“Seven Who Encountered Jesus: (7) Us!”
Matthew 28:1-10 and John 20:1-18
“Do not be afraid; I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come; see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples.” (Matthew 28:5b-6)
(Sermon preached by Rev. Larry A. Langer, First Presbyterian Church, Jasper, IN, April 24, 2011)
What in the world are all of us doing here, outside, in this weather, at 7:00 on a Sunday morning? Are we crazy or something? I mean, it is enough, isn’t it, that we come to church at 10:30, 9:30 if we are in Sunday school on a Sunday morning. 7:00 AM on a Sunday? What it is all about? What are our reasons?
Are we here to “get church over with” so we can have the rest of the day? Are we here because it is just a different kind of service? Are we here because it is our tradition? OR, are we here because it makes our faith seem more real to us?
Perhaps we are here to somewhat feel what it was like for Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (and the other women) when they went to the tomb “very early in the morning” as the text says. Perhaps we want to close our eyes and picture the rough ground with the hewn-out cave with first the stone in front of it, then the stone “rolled away.” Perhaps we are imagining what it would be like to hear the news, as did Peter and John, and run to the tomb and experience its emptiness.
Knowing what we believe and know now, I think it would be wonderful to run to the tomb, find it empty with the folded grave clothes, have Jesus appear to us, and have our faith in the promises of God validated!
Anyway, this is what I dream and think about when this day comes around every year. How about you? We want to “see” the resurrection so we can more deeply believe. So, we re-enact going to the tomb on Resurrection Day, very early in the morning. We go back to the stage, we see the setting, and we place ourselves in the shoes of the actresses and actors. We see ourselves in the roles. We hear the dialogue in our mind’s ear. So, let us hear and see for ourselves, once again, this morning.
The first thing we hear at the tomb is, “Don’t be afraid.” The angel says to Mary, “Don’t be afraid.” Remember the scripture we read at Christmas time? The angel says to both Mary and Joseph, “Don’t be afraid.” Remember clear back in the Old Testament the many times when God or an angel said to a person of God, “Don’t be afraid”? If there is a practical, everyday part to our faith, it is the wise counsel, “Don’t be afraid.”
Don’t be afraid of what? We aren’t to be afraid of the “unknown,” because God is already there. We have the Bible to tell us that God is already there in any circumstance we can imagine and how God resolves any circumstance we can imagine.
In our Good Friday service, we read the very pastoral verse from John 19:27, where Jesus is hanging on the cross with his mother and “the disciple Jesus loved” standing there. Jesus “says to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciples took her into his own home.”
Then we heard Kyrstan sing beautifully the wonderful words of assurance from the hymn, ‘Be Still, My Soul.” Remember?
Be still, my soul! The Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provided,
in every change He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”
Be still, my soul! Thy God doth undertake
to guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul! The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.”
There is no greater instruction that we can hear from God through our faith than “be not afraid.” Then, there is no greater instruction we can tell ourselves in response than “Be still, my soul, in every change, God faithful will remain.” We come to the tomb to believe this is true once again.
The second thing we hear at the tomb is “Come and see…come and see the place where he lay.”
It is an interesting thing that when we go to Israel on a tour, the place people want to see the most is the place that is said to be where Jesus was born. People throng to the depths under the Church of the Nativity. There are long lines just to see (actually, two places, depending on one’s faith perspective) where they say Jesus was born.
But there are smaller lines to see Golgotha, the upper room, or the cave in the garden in the Church of the Holy Seplecur. On the tours, we will walk the Via Del La Rosa, the path Jesus walked through Jerusalem, but we won’t go to the cave. We might even enjoy the shade and cool breezes in the Garden of Gethsemane, but we won’t go to the cave. Yet, the angel invited the Marys and Peter and John to check it out on their own, to see that the cave was empty. Mary originally thought that some “they” had taken Jesus, and she “didn’t know where they had taken him.”
There is a strong sense in which we have to “see” the resurrection before we can “see” what is really going on in the world, now that God has risen crucified Jesus from the dead. We can see the empty tomb, but we can’t really “see” the resurrection. We have to believe the resurrection before we can see.
The women show us that it is only as we venture forth- dare to come out to the tomb in our darkness, willing to be surprised, willing to obey the messenger of God, willing to see the risen Christ, willing to go back to Galilee, expecting to meet him there – that we will see.
The good news for us is that when we hear “come and see”,” it can be about what God is doing and wants to be doing in our lives now! Remember when John sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Jesus if he was the one they had been waiting for or did they need to wait for someone else?
Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you see and hear: The blind receive their sight; the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Luke 7:22-23).
We really don’t have to have “blind faith’ to accept that the Lord is present and active in our lives. What we do require, though, is to have a faith that believes in, listens for and to, and follows and gives glory to God. Seeing the empty tomb, even if only through the eyes of faith on Easter Sunday morning, is part of this for us. So, the angel’s instructions are important for us: We should always try to come and see things through eyes of faith. Our prayer should be
Open my eyes that I may see,
glimpses of truth Thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now, I wait for Thee.
Ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine.
The third instruction we hear at the tomb is, “Go and tell…Go quickly and tell others.” Tell the others what – that the tomb is empty? No, tell others that “Jesus has been raised from the dead and goes ahead of you…”
This is the crux of our faith and the promise of the resurrection: Jesus has been raised from the dead and goes ahead of us. Remember what he said to his disciples?
Do not let you hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you do know the place where I am going, because you know me, and I am the way, the truth and the life.
You know, Mathew’s Gospel stresses these necessities: Not only loving Jesus, but obeying Jesus. Not only admiring Jesus, but following Jesus. He stresses that faith in Jesus requires active participation, obedience and discipleship: Be not afraid, come and see, go and tell.
And, haven’t we found over the years that we more fully believe the more we venture out in faith, risk, obey, are surprised and mix up the fear and joy? The truth of Easter and the Resurrection is a truth that we cannot understand in arguments, nor detached, measured reflection and consideration.
The truth of Easter is known only as we are in motion, going out to obey and to tell.
We often hear that Jesus came to “turn the world upside down.” Really, he came to turn the world right side up! The world, especially these days, is shaking, figuratively and literally. The world shook back then, too. Matthew says there was an earthquake. Back then, it was the sign of a beginning. We have had shakes lately, as well as winds and waves and fires. Are these signs of the end of things as we know them and the beginning or the promised things? Are these the birth pangs of Christ’s second coming? Some say so. If so, it will fulfill the scriptures that Christ will come again.
But back then, the world shook. The powerful soldiers shook in their boots, so afraid that they were like dead men. In fact, they had absolutely no explanation for what happened, such that they had to be bought off to keep quiet and the officials had to put a spin on things. But the women who previously were powerless are now the bearer of the experience, the teller of the story, and the relaters of the truth.
So, the important thing for us today is to also obey the risen Christ: “Do not be afraid; come and see; go and tell my brothers and sisters to meet me; they will see me, to!” If we obey, if we overcome our own doubts and fears, if we go and tell, out in Galilee or wherever we find ourselves, then we, too, will see the risen Christ, raised so that he might return to us, encourage us, and reveal himself to us.
This is the message of Easter: Be not afraid…come and see…go quickly and tell…Christ is risen; Christ is risen indeed.
Hallelujah! Amen!
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