Victory in
Jesus
Luke
24: 1-12
April 8, 2007
1-12 But
on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking
the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from
the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they
were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood
beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground,
but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was
still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and
be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his
words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and
to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of
James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But
these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the
linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had
happened.
For a few moments this morning, let us go back in time. Let us walk the
walk that the women walked on that early Sunday morning almost two
thousand years ago. They had left the safety of their shelter and
ventured out in the early morning to complete their burial process. They
had left the warmth of their place and walked out into a cool dark morning
to follow through with something they thought was very important. They
were willing to risk everything because Jesus
had not been given the proper burial. To accomplish the task that was at
hand they were willing to face any form of danger or hardship. On that
early Sunday morning they left all of their creature comforts behind and
moved forward to complete that which had not been done on Friday.
With sorrow heavy
upon their hearts they moved toward that burial place. The sorrow was so
heavy that they had not even thought about how they were going to roll
away the heavy stone that sealed the entrance to their beloved’s tomb.
With their heads down and their hearts hurting with great pain they moved
forward to finish the task at hand.
The faithful
women made their way to the garden where their master had been laid in the
tomb. They finally arrived at the site and they moved forward to his tomb.
Maybe it was at this point, one of them said: “Who will we get to roll the
stone away for us?” And at that point the horror hit them. They thought:
“We will not be able to complete our burial process. Our master will not
be buried in the proper way. What will we do?” They continued to move
forward. They never once thought about giving up and returning back to the
safety and warmth of their shelter or home. As they approached the tomb,
imagine the fright that entered into their hearts, souls and minds when
they first saw the large heavy stone was not in front of the tomb’s
entryway. Again, they did not stop. They did not turn around. They moved
forward toward the tomb. They moved forward and entered into the tomb.
At that moment they
discovered the greatest miracle that had ever happened in the history of
this world. Today it is still the greatest miracle that has taken place in
human history. Many of us in this room today have been the recipients of
some great miracles in our lives. We have seen some dreaded disease
basically wiped out in our lifetime. We have seen the devastation of war
and the joy and hope of peace.
Each year, we see a miracle taking place in our lives
when we slow down and notice them. We have seen summers turn into autumn.
Autumn has blessed us with its beautiful colors. I know that we can
explain why it happens but we still cannot explain the beauty of it. We
have seen many autumns turn into mild and sometimes cold winters. We have
seen an inch of snow and we have seen twenty-one inches of snow. We have
seen ice storms come and take us back into the “dark ages.” At the same
time, we saw the sun rise the next day and it started warming the air and
filling the day with its brightness. We have seen winters turn into
beautiful springs where the flowers burst forth from their dormant life
and touch us with their beauty and with their pollen. We have seen the
wonderful days of spring turn into the hot humid lazy days of summer. Just
when we think we are tired of those hot days, the miracle of autumn is
upon us. The birth of each season is a gift and a miracle created by
God.
They are some of the miracles that surround our daily
lives. To be sure there are many more. On that Sunday those many years ago
those brave forward moving women encountered the greatest miracle that has
ever happened and that will ever happen in the history of humanity. The
women moved forward into the tomb and discovered it empty. Luke the
evangelist tells us that they were “perplexed.” Luke describes the events
of that morning in that tomb with these words: “…suddenly two men in
dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed
their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for
the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
They discovered that Jesus
of Nazareth was not in the tomb. They discovered that
Jesus of Nazareth through the awesome power
of God his father had defeated death. They
discovered a victory like the world had never seen or experienced before
that Sunday morning.
There is a marvelous hymn in The United Methodist
Hymnal that was written by Eugene M. Bartlett in 1939. He wrote both the
tune and the words to this wonderful hymn. It is a personal statement
about one’s salvation through the redeeming blood of
Jesus Christ. It tells of the greatest
miracle that has been made to all through and by the love of our creating
and redeeming God. Mr. Bartlett wrote: “I
heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from Glory, how he gave his
life on Calvary to save a wretch like me; I heard about his groaning, of
his precious blood’s atoning, then I repented of my sins and won the
victory. O victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever! He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood; he loved me
ere I knew him, and all my love is due him; he plunged me to victory
beneath the cleansing flood.”
The victory that the women experienced at that tomb is
the same victory that is offered to every person in this place and to
every person in the world. It is a victory that brings one back into his
or her proper relationship with God. It is a
victory that springs forth in one’s life when one invites the resurrected
Jesus of Nazareth into his or her life.
Phillip Brooks wrote: “The great Easter truth is not
that we are to live newly after death -- that is not the great thing --
but that we are to live here and now by the power of the resurrection; not
so much that we are to live forever as that we are to, and may, live nobly
now because we are to live forever. “
On this Easter morning let us claim and reclaim the
victory that is offered to all through the resurrection of
Jesus of Nazareth. There were some in the
world who thought they had defeated Jesus when they had him nailed to that
Old wooden cross on Calvary. There were some who thought that his presence
and power was destroyed when they placed him in that tomb and rolled that
heavy stone in front of it to seal it forever. Those naysayers missed the
boat. They did not understand the mission or the message of
Jesus of Nazareth. They saw him as an
opponent instead of a redeeming Savior.
The empty tomb taught and teaches us today that
Jesus is the redeeming Savior. He entered
into human history with one purpose and that was to restore each person
back into the family of God. He entered and
he enters into human history – our history – to claim us as
God’s children.
A man was going down a street when in a store window he
saw a very beautiful picture of the crucifixion. As he gazed spellbound at
the vividly pictured story, he suddenly became conscious that at his side
stood a young boy. The boy, too, was gazing at the picture, and his tense
expression made the man know that "The Crucifixion" had really gripped the
eager little soul. Touching the boy on the shoulder, the man said, "Sonny,
what does it mean?" "Doncha know?" he answered, his face full of the
marvel of the man's ignorance. "That there man is Jesus,
an' them others is Roman soldiers, an' the woman what's cryin' is His
mother, an'" he added, "they killed 'im!"
The man did not want to move from in front of that
impressive piece of artwork but he had other things he had to do, so he
turned and walked away. In a few moments he heard footsteps on the street
behind him, and there came rushing up the boy. "Say, mister," he exclaimed
breathlessly, "I forgot to tell you, but He rose again!"
The women who walked into that empty tomb were greeted with words that
have faced many obstacles over the ages yet are still true. They heard
words that lifted their sorrow and pain and brought them into the beauty
of a new day’s dawn. They heard: “he is not among the dead, he has risen
and walks among the living.” Their eyes, hearts, souls and minds were
opened to the greatest truth and miracle that has happened in human
history. They were the first on the scene to be touched by
God’s redeeming miracle. Their lives were
changed from the moment that they walked into that tomb. The women could
not contain that change. They left that empty tomb and went and told their
story to the eleven that followed Jesus
throughout his ministry. Unfortunately ten of the eleven were a little
hard headed and did not want to believe what the women were telling them.
They thought that they were telling some idle tale. Peter was touched by
their words and he left the safety of their shelter and went to the tomb.
Luke described it this way: “But Peter got up and ran to the tomb;
stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he
went home, amazed at what had happened.” The miracle and the victory of
that first Easter changed Simon Peter. He was no longer backing up. He was
moving forward because he had experienced the victory that comes to one
through and by the power of God as revealed
through His resurrected son, Jesus. On that
Sunday, Peter experienced the living Jesus and that experience would
change altar and shape Peter’s life forever.
William Barclay wrote: “Jesus is not dead; he
is alive. He is not merely a hero of the past; he is a living reality of
the present.”
Today, let us greet each other with the knowledge in our hearts, souls and
minds that we have experienced or that we have the opportunity to
experience the resurrected Jesus who will
altar and change our lives as we move forward in all of life.
He
is risen and he walks among us today through and by the power of
God’s Holy Spirit. Thanks be to
God for God’s
greatest miracle and victory as revealed through and by the resurrected
Jesus of Nazareth.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
