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Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Sermon - "Victory in Jesus", by Pastor Ruth L. Foss, April 4, 2010, Suncook United Methodist Church, Suncook, NH, Easter Sunday

Pastor Ruth Foss
April 4, 2010
Easter Sunday
Suncook UMC
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (NIV)
Mark 16:1-6 (NIV)

“Victory in Jesus”

The Lord be with you

And also with you

Let us pray…

Loving, Compassionate, Forgiving God, we thank you for this Resurrection Morn. We thank you that you loved humankind so much that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, to die in our stead. You wanted a relationship with your creation and this was the only way to have that. We thank you that you raised Him from the dead so that we could have new life in Him. Be with us now as we hear the word you would have for us this day. May we truly be a Resurrection people for your glory. Speak Lord…your servants, your children and friends are listening…

Well . . . here we are. We have been through Holy week. We have been from a triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the Passover meal. We have been from the garden to the cross. We have been joyful and sorrowful this week. And now . . . we are at that first Easter morn. Ok . . . I am going to need help with my sermon this morning from you. When I say Christ is Risen, I want you to say He is Risen indeed. Now I am not talking about a melancholy type of response from you, I want you to say it with feeling. I want you to shout it from the roof tops. Are you ready? Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

I want us to look at that fateful day . . . that day when we survey the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, at first glance it looked like evil had conquered good. All who surveyed the cross saw a man dying . . . an innocent man convicted of crimes He did not commit. This Messiah, as the people thought of Him, did nothing to free His people. All He did was go about teaching a new, radical way of life. But there was so much more than the eye can see in this situation.

You see . . . we cannot appreciate Easter until we have been to Calvary’s Cross, until we have been there the week before. It is not until we see the ugliness of the past couple of days, until we have been in the darkest place, then, and only then, can we see the beauty of the first Resurrection Morn. Let’s go back to Friday, two hours before sunset, the beginning of the Sabbath day.

Jewish regulations said that there could be no work done on the Sabbath, therefore, no one could bury a person on that day. Pilate had ordered that all the prisoners that were crucified legs be broken to speed up the dying process. This was at the petition of the Religious leaders, the Jewish authorities. They didn’t want any of the bodies still hanging on the cross. Things needed to be done to get the bodies ready for burial and there was little time left, only a small window of opportunity.

Joseph of Arimathea stepped up to the plate and asked Pilate for Jesus’ body. Joseph was a secret disciple of Jesus. He had not agreed with the plan of the council even though he too was of that same council. He was afraid of the Jews and what they might do if they found out he was a follower of “The Way” (as they called it back then). This shows us that it was not just the least, last and forgotten that were followers of Jesus.

Nicodemus, also a secret disciple of Jesus, helped Joseph by bringing the burial spices needed for Jesus’ burial. They had to work fast . . . they had no time for a “full burial”. Jesus was prepared by cleaning His body and wrapping Him in clean linen cloth. Jesus was put in Joseph’s very own burial cave. This got me to thinking, how am I like Nicodemus and Joseph? When am I a “secret disciple” of Jesus? When do I keep quiet when I should speak up for what is right? When do I go along just to get along? In what ways do I dishonor the cross?

And where were the disciples at this time? Why weren’t they there to help bury their teacher? Why was it just these two men, these secret disciples, and two women named Mary there at Jesus’ “grave site”? The Gospel’s tell us that they were behind locked doors, afraid to come out, afraid of what might happen to them if they did. Would they too suffer the same fate as Jesus? John tells us that they had been behind locked doors since Friday when they fled from the scene of Jesus’ death. It may have even been in the same room in which hours earlier they had shared a Passover meal with the Master.

These disciples must have been riddled with guilt and despair. Jesus, they believed, was the Messiah. He was going to take the world by storm. He was going to free His people from oppression. Now their Messiah was dead. Their hope was gone. They had left everything to follow Jesus. They knew God was with Him by the things he did when alive. How could this have happened? Did they question God and His reasoning of things? The evil that these righteous men had done seemed to have won over the good that Jesus did in life. How would you have felt if you had been in their shoes?

Here we are now at Saturday. What was happening on this day? None of the Gospels really talk about what was happening Saturday, nothing about what happened after Jesus’ death, after He was buried in the tomb. Well . . . it is believed that Jesus descended into Sheol, into Hell, and proclaimed the good News there to them so that they too may believe and have redemption, a place in Heaven. This belief would point to the love and depth of Jesus’ passion for reaching those who are alienated from God.

Now we get to Sunday morning . . . the third day! Let’s see what Mark has to say about this Resurrection Morn . . . (Read Mark16:1-6)

This resurrection thing, this being alive after death, it is something hard to grasp. The Gospels tell us that it was hard for the disciples to believe at first. The men and women found it hard to believe, these people who saw Him after His death, alive and with them. It is a no wonder that it is so much harder for people twenty centuries later, having not seen the empty tomb or Jesus with their own eyes.. the disciples saw him, walked and talked with Him, He was not a ghost but alive. Christ is Risen! Jesus told them to go out and proclaim the Good news and make disciples. Baptize them, teach them, and even though they did not see Him, he would always be with them who believe. This not only goes for the first disciples but also to all disciples for ages to come until the end of age. It is an assurance for them and for us to day. We never walk alone. Christ is Risen!

After their encounter with the Risen Lord, they no longer hid behind locked doors. They were radically changed. They were empowered and full of hope, they were anointed and appointed, because of this encounter with Jesus and we too are changed when we accept Christ’s gift of salvation. Christ is the victor over sin and death and we too can be victorious. What Jesus went through for us shows us God’s power and victory over death and powers of evil and sin that alienates us from God, and we by faith share this same victory through Jesus Christ!

I like how Adam Hamilton puts it in his book 24 Hours That Changed the World. I’ll paraphrase it for you, it is like God entered the boxing ring with evil and evil was winning. God took a real bad beating from the enemy but when it looked like the match was all over and seemed lost, Jesus rose and in His Resurrection dealt a finishing blow to evil, sin and death. A full bodied “KO” and became victor. Christ is Risen! Because Jesus was victorious, humankind can join forces with Him and can live a life of hope, freedom and love if we but chose a contender to side with.

Jesus’ resurrection confirmed the meaning of His death. This Resurrection Morn brought about the forgiveness of sin. It’s God’s sign of victory over death, it’s a sign of God’s love, it’s a sign of a restored and renewed relationship with God, and it’s a sign of hope and peace.

It’s Resurrection Morn. Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Mark 16:1-6
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Worship Theme: “He Lives!”
and sermon, “Victory in Jesus”
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss
the sixth in a series of sermons, based in part on the book,
“24 Hours That Changed the World”, by Reverend Adam Hamilton
http://thewell.cor.org/resurrection-resources/24-hours-that-changed-the-world.html
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
April 4, 2010
Easter Sunday



All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 35,080+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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