Easter Sunday!
Prayer
John 20:1-18
First Movement:
Most
of us do not like change, if it is change from something we like. I hate the way apps and programs update and
change. I can understand the need to
update for security reasons, but some of the changes don’t seem necessary to me;
moving where you go on the menu to do certain things doesn’t seem necessary. About the time you get used to it, they
change it. One of the hardest things for
me as a pastor has been the realization that I have to move from time to
time. Moving usually means learning a
new set of 100 – 200 people and their stories; it means getting new doctors; it
means finding new places whom you can trust to work on your cars or get them
inspected. It means learning where
everything is, at the new place. It is a
very high stress year for a parsonage family as they say goodbye to the old and
are introduced to the new.
One
of the most appealing things to me about retirement is buying a home and being
able to stay there as long as I am able.
You have given me a head start on that since you have a housing
allowance instead of a parsonage; we plan on this being our final home. Even growing up, the longest I have lived in
any one house has been 9 1/2 years. I
envy, in some ways, people who have lived in one place for a long time, because
change is hard, but sometimes it is needed.
Sometimes, change can be good.
Change has given me the opportunity to learn things and people I would
not have known if I had not experienced the change! It has given me a chance to
learn and be exposed to different ways and to accept for my own those I believe
to be right!
Second Movement:
Our
resurrection story this morning is from John’s gospel. It is significantly different than some of
the other gospel accounts. Here Mary
Magdalene comes to the tomb and sees that the stone has been rolled away. First difference is that John only records
Mary Magdalene. Some of the other
gospels record two women or two Marys.
There is really no satisfactory account for why John only records the
one, other than she was the one significant to
the point he wanted to make.
Mary
runs to tell Peter and the disciple Jesus loved, which we believe to be John
himself. John never refers to himself as
John but only by the distinction of the disciple Jesus loved. They come running to see. Peter enters first, but there is no mention
of him seeing and believing. We know he
came to believe. Our 1st
scripture from Acts 10:34-43 tells us what he had to say later, but for now, there
is no mention of him seeing and believing. The mention of the linen cloths is
significant! Someone who might have
robbed the grave or took Jesus would not have taken off the linen cloths, and
they would not have taken the time to roll up the one from his head. Some sources say that it was a Jewish
tradition that when you left the table and folded your napkin it meant I will
be back; they believe this was a hidden message here, that Jesus was saying,
“I’ll be back!” Peter doesn’t seem to pick up on any of this. The disciple whom
Jesus loves enters, sees, and believes. He
picks up on all of this. John, the one who stood by Jesus’ mother at the
crucifiction, is the first one to see and believe after the resurrection,
according to John’s gospel.
Then,
we come to what I really want to talk about this morning. Mary stands weeping outside the tomb. She looks in and sees two angels in white
sitting where the body of Jesus had been.
They say to her “Woman why are you weeping?” She says, “They have taken my Lord, and I do
not know where they have laid him.” Mary
then turns to Jesus. Mary’s address as
Jesus as Lord. This may be John’s first
hint to Jesus being the risen one! She
sees him, but does not “see” him. She
sees him with her eyes, but she does not see him with her faith until he speaks
to her. Then, she really sees him and
calls him “teacher.” This could be
closer translated as , “My great one!”
She apparently grabs him when she sees him because Jesus does not say,
“Don’t touch me.” He instead says, “Do
not hold to me.” Or this could also be
translated, “Let go of me because I have not yet ascended to my father and your
father!”
Third Movement:
This
brings us to the point I want to make today.
When Mary recognized who Jesus was, she clung to him because she wanted
to hold onto what had been. She wanted
things to return to the way they had been.
She wasn’t ready for a change; she was so excited that things did not
have to change as she thought they had. She
liked things like they were! She thought
now Jesus could set up his earthly Kingdom. He would reign on earth! He would set up an Earthly Kingdom and right
the wrongs they were experiencing, but John wants us to know there are bigger
and better things to come. This was a
change that needed to happen! Jesus was
saying, Don’t hold to me, let the change come!
The
next big event for John’s gospel are not
all the appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion, but it is the ascension to
Heaven to take His place beside the Father as our intercessor and King, to his
Father and our Father! The ascension
stories confirm his Messiahship, but it is after the ascension that Jesus sets
up his Kingdom, not before. It is after
the ascension that he reigns in a Kingdom where his followers and the Kingdom
people are those who receive what he has done on their behalf on the
cross! It is in this Kingdom that his
followers strive to let his “Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven,” as we
pray in the Lord’s prayer. It is in this
Kingdom that Jesus’ followers strive to love others and make things right, to
let Jesus love through them! It is in
this Kingdom that things are finally made right, beginning now and consummated
in eternity!
Jesus has lived
before us and showed us how to live!
Jesus was crucified and died for our sins on Good Friday! He arose on that first Easter morning! We celebrate it on Easter Sunday! We, the church, celebrates it each Sunday;
that is why we worship on Sunday and not Saturday. Sundays are little celebrations of the
resurrection! Christians began to
worship on Sunday, because of the resurrection! He made many appearances after his
resurrection, but we can only see him through the eyes of faith! He has ascended to our Father God where he
reigns forever! Do you see him through
the eyes of faith? Do you want to be a
part of his Kingdom this morning? Come
speak to him this morning and believe as we encounter the risen Christ at the
table this morning! (If you make a first
time commitment, please let me know so I can help you with your new walk in
Christ!) As you look at the cross this
morning, he is not here, he has risen!
Prayer
of Confession
Service
of Communion
