Introduction
Imagine yourself to be there on that first Easter morning. You have got up whilst it is still dark and you want to go and anoint Jesus' body, to wash it and make it ready for a decent burial. You want to make up for the hurried burial done a couple of days beforehand just before the Sabbath started. You are still numb. You saw your Lord taken away, tried, tortured and made to carry his cross to his dreadful death. You probably haven't stopped crying since Friday and you can't make sense of anything at the moment. And then you get there and you can't find the body. The stone has been moved and all the grief and confusion comes to you and you say those heart rending words:"They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him"
They Have Taken Away My Lord
In many ways we can relate to what Mary says here. Her cry reminds me of many Christians who feel that their Lord has been taken away. When we are told we cannot be Christian because of how we love, or who we perceive ourselves to be it is as if they have taken away our Lord. Like Mary, we cannot see what is really happening because of our tears and our inward focus.
In our reading today Mary tells her tale through horror and tears to the other disciples who come to the tomb and see its emptiness and the folded grave clothes. They leave and Mary is left alone in the garden crying quietly. Through her tears she does not recognise Jesus who stands next to her.
Often when we are in despair, when we think that the world is against us, that the Church is against us, we cannot see Jesus because of our pain and despair. It is precisely at these times that we need to meet the Risen Jesus and precisely at these times when we find it the most difficult.
When we are at our weakest ebb God can meet us in the most powerful ways. It is when we are at our lowest point that the Risen Jesus comes and meets us and transforms us.
A God of Surprises
When Mary went to the tomb all those years ago she went expecting to find a dead body. Instead she found an empty tomb and the Risen Jesus - what a surprise! How ready are we to be surprised by the Risen Jesus who continues to meet us through our tears and to surprise us with his exuberant life. We expect Mary to be full of joy when she sees the Risen Jesus but instead she is full of fear. What do we make of the Resurrection Are we trembling in silence or proclaiming it with joy and confidence?
The Gospel We Proclaim
This Easter we proclaim the Good News. We proclaim that Jesus is risen from the dead.
The fact that Jesus is risen means we can be forgiven - just as Peter was forgiven for denying Jesus.
The fact that Jesus is risen means he has won the final battle between good and evil. Satan has been defeated. He had hoped to snatch Jesus for his own, but he got rather more than he bargained for and Jesus' death on the cross was not a defeat, but a victory over sin and death. The battle is over. All that is left in the cosmic battle between good and evil is the mopping up - but the battle is won, the die is cast. By raising Jesus to new life, God has declared that the end of our life is no longer death - for after death is new life. The tomb is no longer a place to be feared, but a bed. We live on.
The fact that Jesus is risen affects us now. We can talk to Jesus, confident that we are forgiven our sins and that he is victorious over sin and death. We have a new quality of life now as well. We are worth something, for Jesus died for us.
This Easter as we rejoice in the news that God raised Jesus from the dead, let us tell others of this fact. Tell others that they can be forgiven, that death is not the end, and that our lives are forever difference because of the battle that Jesus has won.
Amen.
This
sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester.
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