The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to
Matthew. Now after the Sabbath, towards
the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary went to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great
earthquake. For an anger of the Lord
descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone and
sat on it. His appearance was like
lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead
men. But the Angel said to the woman,
Do not be afraid, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He's not here, for he has risen as he said.
Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his
disciples that he has risen from the dead.
And behold, he's going before you to guardian.
There you will see him. See, I have told you.
So they departed quickly from the tomb, with fear and great
joy, and reign to tell his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and said greetings, and they came up
and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.
Then Jesus say to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my
brothers to go to Garin, and there they will see me the
gospel of the Lord. Would you pray with me?
Lord? We do thank you for the Holy
Spirit which gives us the power to say Alleluia and gave Jesus
the power to be risen from the grave.
And we pray now Lord, that your Holy Spirit would open up the
word of God to us. Lord, take us to that first
Easter Sunday and also show us the Easter to come.
We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
Well, please be seated, and I do invite you to turn in your
bulletins or your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28, our Gospel
reading this morning. Well, the resurrection of Jesus,
friends, is for people who wish they could do more but can't.
It's the power of God breaking into the world for people at the
end of their powers. Easter is for people who have
done everything they can, but they can't fix the problem.
They can't stop the good from slipping through their fingers
like sand. They can't change the past.
They can't save the people they love.
The first eyewitnesses of Jesus rising from the dead, they were
given prominence in all four gospels are women.
And the the most preeminent woman among them is a woman who
did everything that she could. She gave everything she had, but
it wasn't enough to stop the nightmare.
Her name was Mary Magdalene, and she's actually pictured in this
window over here. If you can see this window,
she's dressed in purple. And can you see the look of
devotion on her face, the expression of absolute devotion
to Jesus? You can see the cross in the
background of this, of this stained glass window.
You know, the reason that she had all this devotion towards
Jesus is because Jesus met her in a time of great spiritual
crisis. She's described as having been
afflicted by 7 demons at once, and we can't even begin to
imagine the the amount of torment and confusion and
breakdown that she was experiencing.
But Jesus didn't judge her. Jesus healed her.
He brought her into not only to healing, but he gave her a
community and he gave her hope and a calling.
And in response, Mary Magdalene gave him that.
She gave him her everything. When all the disciples fled
Jesus at his hour of great need, at his hour of death, she didn't
bail, she didn't leave. She was right there.
But you know what? Even though she gave everything
she had, it wasn't enough. Wasn't enough to stop the
mockery. It wasn't enough to stop the
injustice, the rank injustice. It wasn't enough to stop the
whips. It wasn't enough to stop the
crown of thorns getting lodged into his skull.
It wasn't enough to stop Jesus from stumbling, to stop the
nails, to stop the mockery. She gave everything she had.
She gave everything she could, but she couldn't stop the
anguish. But the you know what?
The one thing that she could do, Matthew records in verse one of
his chapter 28. The one thing that she could do
now after the Sabbath, Matthew says toward the dawn of the
first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
went to see the tomb. The dawn is breaking, but these
women don't know it's Easter. So what are they doing?
They're showing up with heavy hearts.
They're showing up with, with burial spices, you know, and how
are they going to get past the guards?
Who knows who, how are they going to get past the the stone,
the 1000 plus pound square shaped stone that's guarding the
tomb? Who knows?
They're just showing up with what they have.
They're just getting up. They're just doing the next
right thing. It's all they can do.
They're giving everything they can do, they can do and
everything that they have. But what can God do?
Behold, Matthew says in verse 2. And behold, they're about to
behold what God can do, and so are we.
There was a great earthquake, for an Angel of the Lord
descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and
sat on it. His appearance was like
lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
Right as the two Marys are approaching the tomb, there's
this great earthquake. And you know, the ground
underneath them is shifting. They have no idea what's
happening. And maybe we can hear the the
trees crashing as an earthquake out of nowhere comes.
These women probably like took cover and maybe their spices
fell on the ground as they're waiting to see like what's
happening right now. And as they're perhaps kneeling
up, they look and there is a lightning flash, but it's not
lightning. It's a it's an Angel.
It's the power of heaven come down to earth, blinding them
with light, pulsating with with heavenly power.
Now all angels have a message. That's what they are.
Angelus Messenger and this Angel has come to display and declare
a message display visually and declare verbally the mighty
power of God. And he begins with the visual
display by rolling back the stone.
This, this boulder, it's not round shaped.
First of all, you know, if you can't just roll it, he moved it,
he manhandled it. He Angel handled it.
He haven't handled it. This is the power of God.
And then he plants himself on top of it, like a white flag
declaring victory, his robes flapping in the early morning
breeze. Death, what are you going to do
now? This is the power of God.
Mary. Mary Magdalene did all she could
do, but she couldn't stop what death could do.
And now she's bearing witness to what God can do.
See, we have to come to the end of our powers, as the guards
found out verse 4 for fear of him, the guards trembled and
became like dead men. These, these tough guys, these
purveyors of death become like dead men themselves.
These guards that enforced the fear of man, the fear of empire,
now taste the fear of God. And their world of of violence
and inane control is sort of like coming apart at the seams
because a greater power was being born, a new reality from
heaven into earth. A power greater than death is
breaking in like light from another world, like power from
another world, and it's melting them like wax.
Their powers we're indeed limited.
When was the moment we realized that our powers were limited?
Can you remember? Maybe it was the first time we
got second place, or the 100th time our kids told us no.
Or maybe it wasn't a kid who told us no.
Maybe it was an employer or a love interest or an admissions
team. When the biopsy came back with
some really scary news, when the relationship ended.
When someone we cared about was suffering and we couldn't, we
couldn't fix it. Things were going so well.
We were moving from strength to strength to stop the tragedy, to
change the past, to heal the world, to grasp the good, keep
it from slipping away. Remember, Easter is for people
who wish they could do more, like everything earnestly in
their heart wants to. But they couldn't.
It's people like Mary Magdalene, people like you, people like me.
And when heaven broke in that first Easter morning, it didn't
come to melt us. It didn't come to frighten us.
It came to mobilize us as Mary Magdalene is about to
experience, because the Angel, having displayed God's power
visually, is now going to impart God's power verbally and, and
give these women and give all of us a way forward, a way forward
in this world in which we inhabit.
First, the Angel is going to invite these women to observe
God's new reality. He's going to invite them to
observe God's new reality. Verse 5 But the Angel said to
the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who
is crucified. He is not here, for he is risen
as he said, Come see the place where he lay.
Let's notice a couple things. First of all, let's notice that
the stone was not moved to let Jesus out.
He was already gone. The stone was moved to let the
women in so that they could see that he was already gone, that
he was risen to see the evidence of God's power.
Let's notice something else. There are two commandments.
One's a negative commandment, one's a positive commandment,
but they pair together so well. The negative commandment, do not
be afraid. The positive commandment, come
and see the place where he lay. Now this is what's called
grounding. If you want to be done with fear
and you want to move into reality, you begin to notice
what's right in front of you. The mind is spinning, the head
is spinning. Your, your body's responding to
sort of the, the false evidence appearing real in your head.
The fear. We got to get out of that.
We've got to not fear. How do we do that?
Let's observe what we can, what we can see and what we can smell
and what we can touch and what we can taste.
And the Angel says, come and see, Duck your head under, you
know the sepulchre here and look inside and see the grave clothes
are folded as other gospel writers show us that Jesus is
not here. Look with your very eyes.
Fear was spinning. Fear was saying all hope is
lost. Mary, your Savior is dead.
Mary, you have no hope. Mary, all of that trauma you
endured and all that trauma that Jesus that killed Jesus is
permanent. Mary, fear, fear.
Fear tries to prophecy. The Angel says don't let it come
and see, come and observe. The observable reality is that
Jesus rose from the dead. The reality is that God could
heal what Mary couldn't stop, but she needed to stoop her head
under the entrance and see it, that there's no corpse to speak
of. She needed to see God's power
and let that ground her and melt the fear.
Now how about us? How about all those situations
we can't fix? How about all the situations
that we couldn't fix, that we couldn't stop?
Like Mary, we are invited to step out of our fear and
observe. God has entered our world with
His saving power. He has actually fixed bigger
situations than the one that we face.
He has done impossible things already, and He loves us and
he's for us, and He's very, very good.
Do you know that there's evidence in history there are
eyewitness accounts of God's goodness?
First of all, for the resurrection, there's eyewitness
accounts, diverse witnesses to the fact that Jesus is alive.
That's the linchpin of all of the Christian faith, and it is
The Fountainhead of God's goodness for many, many other
ways that He has intervened in history.
Do you know that there's many times, do you know that whatever
situation that you and I couldn't fix or are facing,
wherever you and I are coming to the end of our powers, Do you
know that there are people walking this earth that have
faced a similar situation where God intervened and His power was
made known to them and His goodness was made known to them?
And do you know that we too can ground ourselves in this
eyewitness testimony in church history, in Scripture, and in
the testimony of His Saints? Friends, we, like Mary
Magdalene, can enter into God's new reality and let it melt our
fear. It's very empowering.
But it doesn't stop there. Once the women had first hand
evidence of God's new reality, the Angel invited to do
something else. He invited them to act with
humble confidence. He invited them to act with
humble confidence. Verse 7 of Matthew 28 The Angel
continues. Then go quickly and tell his
disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is
going before you to Galilee. There you will see him.
See, I have told you so. Verse 8 So they departed quickly
from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his
disciples. So here's a a very scary task
for the women. Go and tell, go tell Jesus
disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead and they must go
to Galilee to see him. Now the gospel writers tell us
that the women went with fear. At the very least there was joy,
but there was also fear. They were very intimidated and
we put ourselves in this situation.
You know, women were not believed in this time in in this
culture. They were not admitted.
They were not considered admissible testimony in any
court of law. And so they have to move forward
with weakness knowing that they would likely not be believed.
And also you're saying that something impossible is true,
something that the disciples will not by virtue of like
observable reality for them, be true that Jesus is alive.
But notice the Angel did not say make everyone believe you.
He didn't say that. He didn't say make them see you
as credible. He just said go and tell you
have a role to play and it's not all on you.
Have you ever heard of the scientific theory called the
butterfly effect? The butterfly, flecked with a
butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, and then
there's this massive weather event in another part of the
world. As a result, the women fly from
the tomb with fear and great joy.
And when the time came, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,
they would flap their delicate wings before a skeptical group
of disciples and say Jesus is risen.
He has appeared, and we must go to see Him in Galilee.
And the disciples, you know what they would do?
They would huff and they would puff and they would scoff and
they would not believe the women's testimony.
Surprise, surprise. But you know what?
Making them believe wasn't their job.
Mary Magdalene just had to flap those wings, and in time, it was
the winds of the Spirit that would bring good news upon a
parched and dry land and bring the storm of conversion and
bring the storm of Pentecost, and the Lord would do the rest.
Now here's what Jesus's resurrection shows us, friends.
We're not called to be the weather.
We're just called to flap our wings.
We're not called to control all the conditions if the Lord
knows. We've tried to control all the
conditions, but that doesn't work.
The Lord only calls us to flap our wings with humble confidence
and let him take care of the weather, let him take care of
the outcomes, let him take care of the problems.
Let him take care of the people we care about.
And ultimately, we let him take care of the ending of the story.
And that's where this leads to because as we act with humble
confidence, as we step out with fear and great joy, Jesus
brought the surprise. Jesus brings the surprise.
The women were on their way, right?
They're on their way. OK.
The job is to tell the disciples, you know, the
blinders are on. This is my job.
And verse 9. And behold, Jesus met them and
said greetings, you know, greetings.
It's in Greek. This is somewhat of a casual
term, like good morning or what's up.
You know, it's kind of a flex, like, hey, I'm here.
And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.
And what a what a relief this must have been.
What a healing moment this must have been.
I thought you were dead. Look.
And she's watching him die. And all she can clasp there are
her own hands, but now she can clasp him in the flesh.
This is my Savior and he. And she worships him.
She pours out her praise to him, and so does the other Mary.
They thought that duck was the end of the story, but there's
this like maybe it's starting to sink in for them, like as
they're grasping his feet or his ankles, like this is just the
beginning. They're worshiping him as Lord.
So he's Lord. He's.
He's reigning. He's he's won victory over
death. This is only the beginning like
this. I never thought this could ever
happen and here it is. You know, verse 10, there's more
surprises to come. Jesus said to them, do not be
afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to
Galilee and there they will see me not Go and tell my disciples
they were his disciples. Go and tell my brothers to go to
Galilee. The last time we heard from
Jesus disciples, they were deserting him and running away
in his hour of need. They fell short as Matt preached
about on Good Friday. In the worst way they fell
short. In the worst moment they fell
short and they were hiding. They were, they were afraid of,
they were looking out for themselves at this point.
And not only did he not believe Jesus's resurrection, it would
be hard for them, especially Peter, to accept Jesus's
forgiveness. But Jesus has already forgiven
them. He is already calling them
brothers. Brothers means reconciliation.
Brothers means partnership. Brothers means I love you.
Brothers mean I'm ready to trust you again.
Brothers mean you can't change the past, but Jesus can redeem
it. He can heal it.
Surprise, Jesus is more than enough.
You fell short. We fell short, didn't we?
Jesus is more than enough and he's ready to call us sisters.
He's ready to call us brothers. And the best is yet to come for
them and for us. That is what Easter is all
about. Would we dare let Jesus bring a
surprise ending to our stories? I don't know what your story is,
but what if we could trust Jesus with those unfinished stories
and say, here it is, Lord, bring your surprise ending.
Bring your conclusion to our unfinished stories.
Bring the surprise to our imperfection, to our past, to
our world. Because you know what his
surprise endings look like? Empty tombs and joyful reunions
and Nets filled with fish. It looks like heaven handling
boulders that we can't move. This is the power of God
breaking into the world for people at the end of their
powers. It starts with Jesus tomb.
But it doesn't end there friends.
He has gone on ahead and he has invited us to join him, sisters
and brothers, to see Him so that he can wipe away every tear, so
that he can forgive every sin. He's invited us to come worship
him as the Lord, to receive a new Commission from him, one
that we didn't expect, one that we probably don't feel ready
for. A new calling filled with hope,
a new purpose, a new life. The stone is rolled away,
friends, not just for him, but for us.
So let us trust Him. Let us follow him.
And happy Easter, the Lord is risen.