4/21/19    John 20:1-18   Easter Sunday     “Jesus Is Here!”

What a great day!  What a wonderful day!  We were starting to slide into spring until this little set back a week ago, but it’s getting nicer again.  I have noticed that we from the northern climates really appreciate spring after a long, hard winter.  We seem to wake up a little from the dreariness of winter.  Today I would like to take a look at how Jesus woke up from the dreariness of death and provided us and everyone with the core reason to believe in Him.  Last week I asked you to fit yourself into the story and I would like you to do that again this week.  However, last week’s story was more somber and I would like you to be more joyous today because Jesus Christ is alive and well as we speak.  Now that is what I call Good News!

Patt` Barnes tells a beautiful story of a side of Easter that we don’t think about too often.  The weather was beautiful and peaceful as he left the cathedral on one Easter morning.  He paused for a moment at the top of the steps and looked out at all the people rushing to their jobs and other places.  And there sitting in her usual place just inside the small archway was the old flower lady.  At her feet were corsages and boutonnieres displayed on top of an open newspaper.  The flower lady was all smiles as her old wrinkled face was alive with some inner joy.  Patt started down the stairs and then on impulse, turned and picked out a flower.  He put it on his lapel and said, “You look happy this morning.”

“Why not?  Everything is good,” she answered.  She was so shabbily dressed and seemed so old that the reply startled him.  He said, “You’ve been sitting here for many years now, haven’t you?  And always smiling!  You wear your troubles well.”

“You can’t reach my age and not have troubles,” she replied.  “Only it’s like Jesus and Good Friday…”  She paused for a moment.

“Yeeeeess,” Patt said prompting her to continue.

“Well, when Jesus was crucified on Good Friday that was the worst day for the whole world.  And when I get troubles I remember that, and then I think of what happened only three days later—Easter and our Lord rising.  So when I get troubles, I’ve learned to wait three days…somehow everything gets all right again.”

I think that these are great words to live by from a wise old woman.  When the going gets a little tough, give God a chance to help and wait three days.  I think that this story really fits into our Scripture today.

As we begin we find that Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb to find it empty.  Do you remember who Mary Magdalene was?  She was a woman from Magdala who was probably the leader of the female followers of Jesus.  We don’t know what affliction she was cured of by Jesus except that He drove out seven demons.  And she was extremely grateful as she became a devoted follower of Jesus.  There have been many things written about her in the last few years and most of them are totally false.  These articles are either based entirely on fiction or on pieces written hundreds of years after her death.  Either way, they have absolutely no relevance.  If you want to know about Mary or any of the other characters of the Bible, begin by reading the Bible.  I have never read anywhere where anyone has ever disproven anything that is said in the Bible. So when you read the Bible you know that you are beginning with a rock solid foundation.  I’m here to tell you today that you can always, always trust the Bible.

A second item about Mary Magdalene is, according to John, that she was the first one to the tomb on Easter morning.  Think about that for a minute or maybe for three days like our opening story.  For the most part, this ancient society valued women just above slaves.  This passage shows you that He loves each and every one of you so much that He has a so-called lowly woman to find the tomb empty.  God continues to use women to advance His ministry even though the culture of the time doesn’t give them many rights at all.  Once again in a subtle way, we see that Jesus is for everyone.

This is important for us today also.  Jesus is for everyone.  Jesus is for the children, He is for the women and the men of today.  Jesus is for the Presbyterians, Methodists, the Catholics, the Muslims, the Buddhists, and the atheists.  Jesus is for the person who says they want nothing to do with God or religion.  It doesn’t matter what you do or say, Jesus is for you.  He will keep knocking on your door until you either die and suffer from those consequences or you accept Him as your Lord and Savior.  It is your choice.  I went for forty years without Jesus and I know what a lonely life that is.  Confess your sins to Him and ask Jesus to live in your heart today.  You will never regret it.

As we get back to the story, Mary runs and gets Simon Peter and John.  They come running back and see that indeed the body of Jesus is gone.  There had to be a bit of a commotion going on as the body was missing and soldiers were supposed to be guarding it.    John goes into a bit of detail here to tell us that Jesus is gone.  As a matter of fact all the gospels tell us that He is gone.  This is important and there are witnesses to this event.  Don’t be fooled by some naysayers 2000 years later.  Once again read the Bible to hear from the witnesses.  And once again you can always, always trust the Bible.

Finally, everyone leaves and Mary stays at the tomb crying.  She is crying because the only man who had ever loved her enough to drive the demons out of her was gone.  He was dead and now someone had taken His body.  It was missing.

How many of you have cried the deep sobbing cry of despair?  How many of you have had a husband or wife leave?  How many of you have had someone you love dearly die?  How many of you are so lonely that you can hardly bear it?  How many of you have had your whole world collapse around you?  Many of you have cried like this in your own situations.  Many of you have experienced despair like that of Mary Magdalene.

And the worst part was that she was inconsolable.  The angels come and ask why she is crying.  Even the angels cannot console her.  Then Jesus comes behind her and she turns and thinks that He is a gardener.  She doesn’t even recognize Him.

How often do we not recognize Jesus at work in our lives?  I think for most people we fail to see Jesus more often than we actually see Him.  Peggy Noonan tells the story of the first meeting of President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.  President Bush wanted this meeting to be more than a political meeting.  So he brought up a story he had read about Putin.  Putin’s mother had given him a cross that he had blessed while he was in Jerusalem.  This story had touched President Bush.

Then Putin told a story in return.  He had taken to wearing the cross and one day he had set it down in a house he was visiting.  Strangely, the house had burnt down and all he could think about was that cross in the ruble.  He went there, motioned to a worker and asked him to be on the lookout for that cross.  The worker came closer and extended his hand.  He had already found the cross in the ashes.  Putin then said to Bush, “It was as if something meant for me to have the cross.”  He was referring to a higher power.

Then President Bush said, “Mr. Putin, President Putin, that’s what it’s all about—that’s the story of the cross.  The story of the cross is that God intended it just for you.”

And that is what it is all about for us also.  You cannot have Easter unless you go through the cross on Good Friday.  And you cannot have Easter unless you recognize and acknowledge Jesus and what He has done.  And for those of you who know Jesus, it is up to you to recognize Him when He is doing something in your life.

And this is sometimes or all the time hard to do.  We have distractions everywhere.  The television demands time even though there is very little on it that is worth watching.  Our cell phones can consume us if we let them.  I don’t know how many people I have talked with that start on their phones and hours pass in seemingly minutes.  Our jobs take us away from Jesus.  I believe that as a general rule, corporate America is one of the most Godless places on the earth.  They live for their rules and their rules only.  They leave no room for Jesus and if you try to make room for Him, then they will have no room for you.   And as you all know, I firmly believe that Jesus belongs everywhere and in everything.  This includes Jesus in our government, in our schools and in our businesses.  Everywhere!

Now as we look at the end of this section, I think that Jesus is trying to tell us the same thing.  We have Mary going to Jesus and hanging on to Him.  And we have Jesus reply, “don’t hold on to me…”  This is an interesting little rebuke here as He allowed others to hold on to Him after the resurrection.  There could be three reasons for this and the first one is that Jesus will see Mary again as He will be staying for another 40 days.  We can’t blame Mary for wanting to hold on to Him because she thought that she had lost Him forever.  But this was not to be the case.  As a matter of fact there is no way that you can lose Jesus forever in this world.  As I said earlier, Jesus is always there for you and for Mary.

The second reason, a little more obscure, is that Jesus is now for everyone.  We don’t have to hang onto Him because He is always there.  We cannot go someplace and get away from Jesus.  He sees everything you do.  He knows every thought that you have; both good and bad.  He is always there so we don’t have to hang on to Him.

And this leads us to the third reason which could be incorporated into the second one; you are not to hang onto to Him all the time because you have a job to do.  Jesus tells Mary, “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  It is not up to you to not do anything.  You are to go out and tell the world about Jesus.  Mary was the world’s first evangelist as she went back and told the others about the resurrected Christ.  They in turn went out and told everyone they saw about the resurrected Lord.  It spread and before His forty days on earth were up, many knew what had happened.  There were many witnesses.  The Bible says that He appeared to something like 500 people.

And there is also some tremendous Good News in what He told Mary.  He said tell everyone that my Father is your Father.  Tell them that my God is your God.  Tell them that this wondrous God is for all of us.  It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are or what you have done or what you haven’t done, Jesus is for you.  So even if you are stuck some place that seems Godless, Jesus is there.

Brad Bailey tells the story of Murdo MacDonald who was a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII and a chaplain to the American soldiers there.  He learned of the Normandy invasion when early on the morning of D-Day, he was awakened and told that a Scotsman in the British POW camp wanted to see him.  MacDonald ran to the barb wire fence that separated the two camps.  The Scot, who was in touch with the BBC by underground radio, spoke two words in Gaelic, meaning “They have come.”  MacDonald ran back to the American camp and spread the good news: “They have come….They have come.”  Everyone knew that the allied troops had landed at Normandy.  Their reaction was incredible.  Men jumped and shouted, hugged each other and even rolled on the ground.  Outwardly they were still captives, but inwardly they were free.

This is the hope that changes lives.  This is the hope that Jesus gives you this Easter.  We live in a dark world that is controlled by Satan.  We live in a world that doesn’t much like us at times.  In some places they even hate us.  But don’t lose hope.  Those soldiers didn’t lose hope.  The old lady selling flowers in our opening story didn’t lose hope.  They all learned from Mary not to give up hope.  Just when you get to your darkest hour, Jesus will be there.  He is always there.

He is with you here today in the form of the Holy Spirit.  You have seen Him work many times in your lives and the lives of your loved ones.  You have seen the changed lives that come about from knowing Jesus.  You have seen and felt the deluge of love poured out on us and over us in our lives.  Let us go forward today, praising our Lord Jesus Christ, as you celebrate this holiday in His Holy name.  He is sooo good to us and I praise Him for the day that I found Him.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Happy Easter!  Let’s pray.

 

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