Recorded on Good Friday (it will be an interesting newsletter reflection one day), this sermon was shared through streaming on Easter Sunday. I happened to find the last story in my file of sermon illustrations, which ended up being a really good final illustration for the sermon and the Lenten preaching series. I actually sat with my family and watched the service at home. I noticed that my pace was a bit rushed. It is harder to gauge pacing when there is no live audience.
Preaching this text made me want to preach it again and focus on the women clasping the Risen Christ's feet or to note that when both the angel and Jesus say, "Do not be afraid," it is immediately followed up with "Go to Galilee." Both of those could be really interesting Easter sermons!
”Where Have you Seen God…Not there” April 12, 2020; Easter; Sunday; St. Andrew, Denton; Matthew 28: 1-10
: After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
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.”
Introduction: It is turning out to be a strange sort of Holy Week and Easter. how strange do you ask? So strange that standing here and proclaiming the tomb is empty and Christ has been resurrected seems normal.
Imagine that - resurrection is the least strange thing going on right now!
the other strange thing, at least for me, is we are using the resurrection story from the gospel of Matthew.
To be honest, I have avoided Matthew every year. Mark and Luke on the years the lectionary calls for them to be used, and then when Matthew shows up, I use the alternate option from the Gospel of John.
I think it’s because of the earthquake. it always seems to me that resurrection is hard enough to try and figure out and then Matthew throws in an earthquake.
But in this strange Lenten/Holy week season I am embracing the gospel of Matthew.
Move 1: matthew makes clear that God has raised Christ from the dead and it is a big deal, a world changing kind of thing.
a. I think that’s why Matthew is the only gospel to include the earthquake in his telling of the resurrection story.
1.the earthquake parallels the “shaking of the earth” that takes place when Jesus dies (and the tombs breaking open and raised bodies coming out of the tombs - see why I stay away from the Gospel of Matthew).
2. the Greek word describing resurrection is seismos, as in seismic event.
3. Out of this earthquake, an angel appears who looks like lightning - “a sizzling power, fraught with danger“ and the unknown, as as we will discover amazing possibilities.
5. As Melinda Quivik notes in her study of this passage, Pivotal words like the Greek word idou, are translated as “suddenly” or “behold” or “look here” cannot convey the untranslatable truth that in this sequence of events, light has split a crack in the universe and everything we thought we knew is changed… (Melinda Quivik St. Paul, Minnesota, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1990)
b. Suddenly, the earthquake. Suddenly, Jesus met them.
1. Suddenly, the world is changed.
2. To lay claim to resurrection is to see the world for the possibilities God brings to it.
3. Notice this - the one who radically changed the world, Jesus Christ our Risen Lord, is also the one who meets us to guide us as we live into the possibilities of a world where God’s power to resurrect is at work.
c. We do not gather this morning to explain what resurrection is or argue about what happened in the resurrection or even demand belief.
1. As John Buchanan, the former editor of Christian Century (who also preached from this pulpit just a couple of years ago as part of our Festival of Faith) as he writes: “Tempting as it is to try; it is a waste of time to attempt to explain the resurrection. Some things cannot be reduced to an explanation and are greatly diminished in the process of trying” instead, we offer an invitation to “walk through the door” into the new world where the ultimate reality is not the death of all things: the ultimate reality is God and love everlasting.” Christian Century, “Editor’s Desk: Easter’s coming” 3/20/13 (3)
2. We gather to proclaim what God has done.
2. to announce to the world that God’s power to resurrect is the final answer.
3. To tell everyone, “if you want to see God - don’t look to the tomb or among the dead — look in the world for the Risen Christ.
Move 2: I am fairly certain that our world does not know what to do with resurrection.
a. One part of Matthew’s story I love is the snippet about the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb.
1. Reminds me Roman centurions lying on side of the tomb that now has stone rolled away and you can see the foot of someone who has left the tomb. One soldier says to the other: “Waddya mean? That wasn't you who just said, “Good morning?”
2. As Matthew tells the story, the guards were stationed t the tomb to make sure no one stole the body and claimed there was a resurrection.
3. Talk about a plan backfiring - the presence of the guards actually ensured that no one stole the body, so the only conclusion people can come to is that Christ has been raised from dead.
4. Can you imagine the conversation between the guards and their captain:
“I told you to guard the tomb.”
“We did.”
“Then how is the tomb empty. The body of Jesus gone.”
“We don’t know.”
“you don’t know? Well, what happened?”
“We don’t know.”
“All his followers are saying he was raised from the dead. What do you have to say for yourselves.”
Silence. the guards have nothing to say.
They were there. They know the truth. The tomb is empty.
But their captain is not done.
“Go and tell everyone that his followers stole the body. In fact, I will make it worth your while. here’s a bunch fo money, so tell the story; make it sound good; keep the secret.”
They took the money. They told the story. But they knew the truth.
b. Guards remind me of the barriers our world places on the God of resurrection.
1. the way we cling to what we know, even if we do not particularly like it, instead of venturing forward toward that new thing the God of resurrection might be doing.
2. Or the world’s insistence that power and might is what matters, instead of following the crucified and risen Christ into a life of service to others.
3. Or, the world’s reliance on what we can do, what we can figure out, instead of trusting in the God of resurrection and following God’s spirit where it will lead.
c. Guards remind me of myself.
1. Unsure if I can really trust in the God who is doing a new thing.
2. not even sure if I want a new thing.
3. COVID-19 has made this a strange Easter in many ways - no family gatherings; no big celebrations with easter egg hunts; no s’mores on the church lawn at the Easter vigil; no big gatherings in the sanctuary.
4. But is has also stripped Easter down - the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty in our world have sent us back to the core message - God is a God of resurrection, who is even now at work among us.
Move 3: So Do not be afraid.
a. words not heard in any other gospel story of resurrection.
1. Luke uses the phrase a lot in the birth narratives.
2. mark has someone tell those who arrive at the tomb to “not be alarmed.”
3. But in Matthew, the angel tells Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, “Do not be afraid,” and when the Risen Lord meets them, he too says, “Do not be afraid.”
b. Not a command, as if they cannot feel fear of the unknown with their joy.
1. But words of comfort.
2. “do not be afraid,” because God is with you.
3. “Do not be afraid” because there is nothing in the world, not even death that God has not overcome and will not overcome again.
4. “Do not be afraid” because our hope is not in our abilities, our hope is not in what our world can offer, our hope is found the God of resurrection.
5. “Do not be afraid…”
Conclusion: We have spent Lent asking the question: Where have you seen God?
I have loved the answers you have shared with me and with each other.
I have marveled at how we have seen God in so many ways and places.
As we ask the question on final time (at least for this preaching series), I am reminded of a Holy Week several years ago.
the church I served in Ohio would have an Easter party for the Wednesday of Holy Week. Spaghetti supper; singing; crafts; and a walk by different scenes from Holy Week acted out by some church members: Palm Sunday parade; last supper; trial before PIlate; crucifixion; resurrection - you can imagine those scenes.
this particular year the man playing Jesus had a young daughter; She was enamored with the idea that her father was Jesus.
Her mother told me that spent all day telling everyone she saw that Jesus was her daddy.
After the scenes had been portrayed, the kids gathered to do a craft. Jesus got out of costume and went downstairs to do a little fix-it job in the boiler room (he was also on the property committee). the job took a little longer than the craft, so the little girl was wandering around looking for her father, who had not come to pick her up yet.
I saw her searching for him, so I went to tell her where he was.
Before I could say anything, she looked up at me and said, “have you seen Jesus. I need to find Jesus to take me home.”
Have you seen God? Do not look in the tomb. Look for the Risen Christ in the world around you; look for the Risen Christ in your lives; look for the risen Christ in your home.
Amen.
