was not in vain. For if Christ truly died on Good Friday, just a few days ago, and if he truly died for the sins of humanity, we know that this matters, because he is risen.

          In all of these ways, “Now it’s official!” Now we can say without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and is the risen Lord. For since he has conquered death, then this is the proof of who he is; That his ministry on earth mattered, that his miracles mattered, that his teachings mattered, and this his death on a cross for the sins of humanity, took away the sins of the world.

          This is why Easter or Resurrection Sunday matters. With Jesus rising from the dead, it shows us that he is truly and will always be the savior of the world, and the Lord of the Universe. That Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human on earth. After today, he will appear to the disciples and others for forty-days, and then he will ascend to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father forever.

          With all of this being said, and I believe being true, what does it mean for us today on this Easter Sunday? I mean there have been many Easter Sundays, since that first Easter Sunday. Hundreds and hundreds of them to be exact. Does this mean that we simply gather every year to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection, so that we can be forgiven of sins? So that in Jesus and through him, we can one day go to heaven?

          Well sure it means that, but there is so much more to the resurrection story, than simply the fact that our sins are truly forgiven, and that one day we will go to a heaven. Some of us might be saying on this Easter Sunday, “But Pastor Paul, we hear this story every year, yet our lives haven’t improved much. We are still suffering, and while we get that we are forgiven if we ask to be forgiven, but what about today, what about the here and the now?”

          You see, while I believe that Jesus did truly and bodily walk out the grave today, and that in him and through him we can have salvation, what about today? I mean if we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ today, and if we ask him to forgive us of our sins today, it will be a powerful moment for us indeed. We will feel love like we have never felt before, and we will know even more the great love of our God. Yet will our lives then become perfect? No, they won’t.

          How then do we connect the Easter or Resurrection story with our daily lives, in the here and the now? Well one way of looking at it, is that maybe some of us are dead. Maybe some us are dead in that tomb that was shut on Good Friday, and didn’t open until this morning. Sure some of us are here bodily, we are breathing, but maybe, just maybe, some of us are dead. Maybe we are broken inside, and maybe our hearts our crushed. You see, the resurrection is so much more than just salvation, than just proof that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the savior. The Easter story, the resurrection is a call for us all, through the power of God, through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to be spiritually resurrected.

          The resurrection of Jesus Christ then is more than just the final needed proof of who he was, it is more than just salvation, it is a call for us to be changed in the here and the now. This is why we tell the story year after year. For some of us here today, perhaps we are in that tomb with Jesus, but this morning God calls us to spiritual resurrection. God call us to new birth, new love, and new life. The resurrection of Christ, is a call for us all to be changed, to be resurrected from the inside out, and when this happens my brothers and sisters, God uses us to change the world. We need resurrection, and for some us, we need it now! We need to be raised up, as Christ was raised up. We need hope, we need love, and we need it now!

          It’s interesting to know that on the day of crucifixion that all of Jesus’s disciples, except for the beloved disciple, who we think was John, abandoned Jesus. Judas Iscariot sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver, and then hung himself in shame. Peter denied him three times, and the rest, except for the beloved disciple, scattered.

          Now imagine for a moment how broken all of these men and the women. All of them were in tears. Judas Iscariot even committed suicide. Ten of the eleven disciples took off and fled. I can imagine they were in tears, and were just emotional and spiritually broken. There savior, there Messiah, was being crucified. I can only imagine what yesterday, Holy Saturday was like for Mary Magdalene, the eleven remaining disciples, and for Jesus’s mother Mary. I can’t imagine how Mary felt, and maybe Joseph felt, if he was still alive, knowing that there son had been killed. Imagine how they felt yesterday on Holy Saturday.  Maybe the Apostle Peter, the rock, looked at his brother Andrew yesterday and said, “it’s all over bro, let’s just go back to galilee and become fisherman again.” Perhaps other disciples said similar things. They had given up hope.

          Then we have this morning, Easter or resurrection morning. Everyone is broken, they have lost hope, they are crushed, and they need resurrection. I wonder how many of us feel this way today. Maybe we have huge student loan debt, maybe we have huge personal debt, maybe we have illnesses, family or marital problems, issues at work, loneliness, exhaustion, or worry. Maybe we need resurrection today.

          In looking at the gospel of John reading from this morning, it says speaking of Easter Sunday, “Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that stone had been taken away from the tomb” (Jn. 20:1, CEB). So the first witness to resurrection was not the apostles, but Mary Magdalene. Mary was the first witness to the resurrection. The gospel then says of Mary Magdalene, “She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him” (Jn. 20:2, CEB). This is when hear of the excitement of resurrection. The next few verses say, “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 clothes lying there” (Jn. 20:3-6, CEB).

          So do we have a confirmed resurrection yet? Let’s see. The gospel then says, “He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t with the other clothes but was folded up in own place. Then the other disciple, the one who arrived at the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed” (Jn. 20:7-8, CEB).

          A little later in this scripture it says, “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?” (Jn. 20:11-13a, CEB). After this the gospel says, “She replied, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him. As soon as she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus” (Jn. 20:13b-14, CEB).

          The gospel then says, “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” (Jn. 20:15, CEB).

          Just then, “Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She tuned 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 them, “I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn. 20:15-17, CEB).

          This gospel reading then ends with, “Mary Magdalene left and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord.” Then she told them what he said to her” (Jn. 20:18, CEB).

          Now remember how everyone probably felt on Good Friday, and yesterday, Holy Saturday. Then this morning, we have good news. We have a resurrection. I wonder what the feelings where when Mary Magdalene came announced that Jesus had risen? Perhaps Peter and Andrew felt like they could actually continuing preaching the gospel and following Jesus? Perhaps the other disciples and early followers of Jesus Christ actually had hope for the future?

          You see my brothers and sisters, this is what the resurrection is all about. It is the reality that death does not get the final word in our lives, but that God gets the final word. In a world full of injustice, poverty, violence, and hatred, they do not get the final word, but God gets the final words. When ISIS attacks our brothers and sisters in Brussels, ISIS does not get the final word, but God gets the final word.

          For we my friends, are children of the resurrection. We are a people of new hope, and our hope is in Jesus Christ. Our hope is in that empty tomb. For in him and through him, we believe that together as the church, that we can do all things through him who strengthens us. This is why so many churches worship on Sunday mornings, for this is the day of resurrection. Every Sunday then is a mini-Easter, as we are children of the resurrection! We are Easter people!

          As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe in the world to come, the heaven to come, but we also need resurrection here and now. We need resurrection today. For we live in a world that is more hurting and broken than ever, but through the awesome power of God, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, we can have resurrection here and now.

          Some might say, “Well Pastor Paul, what is the significance of the empty tomb of Jesus Christ?” My answer is, the significance is that God wins, and that darkness, that evil, that corruption, that terrorism, and that violence loses. It means that as followers of Jesus Christ will live on this side of the resurrection, and that through Jesus Christ and his church there is nothing we can’t do. That together we can “shake the gates of hell.” That together we end Malaria in Africa. We can feed the poor, and cloth the naked. We are God’s children, and together, through God’s power we can do all things.

          So my sisters and brothers, are you in need of your own resurrection today? Do you know how much Jesus Christ loves you? Nearly two-thousand years after this story occurred, we are still here. We are still here proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Good News of his resurrection, and the Goods News of his gospel.

We, who are here, are the heirs of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This means that you are all his heirs. You are royalty, for you are princes, and princesses, for you Lord is a king! This is why you are all welcomed at this church not only today, but always, as we continue to live out our Christian faith, and as we on this day, and all days, we seek resurrection through our Lord Jesus Christ. So I say again, He is risen! He is risen indeed! Happy Easter, and amen.