April 20, 2003

Easter Sunday

Mark 16:1-8 

“Sunrise Surprise!”

      I love this part of Mark’s Gospel where the writer says the women, “went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they told nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”  Yeh, right.  I’m sure they were plenty afraid at first, but isn’t it rather obvious they didn’t keep this story to themselves?  If they had, how would the writer have found out about it?  Once these ladies got over the initial shock, they blabbed this story all over the neighborhood!  And when the disciples heard it, they did the same thing.  It’s hard to keep something like this to yourself for very long!

     What a sunrise surprise that first Easter morning was!  The two Mary’s and Salome weren’t expecting an empty tomb.  Their beloved Jesus had been crucified and they had come to anoint his decaying remains with spices to cover the odor.  And they had come to mourn the loss of their teacher and friend.  What hurts and disappointments were they carrying in their hearts as they entered the cemetery that morning?  Finding their way down the path in the faint light of dawn, what darkness still lingered in the shadows of their souls?  Their minds were so absorbed with the troubles they had seen and the sadness they felt that they weren’t very well prepared for this visit to the grave.  They had completely forgotten to ask for help: “Who will roll away for us the stone from the entrance to the tomb?”

     They certainly weren’t very well prepared for what happened next - the stone was already moved and Jesus wasn’t in the tomb!  Instead, there was an angelic figure who greeted them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised!“  Could it be?  They came to put spices on a lifeless body, but now Jesus had risen from the dead?!

     You better believe they ran out of that place - like they had seen a ghost!  If I had been there, I would have passed them!  I probably wouldn’t have said anything to anyone either - I wouldn’t have been able to speak!  Could you?

     What were you expecting as you came here this Easter morning?  Did you come with darkness in your heart, with troubles on your mind?  Did you come grieving?  Did you come worried about the aftermath of the war in Iraq, worried about what might happen now happen in Syria or North Korea?  It’s a tough world out there and we bring it with us, here.  But then, there is this Easter proclamation that things are not as we expect, that there’s something more to be said to all this, that there is some greater truth, a greater hope, greater than all the trouble we have seen or will ever see - Jesus lives!  Sin is conquered!  Death is overcome!  And somehow this story about a risen Savior is our story, too.  This world with all its wars and disease and heartache and death does not have the last word after all - God does - and what God has to say is Jesus lives and because he lives, so shall we.  We share his victory.  The troubles of this world are overwhelmed by the glorious light of salvation in Jesus Christ.  As it says in the opening verses of the Gospel of John, “The light has come into the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.”

     Staring into that empty tomb this Easter morning we get to see something of the Big Picture opening before us, get to see things on God‘s terms.  As for the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, such insight enables us to laugh in the face of death: “Where, O death, is thy victory?  Where, O death, is thy sting?  But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

     Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome saw this victory for themselves.  Jesus was victorious over death!  Their Jesus, the one they loved and trusted and followed.  He opened eternity’s gate and they had followed him there. 

     Now how about you?  What does this gift of forgiveness and eternal life mean for you?  What do you see in this empty tomb?  And are you going to keep this Good News to yourself?  I sure hope not.  There couldn’t be a better time, a more critical time than right now to blab it all over the neighborhood.

     In the rubble of war, in a power vacuum, in lawless streets, an opportunity presents itself for Christians to tell their neighbors about victory over death, about hope that never fades, of glorious light bursting forth from deep darkness, of a God who loves us more than we deserve, of a Savior who forgives and renews. 

     We should pray for the Holy Spirit’s strength for Iraqi Christians.  We should pray that as they celebrate Easter today they will be so inspired that they will run out and blab to all their neighbors the hope they have in Jesus Christ, that he is risen and that victory, real victory, is offered to all who believe.  We should pray that they will be the means by which bridges of understanding and cooperation and caring will be built.  The need is certainly great.

     Well…the need is great here, too.  So let’s pray that the Holy Spirit will also be our strength, enabling us to see that God’s saving love in Jesus Christ overcomes all things.  And may the Holy Spirit also lead and inspire us to blab it to all of our neighbors! 

     Three women scared speechless, finally let it out and look what happened - since then, countless millions have found hope and life in the living Lord.  Now… there are a lot more than three people here today…