They Got the Message!

Text:  Matthew 28:1-10

Theme:  "They Got the Message"

The Resurrection of the Lord/Easter Sunday

April 20, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them,“Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Well, of course they went to the tomb!  What else were they going to do?  You just can't sit there; the grief will crush you.  Mary Magdalene and that other Mary were holding on to the last shred of humanity they had.  It has been said one of the marks of humanity and, indeed, that of civilization, is the respects we pay to those who have died.  Hats off to the ladies; they went to pay their respects.

The Sabbath was over, and it was just another Sunday morning like so many others they experienced before they met the man whose tomb they were about to visit.   Soon, it would be back to the same old hum-drum, the same ole hub-bub and rub-a-dub-dub that they were accustomed to.  We call it the "daily grind" -- et cetera and so forth.  The last few years had really been something.  Jesus made quite the splash, said a bunch of nice things, healed many people.  He's just the kind of guy you'd feel safe to pin your hopes on -- like so many others had done.  But He goes off and gets pinned to a cross -- and their hopes and those of many others are crucified with Him.  Hope, as it were, moves into the past tense-- as those two disciples said the first Easter evening on the Emmaus road: "We had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel"; as John Greenleaf Whittier, the poet, said so well:  "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'" 

It might have been really something, but THEY KILLED THE MAN. It might have been a new way of life; it might have been a future filled with hope, but THEY KILLED THE MAN. They were all in, in for good, in for the long haul,  but THEY KILLED THE MAN.  They were ready to live, really live, but all that had ended in yet another trip to pay respects, another journey to the grave.  Why?  Because they KILLED THE MAN.  So sad.  Oh, the thought of what might have been.  Their hopes were dashed.  Like that Annie Lennox song, they must have felt like they were "walkin' on broken glass."

Are there any seismologists in the house this morning?  Did you bring a Richter Scale?  Matthew reports:  Kai idou seismos egeneto megas!  Literally translated, it goes like this:  "And behold, a seismic event happened -- a big one." For you linguistic purists, the NIV translates it as a "violent earthquake."  Either rendering is just fine with me.  Then something happens amid all  this seismology.  An angel -- the word angel means "messenger", by the way -- comes down from heaven, goes to the tomb, rolls back the stone, and then the aforementioned angel sits down on it. I just love that image, that visual!   Did the angel cross his/her/it's legs?  We do not know.  Did the angel twiddle his/her/it's thumbs?  We don't know.  Almost as an aside, Matthew reports that the angelic clothes were "white as snow."

Oh, I almost forgot.  How about the guards?  They were the representatives of the great and mighty Roman government. They were the servants of empire!  They had their armor; they had their swords; they had their orders to make sure no grave robbers would show up to launch another ridiculous religious myth.  They were ready; they were TRAINED to play the game of thrones if it came to that.

What became of these grand and glorious representatives of the state?  What happened to these armed guards?  They were so afraid of that white-robed angel that they "shook and became like dead men," says our text.  Where's the courage?  Where's the valor now?  Their behavior was close to treasonous!   Meanwhile, the angel just sat there on the stone -- possibly with his/her/it's legs crossed and/or twiddling his/her/it's thumbs, and seemingly amused at the fear which caused those soldiers to fake their own deaths.

Jesus didn't fake His death.  The women knew it.  The angel knew it, and, more than that, the aforementioned angel had a message for the ladies:  "Do not be afraid."  ("You don't have to put on an act like these men.") "I KNOW that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here, he has risen, just as He said."  Then, beckoningly, the angel continues:  "Come and see where He lay." 

Every Easter rolls around, and I ask myself:  did the angel roll away the stone to let Jesus out?  Every Easter rolls around, and I get the same answer:  the angel rolled away the stone not to let Jesus out.  After all, He rose from the grave by the glory of His Father and not because a big rock get relocated.  No, that stone was rolled away so that we could look in, so that we -- like the Marys -- would get the message:  death does not have the last word.

There's a little bit more to the message; it's a word of instruction:  "Go quickly and tell His disciples:  'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him." 

The soldiers had their orders, and they end up so afraid that they fake their own deaths.  The angel had orders too, but the angel delivered. 

The women hurry away from the empty tomb, for they had the message and the instructions were to share it.  Maybe it's high time the holy catholic church run away from the empty tomb as well.  Maybe it's time to get the message straight (about Christianity) and to get it out.  Instead of standing at the tomb; instead of standing on our Bibles; instead of standing on our piety, isn't it high time to get out there, share the Gospel as the good news it really is, and then live it with love and joy?

 It says the women were "afraid yet filled with joy."  I wonder which emotion won out.  Which emotion carried the most weight?  Was there more fear and less joy? Or was there more joy and less fear?  It doesn't happen very often, and it's pure craziness when you have both of those emotions at once.  Think of the fear and joy there is when you're about to buy a new house.  Think of the fear and joy there is when a young couple finds out they're about to become parents for the first time.  What a mixture of emotion.  That's what the ladies felt when they hurried away with their instructions.

Then all of that was interrupted.  They're going ninety-to-nothing and emotionally overwrought and all of that, and what happens?  They're interrupted.  They hear a voice:  "Greetings!"  It says that they "suddenly met Jesus."

"They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshipped Him."  They got the message, and they didn't miss the opportunity of a lifetime.  Today, we have that opportunity too.  God help us not to miss it.  When we get the message, we welcome Him and worship Him.  You're here.  I'm here.  The Spirit of the risen Jesus is here.  And that means that hope is NEVER in the past tense.

Finally, Jesus says to the Marys:  "Do not be afraid."  Jesus tipped the emotional scales!  They didn't head out with joy and fear.  It was just joy, for Jesus bid them not to be afraid.   Ditch the fear; keep the joy!   The instructions, however, stayed the same:  "Go and tell!"  And here we are over two thousand years later.  Our very presence proclaims that they got the message.  Now, it's our turn.  We can be Roman guard style Christians who, truth be told, are paralyzed with fear and end up faking their own death.  Or we can be Mary and Mary Christians who go and tell because the Spirit of the risen Christ has met them in their hearts and lives TODAY!

My wife shared with me a beautiful prayer by Brian McClaren that was written for pastors on Easter.  The last part of that prayer, though, is good for all of us and is a fitting conclusion.  Here's how it reads:

 

I pray they all will (have) the simple joy
Of women and men standing in the presence of women and men,
Daring to proclaim and echo the good news;
Risen indeed! Alleluia!
For death is not the last word.
Violence is not the last word.
Hate is not the last word.
Money is not the last word.
Intimidation is not the last word.
Political power is not the last word.
Condemnation is not the last word.
Betrayal and failure are not the last word.
No, each of them are left like rags in a tomb,
And from that tomb,
Arises Christ,
Alive.

And all God's people said:  Amen.