Easter Sunday April
12, 2009
Mark 16:1-8 (1 Corinthians
15:10) Easter’s Grace Period
Dear fellow redeemed,
Everyone enjoys a grace period, as long as it’s in
place.
* You take the “grace period” we’re
granted shopping for a car. No interest
for a whole year! In fact we don’t have
to make a payment for six months.
* The salesman extends
this gesture of kindness hoping to generate business if you’re strapped for
cash and might otherwise shop somewhere else.
* But six months pass and
that once compassionate business takes on a different face. It doesn’t matter
if you’ve suddenly met with difficult times; lost your job and you’ve had to
take out a second mortgage on your home.
* No amount of
complaining or excuse making will make any difference.
If you don’t resolve your
troubles immediately, it’s too bad.
Time’s up and that means
“pay up!”
Easter we could say is a message of a different sort
of “grace period”.
* As surely as Christ “was
raised on the third day”, we have our Savior’s pledge that his death was
not in vain. He’s paid for our
sins.
* It’s not that we’re living under
God’s grace today but watch out for tomorrow!
Our sins are gone forever and
ever from the sight of God.
We’re forgiven, and even
now can look forward to eternity with our Savior.
+ But are we finding
comfort in this message today?
Or are we thinking more like
the women on the way to Christ’s tomb who wish to anoint his dead body?
* The ladies had heard it
for themselves. They knew of Christ’s grace.
On the third day the Lord
would rise again. But today was the 3rd day and they were reacting to his message as
though their favorite salesman had this deal which had lost its appeal.
* The time was up. The good times were over. The Lord’s
“period of grace” had expired. The theme
of the day? “Christ is dead!” Just look at the evidence!
We’d have to say that St. Paul too understood
something about Christ’s grace .
* In fact, he’d have quite
a bit to say on the subject when he wrote the epistles to the Ephesians and
the Romans.
* He could write such
things as: “For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace.”
* Or there’s the
well-known verse: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith –
and this not from yourselves. It is the
gift of God.”
+ But on a personal
level, I’m quite sure there were those episodes when he felt the evidence was
piled quite high against him.
* He wondered if he was
going to wake up one day and discover that gig was up. His amazing achievements as a disciple would
no longer cut it.
* He’d
simply been an unbeliever for too long.
Or his
efforts at persecuting Christians had been too severe.
* Yes,
he was “the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle.”
Can you relate? You just want to feel comforted by Christ’s
message of grace.
He’s risen which means the
victory over sin, death and the devil is yours!
* But
the evidence suggests that God’s grace is out of reach. It’s expired.
* On the one hand, like
the women you may feel overwhelmed by the message of death.
1 You’ve
had to move mother into your home until you can find her a unit in an assisted
living facility. But you’re wondering
what the point is.
She’s
already got cancer. She’s not going to
be with us much longer.
2 Meanwhile you’ve had to go in for a series of
tests. You’re not feeling right.
Your doctor
hasn’t been able narrow it down for you.
But you’re
thinking: “I might not be that far behind my mother!”
3 Or
maybe you’re the mother, but you’re feeling pretty good right now. However, it’s your friends. It seems there’s another funeral every month!
+ It’s a
message you can’t get away from.
We’re all
sinners and “The wages of sin is death.”
On the other hand, you may
figure you’re more like St. Paul. You’re overwhelmed by the
message of sin which affects everything in your life and
everything you touch.
1 There’s
the sin that’s been gaining a platform at home: all this bickering and silence,
bickering and silence. When and how did
it all start?
You don’t
know. You just know your marriage is experiencing difficulties.
2 And maybe it’s your same sin that’s affecting
the company.
You know
you’re difficult to get along with. And
it explains why sales are down and why you’ve had to put some extra hours in
away from the family.
+ You think about it and you really haven’t
changed much over the years.
A lot of
people have been hurt because you’ve got this disposition.
* Oh
yes, you’re in church today.
But part of
you is wondering whether you’re worthy of being here.
+ Whatever
the case may be, God’s grace doesn’t seem real relevant right now.
If Christians can truly speak of
Easter’s grace, well it would appear that the clock has expired in your case.
It’s what Satan would have us
presume. It’s what the world would have us presume. And it’s what our own sinful nature would
have us presume.
* What
we’ve believed about God’s grace has been in vain.
God’s grace
can’t possible apply to my situation.
The message of sin and death are simply too powerful. If time hasn’t already run out, it’s about
to.
+ Keep
in mind this whole line of thinking can sometimes be brewing beneath the
surface. It may be more of a
subconscious sort of thing.
* We’re just not processing
what Christ’s resurrection might mean on this day. Our actions as a believer feel like some
meaningless exercise where we’re simply “going through the motions”.
* That’s where the three women were at that first Easter
morning.
They get up
early to make their trip to the grave.
* Were
they thinking of seeing their Lord and benefitting from his grace and the
forgiveness of sins? Not really.
* They
were there to offer a final act of kindness for their late Lord. Since they could no longer honor his life,
they’d settle for honoring his death.
* But where did this
second choice get them?
This trip to
the grave wouldn’t issue any answers about sin and death.
It would only
bring to mind another question: “Who
will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” What an impossible situation!
So what about you? Are you here today because of a second
choice?
* To
say nothing about the grace of your risen Savior and his victory over sin and
death, you’ve got this obligation? It is
Easter Sunday after all!
* If so, in all likelihood you’ll leave here like the
women on the way to tomb.
You’re going
to go home with more questions than you came with.
* There
is another choice of course. We give attention to the evidence of Easter which
this very day is staring us in the face.
“And
looking up” we read, “they saw
that the stone had been rolled back.”
* This
stone which was very large, an angel had rolled away before they even arrived.
Before they even had time to speculate over the impossible, God’s
messenger shows them not only that the tomb was open. It was also empty!
Our reading doesn’t suggest
that the women felt foolish at this discovery, but it may remind us of an
embarrassing discovery we’ll make sometimes.
* You want to leave the
house but you can’t find your glasses, or your wallet or your keys. In any one of these cases, you’re not going
to get very far.
* You need your glasses
to see while driving. You need your
wallet to run this errand. You need your
keys to start your car.
* Anyway, after this
frantic search someone points out to you that this missing item is right where
you put it. Your glasses are on your
head.
Or your
wallet is in your pocket. Or your keys are in your hand.
* You
were so preoccupied over how inconvenienced you’d be, that you didn’t happen to
see that what was presumed missing was in your very possession.
It happens more than you
think.
* We’re
so consumed over our sinful past, so wrapped up in the death of various loved
ones, that we can’t see or hear what’s right in front of us.
* I
think that’s why Paul wrote what he did in the opening words of our epistle: “Now
I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you
received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.”
* The
Christians in Paul’s day needed reassurance.
False
teachers were worming their way into some of the congregations teaching the
people there was no such thing as the resurrection.
* So
the apostle reminded his readers concerning Christ’s resurrection.
If he rose
that means we will too, unless we’ve believed in vain.
“But not
according to the Gospel of Christ!” Paul told them.
* And
you still have this Gospel. In
fact you’re standing on the Gospel right now. Right now it’s saving
you by enabling you to believe in Christ.
* And
I can tell you the very same thing.
You want assurance that death does not
have the last word, that your sin does not have the final say, and that you’re still
saved by the grace of Christ. The
evidence is already in your possession!
* It’s the Gospel your pastor’s been preaching to you from the
very first day.
You know, it’s kind of fun teasing the one who’s
lost his glasses or wallet or keys.
And they are right under his nose.
* But I’m going to say,
our Lord has a little more compassion. It’s not his way to inform us how stupid we are. Instead, he just points us to
the truth.
* For these women who can’t put it
together what the empty tomb means, the angel spells it out for them. “Do
not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of
Nazareth, who was crucified. He’s risen; he’s not here. See the place where
they laid him.”
* And that’s how Christ
comes to us with his message today. If we spend a little too much time obsessing
over what sin and death have done to our lives, he doesn’t shut the door on us.
The opening to the tomb is still there.
* He
simply tells us: “take a look!” “Listen
to me!” I’m risen.
My grace is still in
effect.
That’s why the apostle found such comfort in the
Lord’s grace.
* “But by the grace of
God I am what I am” he writes, “and his grace toward me was not in
vain.” Notice the emphasis in this
verse is not on Paul and his past, but on God’s grace which is never in vain
but does what he promises.
* The apostle’s former life no longer
mattered. The point was God could and
would show his loving mercy toward this former persecutor of the church.
* That’s what his grace is all
about.
It’s why Christ willed to
die on the cross and then willed to rise again.
* He would deliver on
God’s promise. In accordance with the
Scriptures he would both die for our sins and rise on the third day.
Our Lord Jesus always delivers what he
promises.
* Recall the angel’s words to the women. “But
go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There
you will see him, just as he told you.”
* “Maybe things didn’t
look the greatest right now”, he was saying, “but Jesus will keep his
appointment.”
+ That’s more than we
can always say, isn’t it?
Many of us are not so
good at showing up where and when we promise.
* You
promise a friend you’ll pick her up for church, and then you get sick.
Or you promise you’re going
to start paying better attention during the service. Unfortunately, you show up in body only. You’re so preoccupied with your troubles that
the next day you don’t even remember the message.
I have this ongoing dream about not showing up as
I’ve promised.
Maybe I’ve shared it with some of you.
* I’m late
guest-preaching somewhere. And I’m stressed how everything will pull together
in the end. I left my sermon at home. I can’t find the prayers.
* And what happen to my
robe? Meanwhile everything is
progressing in slow motion except the clock which keeps moving from one minute
to the next.
Fortunately, God’s grace is not timed by some
clock, for Christ never misses an appointment.
* Just as he appeared to Cephas and the
twelve, to more than 500 believers at one time, to James and all the apostles,
and finally to St. Paul himself, so is he here today. He’s here in the saving message of the
Gospel.
* He’s here where I tell
you that he died for your sins and rose again to prove he’s your Savior. He’s
here in the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of your
sins.
* He’s our risen Savior,
you see, and is therefore with us everywhere we go, both in life and in
death.
* For Christ does not
operate by the clock. He operates by his
grace. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.