Easter
Sunday 04/21/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “All roads lead to the cross and the empty
tomb!”
(“The road to
the cross” Series – Part 7 of 7)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Gospel Lesson:
John 20:1-18
He is Risen! He is
Risen, Indeed. Hallelujah! Welcome once again on this our Easter Sunday. This
day that Christ victoriously walked out the grave, offering us new hope, new
life, and victory!
Last Sunday, Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem riding
a donkey on Palm or Passion Sunday. A few days ago, we celebrated Maundy or
Holy Thursday, as Christ had his Last Supper with his disciples. At this
supper, this Jewish Passover Seder dinner, Jesus gave us the gift of Holy Communion
or the Lord’s Supper, the example of foot washing, and the “Maundy,” the “Mandate,”
the commandment, to love each other as Jesus loves us.
Two days ago, we gathered in prayer and worship on “Good
Friday,” as we remembered, as we were humbled, and as we were appreciative that
Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins.
After two days of being separated from Jesus Christ, from Friday
afternoon at 3:00 pm through this morning, things have changed this morning!
In
our gospel of John reading for this morning it says once again in 20:1:
“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” (Jn. 20:1, NRSV).
After seeing this, the gospel then says
of Mary Magdalene:
“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. 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” (Jn. 20:2-10, NRSV).
While this is only one of the four
gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all four of our gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, speak of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This
resurrection of course, happened this day, nearly two-thousand years ago. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ happened on a Sunday.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters however,
have their Holy Day of the week from sun down on Friday, to sun down on
Saturday. Yet, most Christians tend to have their holy and worship day on Sunday.
Why is this?
Well, as I just said, our day of the
week that we most often gather to worship, gather to pray, is on Sunday, because
this is the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. On this day, Jesus
overcame the snares and the trials of this world, proving to us who he is, and proving
the great power of God. Jesus is not dead, he is alive. There is no grave that
contains Jesus’ bones, or the earthly remains of Jesus Christ, as they are not
here, for he is risen! As a dear family friend of ours, a retired pastor, the
Rev. Robert Pinto has famously said, “If you find you can find me the bones of
Jesus Christ, I will be worshiping in the Jewish Synagogue next Saturday”.
Jesus is risen!
In viewing the resurrection of Christ
as a historical event though, one might ask me, “So you believe that Jesus came
back from the dead, what’s the big deal?” Today isn’t significant, as I said, just
because Jesus was physically resurrected, mind, body, and divinity this day, but
today is significant in showing us the nature of God, the love God, and our eternal
future with God.
Today shows us the reality that God
wins, that love wins, that hope wins, that life wins, and that light wins.
Darkness, evil, hatred, anger, all of these things in the end will be extinguished
through the great love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Or to put another
way, “an empty grave is there to prove my savior lives!”
For nearly 2,000 years, billions of
the people the world over have drawn spiritual strength from the life, the teachings,
the death, and today, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is this? For me,
and many of us, where can we seek help when we are struggling and are broken?
Who understands us and our realities? Who understands our suffering? Who loves
us unconditionally, even to the point of death on a cross? Jesus Christ, is the
ultimate expression of God’s love, grace, and mercy on this earth. His
resurrection proves that God’s love is truly among us, and that the love of God
gets the final word. We can have confidence on this day, this Easter Sunday, and
every day, that we have victory and hope in the great name of Jesus Christ. We
have eternal inheritance promised to us, if we just believe in Jesus. For the
claim of the Christian gospel for nearly two-thousand years the world over, is
best captured in the gospel of John 3:16 that says:
“For God so loved the world that he
gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may
have eternal life”
(Jn. 3:16, NRSV).
The Christian faith
teaches us that the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, came
amongst us, lived with us, healed, loved, died for us, and today rose to new
life. We are the only major religion that claims that our founder Jesus Christ,
is not buried in a cemetery or a mausoleum somewhere, instead he is alive and
well! He is alive literally, spiritually, and He is alive in us! Through
Christ, our living savior, all things are possible. Today is a day of victory,
of celebration. Today in NFL terms is the Super Bowl of the Christian Church.
This is our big finale, baring the second coming of Christ to earth.
Through this entire
Lenten Season I have been preaching a sermon series called, “The road to the cross”.
In this series, I have been trying to connect our lives to the human part of
Jesus. Jesus was fully God and fully human on earth, but in his humanness, how
can we relate to this savior whom we claim was resurrected from the dead on
this day?
Even though I could preach
for weeks about all of the ways in which Jesus’ humanity can connect to our humanity,
I identified six examples in this sermon series of Jesus’ humanity leading up
to today, this Easter Sunday.
Here is a quick review of
the last six sermons I preached regarding some of the human realties that Jesus
endured, like we do:
1. Jesus was “Tempted and Tried”. Jesus was not only “Tempted and Tried”
by the devil in the wilderness for 40-days, he was “Tempted and Tried” all the
time. People tried to manipulate and stifle him. If we have ever been “Tempted
and Tried” in our lives, then Jesus gets us.
2. Jesus was “Persecuted,” as people wanted to kill
him, wanted to harm him, and people hated him. How many of us have ever felt
mistreated or persecuted? Jesus gets us.
3. Jesus “came for the sins of all”. So loved us all,
he came for us all. He became like one of us, and died for us. If we feel
unworthy at times, Jesus makes us worthy. In his humanness he gets us.
4. Jesus was “Questioned and Challenged” wherever he
went. People tried to confuse him, they tried to trick him, they tried to embarrass
him, and they challenged his authority. If you have ever felt like this or if
you have been treated any of these ways, well then Jesus gets you.
5. Jesus performed “Many Miracles” in his ministry, as
seen in all four gospels. Jesus performed so many miracles in fact, that we
don’t even know all of them, as they all weren’t recorded. Jesus performed many
of his miracles so that we would have faith, but he also truly had compassion
for those who were suffering. If you seek to alleviate suffering, if you want
to help people when they are sick, if you like to help the oppressed, the down
trodden, and the hurting, then you are beginning to see the world through the loving
eyes of Jesus Christ. To see a broken and a hurting world and wanting to heal
it, is to understand Christ and to try to be more like Christ.
6. Jesus fulfilled many
prophecies from the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Many of these prophecies
from a human stand point were demeaning and not glorious. The fulfillment
of many of these prophecies about the life and death of Jesus were ones that
were not glamorous. Being whipped or “stripped” as the prophet Isaiah
prophesized, is not glamorous, for example. Riding in on a donkey on Palm
Sunday, being crucified. These are not glorious and glamorous things, and if we
have felt less than glorious, well then Jesus gets us, and he loves us.
Today, as is listed in our Easter Sunday bulletin for this
morning, my sermon is called, “All roads lead to the cross and the empty tomb!”
I have heard some people say things to me in my life like, “Pastor Paul, I
believe in God and I am good person, isn’t that enough?” The Christian faith
does not say that anyone else can’t talk to God or connect with God. The claim
we have made for nearly two-thousand years is this, how do we reconcile our
broken sinful nature to a perfect and loving God?
Maybe if we give more, do more, volunteer more, treat
people nicer, or become more generous? These things will certainly save us, and
please God won’t they? Our claim as Christians is not that someone cannot have
knowledge of God, our claim is this, is that only through the life, the death,
and the resurrection of Jesus Christ can we be forgiven, restored, and reconciled
to God. There is nothing we can do to earn the grace that God so freely gives
through the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. We have made the claim as
Christians that for nearly two-thousand years, we can be forgiven, we can be restored,
we can be cleansed of our sins, we can be made new, and one day be given
eternity. All this is a free gift from God through his son Jesus Christ.
To better emphasize the significance of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ and Easter Sunday, I want to tell you a story called “Philip’s
Egg,” by an unknown author. This is an Easter story. He is the story:
“Philip was born
with Downs Syndrome. He was a pleasant child, happy it seemed, but increasingly
aware of the difference between himself and other children. Philip went to
Sunday School faithfully every week. He was in the third grade class with nine
other eight-year olds”.
“You know
eight-year olds. And Philip, with his differences, was not readily accepted.
But his teacher was sensitive to Philip and he helped this group of eight-year
olds to love each other as best they could, under the circumstances. They
learned, they laughed, they played together. And they really cared about one
another, even though eight-year olds don’t say they care about one another out
loud”.
“But don’t
forget. There was an exception to all this. Philip was not really a part of the
group. Philip did not choose, nor did he want to be different. He just was. And
that was the way things were. His teacher had a marvelous idea for his class
the Sunday after Easter. You know those things that pantyhose come in . . . the
containers that look like great big eggs? The teacher collected ten of them.
The children loved it when he brought them into the room and gave one to each
child. It was a beautiful spring day, and the assignment was for each child to
go outside, find the symbol for new life, put it into the egg, and bring it
back to the classroom They would then open and share their new life symbols and
surprises, one by one”.
“It was
glorious. It was confusing. It was wild. They ran all around the church
grounds, gathering their symbols, and returned to the classroom.
They
put all the eggs on a table, and then the teacher began to open them. All the
children gathered around the table. He opened one and there was a flower, and
they ooh-ed and aah-ed. He opened another and there was a little butterfly.
“Beautiful!” the girls all said, since it is hard for eight-year old boys to
say ‘beautiful.’ He opened another and there was a rock. And as third-graders
will, some laughed, and some said, “That’s crazy! How’s a rock supposed to be
like new life?” But the smart little boy who’d put it in there spoke up:
“That’s mine. And I knew all of you would get flowers and buds and leaves and
butterflies and stuff like that. So I got a rock because I wanted to be
different. And for me, that’s new life.” They all laughed”.
“The teacher said something about the wisdom of
eight-year olds and opened the next one. There was nothing inside. The
children, as eight-year olds will, said, “That’s not fair. That’s stupid!
Somebody didn’t do it right.”
Then
the teacher felt a tug on his shirt, and he looked down. “It’s mine, Philip
said. It’s mine.” And the children said, “You don’t ever do things right,
Philip. There’s nothing there!” “I did so do it right!” Philip said. “I did do
it right. The tomb is empty!”
“There was
silence, a very full silence. And for you people who don’t believe in miracles,
I want to tell you that one happened that day. From that time on, it was
different. Philip suddenly became a part of that group of eight-year old
children. They took him in. He was set free from the tomb of his differentness”.
“Philip died
last summer. His family had known since the time he was born that he wouldn’t
live out a full life span. Many other things were wrong with his little body.
And so, late last July, with an infection that most normal children could have
quickly shrugged off, Philip died”.
“At his memorial
service, nine eight-year old children marched up to the altar, not with flowers
to cover over the stark reality of death . . . but nine eight-year olds, along
with their Sunday School teacher, marched right up to that altar, and laid on
it an empty egg . . . an empty, old, discarded pantyhose egg. And the tomb is
empty!”
My brothers and
sisters, my friends, “All roads lead to the cross and the empty tomb!” Jesus
came to this earth to love, to heal, to forgive, to die for us, and this day to
be raised to new life. May the power if his resurrection and love live in your
hearts this day and always. May you live a life love, victory, and resurrection.
Hallelujah! Happy Easter and amen!
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