1 Story, Week 27 04/08/12 Avondale Meute The Story: Alive! The Story, Chapter 27 Pearl: The risen, reigning Lord and God of all comes to each of us personally to make us ALIVE! (He presented Himself to Mary Magdalene personally). Function: To move worshippers into glorious life with the joy that the risen Jesus presents Himself to each and every one of us to bring us out of a Saturday state of mind and into a Sunday state of mind. There is agreement among the gospels that Mary Magdalene and another woman were the first to arrive at the empty tomb on that first Sunday after the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. When they found it empty they ran to report this to Peter and other disciples. 1. These men quickly went to the tomb to see for themselves and amazingly upon examination of the burial site believed that Jesus was alive again. And they ran out of there to share the amazing news. 2. One person lingered, however. Mary Magdalene was not as upbeat as the men. This is often true of people. Some people are able to accept things by faith quickly and easily. For others it is much harder. It takes time for things to sink in. Questions need to be asked. This was true for Mary Magdalene. She was a close follower of Jesus. It is believed that Jesus delivered her from the possession of seven demons. The number seven in relation to her bondage suggests that her bondage was complete. 3. Her despair over the death of Jesus did not change as quickly as it had for Peter and the other disciple. a. Of course, our risen Lord Jesus knew this as he knows all things. So he accommodated to Mary and approached her Himself in person. b. Listen as Laura Pizzurro expresses through song, Mary Magdalene s experience on that amazing morning. (Laura sings words are printed on insert in worship bulletin)
2 On that first Easter morning Mary Magdalene experienced first hand, personally, that Jesus was ALIVE! Death had lost and LOVE had won! We are learning that LOVE WINS! (All respond Every single time! ) 1. In a radio sermon Tom Long, my preaching professor in seminary, posed a hypothetical question first advanced by Frederick Buechner. What if God were to rearrange the stars in the sky one night, to spell out the words, I REALLY EXIST? The reaction, Long said, would be dramatic. a. Churches would spill over into football stadiums, crime would cease, wars would suddenly stop, and an uncanny hush would fall over the world for a while. b. But, then, there would be the message in the stars night after night, month after month, year after year. Every night the sky would proclaim I REALLY EXIST, and it would become a normal part of nature. c. What we really need, Long continued, is something more. i. What we really want in our deepest need is not proof that there is a God somewhere who exists, or even scientific evidence that a resurrection happened some time ago in history. What we need is a God who is right here, knee-deep in the mud and mire of human existence a risen Christ who comes to us every day to give life and hope. That is, a God who comes not in the evidence but in the relationship of trust we call faith. 2. Mary Magdalene learned on that amazing morning that the despair of Saturday over the death of her Lord and Master Jesus, had given way to the Day of Resurrection and that Jesus was ALIVE again! In his resurrected state Jesus began that morning to go to his followers in whatever way was needed in order for them to take steps of faith to believe that he was raised. He continues to do so still today and he will not stop seeking to restore all that he creates. 1. This Easter morning, our Lord comes to you. He comes to me. He does so in whatever way it takes to get through to you. What does it take to get through to you?
a. In the early years of the Steelers football dynasty which began in the 70s, they had a slogan, Whatever it takes! That is how our Lord works to restore us, in whatever way it takes. After all, Jesus is the Way. So he is Lord of every way. He uses them all. 2. There is a touching scene in Steven Spielberg s 1997 historical drama, Amistad. A group of slaves who mutinied and took over their slave ship are sitting in a New England prison in the year 1839, awaiting trial. a. A missionary has come to visit, leaving behind an illustrated Bible. None of the slaves can speak English, let along read it, but they can look at the pictures. One of them, a man named Yamba, becomes intrigued by the Bible, and spends many hours studying the engraved illustrations. b. Cinque, the leader of the mutiny, looks over at him and says, You don t have to pretend to be interested in that. Nobody s watching but me. c. But Yamba is interested. He beckons Cinque over, and begins to tell him the story he sees in the pictures. i. First, he points to a picture of some Jewish people being attacked by lions. Their people have suffered more than ours, he says. Yamba flips ahead to a picture of the baby Jesus, crowned with a halo of light: Then he was born, and everything changed. Cinque asks, Who is he? ii. Yamba admits he doesn t know, but says the child must be very special. In each picture, Yamba has discovered, this man has a halo. Everywhere he goes, says Yamba, he is followed by the sun. iii. Yet, all is not sunny. Something happened, he says, pointing at a picture of Jesus in chains, surrounded by soldiers with spears. He was captured, accused of some crime. Cinque shakes his head, He must have done something. iv. Why? asks Yamba, in a one-word question that captures all the injustice of slavery. What did we do? Then, with tears in his eyes, he asks Cinque: Do you want to see how they killed him? 3
4 v. Cinque reminds Yamba it s only a story, but he just shakes his head. Evidently, it s becoming more real to him than that. But look, he goes on. That s not the end of it. His people took his body down from. There he pauses and draws a cross in the air. They took him into a cave. They wrapped him in cloth, like we do. They thought he was dead, but he appeared before his people again and he spoke to them. Then, finally, he rose into the sky. vi. This is where the soul goes when you die here, Yamba continues. This is where we re going when they kill us. The final illustration is one depicting heaven as a place filled with glorious light. Stroking the picture gently with his fingers, Yamba concludes, It doesn t look so bad. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, because he is ALIVE, as Yamba concluded in a very unconventional Way, IT DOESN T LOOK SO BAD! Because of the truth of Easter and the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, no matter what darkness surrounds us, IT DOESN T LOOK SO BAD! DEATH HAS LOST AND LOVE WINS ( Every single time ). The risen Lord Jesus the Christ will do whatever it takes to bring you to this truth. His love is relentless. By faith, trust God; trust Love who has beaten death. The Story says that God doesn t give up. He just keeps coming and he just keeps talking and he just keeps pursuing. His message to us is Saturday will always be followed by Sunday. Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning, so be patient and watch. IT DOESN T LOOK SO BAD! Jesus is the risen, reigning Lord of all! It most certainly doesn t look so bad.
If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you (Romans 8:11). 5