Is There Hope? Matthew 28:1-7 Lenten Sermon Series: Essential Questions About Life and Faith Rev. Michael D. Halley April 20, 2014 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Easter Sunday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our final question in the series Essential Questions About Life and Faith is this, maybe the most important question of all: Is there hope? Looking at this wonderful story that Matthew records for us here in the 28 th chapter of his Gospel, it is so very fitting that the first ones to discover the reality of the resurrection of Jesus were these two faithful and loyal friends of Jesus. i They had been there, along with Jesus mother, to witness the cruelty of the death of Jesus, and they had gone and watched from a distance as Jesus was hastily laid in the tomb late in the day on Friday. Prevented from going to the tomb by the observance of the Sabbath, they made their way through the morning darkness on Sunday morning. Matthew tells us that their mission that day was one of respect and mercy, to see the tomb and to keep watch over it, maybe if nothing more than to see for themselves that Jesus really was dead. But this act of quiet mercy was violently interrupted: Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. 1
Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The [Roman] guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn t move. (Matthew 28:2-4, MSG ii ) 2 Don t be afraid was the first thing the angel said to the women. It was if the angel was saying that none of the bad things they imagined about their beloved Jesus death were going to happen. He s not dead! He has risen, even as he said he would! But don t take my word for it, the angel seems to say... come here and look at the tomb and see that it is empty. Two women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, were the first witnesses to the resurrection! Is there hope? You betcha! There is hope! And as they left to go and tell the other disciples what they had just witnessed, they ran into Jesus himself. Once again they were told, Don t be afraid! They instinctively fell to the ground and put their arms around his feet out of sheer love and joy at seeing him alive. I don t doubt that they would have stayed there for much longer, just giving their love to Jesus, but there was important work to do, for the others must find out this wonderful truth as well. Is there hope? Oh my, yes, there is hope. Nothing before ever happened like this and nothing since, either. Jesus, who was dead, is now alive! But what does this mean for you and me today? Is there a word of hope for us, too? If we cannot live with hope, if our future cannot be satisfied by God, then we will face a future full of anxiety. This will result in one of two things for us: either we will live in a deep fear that paralyzes us or we will become control freaks who try to take matters into our own hands to create our own sense of well-being and hope.
Neither of these is a good option. Either way, we are consumed with thoughts of self and we will live in the small world of me, me, me. Is this the way you want to live? Or would you rather live in freedom from fear, a freedom that allows you to look away from yourself to see what is going on around you and to live as fully engaged in what is going on in others lives? 3 When we have hope, then we leave the worry about the future to God. When we let God take control, then we aren t so preoccupied with trying to take care of ourselves. The women that day must have felt that kind of hope, for all would be well for them because Jesus is alive, the greatest announcement of hope they could possibly hear. Our Christian understanding of hope is not just a wishful thinking that things will turn out favorably. Christian hope, rather, is when God has promised that something is going to happen and you put your trust in that promise. Christian hope is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will come to pass. One of the most important verses in the whole Bible could possibly be Romans 8:32. It says, He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (NIV) Let me read that same verse from a couple of other translations. First, from the New Living Translation iii : Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won t he also give us everything else? And, from The Message: So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn t gladly and freely do for us? What do you think? Is God for us or not? Did he raise Jesus
from the dead or did he not? And if God really did raise Jesus, then what are we going to do about such a thing as that? Who will we serve going forward? Jesus or someone else? Is there hope or no hope? Is there hope? There certainly is. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sure and certain hope we all so desperately seek and pursue. The suffering and the payment for my sins, all that Christ has done for me in my sinful condition enables me to know that I will not face judgment and condemnation because Jesus paid the price for me. That is my hope and I pray it is yours as well. One day a school teacher who worked in the home bound department of the school system received an assignment to visit a particular young boy who was in the hospital. She checked with the boy s regular teacher, who told her, We re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now, and I d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn t fall too far behind. 4 The visiting teacher then went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Although it upset her to see the young boy, she said to him, I ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs. She then spent some time with him on the lesson, but when she left she felt she hadn t accomplished much. But the next time she came, a nurse asked her, What did you do to that boy? The teacher immediately felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. No, no, said the nurse. You don t know what I mean. We ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since your visit, his whole attitude has changed. He s fighting back
and responding to treatment. It s as though he s decided to live! 5 It was some time later that they boy himself explained the turn-around in his life. Yes, he said, he had given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He put it this way: They wouldn t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they? iv Is there hope? God wouldn t send his only Son to die for us if we weren t worth saving, would he? What would we do with our guilt if it were not for Jesus s death and resurrection? How would we have confidence in the future if Jesus did not come forth from the grave? How could there be hope without resurrection? So many of us no doubt carry a heavy burden. You may have come here today, in part, at least, to find some measure of hope, some good word that there is a future for you, that someone out there cares for you. Maybe this is the day you will hear with a new understanding this old, old story of the empty tomb and all that it signifies for us humans. Because Jesus got up that morning, because death could not hold him down, because he shed the grave cloths and walked away from that tomb, we have the life-giving opportunity to be the daughters and sons of God. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone,
6 Can change the leper s spots And melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. v This is the day for each one of us to profess our faith in Christ, our resurrected Lord! Christ is risen: He is risen indeed! Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son to earth as a baby so many years ago. Thank you that He paid the punishment for my sins by dying on the cross. And thank you that He rose again to prove that death was truly defeated. I place my trust in You to be my Saviour. Guide me through the dark times of my life and give me courage to live for You. I pray this in the name of Jesus. vi Amen. All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ I am indebted to the Holy Spirit, using the clergy staff of Trinity Lutheran Church, Brainerd, Minnesota, to inspire me to pursue this Lenten sermon series. Their website is www.trinitybrainerd.org. +==+==+==+==+==+==+
7 Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. See Mary - The Other Mary, by Jim Cole-Rous, an excellent examination and study of the various women mentioned in the four gospels. It is found at http://globalchristiancenter.com/lesser-known-bible-people-series/mary-the-other-mary. html. 2. The Message (MSG), copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson 3. New Living Translation (NLT), copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House. 4. Told in Bits and Pieces, July, 1991, found at Hope, www.sermonillustrations.com. 5. Jesus Paid It All, Words by Elvina M. Hall, 1865; music composed by John T. Grape. 6. A Prayer of Thanks - an Easter Prayer, by Max Lucado, http://www.thoughts-about-god.com/prayer/easter_prayers.html