Sermons

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“Look, See...Found ”
Easter Sunday, April 20, 2003
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
Matthew 28:1-10

Some of my good friends know that I love to read, and so they sent me notice of a new book, which I have subsequently ordered for myself. It’s in that series of books that makes things REALLY simple..they’re yellow and black, you know the ones: “Car Maintenance For Dummies,” “Home Improvement for Dummies,” “Computers for Dummies.” This one was obviously meant for me because it’s called “Spirituality for Dummies!” The ad says, “While this book won’t challenge your core belief system, it WILL uplift your relationships, and bring more meaning to your life.”

I don’t think you can say the same about our gospel story for today. The story is about the RESURRECTION…and it lies at the absolute heart of our faith. Resurrection DOES challenge nearly every belief we have, and it doesn’t just bring more meaning to life…it changes your life. The theologian J.S. Whale said it this way:

“Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith, it IS the Christian faith.”

Today we return to our study of the gospel of Matthew by reading
Matthew 28:1-10.

It starts with an earthquake. These ladies, Mary and Mary, head to the tomb…on Sunday, mind you. Dawn is coming, and it’s a darned good thing, too, because it’s been a dark, dark week. And these Marys have seen it all: Jesus crucified, Jesus dies, Jesus buried. What else could possibly go wrong? And then, to top it all off…an earthquake.

Earthquakes are funny things, aren’t they? Matthew uses them to say, “Pay attention, there’s something important going on here!” But there’s something more about an earthquake. An earthquake shakes your world. Everything you thought was stable…is proved to be wrong. Everything you thought was permanent…isn’t. Everything you counted on NOT to move: trees, ground, sidewalks, houses, huge rocks in front of sealed tombs…suddenly start to move. It’s a little mind boggling. Sometimes earthquakes are physical, sometimes they are emotional.

My one remaining grandparent just passed away a couple of days ago: Grandma Ruby, at 95. She lived a good, full life, and she dearly loved the Lord. But this week, as I thought about her, it struck me that I’m no longer a grandchild to anyone. That was something I counted on not to move, I guess…and it moved. The world shook. I wasn’t ready. The two Marys were not prepared for an earthquake. Earthquakes CAN open and change us, make us rethink our lives and what’s important. The earthquake in this story was like a big arrow pointing at the tomb, red neon lights flashing out one word: EMPTY. The tomb is empty.

That’s what you’ll need to remember first of all: The tomb is empty. Oh, there are lots of other things to be noticed. The huge stone rolls back and “an angel of the Lord” appears… (we haven’t seen that phrase in Matthew since another “angel of the Lord” appeared way back in chapter one, telling Joseph that Mary’s son would save his people from their sins). The stone rolls back, the angel sits on it, so bright you can hardly look at him, and the soldiers guarding the tomb fall down as though they are dead. And it’s so ironic, of course. The guy who looked dead is alive, and the live guys look like they’re dead. Sometimes its hard to tell when we encounter people, isn’t it? But the deal is, the tomb is empty. The presence of the angel highlights it, the earthquake highlights it.

The angel obviously knows he’s a little intimidating. If he didn’t before, the guards keeling over tell him so now. And he says to the women, “Don’t YOU be afraid.”

Don’t be afraid? C’mon! Their teacher, no, their Messiah arrested-killed in front of them, buried-as-they-looked-on. It’s a done deal, and now this bright light is telling them that somehow the tomb is empty. Don’t be afraid? Why does he say that?

Because when we are afraid…it paralyzes us. It keeps us from living life, really living and not just looking like we are. Anne Lamott wrote a novel recently called “Blue Shoe.” In it, the main character, Mattie, says at one point, “All my life I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop.” She has lived in fear of one more horrible thing happening. And her very wise friend says simply: “God only has one shoe.”

Fear keeps us from seeing where God might be at work, because it monopolizes our attention.

“Don’t be afraid,” the angel says, “Look and See for yourselves.” “Satisfy your empirical, scientific mind, look at the evidence: He was here, now he is not. Come take a look, but don’t hang around this empty place too long…go quickly to tell the disciples, the living.” The tomb is empty. That’s the first word. And it’s an important word because it does give some “hard” evidence…but it’s not persuasive all by itself that something amazing has happened.

He has been raised. That’s the second word. He has been raised. Four words in English, just one in the Greek. He has been raised: Here is the gospel. This is the core of it all. So many times the scripture REPEATS something to emphasize it. Two times this word is given by the angel: “You’re looking for the crucified Jesus, but He Has Been Raised from the dead. Just as he said. Just as he said in Matthew 12:40, 16:21, 17:9, 17:23, 20:19 and 26:32. Six times in this gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “I will be killed, and I will be raised.” And so when the angel says it twice, it ought to sound familiar, to these ladies and to us.

But how could it, really? Who could imagine, who would believe that something that had never been done…actually would be? Why would they believe something they though impossible? Why would you, in your life? Why would you believe that a torn friendship could actually be mended? Or that some bitterness in your heart could disappear? That God could meet the loneliness in your soul? That you could feel clean? We’ve had YEARS to build our defenses: “These things are impossible. They will never change.”

He has been raised. Good Lord. Be careful here. He has been raised.
Not reborn, not revived, not resuscitated, not brought back to life only to die again, but RESURRECTED. Come through death and defeated it. Something has been introduced into the world that has never been there before.

Oh, Lordy, you need to be careful here. Because if this is true, if there is even a chance, if the door of doubt in your mind is cracked open just an inch or two…If God has raised Jesus…then He can do anything. Anything. If the absolute finality of death has been earthquaked, if it is no longer final…then ANYTHING might happen.

God might heal. He might restore. He might save. He might grow. He might forgive. It could all happen.

Be careful. If he has been raised, anything is possible. If this one word is true: Then the God Jesus called Father is real, and present. If this one word is true: Then OUR death might be defeated as well. If this one word is true: Then what Jesus said and taught…is true, and we can base our lives on it.

Good Lord, be careful. Because if you start to believe this…your life will change. That God WOULD have allowed his Son to die on the cross is amazing. But that he COULD and DID raise him…means simply Nothing is Impossible.

The tomb is empty. That’s the first word.

He has been raised. That’s the second word.

The third word is this: Jesus met them.

Last summer, we went to London and then over to Paris…took that cool “Chunnel” train that goes under the English channel, and landed right in the middle of the huge train station Gare du Nord in Paris. We got off the train, and the most extensive thing any of us could say in French was “Oui!” We were supposed to meet our friends there, Juliette and Alexandra…but they were nowhere in sight. After wandering around for awhile, we finally put our luggage down in the middle of streams and streams of people…and sat there. And sure enough, pretty soon our Juliette and Alexandra came running across the station, waving, laughing, greeting us…and most wonderfully, able to speak French!

We didn’t meet them. They met us. They found us.

Jesus met them, it says. It was JESUS. Not an empty space in a tomb, not a word from an angel, but JESUS. Transformed, but really Jesus, real enough they could fall and grab ahold of his feet. The Risen Christ is experienced by his followers. It is better proof than merely an empty tomb.

Jesus met these women, and when he did, in the most classic understatement of all time, he says, “Greetings.” Greetings? Eugene Peterson’s The Message makes Jesus’ greeting even more casual: Jesus says, “Good morning.” And Dale Bruner makes it even more casual: Jesus says, “Hi.” Are you kidding me?! The resurrected, Risen Christ appears to those who saw him die and says, “Hi?!” But it’s true. The greeting is the most common of that culture, literally meaning “Rejoice.” “Good morning.” Like something you would say to someone coming out of Starbucks. But it makes sense. You see…this is JESUS. Their master, the one they knew so well…not a spirit or a dream…but a bodily resurrected Jesus. THEIR Jesus. Jesus met them. He found them.

And Jesus’ FIRST word (at least, after “Good morning,” and “don’t be afraid”) is a word of concern. No, a word of forgiveness. “Go and tell my BROTHERS” to go to Galilee. Now, Jesus could have said:

“Go tell those lousy back-stabbing deserters: You Lose!”

Jesus could have sternly said,

“Tell my shamefaced DISCIPLES to meet me if they have any heart at all.”

But instead, in a voice of compassion and care that says “All is forgiven,” he says,

“Tell my BROTHERS,” not my disciples, but my brothers, my family, my friends…to go to Galilee. I want to meet them.”

Many years ago, Ernest Hemingway told a story of a father in Madrid who took out a newspaper ad to try to find his runaway son, who was estranged from him. The boy’s name was Paco. The ad simply said, “Paco: All is forgiven. Meet me in front of the Hotel Montana at noon on Wednesday.” And at noon on Wednesday, there were eight hundred boys named Paco in the street in front of the hotel.

Jesus met them. And he desires to meet you…and me.

The tomb is empty. He has been raised. Jesus met them.

The story of the resurrection is a story of God destroying the finality of death.

It is a story that eliminates impossibility in life.

It is a story of God’s amazing forgiveness and compassion.

It changes your life.

This morning, for the second year in a row, I went down to the lookout over here on the east side of Queen Anne at 6 am, before I came here. For the second year in a row, it was just a beautiful sunrise. Some clouds, but the red sun coming up, and you could just see the snowy tops of the mountains. Beautiful. And for the second year in a row, there was one lonely figure there at the lookout. Somehow, I knew he was going to be there. You see, he was there last year. He is a man I don’t really know, but I know who he is. I do know he is someone for whom life has been very difficult, and still is very difficult.

For the second year in a row, as I walked towards him, he turned to me and with a little smile on his face he said simply, “He is risen.” And I said. “He is risen indeed.” And he said, “He sure has.”

Friends, you will not find these things in “Spirituality for Dummies.” You will not find them in The Power of Positive Thinking. You will find it only in Jesus, the one who said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

Each time the church of Jesus Christ skips over the resurrection story, we miss something. We miss everything. We miss God. We miss Isaiah’s picture of a heavenly banquet…a wild, joyous dinner party in heaven with Jesus that just might include my Grandma Ruby, Anne Lamott’s Mattie, our friends Juliette and Alexandra…eight hundred boys named Paco…and you and me.

Every time the church downplays or forgets the resurrection, it falls on its face…not in worship, but in futility. And so for 2000 years now, from the morning of the empty tomb until this morning, in prosperity or persecution, sometimes in a weak and quivering voice and sometimes in a strong and bold one, the Church has been called
to believe, to speak, to proclaim, to shout:

Christ is Risen! (He is Risen indeed!) Amen.