12 April 2020
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 24:1-8
24 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.
-- when I was in school, history class was different than
it is for kids now -- for us, history meant memorizing the dates of important
events -- of learning about the past by memorializing the dates and events
through time that stood out as different or unique or significant
-- we learned early on little sayings like, “in 1492,
Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” as ways to know what had happened in the past
-- we were told to remember July 4th, 1776 as the date the Declaration of
Independence was signed -- April 12, 1861 -- the start of the Civil War --
October, 1929 -- when the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression
-- December 7th, 1941 -- Pearl Harbor -- the day that will live in infamy -- and
November 22, 1963 -- the day John F. Kennedy was shot
-- since then, I have lived through many other memorable
events -- events that stand out to me to this day -- events that are written
into the heartbeat of my life
-- I know exactly where I was at on March 30, 1981, when
I heard that Reagan was shot -- and on January 28, 1986, when I heard the space
shuttle Challenger exploded -- and, of course, on September 11th, 2001, when
the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
-- events like these -- days of significance such as
these -- live on in our memories as reminders of our past -- as significant
events in our history that have made us who we are today -- as individuals and
as a people
-- but out of all these dates that we remember and
recognize as significant events, there is one day that stands above the all --
one date that echoes throughout eternity -- a Sunday that no one will ever
forget
-- not just a date memorialized in a dry and dusty
history tome -- but the culmination of His story -- the first Easter morning
II. Scripture Lesson
(Luke 24:1-8)
-- this morning, as we gather in our homes to remember
this special day, I wanted us to turn together to the gospel of Luke and look
at Luke’s account of the resurrection of Christ on this Sunday that no one will
ever forget
-- so, if you have your Bibles with you, please look now
at Luke 24:1, and let’s read that together
24:1 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.
-- as we begin, let me give you the context of this
passage to remind everyone of what has happened in the week leading up to this
day that will never be forgotten
-- it all began the previous Sunday -- Palm Sunday --
when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to the cheers of the
people shouting, “Hosanna! Hosanna!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” -- the people gathered
to praise Him as their returning King -- and, as they laid their cloaks and
palm branches in the street before Him, it seemed the time had come for His
kingdom to be realized -- as we say in our prayers, “thy kingdom come, they
will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven”
-- but just a few days later, everything changed -- the
chief priests and the Sanhedrin plotted against Jesus and sought some way to
have Him arrested -- and they found a willing conspirator in Judas Iscariot --
who sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
-- it all came to a head on Thursday -- Jesus had
gathered with His disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem -- they had shared
the Passover meal together and Jesus had initiated a new sacrament by offering
the bread and the wine as His body and blood -- He had washed the feet of His
disciples -- He had shared with them again about His pending death
-- eventually, they left the upper room and made their
way to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed in anguish over the
struggle He would soon face -- it was there He was arrested, after being
betrayed by a kiss from one of His own disciples -- and it was there the rest
fled in fear
-- Jesus was carried to the home of the high priest and
then to the temple -- where He was tried by Annas and Caiaphas -- condemned by
the Sanhedrin for blasphemy -- and then turned over to the Roman Governor Pontius
Pilate for judgment
-- despite Pilate’s best attempts to release Jesus, the
crowd and the Jewish leaders persisted in their charge against Him -- Jesus was
condemned to death by crucifixion -- He was beaten and whipped by the Roman
guards -- forced to carry His own cross to Golgotha -- where He was crucified
and killed on Friday
-- His body was claimed by Joseph of Arimathea, wrapped
in cloths, and laid in a nearby tomb before the Sabbath began
-- and while the disciples remained scattered and hid
alone or in small groups from fear of the Jewish leaders on that Sabbath day,
the chief priests and the Jewish leaders rejoiced that their plans had worked
and Jesus was dead
-- and, I’m sure, Satan and his demons rejoiced along
with them -- for, you see, their evil plan had worked -- Jesus was dead -- the
Messiah lay in a grave, never to be heard from again -- His voice, stilled --
his followers, silenced -- His movement, ended -- God’s plans, thwarted -- that
was Saturday
-- But then Sunday dawned…
-- which brings us to the beginning of this chapter -- Luke
tells us here in verse 1 that the same women who were with Jesus at the
crucifixion on Friday have now come to His tomb very early on Sunday morning --
they couldn’t come to the tomb before, because it was the Sabbath and work was
forbidden on the Sabbath -- but now it’s Sunday -- the first day of the week
--and they have come at the dawning of the day to anoint Jesus’ body for final
burial with spices and aromatic herbs
-- but I believe they’ve come for more than that, as any
of us who has ever lost a loved one understands
-- when someone first passes away -- especially after an
untimely and tragic death, such as Jesus’ -- there is a period of unbelief -- a
period when it just doesn’t seem real -- it just doesn’t seem possible
-- there’s a period when your mind just can’t accept that
someone is truly gone and won’t be coming back -- that’s where the women were as
the sun rose on that Sunday morning -- that’s why they’ve come to the tomb
-- it’s been three days now since Jesus was laid in the
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea -- and it’s starting to become real to them --
Jesus is dead -- He’s not coming back -- and now it’s time to move on -- to do
what tradition requires -- to prepare His body for burial
-- verse 2-8
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.
-- when the women arrive at the tomb, nothing is as they
expected -- the guards are gone -- the stone is rolled away from the entrance
-- and the body that they had seen laid there just two days before is missing
-- this ordinary Sunday is starting out a lot different
from what they expected -- they had come to a tomb to anoint a body for final
burial, just as they must have done many times before in the past for family
and friends -- this was part of their culture -- this was part of their
tradition
-- they knew what they were going to find when they got
there -- they knew what they were going to have to do -- they had steeled
themselves for this moment -- but now they’ve gotten there, and things aren’t
like they should be -- nothing is like they expected
-- so, the women are standing there in disbelief, wondering
what could have happened to Jesus’ body -- wondering what it all meant -- when
all of a sudden, two men in clothes so white they gleamed like lightning appeared
beside them -- Matthew and John tell us in their accounts that these were angels
who appeared to the women that morning
-- one of the angels spoke to the women -- “Why do you
look for the living among the dead? -- He is not here -- He has risen! -- do
you not remember the words that He spoke to you? -- do you not remember what He
said? -- He told you this would happen”
-- and, with those words, everything changed
-- a Sunday that began as a day as just another ordinary
day -- a day to mourn and prepare Jesus’ body for final burial became a day
that nobody would ever forget -- because with the sunrise on that first Easter
morning, the women at the tomb -- along with all of creation -- both the
natural and the supernatural worlds -- remembered the words of Jesus
-- they remembered His promise to rise again on the third
day
-- and they realized that there wasn’t any grave that was
going to be able to hold Jesus’ body down -- there wasn’t any grave that was
going to bind our Savior God -- there wasn’t any grave that was going to keep
Jesus away from us or us away from Him
-- No, for the first time since the fall of Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden -- out of all the Sundays that had ever happened in the
world before -- this Sunday was a day that nobody would ever forget -- because
Jesus wasn’t dead -- He was risen
-- He had defeated the grave -- He had defeated sin and
death -- He had risen again, just as He had said, and He had won the victory
for all
-- the curse that fell on the earth as a consequence of
Adam and Eve’s sin was no more -- the sting of sin and death were lifted forever
-- the veil was torn and we were reconciled with the Father -- and eternal life
was within our grasp
-- no longer would the grave be a final resting place --
for because of Jesus -- because of Easter -- no grave was ever going to be able
to hold us down again
-- just as He rose from the dead on that Sunday that no
one will ever forget, so we too will rise from the grave to eternal life in Him
-- Amen and Amen
III. An Easter Nobody Will Ever Forget
-- this morning we find ourselves
celebrating Easter on another Sunday that no one in our lifetimes will ever
forget
-- because of Covid-19 -- because of
the coronavirus -- we have been told to not gather together -- to stay at home
-- to self-isolate -- to avoid public gatherings and to wear face masks and to
continually wash our hands to prevent infection -- to “flatten the curve” as
we’ve heard over and over these past several weeks
-- but when we were asked to cancel
Easter services, either by the Government or by our denominational leaders,
there was consternation and confusion and concern
-- some congregations readily
complied, not necessarily because the Government told them to do so, but out of
caution and out of a desire to not spread the virus to anyone else, especially
to those more susceptible -- looking at this as obeying Jesus’ command to love
our neighbors as ourselves and to care for the lesser among us
-- Other congregations have been
defiant, arguing their right to gather together, especially on this most holy
of days -- regardless of the cost
-- but the thing is -- it doesn’t
matter whether we gather together face-to-face or whether we worship apart or
even over the internet -- it changes nothing about this day of what this day
means
-- from the moment Jesus rose from
the dead on that first Easter morning -- from the moment that He shattered the
chains of sin and death and led the captives free -- everything changed
-- for those who believed -- for
those who put their faith and trust in the risen Savior -- for those who
repented of their sins and trusted in the atoning death of Jesus on the cross
and His resurrection victory -- Sundays would never be the same again --
instead of just being the day after the Sabbath, Sundays became the Day of the
Lord -- Sundays became a celebration of the resurrection
-- and it doesn’t matter who you are
-- or where you are -- whether you’re alone or whether you’re in a crowd -- it
doesn’t change the fact that Jesus rose from the dead on this day, reconciling
us to the Father and offering us forgiveness for ours sins and freedom from
death forever
-- I want to share with you a short
poem that Kristi Bothur wrote about this particular Easter Sunday and the
coronavirus that really speaks to the point I’m trying to make
-- it is called, “How the Virus
Stole Easter,” and it’s in the style of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr.
Seuss
HOW
THE VIRUS STOLE EASTER
(From:
https://www.thissideofheavenblog.com/blog/)
Twas
late in '19 when the virus began,
Bringing
chaos and fear to all people, each land.
People
were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors
overwhelmed, no one in school.
As
winter gave way to the promise of spring,
The
virus raged on, touching peasant and king.
People
hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They
YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.
April
approached and churches were closed.
"There
won't be an Easter," the world supposed.
"There
won't be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No
reason for new dresses when we can't go about."
Holy
Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The
world was focused on masks and on tests.
"Easter
can't happen this year," they proclaimed.
"Online
and at home, it just won't be the same."
Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The
virus pressed on; it just would not relent.
The
world woke Sunday and nothing had changed.
The
virus still menaced, the people, estranged.
"Pooh
pooh to the saints," the world was grumbling.
"They're
finding out now that no Easter is coming.
"They're
just waking up! I know what they'll do!
Their
mouths will hang open a minute or two,
And
then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.
"That
noise," said the world, "would be something to hear."
So
it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.
And
it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It
started down low, then it started to rise.
But
the sound wasn't depressed.
Why,
this sound was triumphant!
It
couldn't be so!
But
it grew with abundance!
The
world stared around, popping its eyes.
Then
it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!
Each
saint in each nation, the tall and the small,
Was
celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!
It
hadn't stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow
or other, it came just the same!
And
the world with its life
quite
stuck in quarantine
Stood
puzzling and puzzling.
"Just
how can it be?"
"It
came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
It
came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money."
Then
the world thought of something it hadn't before.
"Maybe
Easter," it thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe
Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more."
And
what happened then?
Well....the
story's not done.
What
will YOU do?
Will
you share with that one
Or
two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will
you share of the source of your life in this fight?
The
churches are empty - but so is the tomb,
And
Jesus is Victor over death, doom, and gloom.
So
this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
As
the virus still rages all around, everywhere.
May
the world see hope when it looks at God's people.
May
the world see the Church is not a building or steeple.
May
the world find Faith in Jesus' death and resurrection,
May
the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May
2020 be known as the year of survival,
But
not only that -
Let
it start a revival.
(Copyright
2020 Kristi Bothur, This Side of Heaven Blog. Permission is granted to send
this to others, with attribution, but not for commercial purposes.)
-- what a great reminder that Easter
is not about celebrating a day on a calendar, but celebrating the Savior -- Easter
is about remembering Jesus’ atoning death on the cross -- remembering the empty
tomb -- and remembering the new life we have in Him
-- So, this morning, wherever you
are -- take heart -- may this Sunday may be a day that you will never forget
because it is an Easter that you celebrated in a way you never intended --
sometimes we have to set aside our traditions and move outside what is
comfortable to us in order to find Jesus in a real and personal way once again
-- so, remember what this day is all
about -- remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us and the victory He won with
the cross and the empty tomb
-- and look at this particular Sunday
and our not being able to meet together as a church family as normal as a
sacrifice you are making -- an offering you are giving to God as a way of
ministering and protecting those among us who need it most
-- no, this day may not be a day of
hidden eggs and Easter bunnies -- of cantatas or family gatherings, but it is
still Easter -- it is still the Lord’s Day -- it is still Resurrection Sunday
-- and, no matter where we are, we are still Easter people
-- so, with that, let us close in
prayer and rejoice this day in our risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
-- let us pray
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