Mar. 23, 2008 Sermon - He's Going On

Sermon Text - March 23, 2008

"He's Going On"

Rev. David Kratz

Matthew 28:1-10

As we come before God's Word to us let us pray. Oh Holy One, we thank you for speaking to us in many different ways, with different tones and forcefulness and gentleness. In clear words and then sheer silence, in the hugs of people that we love and in greetings of those strangers that become friends. We pray that you'll speak to us again in these words and may the words of my mouth and the reflections of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Happy Easter, it's always good to be together on a day like this, the day filled with such mystery and power its often difficult to actually put into words the central mystery of the Christian faith, and so it's good to have people around us and sing these wonderful hymns and listen to these powerful anthems to help lift our spirits in ways that mere words never can.

On Easter, we always read one of the stories about the empty tomb of Jesus. Each of the Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all have a story of the empty tomb. The tomb that was filled on Good Friday after Jesus was crucified. This morning we’re going to read from the Gospel according to Matthew, the beginning of the 28th chapter. Matthew seems to be concerned about the tomb more than the others. After Jesus is taken down off the cross, a wealthy Jewish man named Joseph from a town name Arimathea, offers his tomb. Evidently he had a prearranged funeral spot and so he let Jesus be buried in his tomb. And then the religious leaders come to the Roman governor and say hey look, you know were worried about somebody stealing the body, could you put an extra guard on. And so Pilate, the Roman governor, says yeah here's some extra troops, some extra guards, make it as secure as you can. Then in a couple days this – listen to God's word to you.

“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb and suddenly there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and roll back the stone and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and is clothes white as snow. For fear of him the guard shook and became like dead man. But the angel said to the woman, ‘do not be afraid. I know that you're looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He's not here. For he has been raised as he said. Come see the place where he lay then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee and there you will see him. This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and they ran to tell his disciples and suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘greetings.’ And they came to him and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. And then Jesus said to them, ‘do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.’” Amen.

It's important when you celebrate when you have central aspects of faith, that the story is mysterious and this one is really mysterious. It’s the most dramatic account of the empty tomb that we have the four Gospels, and it starts simply enough. These women who had loved Jesus followed him from the time he began his ministry in Galilee, which is where they were all from, these women came to pay respects. We do it today – you see crosses by the side of the road with flowers and ribbons and things hanging there. When Princess Diana died, the entrance to Buckingham Palace was just impassable because of all the flowers in the outpouring of grief and love and sadness of the whole British Commonwealth.

Not too long ago Lyn and I were in New York City, and we wanted to go see Ground Zero. We'd never seen it before, as we got off the subway we didn't really know where we're going exactly and so we asked directions. A really nice woman outside a Starbucks said, “would you just go down this block, one block over that way, and you turn right by the church, you just turn by the church and its just about a block behind that.” And so we went to the church, and we found there in outside portico, a wonderful display of how this facility was used. You could see the firemen sleeping on the pews for instance and volunteers coming with soup lines, and then the Bishop came by to give a blessing and there were other events, and there was this wonderful pictures and text. It was very professionally done, out in this portico. And then when you walked in, along the side, there were all of these kind of cubicles of, not so professionally done but, pictures and dried flowers, and a wonderful picture that I remember of this little baby that said, “here's your new baby.” And there were stained messages from children, and from loved ones and it wasn't professionally done at all, but it was heartfelt. You could tell that these people had brought these beautiful memorials to Ground Zero and they were preserved, just like they were brought, all of these years later.

That's what these women wanted to do, they just wanted to mourn, they wanted to do something. They didn’t bring any oil, they just came to pay their respects. And then all heaven broke loose! I mean the angel comes, the lightening, the earthquake, everything shakes underneath and these guards that were trying to, you know with their swords and their spears standing there drop over dead and, what are you supposed to do a story like that? Course, the angel, this man in bright light, look like lightning personified doesn't say anything to the guards, he doesn't celebrate, he just says sort of matter-of-factly, “Jesus isn’t here, I know you’re looking for Jesus, but he’s not here. Don't be afraid, he's going ahead of you to Galilee, and there you'll find him.” That was it – that was the message he says. So they leave and they’re scared to death, and they’re joyful for life, and who do they meet but Jesus who says just about the same thing. He says don't be afraid you know I’m going ahead of you. Go to Galilee, and there you'll find me.

Now it's tough to listen to mere words like that. When you're scared out of your mind, I mean it’s tough to pay attention. It’s interesting that the words were even recorded – who would've thought to take notes. And who would've thought that with seeing these guys unconscious in front of them, when they're scared to death, at least the women would've wanted to put their eyeballs back in their sockets or lift their chins off their toenails in order to get a handle on what was going on before they had to go and do. It's hard to listen to a message when your world is rocked as theirs was. A lot of times it’s hard for us to listen to the message of the resurrection because the story itself is so fantastic, we want to argue about whether it happened, or whether it happened this way and how did Jesus rise up from the dead and what about this and what about that and did it really happen? That we never get around to actually listening to the message of the resurrection, the Easter story that is simple that says, ‘don't be afraid, go to Galilee, go back to your lives and there you're going find him.’ Then you’re going to find me, Jesus says.

John Buchanan, the publisher of Christian Century, had a good friend, named Walter Bauman and he taught for many years at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Just as he retired, he found out that he had inoperable cancer. It's a terrible thing for a guy who'd been faithful all of his life to be presented with his gold watch and an inoperable cancer diagnosis – it’s a terrible way to retire. But he handled it evidently with the way that he had handled his life, with grace and courage and forthrightness. And a reporter from that paper said, “how is it that you're able to remain so positive in the face of death and such cruel death, really.” Walter Bauman said, “Well you know, I take great encouragement from the Christian story that says that God raised Jesus from death and that death has no more power over him. I was baptized in that story in July of 1929, and I've tried to live by it, I’d my life on it and now I'm able to bet my death on it. Don't be afraid, don’t be afraid of death. I'm going ahead of you said, you'll see me there.”

Not too long ago, a couple months ago, my sister Jane and her children were sitting in a room in a facility that was created by hospice. It was a wonderful facility and my brother-in-law, her husband of some 40 years, was dying. He had 25 different diagnosis’ and every day before he went into the hospice facility, he took 20 different kinds of medication, and his body was shutting down in many different ways. And they had this wonderful time together where they told stories about Dick, and to Dick, and he seemed to at lease recognize them and he smiled a couple times at the appropriate places. They all had this to her wonderful time of talking about life, and being sad, and saying goodbye. I remember Jane saying, actually they did this more than once, and she would say to Dick when she left, “it's okay, you know, we’re going to be okay, I’m going to be ok, the kids are going to be ok, the grandkids are going to be fine, you can let go.” Their pastor came in and read the 23rd Psalm, you know, that's the one that begins “The Lord is my Shepherd” and it has this line in it where it says “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear, thou art with me.” And Jane said to Dick, “you know, Jesus will be your Shepherd, Christ is going to be there.”

We don’t need to be afraid of death. Jesus is going ahead of us, and Jesus will meet us there on the other side. Sometimes it's easier to believe that Jesus will meet us on the other side than Jesus will meet us on this side. But it's interesting, the message of this story is not that hang on, there’s a better life ahead of you, don't worry about this life, I'll meet you on the other side. This message that the angel said, and Jesus repeated, is not go up to a Mountain someplace and be by yourself for a while and pray quietly and I'll meet you there. This isn't a story, this isn’t a message that says, life will be better once we get rid of all the other people that don't agree with us – Jesus will meet us then when we can be at peace. No this story says simply, don't be afraid of life or of death, but don't be afraid of economic downturns, or recessions or for God's sake depressions, don’t be afraid of conflict in the international or national scene, or in the office scene, or the family scene or the own personal conflict. Don't be afraid that so many of our arguments never seem to get resolved. Don’t be afraid of this life, where so few things get solved and more things seem to get this discorded it all the time. Don't be afraid. Go to Galilee, that's where it all started back to life back, to your life. And here's the thing, Jesus will meet you there.

One my favorite poets is a woman named Mary Oliver. I often read this poem about Blackwater Woods. And at end of the poem, Mary Oliver said there are three things we must learn, three things to live in this world. To love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Go to Galilee. Go on ahead, Jesus is going ahead of you, and Jesus will meet us there.