Easter morning April 8, 2007

“Remember What I Told You?”

Luke 24:1-12

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Do you ever walk into a room with a mission in your mind, and then when you get there, you stop, look around quizzically and ask out loud to no one in particular, “What did I come in here for?” If memories get worse with age, some folks like me are in big trouble, because that happens quite a bit already. But don’t you love it when your spouse or someone else knows exactly why you entered the room, and they come to you just in time to remind you?

Remembering important facts is a good thing. Getting assistance in remembering important facts is a good thing too. Some women were having trouble remembering important facts - the words of Jesus. They were having trouble remembering things because of their tremendous grief. They had just watched their Lord suffer and die and they were filled with heartache. After Jesus died…

• They followed Joseph to see where he buried the body.
• They went home and prepared the spices.
• But they rested Saturday for the Sabbath. They knew they were racing against the clock. Decay would set in quickly, and the spices needed to get there as soon as possible before it was too late.
• They planned to anoint the body and do this one last loving service for the Lord.
• Then they would go home sad and downtrodden, for they believed they’d never see their Lord again on earth.

Thank God that he had decided no decay would ever touch this body! Thank God that he decided there would not be a spices emergency! Thank God that he had made their loving errand unnecessary. For when they got to the tomb, there were two amazing discoveries they made. First, the stone was rolled away. Second there was no body in the tomb. And as they were wondering and puzzled and confused; as they were in the dark about what had happened, as they had this quizzical look on their faces like someone who walked into a room to do something but has no idea why…two angels appeared to help them remember. Not that they would help them remember why they came to the tomb, but help them remember what Jesus said.

Notice that these angels burst onto the scene. Angels can make themselves visible or invisible at will; and when they talk it is important to listen. They are messengers of God and they always have important messages to share. The angels said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here – he has risen!” I know you thought you were coming to put spices on a dead body. But you’re looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place. It’s like you’re looking for Pennzoil 10W-30 in Kroger’s Deli. You’re not going to find what you are looking for. You’re looking for the living among the dead. Your errand was doomed to fail – a glorious, wonderful, happy failure!

And then the angel helped them make sense of all this. Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.” 8 Then they remembered his words.

Jesus had laid it out for them everything that would happen. There shouldn’t have been any surprises. But whenever Jesus talked, people always seemed to hear the suffering part, but never seemed to hear the resurrection part. Many times he had said, “I will rise again on the third day” but nobody ever seemed to catch on.

Yet like the bright sun burns through the fog in the mid-morning hours, the angel’s words burned through the hearts of the women. Their confusion began to evaporate. Jesus wasn’t in the tomb because he was alive! He could breathe, he could walk, he could live! Even though he died, he is not dead right now. He is alive – and because he is alive, we will be alive too.

That is the truth, for when Jesus died, he died with our sins on his back. He died because we had sinned, not because he had sinned. And when he rose from the dead, he proved that our sins have been paid for. He will never suffer for them again, and neither will we. Thus, when we are in Christ, there is no condemnation for us. He lives; we will live too.

That message is easy to forget. But that is why we have each other – to remind us of everything Jesus has told us. And Jesus has told us that he is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.