When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
Amen…
How sweet the sound of Jesus being raised from the dead. The message that Christ is alive and has gone ahead of us the
greatest story of our Christian faith. It’s the foundation for all we say and do. And I know full and well that anything I say after from here on
out is secondary to the good news that Christ is risen.
Christ, the Lord Jesus, God’s only son, has been raised from the
dead. God’s promise has been fulfilled. And we gather this morning through the promise of baptism that we
are buried in a death like his, and raised into new life like his.
Now the truth is, we are Easter people. Every day is a witness to the celebration of the resurrection. We live our daily lives as a gift from God because Jesus died on
the cross and rose from the grave. We have been given new life, A promise that God will always be
with us.
But on this day, this liturgical Easter Sunday we recall that very
first Easter morning. The empty tomb. The stone rolled away.
The proclamation that “Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was
crucified. He is not here. He has been raised.” On this Sunday specifically we remember how we became Easter
people in the first place.
Today is a day of celebration and thanksgiving. A day of new birth and new life, hope is restored. Thanks be to God, that we
are no longer bound by the power of sin death and the devil.
Thanks be to God that the powers of the world are no match for God’s love and grace.
Thanks be to God that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are granted salvation, a promise of eternal
life. A promise that is
not conditioned on our own ability, work, or effort. A promise that is blind to our own divisiveness…race, sex, creed,
ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, height, weight, or other. God’s promise of eternal life is fulfilled on Easter morning for
all who believe.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia
Amen…
…So now what? What happens next?
Mark’s gospel account this morning is a bit open ended. The text tells us that the women went to the tomb with spices to
anoint the body, as was custom. They arrived and found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.
The young man says “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus
of Nazareth, who was crucified, He has been raised; he is not here.” “But go,” the man says, “tell his disciples and Peter that he is
going ahead of you to Galilee there you will see him, just as he told you.”
And here’s where it ends: "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and
amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were
afraid.”
The women left for terror and amazement had seized them and said nothing to anyone, for they were
afraid.
Well if we take our cue from Mark then I suppose what’s next is the uncomfortable part. Perhaps the hardest part. Go and Tell. Shout and share! Make
disciples! Proclaim the Good News, Sing Thine is the Glory, and Jesus Christ has
risen Today in the streets. Proclaim the empty tomb and the stone rolled away. Shout
Alleluia! Not just in the church or in worship, but in all of life.
I suppose what’s next is talking about Jesus. But you and I both know that when we’re honest...the call to go
and tell about Jesus is easier said than done.
It makes me wonder if the women that first Easter morning were overcome with terror and amazement because God had
actually fulfilled what Jesus had talked about, or if they were afraid and seized because they
realized that they were now entrusted with the privilege
and responsibility of proclaiming the
good news. Go and tell meant going and telling.
You and I both know that proclaiming Christ crucified and risen is
an intimidating call.
And I don’t think we’re afraid of the Good News itself, But perhaps we’re seized by what the Good News
is calling us to do. To be. Sometimes the hardest, scariest, most terrifying thing to do is to point to the
empty tomb. To proclaim the resurrected Christ.
It is not an easy call to challenge a resistant world with a message of hope and love. To proclaim victory over death to a not-so-receptive society.
So it is that we gather this morning, not necessarily for the sake of being change, but to remember that
we are changed. Like the women who at the tomb that first Easter morning, we gather today to remember and celebrate that we too are
tasked with the privilege and
responsibility of going and telling.
Today is not the initiation of a new call. It is not simply the start of something new. We gather this Easter morning not so much as a reenactment of that first
resurrection dawn but rather as a
renewal of faith. A re-affirmation of God’s endless and eternal promise to be with
us always. And furthermore we reaffirm our call as Christians to go and tell.
Therefore it is not enough to sing Thine is the Glory, and Jesus Christ is risen today if only to return uninspired to daily living in a world that
adamantly works to darken the light of Christ
It is not enough to shout alleluia Christ is risen…to sing praise and thanksgiving to God for what God has done, is doing, and continues
to do if only to leave this place and return to our
penitent Lenten lives.
It is not enough to sing Hosanna in the highest…to be fueled with the flame of eternal life if we only let
Easter Sunday be a sigh of relief to an exhausting Lenten season. Make no mistake, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ the world is
forever changed. In God’s infinite love through Jesus Christ, from death
to life,you and I were...are forever changed. Changed
into Easter people. Changed into Christians who live in the light of
the resurrection.
God calls us to something new. Something better. We are called to be disciples in an uncomfortable world. We are called to suffer, die, and rise. To come and see. To point and to follow. To Go and to tell. To shout Alleluia,
Christ is risen!
And the Good News of Easter morning is not that Lent is over and we can finally eat
sweets, watch TV again, or indulge again…It’s not just that the tomb was empty or that Jesus has risen.
But the Good News is that God promises to be ahead of us wherever we go to meet us
there.
Through the crucifixion and resurrection God has promised to be present with us at all
times and in all places. God covets to never leave us orphaned.
In a world desperate for God’s love yet utterly resistant to the message of hope and
love, we proclaim Christ
risen in the full assurance of God accompaniment. Because if God can be present through death and the grave then how much more can God fulfill the promise
of abiding presence to God’s people.
And if God is with us, then Christian beware: because to go and tell means the power of the Gospel just might seize us in terror and amazement.
And if God is with us, then Christian beware: because to go and tell means the power of the Gospel just might seize us in terror and amazement.
Not terror and amazement rooted in fear or anxiety, but rather in God’s presence we are seized by
awe and wonder.
Awe of a God who stomped satan down
Awe of a God who resisted temptation, who challenged the systems of this world, even to death.
Awe of a God who stomped satan down
Awe of a God who resisted temptation, who challenged the systems of this world, even to death.
Awe of God that laughs in the face of death and boasts life and
life abundant.
Awe and wonder of a God who claims us and chooses us to share in that abundant and eternal life.
Awe and wonder of a God who claims us and chooses us to share in that abundant and eternal life.
It is this God that raised Jesus from the dead.
It is this God that commands us to go and tell.
It is God that abides by us in our walk of faith
Until all the world might be:
seized by the glory of God.
seized by God’s love and goodness.
seized by God’s faithfulness.
seized by the glory of God.
seized by God’s love and goodness.
seized by God’s faithfulness.
And Until all the world
might know his holy name…we go and we tell.
Alleluia, Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia
© Pastor Daniel Locke, Preached April 1, 2018 at St. Mark's Lutheran Jax, FL
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