Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. - Pastor

Easter Sunday - March 31, 2002

Lessons: Acts 10:34-43; Col. 3:1-4; John 20:1-18

"A Surprise in the garden"

Introduction:

Early 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...

And suddenly the whole world had changed. They didn't understand what had happened; they didn't understand how, but in that one instant, the world would never be the same.

Last fall we lived through an event like that. I was brushing my teeth, and news came on the radio about a plane hitting the world trade center. I turned the TV on, and watched in amazement, trying to understand. Was it an accident? How big of plane? What would happen? Then another one hit, and...you know the rest of the story. But we still don't know all that that event will mean.

On Resurrection morning, Mary Magdalene didn't know what it meant. Peter and John didn't know what it meant, but John says that immediately he believed. The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn't understand what it meant. The disciples hiding in the upper room didn't understand what it meant. But finally they believed.

-And the reason the story is told to you, is not to tell you a really cool story.

-The reason the story is told to you is not to remind you of an important historical event.

-The reason the story is told to you is not to prove the validity of a major world religion.

-The reason the story is told to you is, in the words of John: (John 20:31)

But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have eternal life in his name.

If this just remains a really cool story, or an important historical event, or the founding story of a major world religion, that is not enough. What it comes down to is whether the story belongs to you. It's a question of whether the story is the story that becomes your resurrection.

But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have eternal life in his name.

This one story changes everything for you.

Max Lucado, in his book, Six Hours One Friday, tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle. They lived near a large river. The tribe was in need of medical attention. A contagious disease was ravaging the population. People were dying daily.

A hospital was not too terribly far away-- across the river- but the Indians would not cross it because they believed it was inhabited by evil spirits. They believed that to enter the water would mean certain death. The missionary explained how he had crossed the river and was unharmed. They were not impressed. He then took them to the bank and placed his hand in the water. They still wouldn't go in. He walked into the water up to his waist and splashed water on his face. It didn't matter. They were still afraid to enter the river. Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath the surface until he emerged on the other side. He punched a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water and escaped. It was then that the Indians broke out into a cheer and followed him across.

That's exactly what Jesus did! He told the people of His day that they need not fear the river of death, but they wouldn't believe. He touched a dead boy and called him back to life. They still didn't believe. He whispered life into the body of a dead girl and got the same result. He let a dead man spend 4 days in a tomb and then called him out and the people still didn't believe Him. Finally, He entered the river of death and came out on the other side. No wonder we celebrate the Resurrection!

But it's still not enough to just hear the story. It's not enough to agree that it's true. It's not enough to celebrate it. It becomes your living story when you trust in Christ. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have eternal life in his name. As you hear the story, God is producing something new in your heart. We believe that we can't create faith ourselves. We believe we can't decide to have faith. We understand God's Word to say that God creates this faith as you are hearing the story. The Spirit of the resurrected Jesus is creating that same resurrection life in your heart. And he calls you to come to a point where you can say, 'Yes!' He promises to work in you to bring you to the point that you know that it's true. He calls you to respond in faith. That word we translate as 'faith' actually means, 'trust'. In fact, the normal Christian life is one in which you have come to a deep inward assurance that indeed Jesus Christ is alive and living in your heart, in other words, that he has come into the very center of what makes you you. He is calling you not only to believe about him, but to trust him, or as the Gospel of John puts it, believe into him.

One of our members, John Gilbertson has helped to build many of the skyscrapers in our area. He did that by setting up the crane on the top of the building that keeps going up and up as the building is being built. He has actually gone up to the tip-top of many of these buildings, then climbed out on the steel, and then climbed up a long steel ladder to get up into the cab of that crane, way up there on the top of that building-maybe 500 feet in the air. He has invited me to go up there. I don't think that's an invitation I'll ever accept.

But if you could imagine John and I up on top of that building, 500 feet in the air, with an old 2x4. John might set that across a couple of those steel beams, and say, "Pastor, do you believe this 2x4 would hold you up?" I might look at it, see if there are any knots, see how rotten it looked, and I might come to believe that, yes, indeed, that 2x4 would hold me.

However, if John were then to say, Pastor, if you trust that 2x4, why don't you step out there and walk over to me- That would be quite different. I think, as I looked down, I would be captured by the gravity of the situation.

That's the difference between believing about Jesus, and believing into Jesus. That trust, that deep assurance is what God wants to produce in your life. That deep sense of knowing that he is real, that he loves you and that he's in your life is what he desires to plant deep inside you. In fact, as you hear the promises, that's what he's doing. And he calls you to affirm that faith, to say, 'Yes Lord, I believe.'

That's the faith that is the normative, biblical Christian walk. That's the faith that defeats death, that gives peace in life, and the reason we gather. Our risen Lord has given us life, through faith. And that makes the difference.

Sir Winston Churchill, the leader of Great Britain in World War II, pre-arranged his own funeral. There were stately hymns in St. Paul's Cathedral and an impressive liturgy. But at the end of the service, Churchill had an unusual event planned. When they said the benediction, a bugler high in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on one side played Taps, the universal signal that the day is over. There was a long pause. Then a bugler on the other side played Reveille, the military wake-up call.

Because of the Resurrection of Jesus, a Christian's death is not signaled by 'Taps' alone, but by the promise of 'Reveille.' In death, we see the gate to eternal life.

Early 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... She expected that to be the end, the final duty she had to perform for her good friend, Jesus. She was surprised by a beginning. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Invitation

Festival - The Resurrection of Our Lord - March 31, 2002

Acts 10:34-43

Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism [35] but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. [36] You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. [37] You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached-- [38] how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

[39] "We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, [40] but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. [41] He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. [42] He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. [43] All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Col. 3:1-4

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [3] For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

John 20:1-18

Early 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. [2] So 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!"

[3] So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. [4] Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. [5] He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. [6] Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, [7] as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. [8] Finally 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.)

[10] Then the disciples went back to their homes, [11] but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb [12] and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

[13] They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." [14] 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."

[16] Jesus said to her, "Mary."

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

[17] Jesus 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.' "

[18] Mary 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.