Texts: Acts 10: 34-43 Colossians 3:1-4 (Series A. Resurrection Sunday) Ps. 118:1-2,14-24 Matthew 28:1-10
OThe tomb is empty and Christ is alive in us ..… while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb"
The disciples of Jesus went to the tomb by the first light of the day where they experienced the Resurrection. They were in the depths of despair because of the events of the past week. In their deep darkness, these men and women went to the tomb and there something happened to them. It was not something they dreamed up. They were not hallucinating.
Something happened to them which they hadn't expected and which they didn't even believe at first. But the simple fact was that when these disciples went to the tomb they found that it was empty, and before the day was over they had experienced Christ's living presence.
This is an historical event a happening as real as anything else that happened in Jesus' life including the Crucifixion. It is one of the best attested events in history. Part of our joy of our Easter celebration is to go back to that tomb, stand with those disciples and share in the Resurrection experience.
But our celebration must not end there because that is only part of the reason we feel the joy of Easter. The deep root of our joy is that Easter is not only something that happened then, but something that happens now. Unless it happens to us here and now, we've missed the point all together.
God acted then and now confirms the life and ministry of Christ through this Resurrection. He is here, in your life and in mine at this very moment. Unless we know and experience this in the deep Biblical sense of knowing and experiencing, we will have missed the point of Easter.
Here is a family was driving through the countryside on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when suddenly their car stalled. The driver got out to see what was wrong and, as he bent over the motor, he heard a voice say, "That trip to Japan was wonderful last Spring."
He looked around but saw no one. All he could see was an old horse standing in the meadow. The horse looked straight at him and said, "Yes, that trip was almost as good as the one to Paris and Rome the year before." Well, the man was filled with excitement. He ran to the farmhouse knocked on the door, took out his cheque book and said, "I want to buy that horse at any price."
Calm down, calm down, the farmer said, "Oh, you mustn't pay too much attention to that horse. He hasn't been to half the places he talks about." Sadly for most, we sing about Easter and pray about Easter and talk about Easter. But we haven't been there. We haven't taken the trip. We haven't experienced the real thing.
We don't have to wait until the roof caves in before we can experience the Resurrection Power of God. It doesn't have to be a personal crisis which plunges us into despair as it did the disciples. The Easter experience can occur in simple, ordinary events of our life. By just accepting Jesus into our lives and believe who he says he is.
For example, in our every day struggles with personal life: for most in society today God is not part of their agenda. Therefore so many souls wander without purpose, without hope, without meaning, without God, in an existence without promise or future. How can we know where we are going if we don’t know who we are or where we came from?
God wants every human being to know that he or she is important, that each of us came from God, made in his image, daughters and sons of the King of the universe his is the promise of Easter. This is the Power of the Resurrection.
We ignore this great promise and live our lives as if there is no tomorrow until one day we hear a doctor tell us that unless we change our habits, we're not going to live as long as we otherwise would. Then comes the struggle to quit those things that hinder our spiritual intimacy with God.
Every time we try to pull our lives together, it seems, we're being sent to the tombs of our lives. Fortunately this is where we are. And, if this is where we are living and breathing and hurting, this is where the Resurrection Power of God is given to us, to rise.
This is where God is, God is present in our hurt. This is where God is active in our lives. Today, we go to these tombs, to these places of death and struggle and disappointment, and there is where the healing occurs. We are given strength beyond our own strength.
We are given a power to move through these situations, to new life, to new hope, to new expectation. This is what Easter is all about. We don't merely sit here and remember some dim historical event. We experience it now, at the points of hurting, at the tombs of our life.
And if we miss that, we miss Easter. Easter is a time to uncover the conviction deep within us that God is in charge, and God is good, and God will take care of us in life, and in death. You and I are invited today to place our trust in the true ultimate and victorious power of God's love.
It is a love - as shown by Jesus on the cross. And it is a love- as shown by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead - that is more powerful than all the forces of darkness. May be you are wondering, does the pastor believe all these stuff? You know something I believe every word of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes! I believe all this stuff, because the Bible says so. "Nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God" as shown to us in Jesus Christ. This is not a past event only, but a present reality. Not "thanks for the memories" but "thanks be to God who gives us the victory." The reign of fear is over. We can live now without the fear of death. Even if we are killed, we are not destroyed, we are now part of God's love that cannot be defeated.
The proof of this new reality is today the same as it was 2,000 years ago: in its power to empower us to new life. Either the resurrection reality changes our lives now or what happened two thousand years ago is only a matter of historical curiosity.
But it all depends on our willingness to trust that love, to welcome it into our hearts, and to connect our open hearts to it. That power can transform each and every one of us only if we receive it and to draw on it as deepest reality of our life. In 1859 a French tight rope walker named Blondin walked across Niagara Falls. After he crossed the falls before a large crowd, he spoke to the spectators, "Do you believe I can carry a person on my shoulders across the falls?" One man shouted yes, you can. Blondin then replied to that man, "Will you be the man?"
Likewise God asks you and me, "Do you believe I can raise you from the shallow of bondage that confines you? Do you believe that my power is greater than the power of alcohol, or your possessions, or of those alluring images we see in the media? Do you believe I can raise you even from the grasp of guilt, insecurity, or fear, and death? Do you believe I can make you a new creature?
Will you connect your heart to the power of my love? If so, I will transform you into a (person) into a Christian who is empowered... empowered to love the world." Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus our Lord!
(Cross held high) This is not the sign of despair, but a victory sign of God's love over the forces of darkness. Whatever your present source of deep hurting – whenever we are sent back to the tomes just remember this …. Easter is now. As Swedish proverb says: “There is a dawn in every midnight”
The tomb, after all, is empty. Christ is alive in us! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
April 24, 2011