Then They Remembered!

Text:  Luke 24:1-12

Theme:  “Then They Remembered”

The Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord/Easter Sunday

March 27, 2016

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Hallelujah!  It takes a word from Jesus, this time vouchsafed by angels, to jog their memory.  Allow them their fear for the moment – these women who went to the tomb motivated mostly by a massive emotional intermingling of grief and love.  Then they heard it:  “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!  Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee; The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”

“Then,” says St. Luke, “they remembered his words.”

They remembered the words of Jesus.

Forgetfulness.  It happens all the time.  It happened with them; it happens with us. We’re supposed to remember something important – just can’t remember what it was.   We don’t make a note of it.  We don’t write it down.  We don’t tie a piece of string around our finger.  We don’t repeat it to ourselves a half dozen or so times.  We neglect to key it in, type it in, cut and paste it into our cellphone’s “daily planner”, highlight it in – take your pick of colors – in our Nooks or Kindles.   We grow up hearing:  “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times.”  It’s all their in our minds, we are told by medical scientists, but we can’t access the information when we need it. 

Somehow or another, that statement of Jesus – about rising on the third day – went from front and center in the “inbox” deeply into the “spam” file of their brains.  But at the angels’ words, it was moved from Spam to front and center.  Put a hashtag on it!  He is risen!

Of course, this news is just too incredible to sit on, so the women hurry back to the larger group of disciples with the report from the empty tomb and with their memories being refreshed!   They men aren’t buying it; they thought it was “nonsense”, reports Luke.  “But Peter, however, ran to the tomb.”  Wallowing around in various and sundry nonsensical mutterings was not for him; bless his gregarious heart!    He ends up wondering what happened when he sees the empty tomb and the grave clothes lying there.

With “#HEISRISEN!” as a festival banner in our minds and hearts, I wish to follow the goodly example of the Easter angels and invite you to remember with me. There are two things:  the mission of Jesus and the mission He gave to His disciples.

First, rewind to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  He had been baptized; for forty days He was tempted in the wilderness.  Then, after a short stint of preaching and teaching, He returned to his boyhood synagogue, His “home congregation” (if you will), and participated in the service.  In it, He spelled out HIS mission.  Today, on the anniversary of His glorious resurrection from the grave, let remember His mission.

Jesus said, quoting Isaiah: 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

“I’m that guy,” Jesus was saying.  “I’ve been anointed; I have good news for the poor, release for prisoners, sight for the blind, freedom for oppressed, and a message that the favor of God rests on all people.” 

Take that with me and run with it, like Peter, for a moment.  Where are the poor, imprisoned, blind, oppressed, un-favored people today?  Think of Muslims trying to escape from men in black with guns and tanks and knives and suicide bombs; they want to live in peace – even with people different than them; think of displaced Syrian refugees in vast tent communities – acres upon acres!

I’ve heard the claim put forth that our “religious liberties” are being infringed in America. Really?  Seriously? What about Coptic Christians in Egypt whose homes have been marked for eradication and churches bombed out?  What about the Wycliffe Bible translators who were beheaded?  What about those with different religions?  What about those who make less money than we do?  What about those whose skin color is different? What about that person who sleeps under a tree right next to this chancel right over there?  What about those suffering from mental illness and poly-substance abuse?  Texas is ranked 49^th in the country in assisting that community.  Denton county is ranked last in Texas.  But we sure can build bigger prisons!   What about the LBGTQ community?  They, too, have spirits and souls.  Has Christianity somehow forgotten that?  Put a rainbow banner of welcome behind #HEISRISEN! Perhaps it’s time to remember the mission of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ!

“If that is so,” someone might rightly ask, “why all this about crosses and empty tombs?”  It’s because the mission of Jesus was met with massive resistance.  The religious and political establishment at the time could not stand such a mission; they had to get rid of it.  “If you let Him go, you’re no friend of Caesar!”  You’re no friend of POWER!  Pilate caved.

We are in a season, right here and right now in America, where we are about to elect what we call “the leader of the free world”.  Many are looking for a powerful personage, essentially, to “buy us back”, to redeem us from the many problems the nation faces.  We yearn desperately for redemptive power!

Yet, at the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ and His good news, is not redemptive power.  It’s redemptive suffering.  That is what redeems:  redemptive suffering.  People may or may not accept that, but God did.  And that’s why we’re here today.  He was raised from the dead by the glory of His Father! 

Fast-forward to forty days after the resurrection of Christ!  He took His disciples to a mountain in Galilee.  His mission completed, He gave them theirs.  “When You arrived to where I send you, make disciples of all nations – baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep everything I commanded you.  And surely I will be with you always – even to the end of the ages.”

The church’s mission is to share and embody the mission of Jesus – to welcome all people, to be an invitation (by the way we live our lives) for people to find themselves and their value in this world that so tries to disintegrate, atomize, and obliterate them.  To let people see the joy of the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit. To let people see a table set for them in the wilderness of this earthly life.  “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He said.

There are many “church members” in the world.  You go for an hour on Sunday, cut your check (weekly, monthly, yearly) as a kind of quiet eternal life insurance premium, and go about your business.  What Jesus invites us to is a discipleship of working with His Spirit to make more disciples; he invites to be lifelong learners and participants in His teachings and Sacraments; we keep them in order to give them away!

As disciples, then, our mission synchronizes beautifully with the mission of Jesus. 

“Then they remembered.”  My hope is that this meditation has helped to jog your memory, as the angels did with the women at the tomb – to jog your memory about this holy day, about the mission of Jesus, about the mission of His followers then and now, and how those missions synchronize as one. 

In Brussels, Belgium, where suicide bombs devastated both metropolis and nation, thousands gathered in the town square just a few days ago.  An orchestra was gathered there, and, on cue, they struck up with the playing of Ludwig Von Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”. 

“Then they remembered.”  May our lives be odes to joy, for He is risen indeed!

Amen.