April 20 – Sermon
Almighty God, through Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to all who believe. As we celebrate with the joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may we live for You in righteousness now and forever. Amen
So just what do you know? There are endless ways that you could fill in that blank. Sherlock Holmes completed that sentence by saying, “I know what’s good when I see it.” The prophet Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of God, said, “I know the plans that I have for you”.
On that first Easter morning, the friends of Jesus would probably have said: “I know that something is up! Something’s not right!” We hear about this in our Gospel reading from John 20: “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark”. Three days before this, Mary Magdalene had been at the cross, watching as Jesus suffered and died: “Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene”. After witnessing the death of Jesus on the cross, Mary and other women went and witnessed the burial of Jesus in a borrowed tomb. They saw how His body was laid in the tomb and how a rock closed the tomb shut.
But now, on the third day, we hear this: “and she—Mary Magdalene saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb”. That’s not how she last saw it. What’s happening? Did someone steal the body to further mock Him and His followers?
Mary didn’t know what the open tomb meant, so compounding her grief, “She ran”. What Mary was thinking while she ran, we don’t know. She might have been thinking of where she could find Peter and John. She might have been thinking about who stole the body of Jesus or rolled away the stone. Nonetheless, Mary knew that something was up.
Mary went to Simon Peter and John to let them know what she had seen: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went running back to the tomb. He, too, knew something was up.
Peter may have all kinds of thoughts running thru his mind: The last interaction Peter had with Jesus was when Jesus had been arrested. He also remembered being at the house of the high priest. Peter was outside in a courtyard by a fire, when a servant girl saw him and accused him of having been with Jesus–which Peter vehemently denied; only to deny Jesus three times.
Perhaps Peter ran to the tomb very likely in fear. Maybe he was afraid that they had taken the body of Jesus. What if Jesus is alive, and is coming to get me for my betrayal of him?
Or Peter could have been running away. Maybe he remembered that Jesus had said: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised”. Maybe Peter was thinking, “Could Jesus’ words have been true?”
Like Mary and Peter, John knew that something was up. John outran Peter and reached the tomb first”.
Both Peter and John found the burial cloths left in the tomb. Could it be that when Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”, He meant that He would give life by overcoming death?
After Peter and John left the tomb, Mary remained. She wept outside the tomb and eventually mustered the courage to look inside. There she saw two angels who asked her why she was crying. She told them that she did not know where they had put Jesus. Then we hear this: “She turned around and Jesus was standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?’ Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, ‘Sir, if You have carried him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ In that moment she recognized Jesus and said to Him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’”.
Now Mary could complete the sentence by saying: I know that my Redeemer lives! All that Jesus had said and done now made sense. Suddenly everything needed to be revaluated in light of this resurrection. All the feedings that Jesus had done were a foretaste of His feast yet to come!
All the healings of Jesus were a glimpse of the resurrection healing.
All the strange things Jesus said about destroying a temple and rebuilding it in three days made sense in light of the empty tomb.
So Mary went to tell the others: “I have seen the Lord!” The Good News of the resurrection of Jesus went from the empty tomb to the friends of Jesus. From there this Good News went from the friends of Jesus to the ends of the earth.
So, what do you know? How would you finish that sentence? I know________. Can you like Mary say, “I know that my Redeemer lives?”
As a believer, can you say: cancer does not get the last word because my Redeemer lives.
I know that my sins are forgiven because my Redeemer lives.
I know that I can live with hope because my Redeemer lives.
I know that fear does not own me because my Redeemer lives.
I know that death is not the end because my Redeemer lives.
I know joy because my Redeemer lives.
I know God loves me because my Redeemer lives.
Each one of us must finish the sentence: I know ______.
Easter is about life and every Christian must live in faith and not fear. If you know where you are going, you have absolutely nothing to fear.
Knowing Jesus means knowing a Redeemer—and friend— who lives, loves and forgives! How will you respond? Amen
