Easter Sunday April 4, 2010
Mark 16:1-8 You Seek Jesus
Dear fellow redeemed,
Did you make any wrong turns on the way here? Did you get lost?
* Just recently I’ve learned to really appreciate my G. P. S. device.
You know that gadget which you hook up inside your car and it speaks in this very pleasant voice and gives you directions to your desired destination?
1 First, it confirms that the place where you want travel does indeed exist.
Sometimes I don’t even need to type the entire address inside the box.
It anticipates what I’m going to want - and gives me two or three possible streets.
2 Or let’s say I hit some roadblock or construction and have to make a wrong turn, the voice doesn’t get upset with me. It simply responds: “recalculating”, as it gets me back on track.
3 Similarly, if I end up in the wrong place, it doesn’t blurt out: “you missed your exit, stupid!” I recall getting lost once because I typed in St. Paul in stead of Minneapolis on my way to a particular hospital. So I typed in the correct address, and in a very gentle voice it informed me were to go; just 5 blocks away.
4 Other times I’ve listened to the device against my better judgment and to my surprise it’s actually cut off ten minutes of travel time.
5 Of course, the best thing of all, is I don’t have to get out some stupid map with a magnifying glass. I just keep listening to the voice which soon informs me: “Arriving at destination on right!”
What I’ve just described, is similar to what many of us go through when we make it our goal to find our resurrected Jesus and obtain the blessings he has for us this day.
* Okay, you knew where to drive this morning to arrive here at Triune God.
* In another sense, however, I can say that you too experience a variety of things as you make it your ongoing destination to reach Jesus and benefit from his gifts.
* There’s that aggravating barrier or roadblock you come upon.
Or there’s the unexpected disappearance of a roadblock.
* There’s the much needed confirmation that you don’t have to give up your search despite a recent wrong turn. There’s the notice that you’re in the wrong place; you won’t find Jesus taking that route. And finally there’s word that you’ve arrived at your destination.
* When all is said and done, despite all the bumps and twists and construction and detours, you can expect to find Jesus, and make your way into the presence of your risen Savior.
You seek Jesus. As said, the first thing you may encounter along the way is a barrier.
* So it was with the two Marys and Salome that first Easter morning.
They’re on their way to Jesus’ grave to anoint his body. It was the last act of service they’d perform for Jesus and their way to show their respect for the dead.
* So they set out early. In this climate, dead bodies start to decompose very quickly and generally must be buried on the same day that they die.
In other words, for these women, reaching Christ soon was crucial.
* But they’re suddenly stopped in their tracks as a very obvious question occurs to them.
“Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb.”
“Ah! Now, we’ll never reach his body in time!”
* We might ask: “Why should they want to visit the tomb?”
They heard his promise. He’d rise again!
* But then they saw his dead body. And that’s all they could think about.
Death often becomes a barrier to receiving Christ’s blessings.
* We too have heard his promise. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”
* But then death hits home. “The Lord should have taken me first.”
“They had so much to live for; so much to give! I miss them so much!”
* Or maybe we are grateful they’re in heaven but we haven’t had a chance to really dwell on the fact. We’re too loaded down with our duties at work or with trying to keep our finances in order. Or we’re busy simply getting on with life.
It’s what he or she would want us to do.
* In short, we’re not seeing the risen Christ; we’re not seeing that opening to his blessings, because we’re too busy respecting the dead.
You seek Jesus. The next thing you might find along the way to your surprise, is that a certain barrier has been removed.
* A moment later we’re told concerning the women that “Looking up, they saw that the (large) stone had been rolled back.”
* Then entering the tomb, they saw this angel dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed because they weren’t sure who this was or what he was doing there.
* You may be reminded of some time ago when your life was flipped upside down.
You were not able to imagine moving ahead with your life.
1 Your mother had cancer, and you were already talking to Dad about moving in with you.
2 Or you were laid off, and it was looking more and more like you might have to move.
3 Or your son had told you in no uncertain terms, he wanted nothing to do with you.
4 Or your husband just died and for the first time in many years you were living alone.
But after some time, like the women at the tomb, you saw this opening.
Some may call it a second chance.
1 Your mother, to everyone’s surprise, started recovering from her cancer.
2 You found new work and were not obligated to move anywhere.
3 Your son was convinced by his mother to forgive you and he’s let you back into his life.
4 Your husband has been gone some time, and another gentleman has been spending time with you, although he isn’t presuming anything.
* In any event, you’re not sure how to react to this latest development.
It’s left you bit frazzled. Like the women, you’re feeling like your life has thrown you this curve ball. “What am I to make of this?”
* Well, maybe what’s most important in your life hasn’t changed at all.
You still need to locate Jesus and obtain the blessings he earned for you on the cross and guarantees by his resurrection.
* The only thing that’s changed is, you need to reevaluate the best way to find Jesus.
And maybe this opening, this latest development in your life, can help you.
You seek Jesus. In case you’re getting a little discouraged, the next thing you can expect along the way is confirmation that you’re not on a wild-goose chase.
* We may imagine the women in our text simply had one big question replaced with another. No longer were they wondering about the huge stone.
* Seeing the opening and this mysterious person in white right where they expected to find their Lord, they’re now asking: “Oh boy! What have we stumbled across here?”
* So the angel gets right to the
point. “Do not be alarmed” he
says.
“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen!”
* The women clearly needed some reassuring not give up before they even started.
And that’s just what the angel gave them.
Maybe that’s why you’re here today. You too need some reassuring.
* Your life has undergone this abrupt transformation. Things have changed for you financially, medically, in regard to your most important relationships.
* You want to know this new track you’re on will not steer you in needless circles or push your life in a direction you’ll later regret.
* You want to know you can depend on those who want you to depend on them.
You want to know what’s most important to you will not change.
* But no one’s been able to convince you why you should have any hope in your quest.
Well, let me tell you what you really want to know. You want to know where Christ is.
You seek Jesus. So where do you go now?
* The next thing you may learn along the way is where not to go, that is, where not to look if you don’t wish to end up in the wrong place.
* The women in our text, as often is the case with us, learned the hard way.
“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified . . .” the
angel says to them.
“He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”
* There was no arguing whether these ladies had the right intentions. And so it is with you. You’re here today because you’re a Christian. And what that means is simple.
A Christian by definition is one who like the women in our text are seeking Jesus.
* So what if you’re not seeing him right now?
Where have you been seeking Christ that’s perhaps gotten you off course?
1 This I can tell you. He’s not found in our human traditions. I know none of us have come here today to anoint a dead body, but we do come sometimes because it’s what we’ve always done. It’s Easter. It’s what the rest of my family is doing.
2 Nor is Christ is found by simply consulting our memories of where he was last seen.
The women in our text had last seen a dead Jesus being taken down from the cross.
* And that’s where our memories will navigate us if our habit is to turn back the clock.
For that’s when we recall merely our feelings about Jesus, whether in Sunday School, at home or in church, but not necessarily the words of Jesus.
3 Nor is Christ found in the good works we do for our Lord, whether at home, in the church or in the community. That’s not where see Jesus. That’s where we see ourselves.
You seek Jesus. So where do you finally go?
How are you assured of arriving at your desired designation?
* In the end, you listen to the voice which points you to Christ’s Word.
In today’s text it’s the voice of an angel. He’s tells the women: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
* Did you know that the same word in the Greek for “angel” is “messenger.”
That’s what I am. No, I’m not an angel but I am God’s messenger.
* And as his messenger, I am happy to tell you, I know where Jesus is.
1 He’s right here in the preaching of his Word where he assures you that he’s covered your sin with his atoning blood. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).
2 He’s right here in the giving of his Sacrament. “Take, eat; this is my body” he says. “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood” (Matthew 26:26-28).
3 He’s right here in your ever-working Baptism. “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” he says (Galatians 3:27).
His personal righteousness is yours by faith!
3 He’s right here when in the name of Christ I pronounce you forgiven “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
* He’s here in every case to declare his victory over sin, death, and the devil, and every other enemy life throws at you. Here “you will see him, just as he told you.”
So. Did you get lost on the way here; make a couple wrong turns perhaps?
Are you still seeking Jesus?
* It’s safe to say you don’t need a G. P. S. devise, as much as you need Christ’s saving Gospel and sacraments. That’s why you’re invited this day to come to the Lord’s house.
1 Come to the divine service where he speaks not just words of Law, explaining how you got off track, but where he speaks words of Gospel.
2 Come to hear how neither life nor death will get the last word, no matter how frazzled you feel. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”
3 Come to receive Christ’s body and his blood for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith.
4 Come to receive absolution from God’s messenger who speaks in Christ’s behalf.
5 Having heard the words of the angel as recorded by Matthew: “Come, see the place where he lay” and together we will confess what great blessings are ours through Christ Jesus who’s resurrected from the dead. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.