Sermon Easter 2012
Sermon Easter 2012
Text: Mark 6:1-8
Grace and Peace to
you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who tells us to Go, Tell, and
See.
I
traveled to Israel and Palestine in January of 2008. The last part of our time
there was spent in Jerusalem, walking around the town, taking in the sights.
Obviously one of the highlights was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is the
site of Golgotha and Jesus’ sepulcher, an tomb hewn out of rock. When you enter
you find yourself in a good sized open area, if you would take a stone stairway
to your right you would reach two altars, one Catholic, one Orthodox, marking
the place where the cross stood.
If
you go to the left from the front door you enter a large domed rotunda which
houses in the center, the Sepulcher of Christ, a large rectangular building
within the rotunda about 50 feet by 70 feet. You can enter this building and
see the site where Jesus’ body lay. It’s sort a strange experience, you have
been standing in line with probably a couple hundred others surrounding the
outside of the sepulcher, and then when you get to the entrance they only allow
3-4 in at a time, and that all that really can fit, you enter one small outer
room, then into the smaller tomb room, barely tall enough to stand, with one
half being taken up by a 5 foot raised stone bed where the body would lie. Then
you turn around in this small space, go back into the first small room, and
enter back into the church proper. And directly before you, while your eyes are
still adjusting since the inside of the sepulcher is only lit by a few candles,
you find yourself looking into nave of the second dome of the church, which has
large windows in the dome, and so is much brighter than the rest of the church.
This dome is not dark stone like the first above the sepulcher, but is instead
covered in bright gold, and bright painting and artwork. At the very center top
of the dome is a depiction of Christ arisen looking down upon those below. This
chapel within the church is the area celebrating the resurrection and ascension
of Jesus. And that’s what it feels like when you see it. You feel like your in the story at that moment, walking from Good Friday to Easter, death to life.
But,
I want to return to the tomb, because that is where our story starts. We hear
that three women went very early to the tomb. They went to the tomb and go
inside, and there they find a young man in a white robe, probably an angel,
sitting there. He tells them, “Do not be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus of
Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is
the place they laid him. 7But
go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee;
there you will see him, just as he told you.” And they look at the spot where
Jesus had lain and still afraid, they leave.
This
story is told in a slightly different way when we look at the original Greek
version. The word that our translations use is they went to the tomb. But, the
Greek is early in the morning they come to the tomb. It is in a tense that
tells us that we are travelling along with them. When we read this story, we
are to place ourselves alongside those three women, be with them as they come
to the dark tomb, unsure of what they will find with the stone surprisingly
rolled away. We are to stand next to them as the young man tells them to look
at where Jesus had lain, to see the empty tomb with them.
We
come with them to the tomb, we hear that Jesus is raised from the dead, and we
see that he is no longer there, he is no longer dead. When we enter that story
something becomes clear. The young man knows that we are entering their story
and he echoes it in his commands to the women, and to us. Again, let us hear
what he tells the women. “He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is
the place they laid him. 7But
go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee;
there you will see him, just as he told you.” This young man commands them to
go, tell, and see.
It
is an echo of what we have just experienced with these women. We come to the
tomb, we hear the young man, we see Jesus absence. We are commanded to go from
the tomb, to tell the story of the resurrection, and to see Jesus out in the
world.
I
have relatives who live in Australia, I have not been to visit them, but I hope
someday to go visit there, and I think it would be hard to celebrate Easter in
the Southern Hemisphere. It would be easier to celebrate Lent as everything
begins to die and it starts getting darker and darker, that suits Lent. But,
here I love celebrating Easter, especially this year, it is so abundantly full
of life around us. I even walked into my Garage Friday morning and noticed that
one potted plant that I had put in there last fall thinking it was dead had
shot some new shoots out of the dirt, and I’m pretty sure that it is one of my
Easter Lilies from last year. Sort of a strange and cool experience to have on
Good Friday.
We
need to remember to celebrate Easter more like that. Easter is when we head home
from this service and we enter back into the world, when we have our Easter Egg
hunts among the newly blossoming flowers, when we eat our Easter dinners with
family and friends next to us, celebrating the gift of life that Jesus has
given to us.
That’s the part of Easter we need to really
celebrate and remember why we are celebrating.
Way
to often we come to church seeking Christ. We come into this building and we
want to see Jesus. And yes, this is not a tomb, Jesus is present here. But,
what Easter tells us is that Jesus is out in the world, Jesus is not just here.
Easter and Jesus’ resurrection frees Jesus from one place and opens him to the
whole world.
When
we leave this service, we need to enter the world also for service. It is in
our service in the world, our service through outside projects, and our service
in our daily lives, in our day to day work, where we see Jesus. It is in our
service to our neighbors that we tell the story of Christ’s death and
resurrection. It is in our service to strangers, some may be in the pew next to
us at this very moment, when we introduce ourselves and welcome them that
Christ is found.
The story of
Easter is not just coming to the tomb to see that Jesus is risen, but it is
going from the empty tomb, going from this building, back into the world that
is full of Jesus Christ.
At Outlaw Ranch
the Lutheran Bible camp that I worked at one summer we would end our services,
Go in Peace, Serve the Lord. … Ok, We will. Let’s try that.
Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia so
Go in Peace, Serve the Lord. Ok, We Will.
Jesus
Christ is risen in this place, Alleluia so Go in Peace, Serve the Lord.
Ok, We Will.
Jesus Christ is
risen in our homes, Alleluia so Go
in Peace, Serve the Lord.
Ok, We Will.
Jesus Christ is
risen in our places of work, Alleluia so
Go in Peace, Serve the Lord.
Ok, We Will.
Jesus Christ is
risen in the whole world, Alleluia so
Go in Peace, Serve the Lord.
Ok, We Will.
Let’s go out and meet him. Amen.
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