Sermon Mark 16:1-8 April 5, 2015 EASTER!
Christ is Risen Indeed!
Some of us like surprises; the moment that catches us off guard and fills
our hearts with unexpected joy! Moments like final four basketball shots that
take our breath away. Or gifts that come to us from a loved one fully out of
the blue. We generally love surprises.
Today, this day-Easter Sunday is our greatest surprise!
It is the moment that no one thought God would or could win.
Today is the day when God is exalted.
God’s glory reigns over the world.
Today we not only remember God brought life and light back into a world
that prefers the darkness, but we LIVE in the Light of Life who God raised up
from the depths of death.
Today, as I shared with the children-the empty egg is our big surprise-the
tomb is empty and we all say loud and clear-Christ is Alive!
Yet, today’s resurrection story told in Mark’s gospel-which the experts say
end at verse 8-tells us about the women.
The women were filled with terror and amazement! How’s that
possible?
Imagine if we had been the
women to first arrive at the tomb.
What would our reaction have been? How would we have responded to the
surprise of finding the stone rolled away and the tomb empty?
How would we have heard the news of the man sitting inside-the guy sitting
on the bench, just next to the empty grave cloths!?-Would we have even heard
his words? Or would we have been so obsessed with the fact that the body of our
Lord was gone?
Imagine our anxiety over the facts before us. They’d be so high we wouldn’t
have heard a word this guy on the bench was trying to say to us. Perhaps we would
have been so caught up with the facts that we were unable to see the miracle?
It is valuable to know that an empty tomb can fill us with both terror
and amazement.
For in the terror of surprise our fears are recognized-
life is not the same-death and the tomb no longer have the
same hold on us as we have always understood.
And in the terror of thought of what should be or could be -God takes
the fear and transforms it.
Today, there is a new way.
In our weakness and in our failures God has carved out a path for us that
leads us to see him.
In a world that continues to thrive in darkness, a world that seeks to lay
claim through the death of the innocent, we are filled with the surprise of
terror that people can do that to one another.
And so we peer into the tomb of a missing Savior and
cry out where are you!
We cry out why are you not
here where we expect you to be?
We cry out in our own
despairs of loss and grief and seek him where he is not to be found.
AND then-we finally hear the words of the angel as we listen again. Yes,
the guy sitting at the end of the bench is now clearly seen as an angel of
God-we can not only hear his words-but we listen-we listen.
We hear the words of the promise of Jesus as he was with the disciples in
the last days. We hear them again as an echo in our minds…I am with you
always to the end of the age.
And the surprise of amazement hits us, they are no longer words; but
the reality of God with us-we, by the power of God, have our Lord with
and within us!
It is true!
And we like the women follow through, we don’t keep silent anymore we
run and tell the others as we have been told to do.
We run, not out of
fear, but out of wonder and amazement.
We run with joy in our
hearts and clear conviction and the power in our feet seems to come from a
place of energy we had not known existed.
It is a real and exhilarating feeling inside our bones that resurrects
us from all our doubts and all our wonderings. We have been brought
into the Light of new Life now and forever!
For we, like the disciples have been along the way with Jesus. We have encountered
Jesus in the stories as he met Peter and Nicodemus, the blind man and the women
and we have been with him as he was before Pilate. We have journeyed a long way
with our Lord. We have sat at Table with him and asked the question, “Is it I?”
And today we hear Jesus say to us, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved
you, continue in my love…I have said these things to you that my joy may remain
in you and that your joy may be full.” We are moved as we hear him call us
friends! The amazement of all of who Jesus was and is and shall be are now with
us and part of who we are. We turn to each other and see Christ!
We too have been raised up to new life.
Can we believe it?
Yes, we can!
Christ is Alive!
Let us rejoice and sing. Today is the festival of Thanksgiving!
Today is the renewal of the great surprise,
the wonder of God,
the joy of salvation,
the Light of Life is upon us and we will go out with joy!
Alleluia!
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment