Easter
Sunday 4/1/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Seeing is believing!”
(“The Power of the Resurrection” Series – Part 5 of
5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Gospel Lesson:
John 20:1-18
He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! My friends, my sisters and
brothers in Christ, welcome once again on this our Easter Sunday. For on this day,
death, evil, injustice, oppression, and sin have officially been conquered, as
Jesus is alive.
For
the past four weeks I have been talking about “The Power of the Resurrection”
of Jesus Christ. Not only do I believe that Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion,
and resurrection were real historical events, but I believe that they are also
powerful events. Sometimes an event can occur that radically changes the world
forever. Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection have and will
continue to change the world forever. Millions and millions have been changed and
will continue to be changed.
The idea of the resurrection, is that holiness wins, that goodness
wins, that love wins, that truth wins, that kindness wins, and that hope wins.
I don’t know about you, but I need resurrection power. So we have the
historical events, and then we have the psychological, emotional, and spiritual
power that are connected to them. To put it another way, the power of faith and
the power of belief can inspire us and move us to do amazing things in the
world. We can be changed, and thus God can use us to change the world. My faith
in the Risen Christ inspires me, motivates me, and causes to me to want make a
difference for God in the world every day.
In this sermon series that I am completing this morning on
“The Power of the Resurrection” of Jesus Christ, I have discussed that Jesus
personally “proclaimed his own resurrection” in all four of the Gospels.
Basically, Jesus said in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that he
would be betrayed, tried, killed, and resurrected. Due to this, I believe that
we can trust the historical realities of these events, and there power.
I discussed the conversion of the Apostle Paul, and how his
faith in Christ transformed him, and the world. I discussed that how for
hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, that his life, death, and
resurrection were foretold in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Last
Sunday, I got more specific into some of the prophecies about the coming of
Christ, his life, his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
This morning I am finishing this sermon series with the
sermon “Seeing in believing!”
With all of this said, has anyone here ever seen something
that seemed too good to be true? Or have you ever seen something that stopped
you in your tracks and you had to do what I like to call a “double take”. I
have seen television shows where people have claimed to see the Lockness
Monster, Big Foot, the Sasquatch, or a UFO. Can we trust our eyes? Do we always
see the reality of what we are looking at? Or are we imaging things sometimes?
Can we trust what we see, or to put it another way, is
“Seeing believing”? There have been a couple of times in this church for
example, were myself and others have looked up and have seen something on the
walls and or the sealing. It was dark colored, and sometimes we thought that it
was a bat! We all love bats right? It usually wasn’t a bat though, it was just
a black spot somewhere or something else.
This brings me to our gospel of John reading for this
morning. In this gospel reading we have one of the resurrection accounts. To
give a little background to this gospel account, as many of us know, this pass
Friday on Good Friday, Jesus was taken off the cross after he died. He was then
placed in the tomb of a rich man, named Joseph of Arimathea. The tomb was
sealed, guarded, and Jesus was dead. This morning though, the stone is rolled
away, and the tomb is empty. Let’s look at this morning’s gospel reading once
again. This is what it says:
“Early on the first day of the
week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the
stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and
the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have
taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other
disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but
the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to
look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then
Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen
wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying
with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple,
who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as
yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the
tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw
two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the
head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they
have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the
gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where
you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She
turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to
the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father
and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to
the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these
things to her”
(Jn.
20:1-18, NRSV).
So what happened on this day, on that first Easter? Did
Jesus Christ truly rise from the dead? Or did the disciples just imagine it?
Did they make it up? Did they get rid of Jesus’ body and make it look like a
resurrection? Based upon the gospels, multiple sightings of Jesus today, Easter
Morning, and after, and host of other reasons, I believe that Jesus Christ
truly rose from the dead. To put it more directly, I believe that on this day
Jesus Christ physically got up, was alive, and walked out of the tomb, taking
with him, his is body, his soul, and his divinity. This means that I believe that
Jesus is alive and well!
This is why the Christian Church for centuries has
proclaimed on this day, that Christ Is Risen! Christ Is Risen Indeed! So either
the risen Christ was seen, touched, and viewed, or he wasn’t. I believe that he
was.
Within this, the power of this is transformative. I can
imagine for example, what the mood was like on Friday and Saturday for the
disciples and the Marys. Imagine what it was like the moment they saw and truly
believe that their Lord and master was alive? Imagine the hope that we can draw
from the belief that not only is Jesus alive, but that he is alive in us. Further
if he overcame evil, sin, and death, then what he can do through us? We can be
the church, feed the poor, clothe the naked, and transform the world!
As Christians we have been described by many as Easter
people, or people of resurrection. As Christians we are people of faith and
hope, and we believe that anything is possible with God. We believe that God
can use us to do anything, because as the song says, “An empty grave is there
to prove my savior lives!”
Maybe you have come here this morning without hope, or
maybe hope filled. Wherever you are at this morning, the reality is this: for
nearly 2,000 years, people from all across this world have been draw to the hope
and the power contained in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This day
symbolizes therefore, that goodness has overcome, that love wins, that mercy
wins, that truth wins, and that hope wins. If this is true, which I believe it
is, then we are to believe that when it is all said and done that God will have
the final word in our lives and in this world. This is hope that we can all tap
into, hope that we can all seek, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, that
we can all live into.
So I believe that Jesus rose this day. I have a friend who is
a retired United Methodist Church pastor, and he always used to say on Easter
Sunday, “show me the bones of Jesus Christ, and I will be worshipping at the
Jewish Synagogue next Saturday night”. He made this joke because no one has
ever found the bones of Jesus Christ, because He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!
My sisters and brothers, we live in a hurting and a broken
world, and Jesus Christ and his gospel, show us that a different way is
possible. Jesus’ death and resurrection offers us forgiveness, hope, and the
belief that we can do great things. This is why Easter is so important to
Christians, and this why the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best and only hope
for this world.
I pray that on this Easter, and in this Season of Easter,
that you will find a new movement of the Holy Spirit in your life. I pray that
the power of Jesus and His resurrection will fill you anew. I pray that you
will be empowered to live out our faith in the world in new and powerful ways.
We are people of resurrection, faith, and hope. May you live this out on this
day of resurrection and always! Happy Easter and Amen.
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