Easter is Your Story Now

Happy Easter, my friends. He is risen indeed.

One good thing about this Coronavirus thing—it canceled most of the Easter 2020 Vision sermon series plans. In times like this, we have to be thankful for the small things. 

Easter’s supposed to be the biggest day of the year for churches. When pastors get together and talk about our churches, we always use Easter numbers to describe them. Because that’s the day when everyone who even nominally calls themselves Christian gets all gussied up and goes to church with grandma. Churches usually pull out all the stops and try to really do it big—show everyone what they’ve been missing, hoping maybe a few of the multitude will come back to hear the second half of that 1st Corinthians 15 chapter—see what happens on the other 7 weeks of Easter. Church is like most things in life, it’s more exciting when there’s a room full of people enthusiastically participating in it together.

A room full of people. What’s that? Those are pretty hard to come by these days.

Did any of you hide Easter eggs for the kids this year? My mom always made a big deal out of that—she’d even dip our cat’s paw in green ink and leave “bunny footprints” all over the driveway. I’m sure the cat was thrilled with that. Some of you might be surprised with what was inside all our colorful Easter eggs that were hidden all over the yard. You know what was inside them? Egg. They were just boiled eggs. That was Easter morning for us—it was kinda like Christmas except all we did was run around the backyard finding boiled eggs and then sit in the living room peeling and eating them. Seemed pretty awesome at the time.

But going to church wasn’t part of our Easter routine, not when I was a kid. I didn’t know Easter had anything to do with Jesus or the resurrection or any of that. I wouldn’t find out any of those things for a long time. My mom used to hate when I told people that. 

This Easter is a strange one, but let’s be careful not to waste it. Thanks to COVID19 and the enthusiasm of our leaders, we’re all quarantined, like under the most friendly “house arrest” the world has ever seen—but we need to be careful not to waste this opportunity. This needs to be a time to really grow in our faith. To grow closer to the people in our family, to grow closer to God—to realize all the things we’ve been taking for granted. I think God is trying to get our attention—I hope when we’re able to get out and get together again, that we’ll appreciate it. I hope it changes us for the better. That we turn to God in faith, I hope our churches are filled with people who are truly awake from their years of sleepwalking and the people of God in Christ will start living out the implications of the resurrection of Jesus.

Let’s pray: Father in heaven. Thank You for new life, for new hope. Thank You for the promise that we will rise from the dead just as surely as Jesus rose on the third day. Thank You for the One who was crucified and is alive. He is risen. (He is risen indeed. Hallelujah!) AMEN.

Text: The Bible tells the story of the resurrection from the perspective of Jesus’ followers. It doesn’t give us a lot of details from Jesus’ perspective—which would have been really cool. What we know is what we would have seen if we were there to witness it for ourselves. We know about the arrest, the mockery of a trial, and the gruesome execution. We know Jesus was buried in a tomb that was donated to the family by a wealthy follower.

What did it mean to be a follower of Jesus now that He had died? His death was really something—not just horrific but the whole thing seemed supernatural, too. The sky had gone dark, there were earthquakes, the Temple foundation cracked open. It’s like the rocks and stones had cried out. Like creation itself reacted to what happened.

But Saturday had been quiet—too quiet. They were in shock. What did it mean to be a follower of Jesus now?

All of His disciples had ran away. All of His friends had scattered. They were all hiding in their houses with the curtains drawn and the doors locked. The government had killed Jesus, and they were probably next. The religious leaders had finally risen up against Him, they weren’t going to rest until everyone associated with Jesus was silenced for good.

I don't know if you can imagine what any of that would be like. Stretch your mind: What would it be like to be cooped up inside your house with only your closest family, blaming everything on the government and organized religion. Some people are scared that it’s not safe to go out in public and be around people. You got these people over here who are mad at the government for the way it’s mishandling the situation. You got other people over here that are disappointed and disillusioned with the religious leaders. Probably a few are already starting to worry that they might run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. 

I’m having a little fun comparing our situation to theirs but I’m sure it felt like the world was ending. Like hope was lost. 

So they’re all sheltering in place. They’re all numb. But if you’ve ever lost someone close to you, you know how it is. It doesn’t seem right but the sun still comes up, life goes on—even when you’re suffocating with grief and you don’t see how it’s possible. The rooster still crows, the kids still wake up hungry, and someone has to go take care of all the funeral arrangements.

That’s what’s happening on that first Easter morning. A small group of women get up really early and go to take care of the body and the tomb. They carry the weight of the world with them. They carry all the darkness that can fit in a human heart.

But it’s not going to go the way they were thinking.

The religious leaders remembered that Jesus said He was going to rise from the dead on the third day—it’ doesn’t seem like any of His followers remembered, but the Pharisees and priests sure did. They went to Pilate and said, “would you please make sure to guard the tomb of Jesus the fake messiah so His people don’t steal the body and pretend that He came back from the grave.” Pilate agreed to lock down the tomb with soldiers.

When the women showed up at the cemetery it seems like they got quite a show. As soon as they got there All. Heaven. Broke. Loose.  

I would’ve loved to see what they saw. What they beheld. Matthew really likes the word “behold,” he uses it 62 times in his Gospel. Six of those are in this chapter. There’s a lot of beholding going on here.

Behold! There’s another earthquake—like on Good Friday, except it says this one is a lot bigger. Resurrection is greater than death. And you know what causes this earthquake? Behold, it is an angel of the Lord. Not “the” angel of the Lord, “an” angel of the Lord. How powerful does a creature have to be to cause a great earthquake? I wonder if he did one of those cool hero landings that crack the ground, like when Thor is about to bring it. It says his appearance was like lightning, so that’s pretty Thor-like, but his clothing was white as snow—bright and blinding. Come to think of it, Thor dressed more like a Roman soldier. Hmm. Remember those guards that Pilate assigned to the tomb? They fainted like little girls. It says they trembled and became like dead men. The angel tossed the stone in front of the tomb aside like it was a wicker basket and then hopped up on it and sat down.

He looks at the women, who beheld quite a spectacle, and says, “do not be afraid.” It’s probably good that he said that first. They might not have heard the rest of what he had to say otherwise. You know, because of the running away and screaming and stuff. He said, “I know you came to see the crucified Jesus, but He’s not here. He is risen.”

Even though it was Easter, they weren’t quite ready for that—they didn’t say “He is risen indeed.” They didn’t say anything.

The angel did get a little jab in, though. Angels have to be constantly perplexed as to why God puts up with people. He said, “He’s not. He’s risen. You know, like He told you was going to happen. Duh.”

“So, go on… look inside, see for yourself. Don’t take my word for it. I’m just an angel of the Lord. Go see that there ain’t no body in that tomb that you just watched me open. Then I’m going to need you to “go quickly” and tell the guys that He’s risen from the dead.” And also, “BEHOLD,” Jesus is going to Galilee—everyone can see Him there.”

Jesus is alive. Their hearts must have been bursting.

I don’t think there was any darkness left in them anymore. Good grief! Can you imagine all that? It says they “departed quickly with fear and great joy” to tell the other disciples.

But there’s more…

BEHOLD! While they were hiking up their skirts running back into town as fast as they could—Jesus met them on the road. Jesus. Met. Them. On. The. Road. Behold indeed.

The different Gospel accounts give us pieces of the whole picture. We don’t have an exhaustive detailed list of the women who came to the grave that morning. There wasn’t one of those funeral sign-in books. We know Mary Magdalene was one of them, we know there was another Mary—I think it was probably the same group of women who were brave enough to watch the crucifixion. I think Mary Magdalene was younger and ran faster, I don’t think she was with the women on the road when Jesus showed up, that’s why after she tells Peter and the boys about the resurrection, she runs back to the tomb and has her own moment with Jesus in the Gospel of John. All the accounts can be reconciled. I say all that because I think it only makes sense that Mary the mother of Jesus would have been one of the women who came to take care of the funeral details. If I’m right about this, then I think it’s an amazingly beautiful act of kindness that the first person the resurrected Jesus visits is His mom. Like, “I just wanted you to know, I’m okay.”

My mom would have slapped me. “Do you know how worried I’ve been!” “Don’t you ever do that again!”

But Jesus’ mom, and the other women, they bowed and worshiped Him. It says they grabbed His feet and worshiped Him.

What does that mean? “Grabbed His feet and worshiped Him?”

I think it means at least two things. 1. He has feet that can be grabbed. He’s a physical person, not a ghost or just a spirit. Jesus raised to life in His own body, scars and all, He is eternally the resurrected Jesus in a physical body. And 2. He’s God. They worshiped Him and He let them. He accepted their worship. They hadn’t changed religions. They were still faithfully worshiping the same God they had always worshiped. The One True God. Only now, now they knew Him in full. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is to be worshiped. 

Meanwhile all the guys are back at home sheltering in place. In hiding. Quarantined.

Two of Jesus’ followers got out of town completely. They were walking to the village of Emmaus for 7 miles of social distancing—but Jesus shows up and walks with them. He listens to them ramble on about Him and all about the crucifixion and all the bad news. It was kinda like showing up to listen to eulogies at your own funeral. They even said that some of the women were telling stories about Jesus being alive again—but they weren’t buying it. When they said they didn't’ believe the resurrection had actually happened, Jesus kinda lost His patience with them. He said,

““You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:25–27 

I said He lost His patience with them, but I gotta take that back, because it seems like after He called them fools, He patiently walked through the Scriptures and taught them with gentleness and kindness. But they still didn’t realize it was Him. It wasn’t until they got where they were going and sat down to eat that Jesus let them know it was Him. And it’s very sacramental the way it happens, it says, “As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. (That ought to sound familiar.) It says,

“Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!” Luke 24:30–31

Apparently this new body Jesus got in the resurrection was an upgrade. 

They were like, “You know. That’s probably why our hearts were burning with joy the whole time He was telling us about how the Scriptures all point to Him.” So they ran back to Jerusalem and told Peter and boys, “The ladies were telling the truth, He is risen indeed!”

All of a sudden, Jesus was standing in the room with them. 

You ever had the feeling like you might have seen a ghost? That goosebumps all over your body, skin goes pale, you feel unsettled and clammy—somewhere between startled, frightened and scared out of your mind feeling? That’s how they felt. It’s exactly what the text says,

“But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!” Luke 24:37

Everyone remembers Thomas as Doubting Thomas, but he’s not in the room when this happens—this is still Easter Sunday. And not one of them believes without seeing for themselves. They don’t even believe after they’ve been looking at Him for a while. 

Jesus says, “Why are you scared? Why are you filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. It’s me. Touch me. I ain’t no ghost.”

It says they still didn’t believe it. They were dumbfounded. Speechless. It says they stood there in disbelief, “filled with joy and wonder.”

Then Jesus says, “you guys got anything to eat?” I think that’s funny. So they slowly handed Him some broiled fish and stood there awkwardly watching Him eat it. Good times.

In all these resurrection accounts, what’s the common theme? The women, the men—the religious leaders and the Roman guards… What do they have in common?

Fear.

The Angel said “do not be afraid.” Jesus said, “why are you afraid?”

Easter means there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.

There really are angels that can shake the earth and toss giant boulders like paper airplanes, but you don’t have to be afraid of them because they serve the Lord. Because they are good. All that power is only going to be used for good.

The crucified One has really come back from the dead. He has a physical body and since He’s the One who created the material universe, He can do whatever He pleases. Disappear. Teleport. Be at the Father’s right hand, in, with and under the Bread and Wine, and also be with you always to the end of the age, He hears every one of your prayers, and His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. He is Holy and powerful and glorious beyond your comprehension—but you don’t have to be afraid, because He has promised to be patient with you, to be kind to you. He is the embodiment of perfect love. 

But we bring our own fear and darkness and doubt. It’s what we do. But this is the message of Easter—Easter means there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore. When you die, just like Jesus you will also come back from the grave. I don’t know if your body will be able to teleport or walk through walls, but you will be alive forever in a glorious new body that won’t be susceptible to viruses.

The death of Jesus was terrible, but the resurrection of Jesus is far more wonderful. And there can’t be resurrection without death. It was true for Jesus and it’s true for you. But take heart my friends—it’s true for you. 

The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the new creation. We’re already part of this creation by faith—meaning we believe without seeing it—but we will see it.

When Thomas finally saw Jesus, a week after the other disciples, Jesus said, “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” 

That’s us. You and me. Jesus says we’re blessed because we believe without seeing. We are blessed, loved, forgiven, and promised eternal joy. This is our hope. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus now? His resurrection was really something—not just for Him but for what it means for you and me, too. 

This quarantine will end. But Jesus is coming to us today, in our doubt and isolation, He’s telling us we don’t have to be afraid. He’s telling us that He forgives our doubt and sin. He is telling us to stop unbelieving and start believing. He’s telling us that no matter how dark any particular moment may seem at the time, we don’t have to be afraid—it’s not the end of our story. Because He’s with us and it wasn’t the end of His story. The story of Easter is now your story. The grave didn’t hold Him, and it won’t hold you. The darkness didn’t overcome Him and it won’t overcome you. This is Easter, the day of resurrection. This is a day of Hope. Behold: