The Empty Tomb: What Does it Matter? Sermon Series: The Cross: What Does It Matter? Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008 Dr. Victor D. Pentz Senior Pastor Scripture Lesson: John 20:1-18 Our joy on Easter touches us all from the oldest to the youngest. I have a friend whose son is six years old. On a recent Easter morning, my friend got out of bed walked into the kitchen and said, Boy am I hungry. His little boy looked up at him and said, I am hungry indeed. I have another friend of a friend of a friend who lives in Montgomery, Alabama. One year this man was planning the summer car vacation of a lifetime for his family, all the way from Montgomery, Alabama, to California, up Highway 1 to San Francisco, up to Seattle, across to Yellowstone and then back down to Montgomery. It turned out business concerns kept him from going. But he pulled out the maps and around the table with his wife and kids meticulously planned each day of their travel in the family SUV. He knew the family s itinerary down to the precise moment they would be crossing the Continental Divide. Turns out all the while he had something up his sleeve. After his family left, he arranged to fly himself to Colorado, hired a car and driver, and got himself deposited on the side of the highway at the place in the road where he knew his family would cross the Continental Divide. He sat there for a few hours waiting for the family car to come into view. Sure enough here they came, and he stepped out into the road and stuck out his thumb. You talk about one surprised family! He was supposed to be 2,000 miles away. I thought about trying it. But I m sure my family would say, That hobo sure looks like Dad and keep driving. The sudden unexpected appearance of a loved one assumed to be long gone is the heart of Easter. Only multiply that family s surprise a million fold and you have the shock of the disciples. For Jesus had been crucified. The cross already had a symbolic meaning in the Roman world, long before it took on a new one for the Christians. The cross said: Don t mess with Rome. If you get in our way, we will annihilate you and it won t be 1
pretty. Crucifixion of a would-be Messiah simply meant he was not the Messiah. So the feeling among the disciples since Friday has been, Well, we backed the wrong horse. 1 Three words describe the emotional state of the people we re about to meet: fear, disappointment, and grief. There was fear of being tracked down as one of Jesus accomplices which is why Mary Magdalene came to the tomb in the darkness before dawn while it is still safe; disappointment that their dream of a kingdom of love and justice had fallen like a house of cards; and grief over the death of a man who for three years had made their lives vibrate with meaning. Mary came to the tomb seeking what today we call closure to view the body, to say goodbye. The Easter Story We have an eye-witness account of what happened from a disciple named John. Please turn with me to John s gospel on page 1685 of the Bibles we ve made available. The 20th chapter of John, verses 1-18, beginning at the bottom of page 1685, is our Easter morning reading: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running (You re going to see everyone is running in this narrative. We ought to have a big Easter run here in Atlanta.) So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don t know where they have put him! 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, (Now here is some serious testosterone.) but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. (John is in his nineties as he writes this memoir and he still loves to tell how he beat Peter to the empty tomb.) 5 He [John] bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, (John is still rubbing it in) arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first (John, get over it!), also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (Up until this very moment John still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, Woman, why are you crying? They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don t know where they have put him. 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 Woman, he said, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him. 16 Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, Rabboni! (which means my dear teacher). 17 Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: I have seen the Lord! And she told them that he had said these things to her. 2
What a beautiful scene: the green garden, the morning light, angels. We gave you a gift this morning, as we have over the past eight Easters at Peachtree and this one may be my favorite: a sand dollar. Everything I want to say to you this morning is right here in your hand. This sand dollar will tell you the good news of Easter. First notice the rock hard surface and round shape and the white color of limestone in the Holy Land. This is a very good replica of the stones that sealed tombs in the first century. Mary arrived at the tomb and saw this great white, round stone, weighing over a thousand pounds, had been rolled back from the mouth of the tomb. You Are Not Powerless Friends, the first word to us from this sand dollar is, You are not powerless. Because the power that moved this mighty stone and raised Jesus from the dead can live in you and me today. Our Lord first appeared to the most powerless person he knew. In that day a woman s testimony was not even admissible in a Jewish court of law. Wouldn t it make more sense for him to appear first to John or Peter, or any one of the male apostles? Of course, if he had appeared first to one of them we ve already seen their rivalry, so sure as anything somewhere in John s gospel or one of Peter s epistles there would appear this line: Then Jesus at last settled who was the greatest disciple. He appeared to me. I m afraid if I d been crucified and come back I would have first appeared to Pontius Pilate: I m back. Crucify me, will you? But Jesus first appeared to a fragile woman with a checkered past and a history of mental problems. The Bible says Mary Magdalene had had seven devils. Seven in the Bible would mean she had been in the total possession of the powers of darkness. She hadn t even received an invitation to the greatness tournament. If she took her medicine it was all she could do to make through the day. That sounds like a lot of people I know. Today the phrase we pastors often hear from people day after day over and over is my life is out of control: I feel powerless to change the situation I feel powerless to break this bad habit I feel powerless to save a relationship I feel totally powerless to get out of debt I feel powerless to manage my schedule. What you need is a power greater than yourself. You and I were never meant to live our lives on our own power. God wants to have a relationship with you. The good news of Easter is, as Ephesians 1:19-20 says: How incredibly great is his power to help those who believe him, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead. The same power that moved that thousand pound stone as easily as you move this sand dollar and raised Jesus from the dead can help you rise above your struggles and problems today. The power of the resurrection 2000 years ago can be yours today. Back to our story: Mary hadn t made the connection yet. She was on a journey of discovering her power in Christ. John and Peter looked inside the tomb, muttered something about those blankety-blank grave-robbers and turned and stomped off to their homes, leaving Mary there alone. Looking in she saw the linen cloths all folded up and she began to weep. Very often it s when you come home after the funeral and you re alone that s the worst time of all. You see the casseroles on the table friends have left and the house is quiet too quiet. But in the midst of her grief, Mary saw two very chipper young men dressed in white. They said, Woman, why are you weeping? 3
Then another figure whom she assumed was someone in charge (You can say that again!) entered her peripheral vision. She thought it was the gardener; he also asked, Why are you weeping? This is the great comic scene of the gospels. Here s Mary sobbing, My Lord is gone, my Lord is gone, there s no hope, no hope, while the risen Christ stood this far away talking with her, listening to her. Friends, this scene is being reenacted in churches around the world right now. It is very possible to be here in the presence of the Risen Lord on Easter without him having the slightest impact on you. You can still lead a defeated life. You can feel powerless and like your life is out of control life and there s no hope. The Key is Faith What closes that gap is faith. The open, sesame into all that power God has for us at Easter is faith. The book of Hebrews says, Without faith it is impossible to please God. I have advanced degrees in theology and ministry but the best definition of faith I ve ever heard still goes back to when I was a little boy sitting at the feet of Mrs. Manderville, my second grade Sunday School teacher. She said it takes five fingers: Forsaking All I Trust Him. That s faith. Forsaking All I Trust Him. Ever notice how the greatest news is always the hardest to believe? You're thumbing through your mail and you get a letter that says, "You are a ten million dollar winner. What do you do? Whoopee! and instantly tithe your winnings to the church? No. You say, "Yeah, right," and toss the envelope. Could it be that that's how you come to the empty tomb this morning? You look in, see the folded grave-clothes and say, "Yeah right. Things that seem too good to be true usually are." This isn t head doubt. It s different from the head doubt Thomas had at the resurrection. Thomas was sort of a geeky person who said, I need more data. I want to run some tests. This other kind of doubt is heart doubt. If you ve ever been hurt like Mary one way to protect yourself is to keep your expectations way down low so if you re disappointed your heart won t break again. But when it comes to Jesus, the Apostle Paul says, hope does not disappoint us. Over at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the great cancer centers of the world where some of the sickest people on the planet come for their last chance at life, they have a big painting and beneath are the words, Hope does not disappoint us. If God raised Jesus, there is no problem, or situation or illness that is too big for God. Let that sand dollar remind you that the very power that raised Jesus comes to live in us forever. How Much Does God Love You? So what closed the gap for Mary? What at last brought her to faith? The love Jesus had for her. One word, spoken with infinite tenderness, opened Mary s eyes: Mary. No one could say her name like Jesus: Mary. Do you have someone who speaks your name with a special lilt you love to hear? I get a little wobbly when I hear a certain lady say, Vic, honey. I was once in my office talking to Becky and she said, Let me call you right back. About thirty seconds later phone rang and I said, Hi, babe. On the other end of the line a very male voice said, Babe? Babe? I wanted as the commercial says to get away. Jesus had his own way of saying Mary. He has his own way of saying your name. This morning he s calling your name. Can you hear him? How much does Jesus love you? Enough to die for you on the cross, and that is our second word from the sand dollar God loves you enough to die for you on the cross. On this sand dollar, there are four holes per- 4
fectly placed, one for each hand and each foot, then there s the big gash from the spear driven into his side. And can t we all relate to the gash, the wound of sin? We ve all done things we know we should not have done. We ve all said things we should not have said. We ve thought things we re not proud of. We have regrets. We carry guilt that imprisons us in the past. A fellow pastor received this letter: "I'm 31 years old and divorced, though I fought the divorce bitterly. I feel bad. I have no hope for my future. Often I go home and cry, but there's no one holding me when I cry. Nobody cares. Nothing changes, and I continue to fail. I'm stressed out emotionally, and I feel I'm on the verge of a collapse. Something is very wrong. But I feel so hurt and embittered that I can scarcely react or relate to others anymore. I feel as if I'm going to have to sit out the rest of my life in the penalty box." Well guess what? Jesus paid to get you out of the penalty box. Even the name sand dollar the dollar speaks of payment. God paid for your guilt: every emotional debt, every relational debt, every spiritual debt. Colossians 2:14 says: Christ has done away with it by nailing it to the cross. There s a book out these days that s an underground sensation among many Christians. It s called The Shack. One reason it s so popular is it has a wonderfully affectionate picture of God. When God hears someone s name mentioned he says, Oh, I m particularly fond of them. Of course you can mention any one of the five billion names of people on earth: Oh I am particularly fond of them. In other words, God doesn t just love you, he likes you. He has your picture on his refrigerator, and when he goes to get a drink of milk he stands there and thinks of you, kisses his fingers and touches your photo. Think about this: The reason the Bible celebrates romantic love is because it s great of course but mainly because that kind of crazy out-of-control love we have fleetingly for one person, God has eternally for all people. 2 I have a friend, Dale Bruner, who looks at this picture of Jesus and Mary and says Our Lord s last word on the cross was why and his first word on Easter was Hi." Mary screams, Rabboni! My dear Teacher! She s about to launch into his arms when Jesus says, Not yet...don t. Not yet. wait, and Mary s joyful heart breaks a little realizing Jesus is not to be touched anymore. He s no longer a hand to hold onto or a shoulder to cry on. Yet what s coming is far greater, the best news of all. It s no longer Mary here and Jesus over there. The new resurrected Jesus will now come and live inside Mary as near as her breathing. Trumpets of Hope The third symbol on top of the sand dollar is that big Easter lily. What you see there is a trumpet. Trumpets are noisy. You ought to be sitting up here where I m sitting this morning. What s Easter without trumpets? Trumpets proclaim to the world. You and I are called to go out of here this morning as trumpets of hope to Atlanta and the world. We are to be living evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. You can't see the wind, but we know the wind is real when we see these trees out there waving back and forth. You can't see pain, but we know pain is real when we see the tears in someone's eyes. You can't see happiness, but happiness is real when you see those pearly whites of a smile. The world knows Jesus is real when he lives in you and 5
me. One Palm Sunday after all the kids had paraded down the aisles with their palm fronds I was walking out to my car and found myself walking with a couple in our church. They are in their mid-fifties; he's an engineer and she a teacher. They were carrying in their arms a baby obviously of different race from their own. I said, "Oh, a grandbaby." They said "Oh no, foster baby. We've had I ll call him Joseph since the day he was born. His mother is going through drug rehab. It's been six months now and she still hasn't completed the program, so we have little Joseph. We're the only parents this little guy has ever known." It began to sink in. Here s a couple, loving this little boy as if he were their own, knowing that one day little Joseph will be taken away and placed into a home very different from theirs. Then they added, "So many people our age, when the children leave home, can only think about parties and vacations and fun. Then their faces lit up with smiles as bright as the glistening wings of an angel and they said, This is fun. We re having the time of our lives. Friends, God want you to get in on the fun by shining his power to world. So let Easter make a difference in you. Accept all the power that overcomes death, all the love that frees and forgives, and all the hope that trumpets a new day for the world and say together with me the great promise of Easter: He is risen. He is risen, indeed! Amen. 1 N.T. Wright 2 Yancey, Rumors 6
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