"Ready or Not"

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

(John 20:1-18)

INTRODUCTION:

A family was watching the movie "The Greatest Story Ever Told" on television one night. One of the children was deeply moved and completely enthralled by the events of Jesus life. As Jesus struggled toward Calvary under the weight of the cross, tears rolled down her cheeks. She was absolutely silent and still until Jesus had been taken down from the cross and laid in tomb. Then she grinned suddenly and shouted: "Now comes the GOOD
part!" (1)

I like that. I like it because this morning we've come to celebrate the good part. Today we've come with the women and the disciples to bend down and look inside the tomb where they laid the crucified body of Christ. We've come to peek through the door where the stone has been rolled away. We've come to peek through the door which has become a divine window; God's divine window of surprise that lets us see the good part! The tomb is empty! Jesus is risen from the dead!

That's the good news of this day. Early that morning, the women and the disciples hadn't comprehended it yet. They were still in shock from the events of Thursday night and Friday. As much as Jesus had tried to prepare them, they hadn't realized the good part yet, they weren't ready. And yet, ready or not, Easter and the resurrection was upon them.

I. GOD IS UNFAIR:

A. You've probably heard the news story or read the article in Friday's Star-Telegram about the Seattle pilot who commutes to work by plane but Thursday got tangled in some power lines during take off. It seems a sudden gust of wind threw his lightweight plane out of control and while attempting to regain control he got tangled in the lines. He and the plane both have now been rescued. But he dangled in that plane for over four hours. (2)

That's exactly what happened to time and history and faith and even to the disciples as a result of the events of that awful Friday we call Good Friday. It's only in retrospect that we can call it good. The events of Friday brought all their hopes and dreams to an abrupt end. They saw they one they thought was their Savior die on a cross be sealed in a tomb. And it seemed so unfair.

Finally they went to pay their last respects but when they got to the tomb, things weren't what they expected. How would you like to go to the cemetery and find a friend or loved one's grave opened up and the body missing?

They couldn't believe it. Wasn't the crucifixion enough? Why couldn't they just let him rest in peace? They all had to muttering a litany of disbelief and frustration. "It's not fair! It's just not fair!" B. Unfortunately, life isn't always fair. But one of the surprises of Easter is that God is unfair, too. But it is a different sort of unfairness. The unfairness of the world and the unfairness of God met head to head at Calvary on Good Friday. It was the unfairness of the world that nailed Jesus to the Cross. It was the unfairness of God that allowed it to be done. It was the unfairness of God that was revealed in the words of Christ on the Cross who said, "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."

The world is unfair because it gives suffering to those who don't deserve it; God is unfair because God gives love to those who don't deserve it. We don't deserve God's love. We don't deserve God's offer of redemption and forgiveness. Yet God continues to love us. God still calls and redeem us. God is unfair. We call God's unfairness GRACE. One of the sweet secret surprises of Easter is that God IS unfair. God is filled with Grace.

Friday, the disciples and followers of Christ couldn't see God's grace. All they could see through their tears and anguish was the broken, battered body of their leader hanging on the cross. And early on that first day of the week, all they could see through their anguished souls was the emptiness of the tomb. The connection between the cross, the empty tomb and God's grace hadn't quite been made yet.

II. DEATH DEFEATED:

A. In an old Good Friday "FAMILY CIRCUS" by Bil Keane, Billy and his brother are walking along through a store looking at all the Easter eggs and candy on the shelves. Billy says, "This may be Good Friday, but Sunday's gonna be even gooder!" (3) That's really quite profound. Early that first Easter morning, the disciples and the women who were the first to find the tomb empty didn't realize just how much "gooder" Sunday was going to be.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the ultimate mystery of life. But it is a mystery that gives life power. It is inexplicable and yet live-able. It is our heritage and our joy; it breathes life into our lives. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest event of all human history. It is the foundation of our faith. It proves to us that God loves us so much that he sent His Son to be our Savior. Jesus had unequaled strength but entered life and entered into our lives with complete vulnerability.

Because of that vulnerability he bore our sins, our brokenness, our guilt, and our alienation. He bore them right to the cross. We can't sugar coat it. We can't afford to sandpaper the old rugged cross and smooth it into something pretty and safe. It really is "the emblem of suffering and shame." We can't sugar coat it or smooth it all down because it reminds us of the cost of our salvation.

The Good News though, is that surprise I told you about earlier. God IS unfair. Through our faith in Christ, God cheated sin and forgives us. God even cheated death. Just when they thought they had God and faith pinned to the mat, God did a reverse that defeated both sin and death.

B. In the drama "The Trial Of Jesus," John Masefield has the centurion Longinus report to Pilate after the crucifixion of Jesus. Longinus had been the officer in charge of the execution, and after his official report, Procula, Pilate's wife calls the centurion to come and tell her how the prisoner had died. Once the account is given, Procula asks, "Do you think he is dead?"

Longinus thinks for a moment and then answers, "No, lady, I don't."

"Then where is he?" asks Procula.

Longinus replies, "Let loose in the world, lady, where neither Roman nor Jew can stop his truth." (4)

What death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what the resurrection of Jesus did to death. Jesus has been let loose in the world where nothing can stop Him or His work of salvation.

III. CHRIST WITH US:

A. Until the coming of Christ we were bound by our own sinfulness and our own attempts to extricate ourselves from that condition. Resurrection is what God does when we have done all that we can do and it's not enough. Resurrection is what God does when we have done all we can do and it turns out to be crucifixion. It is what God does when we exhaust our attempts at freedom and forgiveness. Resurrection is the freedom and forgiveness of God among us and in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ with us.

Christ IS with us. Not some mummified, dried up corpse. Not some zombie like character from "The Night Of The Living Dead" but the living, breathing, life giving spirit of Christ. Christ is with us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is sympathetic to our worldly struggles because he has been through them. Christ is with us to quietly whisper encouragement in our daily lives. And you can here that whisper. He says: "I too have been tested. I've been tempted and tried. But because I died and was raised without giving in, I'm here to strengthen you to withstand temptation just like I did. Put your life in my hands and I will empower you with grace."

B. A cartoon in Leadership Magazine shows two couples sitting together with Bibles in their laps. Apparently they are discussing one of the passages. One of the women says: "Well, I haven't actually DIED to sin, but I did feel kind of faint once." (5)

If we miss the point of this day, then we will be just like that woman. But the Good News is that we don't have to be like that woman. We don't have to settle for a close encounter with salvation. The Good News of Jesus Christ is that salvation can be ours. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in human history because it is the earthly culmination of God's atoning work on the cross. Through it, God empowers our lives to die to sin and be raised to new life in Christ. Through the resurrection God restores meaning to life.

Richard Vinson, Professor of Religion at Averett College, in Danville, VA., writes: "In my first year at seminary, I took a course called the Resurrection Narratives, in which we studied all those stories. We read scholarly books and essays about what we could prove and what we should believe. Then one day our teacher came in rather shaken. He had played tennis the afternoon before with a friend of his who had a heart attack in the middle of their game and then died at the hospital. 'Brothers and sisters,' he said to us, 'after all the arguments and debates are over, I believe in the resurrection because without it, life makes no sense.'"

The resurrection IS the only thing that helps us make sense out of life. It empowers our lives with hope in the face of the unfairness of the world. It gives us strength and courage through the presence of Christ in every situation that we face.

CONCLUSION:

Preaching Magazine carried a story some time back that said, During the Civil War, a Union soldier was shot in the arm during the battle of Shiloh. His captain saw he was wounded and barked out an order, "Gimme your gun, Private, and get to the rear!"

The private handed over his rifle and ran toward the north, seeking safety. But after only going about two or three hundred yards, he came upon another skirmish. So he ran to the east, and found himself in another part of the battle. Then he ran west, but encountered more fighting there.

Finally, he ran back to the front lines shouting, "Gimme back my rifle, Cap'n .There ain't no rear to this battle no where!"

When it comes to the troubles of the world and daily life "there ain't no rear to this battlenowhere!"(6)

The Easter proclamation, though, is Good News. The Easter proclamation is the Good part, gooder than Good Friday. The Easter proclamation is that, like the disciples and the women who showed up at the empty tomb, WE may not be ready but God always is. God is always ready usually in surprising and grace filled ways.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ can bring hope and light where there was once only darkness through the sweet surprise of God's grace. He lives. Let the risen Christ live and reign in your life.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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1. Parables, Etc. March 1990, (Saratoga Press, Platteville, Colorado) Submitted by Charles Krieg, St. Joseph's Seminary, Princeton, N.J.

2. Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Section A, Pg 12, by George Tibbetts, Associated Press. April 10, 1998.

3. Bil Keane, Family Circus, 4/13/90

4. Preaching Magazine, Jul-Aug, 1986, page 42.

5. Leadership Journal, Spring 1990, pg. 73

6. Preaching, March/April 1990, p. 46

7.