Sermon Easter 4/12/20

SERMON: HE IS RISEN

April 12, 2020

JOHN 20: 1, 11-18

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabonni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

HE IS RISEN! ALLELUIA! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Silence)

The thought that in the year 2020 churches would sit empty on Easter is preposterous. The idea that a pandemic would keep us from assembling is ludicrous. The notion that church is non- essential is absurd. Yet, here we are on April 12, 2020, and I will be waiting for the joyous response, “He IS Risen Indeed! Alleluia.”

The new paradigm in our society seems to take so much away from us. There is no Sunrise service. There is no regular Easter service. There is no Easter breakfast in the Family Life Center. There are no squeals of laughter from little children at an Easter Egg hunt. My human senses will be without the usual stimulus of Easter. My olfactory organ will not enjoy the sweet smell of the Easter lilies. My optical senses will not see the white and gold paraments and banners. My auditory sense will not enjoy the many voices uplifted in praise to God with multiple alleluias. My tactile sense yearns to shake hands with the members, but I have to maintain my social distancing. Finally, my gustatory sense will miss the tasty breakfast prepared by our youth and their parents. Let the pity party begin. I am being deprived of my normal Easter celebration. Life isn’t fair.

I think I have lost so much, but I have come to my senses (pun intended). Better yet, I have come back to the Biblical text of John 20. I started to look at how those involved in the first Easter must have felt. They had lost everything. The disciples had followed Jesus for nearly three years. Now, the disciples have fallen from the heights of Palm Sunday to the depths of the unused tomb. The one they called teacher and Lord was arrested, tried, convicted and executed in a few short hours. What now? Do they return to their former lives? Do they continue with this new reality? Do they carry on the ministry without Jesus? Peter wept bitterly. The other disciples locked themselves in the upper room for fear of the Jews. His mother, Mary, would agonize over the death of her firstborn. Parents shouldn’t outlive their children. John, the beloved disciple, would look after her but it just wouldn’t be the same. Aged Simeon told her this at Jesus’ presentation in the Temple, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35). The one who seems to be most devastated was Mary Magdalene. Jesus had taken seven demons out of her. He had given her a new chance on life. Now she wished she could give life to her Lord. All she had to give was her tears. Even when Jesus confronts her, she doesn’t recognize Him. Mary thought she knew the reality, Jesus was dead. The promise that He would rise again had faded from her mind. All of them had forgotten Jesus’ words that He would rise again.

Could all of this been avoided? What if the disciples had kept a closer watch on Judas? When he leaves the last supper, they think he is buying more food or giving something to the poor. If Judas doesn’t leave them, he cannot lead the temple guards to the garden. Should they have fought in the garden to prevent His arrest? No, they all ran away. Maybe they should have shouted louder that Jesus be released instead of Barabbas. Could they have celebrated the Passover somewhere else? Just remove Jesus from the growing tensions with the Jewish leadership. No matter what they did or didn’t do was going to change the events of those holy days.

The true solution to this situation was if there was no sin. The law is good and we should follow the Law as good children of the heavenly Father. Yet, I am a sinner. I know what I should do, but I do not fulfill God’s will in my life. St. Paul struggled with this inability to keep the Law. Romans 7:21-24, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!”

God’s will had to be done. God loves us sinners. He created a plan in eternity to save sinners. God’s will is what Jesus prayed for as He spoke with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. The plan was God’s one and only Son had to be the sacrifice for sin. Only Jesus was that perfect “Lamb of God” that would take away the sin of the world. God would punish His Son for our sins. The perfect sacrifice was offered up on the cross on Good Friday. Isaiah foretold this in Chapter 53 verses four to six,

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

God, the heavenly Father accepted that sacrifice and raised His Son from the dead. We may enjoy all the adiaphora, “which means customs that are not necessary unto salvation,” of Easter.

The words of the angel is what Easter is all about, “HE IS RISEN.”

Know the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Receive the forgiveness through His death and resurrection. St. Peter, as he preached on Pentecost, shared the Good News of Christ’s resurrection and ours in Acts 2:26-28, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence”.

Embrace the joy of Easter wherever you are. You may be alone this Easter as you shelter in place. Mary Magdalene was by herself when Jesus called her name and showed her that He was alive. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). She wanted to cling to Jesus. We need to hold fast to the author and perfecter of our faith. It was Peter and the other disciple who ran to the tomb that morning and saw it was empty. It was the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who spoke with the risen Lord as they traveled. It was a small group of women who saw the two angels at the tomb with the message, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” It was the disciples, maybe under government mandate, assembled in the upper room. When Jesus came to the ten (yes, ten), He greeted them with, “Peace be with you.”

Celebrate Easter this year whether you are locked behind closed doors, out on the road, in the park, by yourself, as a couple, in a small group or with your family. The message is still the same. HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!