John 20: 1-18
It’s Easter Sunday!!! Christ is Risen! (He is Risen indeed!). This is my most favorite day in the Christian Calendar. It is the day our Lord and Savior rose from the dead. . . conquering sin and death. . . so that we can have a right relationship with our God and King! I don’t know about you but I have asked Ray to tether me so that I don’t fly away! Our wait is finally over. . . the past three days are behind us. We can look forward to the kingdom of God. We can walk in the garden in the cool of the evening with our Creator again as was planned from the beginning. We can have that one on one relationship with God again. Ray and I have the same feeling about Easter Morning. . . he even wrote a poem about it. It is called “Bring on the Morning” and it reads:
Oh, bring on the morning!
so we can shed our ashes, our sackcloth
rise with the Christ, He Is Risen!
The grave empty, the Messiah lives
walking among the disciples, sharing his grace
a balm to their souls, the beginning of our future
a risen savior, at the right hand of the creator
our breach sealed and death defeated
Oh, bring on the morning!
our lives renewed, our grief, our shame
cast to the side, our Savior lives
the sin that caused his pain,
washed clean;
He is shimmering white
our eyes turn to the Master's voice
we are his sheep and he our shepherd
Oh bring on the morning!
the old is past and the new just begun
we are raised, we are risen
join the saints, the throng,
singing Hosanna,
all around the world
Christ the Lord is risen today
Oh, bring on the morning!
And what a morning it is because Christ is risen. . . He is risen indeed!
In the Scripture from the Gospel of John this morning. . . it tells us about that fateful morning when Mary went to the tomb. It talks about that first Easter morning. When I read this scripture. . . I saw two stories unfolding in it. One was the story of Mary and the other was the story of Peter and the beloved disciple (which some say was John). Both of the stories had powerful meaning for me and I thought I would share them with you this morning.
Let’s talk about the first story. . . the one of the two disciples Peter and the beloved disciple. Now after Mary went and told them that the stone had been removed. . . They both go running to the tomb. Peter went in first and then the other disciple went in. Peter saw the linen wrappings and such lying on the floor but when the beloved disciple saw these things. . . he. . . believed. They both did not quite understand yet that Jesus had to rise from the dead. . . but. . . even though they didn’t understand. . . the beloved one believed.
Now. . . Peter and the other disciple are given nothing but the evidence of an empty tomb. But still the beloved one believed. He had no angelic announcement that accompanied the glimpse into the empty tomb. . . no reassuring words that Jesus has risen, that he had gone before them. There was only the stark emptiness of the tomb and the tell tale presence of Jesus’ abandoned burial cloth; yet. . . the beloved believed.
You see. . . he believed because he already believed before the crucifixion. The beloved disciple believed in Jesus and the trustworthiness of His promises about Himself and about God. When he saw the empty tomb. . . he knew what that signaled: Jesus had conquered death. He didn’t need Grissom from CSI. . . he didn’t need the New York Times or the Daily Gazette. . . he didn’t need Geraldo to tell him what was going on. He knew what he knew and that was Jesus said it and it was so! Talk about “blind Faith” or should I say “true faith.” Even though he did not fully understand. . . he still believed because Jesus said it was so. . . to have a faith like that would be a wonderful thing. . . something I am sure we would all like to have.
The other story. . . the other scene. . . that I was aware of was the scene with Mary. She was all upset because she did not know where Jesus’ body was. She thought that someone had come and taken it away. When she had told the angels why she was so distraught it was not the angels that comforted her. It was Jesus Himself. She didn’t recognize Him at first. . . but. . . the moment of recognition was when she hears Jesus call her name. At this point she abandon’s her grief and turns to her teacher expectantly. It is the demonstration of the Truth of Jesus’ promise that He would see His followers again, that their grief in His absence would turn to joy, that He would not leave His followers orphaned. This scene captures all of the joy the church experiences when it exults on Easter Sunday Christ is Risen. . . He is Risen indeed! But. . . I also see something else in this scene. You see. . . Jesus tells her that she cannot touch Him because He still needs to ascend to the Father. Now. . . He could have just ascended and came back later as we all know He did. . . but. . . He makes this “pit stop”. . . to talk to Mary. . . to comfort her. . . while he was on His way up to the Father. Even from the grave Jesus still was showing His compassion on the down hearted.
Easter. . . the Cross. . . you know. . . there are many ways that people look at the cross. Some people look at the embodied cross. . . they feel that the most important day ever is the day that Jesus died on the cross. Others look to the empty cross and tomb. They look at the Risen Lord not the suffering savior. To me. . . without the empty cross and tomb. . . there is no completion to Jesus’ ministry here on earth. In order to conquer sin and death. . . He needed to rise on that fateful Sunday Morning. To me the most important day is Easter Sunday. This is what the poem that Ray wrote, “With out Easter” embodies. It reads:
The cross, the sacrifice, the suffering
taking on our sins, to reconcile us to the creator
that is the story, of Maundy Thursday,
of the good, Good Friday.
But without Easter, the story is incomplete
unfinished, good but not triumphant
the lamb a sacrifice, the humble servant;
but not the king, the lamb upon the throne
We need Easter, the risen Lord,
vanquishing death, the tomb
Rising from grave, walking once more
with the disciples, believers, the faithful
Walking on the Road to Emmaus,
communing with them in the Upper Room
assuaging their fear before his ascension
preparing them for the Pentecost
laying the way for our future
as they would spread his word
to the ends of the earth
a story, ultimately that would be
Nothing without Easter
But is that the end of the story? Is there more that we need to think about regarding this Resurrection morn?
The good news that Jesus commands Mary to proclaim is not that He is risen, but that he is “ascending to my Father and your Father, to My God and your God.” This is not meant to minimize the resurrection, but to note. . . for Johns Gospel. . . the appearances of the risen Jesus are neither counterpart to the cross or the climax of the story. The cross brings the incarnation to a close but the story of the “Logos”. . . the Word. . . the Plan. . . finds its conclusion only in Jesus’ return to God which is the counter part of the descent from heaven. This return makes new life possible for the believing community, because Jesus’ ascent to God renders permanent that which was revealed about God during the incarnation.
The love of God embodied in Jesus was not of temporary duration. . . lasting only as long as the incarnation. The truth of Jesus’ revelation of God receives its final seal in His return to God. Jesus announces His ascension to Mary by saying “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Jesus Himself translates what His ascension means “for us.” Through Jesus’ ascension, the believing community receives a new identity. His ascension is the conformation that the believing community now knows God as Jesus knows God, that Jesus has opened up the possibility of a new and full relationship with God. The intimacy of Jesus’ relationship with God is now the relationship of the believing community can have with God. In verse 16. . . Jesus demonstrates the power of intimacy of relationship with one of His own sheep and in verse 17. . . that power and intimacy is opened up for all believers. . . members of the community. His promises in the Farwell Discourse all pointed in the direction of this ascension announcement that the love that God and Jesus have for each other would be opened up by Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension to include the believing community.
It’s Easter Sunday. . . Christ has risen. . . He is risen indeed. Where does the story end? Is it at the cross. . . with the empty tomb. . . or at His ascension? I my eyes. . . the story goes on. Yes Jesus conquered sin and death for you and me. Yes He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. But His story lives on in you and in me. We are now that believing community that has had the bridge built for them. We are the ones who carry on with His ministry here on earth. Praise God for our Lord and Savior. . . the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. Whom without His love and compassion we would still be estranged from the best Father we will ever have.
AMEN
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