Bible Stories You Should Know 6. Resurrection

Bible Stories You Should Know: 6. Resurrection

John 20:1-18; 24-25   |   4/20/2014

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

          There are four principal characters in today’s scripture—

                   John, Thomas, Peter and Mary.

          It’s likely that each of us represent one of these four people.

          1. John: He saw and believed.

          Period.

          He saw the empty tomb. He got it immediately. He knew that Jesus was the risen Lord! He is referred here as ‘the other disciple’.

          2. Thomas: He didn’t see, and he didn’t believe.

          He didn’t get it.

          He could not get his head or his heart around an alleged resurrection without some kind of concrete evidence.

          3. Peter: He saw the empty tomb, but was confused.

          He had no idea what it all meant.

          But, oh well, it wasn’t going to stop him from getting on with his life.

          4. Mary: She saw the empty tomb and, like Peter was confused, but was totally immobilized.

          It was hard to think about how she was going to live without Jesus in her life. It is she who, when Jesus calls her by name, is able to utter the great resurrection affirmation: “I have seen the Lord.”

          One believed. One didn’t believe. One was confused. One was immobilized.

          1Early 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.

          2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
          3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.

          4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

          5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

          6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

          8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

          9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

          10Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
          13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
          14"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
          15"Woman," he said, "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."
          16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
          17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
          18Mary 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.

          24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

           25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

          A Sunday school teacher asked her class to write one sentence on “What Easter Means to me?”
          One pupil wrote: “Egg salad sandwiches for the next two weeks!”

          This scripture raises many questions. That’s life.

          Life leaves us with many questions that keep us awake. Questions such as:
          Which is worse, failing or never trying?

          Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

          Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?

          Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?

          At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?

          If not now, then when?

          What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

          Questions of life.

         

          And, this is from a list of 25 of your most pressing questions:
                    Is it "duct tape" or "duck tape"?

                    (Even though the tape is commonly used on ducts, the original name       is "duck tape." It was developed during World War II for soldiers to use to waterproof their ammo cans. Soldiers called it "duck tape" because it forced     moisture to flee "like water off a duck's back.")

          Mary had questions. Jesus had questions. The angels had questions.

                   Did you notice that in the scripture the same question is repeated?

                   The angels ask Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

                   And Jesus asks Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

          On Easter Sunday it’s still the question before us: “Why are we weeping?”

          Why is there still such fear in the world?

          Why are we living as though there has been no resurrection?

          Last fall, an even bigger question arose: Can Google solve death?

          Time magazine told us about this story (September 30, 2013) in its cover feature on how the Internet giant is launching a venture to extend human life.

          Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Google is already in the business of making driverless cars.

          Now they're launching a new company called Calico, which will focus on health and aging. Many expect Calico to use its skill with handling data to make new discoveries about age-related illnesses.

          Here's the deal.

                    Jesus not only solves the death problem.

                    He solves the life problem!

          Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to see the tomb of Jesus.

          The women had watched Jesus die on the cross, so they expected to see nothing but a tomb containing a corpse.

          Suddenly there's this huge earthquake.

          Not only that, an angel of the Lord descends from heaven, rolls back the stone of the tomb and sits on it.
          The angel then anticipates what the women are wondering. He gives them an answer to the biggest question of all time: Where is Jesus?
          - We wonder the very same thing in the days after a loved one has died.
          - Where is my wife after her long and painful bout with cancer?
          - Where is my husband after the shocking heart attack that took his life?
          - Where is my brother who was killed by a drunk driver?

          -Where are the ten people killed in the bus accident in California, where are the teens that died in the ferry accident in Korea, where are the 239 people on board flight 370?
         
          "Do not be afraid," says the angel to the women; "I know that you are looking for Jesus. He is not here; for he has been raised".
          The women wonder: Where is Jesus?

          The angel answers: He is not here.

          And why not?

          He has been raised.

          This angel provides the answer to our biggest question. Following the loss of loved ones, he tells us that they are not trapped in graves; they have been raised.

          Speaking personally I do not argue about the resurrection. I just believe it.

          You ask me how I know he lives, the song asks,

                   “He lives within my heart!”

          And!

                “He walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.”

          As your pastor—

·        I have many questions about death and I don’t know what happens at death.

·        I wouldn’t say that I fear death but I certainly don’t want it today!

·        Death to me is a mystery and I really don’t much care about eternal life.

·        But, I do care about living now! 

·        Death to me will take care of itself. I leave that to God.

·        I know this much! I experience resurrection every day, every moment!

          Yesterday I received a text from Dr. Mark Bollwinkel. Mark will be the new pastor of this church starting July 1. He wanted to let me know that his father died Thursday night. Let’s surround him in prayer right now as he is preaching an Easter message at the Los Altos Church.

          On Easter morning, we discover that the solution to death is not found in new technology.

          Instead, it is discovered in an empty tomb.

          And then, to demonstrate that the resurrection is not just wishful thinking, the angel invites the women to come and see the place where Jesus lay.
          The tomb is empty.

          He is not there.

         
          In other words, Jesus not only answers the death question, but answers the life question as well. And so, to answer that question, the angel says to the women,     "Go quickly and tell his disciples,

          'He has been raised from the dead, he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him'".

          The question of death is resolved and the question of life is engaged:

                   Jesus is God with us in life, death ... and life."

          The women believe what the angel says, so they leave the tomb quickly with fear and great joy. They run to tell the disciples and suddenly Jesus meets them on the road.

          Just as the angel predicted, he's ahead of them ... always ahead of them. Jesus greets them, they worship him.
          So often, when a loved one dies, we focus on the past.

          We remember the good times,

                   we struggle with our regrets,

                   and we wish that we could have handled certain situations differently.     With the resurrection, the focus is always forward, always toward life.

          Easter is a day of big questions and even bigger answers.

                   Where is Jesus? Where is he now?

                   What is the future going to look like?

          We know that Jesus goes ahead of us into the future;

                   that resurrection life answers not only our questions about death,

                   but our questions about life.

          Through the resurrection of Jesus, we are given the promise of a marvelous future, both in this life and the next.

          Google may extend the human life span, but only Jesus can offer abundant—and eternal—life!

          The president of Google sees death as a puzzle.
                    Perhaps death is a puzzle.

                    But it's a puzzle that has been solved.

          Easter is Solution Day in that sense.

          It is the day death lost its sting, the day when death ceased to be a puzzle because we know that it is going to be okay.

                   

          The resurrection is unknowable in the way we like to know things.

          The writer of the Gospel of John was different:

                   he was willing to have his life changed before he understood fully                                what was changing it.

          Actually, this is the only way life ever really changes.

          You won't understand marriage until you've been hitched for a while—maybe not even then.

          You're not going to know what it's like to have a baby until you have one.        You don't even know your profession until you've been in it a while.     Nothing in life is obvious immediately.

          It all grows on us.

          This is how we must approach the resurrection, as well.

                    No, you don't understand it.

                    You don’t argue about it.

                   Let it grow on you.

          I like to think that Christmas is the Promise, and Easter is the Proof.

          I’m afraid that today we are attracted to:
          • A Jesus who taught about love,

                   but not a Lord who commands us to love our enemies.
          • A Jesus who helped the unfortunate,

                   but not a Lord who challenges us to give the money to the poor.
          • A Jesus who was a friend of tax collectors and sinners,

                    but not a Lord who asks us to embrace the people we feel are beneath               us.
          • A Jesus who accepted people as his disciples,

                   but not a Lord who challenges us to lose our lives for his sake.

          The great theologian Karl Barth, quotes Nietzsche saying: "Only where graves are, is there resurrection."

          As a child we were taught to pray:
                   Now I lay me down to sleep
                   I pray the Lord my soul to keep
                   If I should die before I wake
                   I pray the Lord my soul to take.

                   But ‘What If’ we should die before we live?

          Is there a rock that blocks us from living?

          Mary and Mary expected to find the stone in place.
          Like us they had already stumbled through a field of rocks.
                   -- the rock of unbelief
                   -- the rock of misplaced enthusiasm
                   -- the rock of worldly possessions
                   -- the rock of confusion
                   -- the rock of disappointment...

          When they arrived at the tomb they discovered that the rock had been rolled away and was positioned just as it had been before Jesus' burial.

          This is the final message in a series that I have titled: Bible Stories You Should Know. As Christians we should know the Resurrection story as well as the:

          Great Commandment—Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

          The parable of the Least of These—When you have done it to the least of these you have done it unto me.

          The Great Commission—Go into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.

          The Last Supper—the cup and the bread of life—communion.

          The Palm Sunday Triumph—the Alleluias and Hosannas.

         

          Now, your homework till next Easter! I challenge you to go home today and write a personal mission statement. Put in writing your purpose for living a life of triumph and resurrection for the rest of your life.

          One of the best ways to begin formulating your personal mission statement is to ask yourself some questions:
          1. What do I believe?
          2. What is my passion?
          4. What needs exist in the world that I would like to meet?
          5. How could my story and God's larger story connect?

          Go ahead! Try it. Put it in writing and share it with one other human being!

Pastoral Prayer

          Holy God, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ today.

          It is a day of joy,

                   of singing and dancing,

                   of feasting and proclaiming that Christ is alive

                   and that we are set free from the power of sin and death.

          We rejoice that because he was raised to new life,

                   we also experience new and resurrected life.

          That which has held us back need no longer define or limit us.

          Those fears and anxieties that have kept us captive

                   need no longer hold us in their grip.

          That which differentiates us from one another

                   need not continue to separate us.

          Your resurrection power, O God, frees us to choose

                   love over fear,

                   reconciliation over division,

                   forgiveness over hatred,

                   peace over violence.

          By your Spirit, embolden us to live

                   courageously and faithfully

                   to the truth of the empty tomb.

          It is for the sake of the Christ who taught us to pray saying……