Hear The Good News!
Sermon
Ashes To Ascension
Second Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter
Throughout the world today great masses of Christians will gather for worship. Some of these services will begin at dawn. A huge throng will gather at Saint Peter's Square in Rome. Churches in cities, towns, and hamlets across the U.S. will be packed; small country churches are anticipating their highest attendance of the year. The reason -- today is Easter. It is Resurrection Day! It is a day to proclaim the good news? What is the good news? It is that "Christ is Risen -- He is Risen Indeed!" What does this mean for us? It means that goodness has triumphed over evil, that truth is stronger than falsehood, that light is greater than darkness, and that hope is victorious over despair and disappointment. It means above all that life has conquered death. The apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that the last enemy -- death -- has been destroyed. Easter's good news means that "we who have borne the image of the dust will also bear the image of the man of heaven" (v. 49). Easter brings to us a transformation from the "perishable to the imperishable" (v. 42), from "dishonor to glory," from "weakness to power" (v. 43), and this mortal body will put on immortality (v. 53b). Today, the apostle bids all Christians around the world who make up the holy catholic Church to raise their many voices and join in the chorus: "Death has been swallowed up in victory ... thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (vv. 54b, 57).
I come today with the same responsibility the apostle felt in writing 1 Corinthians 15, to "remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news" (v. 1a). On this Resurrection Day the good news is "that Christ died for our sins ... that he was buried ... he was raised on the third day" (vv. 3b-4). We have come that we may proclaim our heartfelt praise and gratitude, saying with the apostle, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 57).
Jesus Died For Our Sins
Late on Friday afternoon darkness fell across Calvary and Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. Charles Wesley wrote, "The immortal God for me hath died; My Lord, my Love is crucified."
Jesus entered into a world saturated with violence. A world where the poor were neglected, women beaten and raped, children abused, the earth plundered, and the prophets were murdered so that the order of society and the world would not be disturbed. Daniel Migliore points out that when Jesus disturbs that order -- announces God's forgiveness of sinners, promises the future to the poor, welcomes outcasts and strangers, calls all to repentance and a new way of life characterized by love of God and others -- when Jesus does this, it should be no surprise that Jesus must suffer at the hands of such a world built upon hostility and violence. "Jesus became the victim of violence because he threatened the world of violence" (Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 1991, p. 159).
Jesus lived and died for all of us. Migliore declares that "Jesus was raised on a cross before the world as the chief cornerstone of a new humanity that no longer espouses the way of violence and no longer wills to live at the expense of victims." He points out how the death of Jesus impinges upon the first century world as well as our world. First, Christ died for us in order to expose our world of violence for what it is -- a world that stands under the judgment of God. Second, the cross of Christ is God's own gift of costly love, mediating God's forgiveness and friendship in the midst of a violent world. By freely taking up the cross, God in Christ forgives sinners and enters into solidarity with all the wretched of the earth. Third, the cross of Christ etches deeply into human history the truth that God's compassion is greater than the murderous passions of the world, "that God's free forgiveness is greater than our paralyzing recognition of guilt, that God's way of life is greater than our way of death" (Migliore, ibid., p. 160f).
As the evening shadows on Good Friday began to close around the cross where the limp and lifeless body of Jesus hung, the disciples long before this hour had fled and were in hiding. The women who had watched from a distance now departed. The New Testament scholar Raymond Brown points out, "Like the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus was seen as a disturber of the religious structure. Were Jesus to appear in our day he would probably be arrested and tried again. Most of those finding him guilty would identify themselves as Christians and think they were rejecting an impostor" (Newsweek, April 4, 1991, p. 48f).
Jesus Was Buried
When evening came Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Sanhedrin Council, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus so that he might give it a proper burial. Pilate wondered if Jesus was dead, and being informed by a centurion that he was indeed dead, he permitted Joseph to take the body. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb. He placed a large stone in front of the tomb and departed. It has been said that Joseph gave Jesus a tomb after he was dead, but did not support him during his life. However, Barclay points out that Joseph displayed the greatest courage of all. He came out to support a crucified criminal, and he braved the resentment of Pilate, as well as the hatred and resentment of the Jews (Barclay, Matthew, vol. 2, p. 412). He did everything that was possible for him to do. Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting next to the tomb, observing what Joseph had done.
The dawn came -- it was Saturday, the Sabbath. It was a quiet day. Such a contrast to the day before. Worship was held in the temple as usual. For many it was a normal Sabbath day. Men stood around the temple following the worship in small groups, discussing the events of the day before. They nodded their heads approvingly, saying to one another, "Men did what they had to do," and that was the end of that. They each departed to their own homes, convinced that this "Jesus of Nazareth thing" was finally over. Saturday came and went -- it was uneventful. Jesus' body was in the tomb and his disciples were in hiding.
Jesus Was Raised On The Third Day
It was not lawful to prepare a body for burial on the Sabbath. So when the Sabbath was past, on the first day of the week, the women ventured out early in the morning for the cemetery where Jesus was buried. It was dark and cold as they made their way through the streets of Jerusalem. The streets were calm, in stark contrast to Friday's orgy of violence and crucifixion. They risked much as they approached the tomb which was guarded by soldiers who were hostile to their cause. The Gospels all agree that the women were the only disciples left. After Good Friday everyone else was in hiding. So in this dark early morning hour prior to the sunrise these three women with aching hearts made their way to the tomb to perform a final act of devotion for their departed Lord.
What occupied their minds as they made their way to the tomb was not the danger that their journey entailed, but how they were going to remove the large stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb. As they traveled to the tomb they said to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" (Mark 16:3). Why is it that we tend to face the difficult situations in our lives as though only mundane, human forces are at work within our lives? It is interesting how the rock got there in the first place. Joseph of Arimathea had placed it there. But Pilate sent soldiers to guard the tomb as a measure to secure it against robbery lest the disciples come and take away the body and then declare that he had risen (Matthew 27:62-66). So Pilate took this precautionary measure to keep this from happening. Frederick Buechner states that in trying to prevent the resurrection from happening Pilate sent a few soldiers to keep the stone in place. Buechner suggests that this is "like trying to stop the wind with a machine gun ... How does an old man (Pilate) keep the sun from shining? How do soldiers secure the world against a miracle?" (Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat, p. 77).
But the women were distraught about the stone which they thought stood between them and their act of devotion and respect. Their worry and frustration was the result of realizing that they did not have the physical strength to remove the stone. It was beyond them. But they failed to realize that "something beyond them" was already at work in their lives. Often we face obstacles and barriers in our lives and the question is asked, "When will this stone be rolled away?" The answer is obvious: Never! Never, as long as we think only in terms of our human strength. How easily our pain, loss, sorrow, or disappointment often captures all of our attention to the point that we lose sight of the presence and power of the risen Christ. When obstacles and barriers stand in our way we need to stop and ask ourselves, "Where is faith and prayer in all of this?" The women hurried and worried on their way to the tomb. Like many of us there was an obstacle, a barrier in their lives, frustrating their plans and ambitions -- they did not know how to handle it.
The women on that first Easter morning whose heavy hearts were burdened with feelings of both disappointment and inadequacy made a remarkable discovery as they approached the tomb -- God was there ahead of them -- the rock had been removed and Christ was risen! The unexpected had occurred. They came to the tomb expecting what one usually finds in the aftermath of a crucifixion -- a dead body. They came prepared to anoint the body and prepare it for burial. They came expecting to deal with death, defeat, and despair. They came expecting death and discovered life. Easter reminds us that God changes the despair, defeat, and darkness of Good Friday into the hope and life of Easter. On Good Friday the world said, "No!" to the life of Jesus, but on Easter morning God said an eternal, "Yes!"
James Masefield in his poem, "The Widow on Bye Street," depicts a scene of dramatic agony. A young man is about to be executed for crimes against the state. In the crowd witnessing the events is his widowed mother, who is about to be left all alone in the world. As the trap door beneath the son's feet is opened, his mother crumbles to the ground and cries, "Things are broken -- too broken to mend." Part of her anguish had to do with her past, her sense of failure as a parent. Part had to do with the future, her utter sense of hopelessness, feeling that her very existence was broken beyond repair. Today many feel that things are too broken to mend -- health, hopes, careers, and relationships. The future is as dreary as it was for those women on their way to the tomb on the first Easter morning, strewn with barriers which appear like gravestones that are too heavy and seem impossible to remove. Brokenness is the reality of human life -- broken homes, broken hearts, broken hopes, and broken lives. The good news of Easter Sunday is that God is there ahead of you -- Christ is risen. Death is conquered. There is enough power in God's love and grace to deal with whatever brokenness we may be experiencing. The resurrection of Jesus trumpets today an incredible truth -- whoever you are, whatever your pain, problems, anxiety, affliction, frustration, or failures -- you need not despair. God is there ahead of you preparing and leading the way.
I am certain that at some point you have asked the question, "Does anyone care?" Families care most of the time and friends care some of the time, but God cares all of the time. Jesus is the great mender of broken things. He began mending ploughs in his father's carpenter shop in Nazareth, and he went on to mend men and women who were broken in body, mind, and spirit. Today Jesus seeks to mend not only broken lives, but also a broken world. The resurrected, living Christ is there ahead of you in your brokenness preparing the way to togetherness, wholeness, and healing. Charles Wesley has said it so well:
He speaks and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive.
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.
I come today with the same responsibility the apostle felt in writing 1 Corinthians 15, to "remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news" (v. 1a). On this Resurrection Day the good news is "that Christ died for our sins ... that he was buried ... he was raised on the third day" (vv. 3b-4). We have come that we may proclaim our heartfelt praise and gratitude, saying with the apostle, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 57).
Jesus Died For Our Sins
Late on Friday afternoon darkness fell across Calvary and Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. Charles Wesley wrote, "The immortal God for me hath died; My Lord, my Love is crucified."
Jesus entered into a world saturated with violence. A world where the poor were neglected, women beaten and raped, children abused, the earth plundered, and the prophets were murdered so that the order of society and the world would not be disturbed. Daniel Migliore points out that when Jesus disturbs that order -- announces God's forgiveness of sinners, promises the future to the poor, welcomes outcasts and strangers, calls all to repentance and a new way of life characterized by love of God and others -- when Jesus does this, it should be no surprise that Jesus must suffer at the hands of such a world built upon hostility and violence. "Jesus became the victim of violence because he threatened the world of violence" (Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 1991, p. 159).
Jesus lived and died for all of us. Migliore declares that "Jesus was raised on a cross before the world as the chief cornerstone of a new humanity that no longer espouses the way of violence and no longer wills to live at the expense of victims." He points out how the death of Jesus impinges upon the first century world as well as our world. First, Christ died for us in order to expose our world of violence for what it is -- a world that stands under the judgment of God. Second, the cross of Christ is God's own gift of costly love, mediating God's forgiveness and friendship in the midst of a violent world. By freely taking up the cross, God in Christ forgives sinners and enters into solidarity with all the wretched of the earth. Third, the cross of Christ etches deeply into human history the truth that God's compassion is greater than the murderous passions of the world, "that God's free forgiveness is greater than our paralyzing recognition of guilt, that God's way of life is greater than our way of death" (Migliore, ibid., p. 160f).
As the evening shadows on Good Friday began to close around the cross where the limp and lifeless body of Jesus hung, the disciples long before this hour had fled and were in hiding. The women who had watched from a distance now departed. The New Testament scholar Raymond Brown points out, "Like the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus was seen as a disturber of the religious structure. Were Jesus to appear in our day he would probably be arrested and tried again. Most of those finding him guilty would identify themselves as Christians and think they were rejecting an impostor" (Newsweek, April 4, 1991, p. 48f).
Jesus Was Buried
When evening came Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Sanhedrin Council, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus so that he might give it a proper burial. Pilate wondered if Jesus was dead, and being informed by a centurion that he was indeed dead, he permitted Joseph to take the body. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb. He placed a large stone in front of the tomb and departed. It has been said that Joseph gave Jesus a tomb after he was dead, but did not support him during his life. However, Barclay points out that Joseph displayed the greatest courage of all. He came out to support a crucified criminal, and he braved the resentment of Pilate, as well as the hatred and resentment of the Jews (Barclay, Matthew, vol. 2, p. 412). He did everything that was possible for him to do. Matthew tells us that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting next to the tomb, observing what Joseph had done.
The dawn came -- it was Saturday, the Sabbath. It was a quiet day. Such a contrast to the day before. Worship was held in the temple as usual. For many it was a normal Sabbath day. Men stood around the temple following the worship in small groups, discussing the events of the day before. They nodded their heads approvingly, saying to one another, "Men did what they had to do," and that was the end of that. They each departed to their own homes, convinced that this "Jesus of Nazareth thing" was finally over. Saturday came and went -- it was uneventful. Jesus' body was in the tomb and his disciples were in hiding.
Jesus Was Raised On The Third Day
It was not lawful to prepare a body for burial on the Sabbath. So when the Sabbath was past, on the first day of the week, the women ventured out early in the morning for the cemetery where Jesus was buried. It was dark and cold as they made their way through the streets of Jerusalem. The streets were calm, in stark contrast to Friday's orgy of violence and crucifixion. They risked much as they approached the tomb which was guarded by soldiers who were hostile to their cause. The Gospels all agree that the women were the only disciples left. After Good Friday everyone else was in hiding. So in this dark early morning hour prior to the sunrise these three women with aching hearts made their way to the tomb to perform a final act of devotion for their departed Lord.
What occupied their minds as they made their way to the tomb was not the danger that their journey entailed, but how they were going to remove the large stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb. As they traveled to the tomb they said to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" (Mark 16:3). Why is it that we tend to face the difficult situations in our lives as though only mundane, human forces are at work within our lives? It is interesting how the rock got there in the first place. Joseph of Arimathea had placed it there. But Pilate sent soldiers to guard the tomb as a measure to secure it against robbery lest the disciples come and take away the body and then declare that he had risen (Matthew 27:62-66). So Pilate took this precautionary measure to keep this from happening. Frederick Buechner states that in trying to prevent the resurrection from happening Pilate sent a few soldiers to keep the stone in place. Buechner suggests that this is "like trying to stop the wind with a machine gun ... How does an old man (Pilate) keep the sun from shining? How do soldiers secure the world against a miracle?" (Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat, p. 77).
But the women were distraught about the stone which they thought stood between them and their act of devotion and respect. Their worry and frustration was the result of realizing that they did not have the physical strength to remove the stone. It was beyond them. But they failed to realize that "something beyond them" was already at work in their lives. Often we face obstacles and barriers in our lives and the question is asked, "When will this stone be rolled away?" The answer is obvious: Never! Never, as long as we think only in terms of our human strength. How easily our pain, loss, sorrow, or disappointment often captures all of our attention to the point that we lose sight of the presence and power of the risen Christ. When obstacles and barriers stand in our way we need to stop and ask ourselves, "Where is faith and prayer in all of this?" The women hurried and worried on their way to the tomb. Like many of us there was an obstacle, a barrier in their lives, frustrating their plans and ambitions -- they did not know how to handle it.
The women on that first Easter morning whose heavy hearts were burdened with feelings of both disappointment and inadequacy made a remarkable discovery as they approached the tomb -- God was there ahead of them -- the rock had been removed and Christ was risen! The unexpected had occurred. They came to the tomb expecting what one usually finds in the aftermath of a crucifixion -- a dead body. They came prepared to anoint the body and prepare it for burial. They came expecting to deal with death, defeat, and despair. They came expecting death and discovered life. Easter reminds us that God changes the despair, defeat, and darkness of Good Friday into the hope and life of Easter. On Good Friday the world said, "No!" to the life of Jesus, but on Easter morning God said an eternal, "Yes!"
James Masefield in his poem, "The Widow on Bye Street," depicts a scene of dramatic agony. A young man is about to be executed for crimes against the state. In the crowd witnessing the events is his widowed mother, who is about to be left all alone in the world. As the trap door beneath the son's feet is opened, his mother crumbles to the ground and cries, "Things are broken -- too broken to mend." Part of her anguish had to do with her past, her sense of failure as a parent. Part had to do with the future, her utter sense of hopelessness, feeling that her very existence was broken beyond repair. Today many feel that things are too broken to mend -- health, hopes, careers, and relationships. The future is as dreary as it was for those women on their way to the tomb on the first Easter morning, strewn with barriers which appear like gravestones that are too heavy and seem impossible to remove. Brokenness is the reality of human life -- broken homes, broken hearts, broken hopes, and broken lives. The good news of Easter Sunday is that God is there ahead of you -- Christ is risen. Death is conquered. There is enough power in God's love and grace to deal with whatever brokenness we may be experiencing. The resurrection of Jesus trumpets today an incredible truth -- whoever you are, whatever your pain, problems, anxiety, affliction, frustration, or failures -- you need not despair. God is there ahead of you preparing and leading the way.
I am certain that at some point you have asked the question, "Does anyone care?" Families care most of the time and friends care some of the time, but God cares all of the time. Jesus is the great mender of broken things. He began mending ploughs in his father's carpenter shop in Nazareth, and he went on to mend men and women who were broken in body, mind, and spirit. Today Jesus seeks to mend not only broken lives, but also a broken world. The resurrected, living Christ is there ahead of you in your brokenness preparing the way to togetherness, wholeness, and healing. Charles Wesley has said it so well:
He speaks and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive.
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.
