Resurrection of Our Lord
Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118 Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10 Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed Alleluia. Fear and love, these are the underlying emotions running through this morning , the morning of the empty tomb, the morning where God turned the world upside down where fear makes the living dead and love makes the dead living. It is love that propels the Marys to go to the tomb as soon as possible after the sabbath. They loved Jesus, Mary Magdalene has been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry, she has seen him teach large crowds and small groups of disciples, cast out demons and heal the sick, she has made his mission her mission and now it is over what she lived for is dead. But love carries beyond death and so she and the other Mary go to the tomb, to be with the one they love, to grieve his death, their death, the uncertainty of the future. And all of a sudden their world, which has already been shaken shakes again, as an angel a messenger of the Lord descends from heaven and rolls the stone away from the tomb. And Matthew tells us that for fear of the angel the guards shook and became like dead men. But the women, they manage to stay on their feet, Why do the guards become like dead men and the women do not? It all comes back to love and fear without the love of God fear is paralyzing, with the love of God fear is manageable because with the love of God comes hope. “do not be afraid” the angel greets them in standard angel fashion knowing that heavenly appearances are always frightening “I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised as he said.” He has been raised as he said, is that another reason why the women are there at the tomb so early? Did they go to the tomb hoping against hope that what Jesus said was true? That they would experience exactly what was happening in front of them? Only hope born out of love could be this powerful, for hope born out of love looks at the reality of a situation and still shows up at the tomb early in in the morning. Hope born of love means that even though your dreams are dead, in a tomb, behind a stone, being guarded and the earth shakes around you, you remain standing or at least conscious. The guards did not have this hope, they did have relatively safe secure lives, so when the earth quakes and the stone is rolled away fear paralyzes them, makes the living become like they are dead. Fear has that power, to take the life from the living, but God’s love is stronger than fear, stronger than death, God’s love brings life out of death, sets us free, free from paralysis when the earth quakes, free from the finality of death, free because God loves us and wants us to have an abundant life. And the thing about being set free is that now we are able to go do things we never thought possible, freed from worry about ourselves we are able to care for our neighbor as Jesus taught us, we are free to share the news about the power of love to empty tombs. The angel shows the women the empty tomb, tells them Jesus has been raised and then gives them a command “Go tell the disciples, he has been raised from the dead and will meet you in Galilee” And Matthew tells us that the women leave the tomb quickly with fear and great joy. paired with the joy of love fulfilled, fear is manageable, it is the fear of anticipation, of going forth with a fantastic, unbelievable story to tell, it is fear that knows that many will not believe what they have to say but they are going to say it anyway, it is fear softened by hope. And then on the way, Jesus meets them, Greetings he says, there is no question about who this is, it is Jesus, they grab hold of him and worship him. Jesus repeats the message of the angel, “Do not be afraid, go and tell the disciples I will meet them in Galilee” There’s that caution again, do not be afraid. Jesus knows that even as we are set free and joyfully go out from the empty tomb we will need reassurance, we will need the message repeated, we will need times to worship at Jesus’ feet. Which is why Jesus comes to us at the table, in the bread and wine, his body and blood, greeting us and strengthening us before sending us back out into the world. With fear and great joy This morning is all about fear and love. We all have tombs in our lives, tombs that are sealed with a rock and surrounded by guards and it takes the world shaking to open these tombs, it is a fearful time, but because we have the love of God we remain standing, and when we peek into the tomb we find that Jesus has already emptied it. Alleluia, Christ is Risen, Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia
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AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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