Sermon: Isaiah 65:17-25, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, John 20:1-18

Isaiah 65:17-25

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

John 20:1-18

The Greatest Despair And The Greatest Hope

Easter Communion Meditation

April 4, 2010

Easter is the most joyous day we have in the Church as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and what it means for our lives.

You can tell the joy of Easter as we sing joyous hymns, partake of the Sacrament of Communion, and today have rejoiced as 4 of our young people have publically made their profession of faith and joined the Church.  All these tings add to our joy as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Don’t you wish that every day could be as joyous as Easter?

That would be great – wouldn’t it?

But – there are things in our lives that distress us and bother us – things in our lives that worry us and upset us.  Many days are filled with worry and stress instead of joy and celebration. But—the beauty of Easter is that – even when we have great despair – we can also have great hope.

Even when we have the greatest of despair – we can also have the greatest hope – because of the promise of Easter.

Our Gospel passage tells the story of Mary – and how the first Easter moved her from the greatest despair she had ever known to the greatest joy she had ever known.

Let’s take a look at Mary’s story.

What a terrible morning the first day of the week was for her!

The disciples had spent the weekend in hiding.

Jesus was dead!  His movement was discredited!  Mary and the rest of Jesus’ disciples must have felt that there was no hope!

Mary could not sleep.

The cross had shattered her world!  Jesus had meant everything to her, and now he was dead.  She had spent the weekend grieving.  She more than likely looked terrible and felt worse!

The sun had not even begun to rise on that first day of a new week, but she was awake.   She figured she might as well get up – maybe she would visit the tomb.  She could not help Jesus now, but she could honor his memory.  She opened the door and stepped outside. People still slept in their houses as Mary made her way through the darkness to the tomb.

When Mary reached the tomb, she was startled to see that the soldiers were gone.  The stone that had blocked the entrance to the tomb sat off to the side and Jesus’ body was gone!

What had happened?  She could not imagine – and ran to get help.

She found two of Jesus’ disciples — Peter and John.

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she cried.  “We do not know where they have laid him.”

Peter and John raced to the tomb to see what had happened – and saw Jesus’ grave clothes lying where his body had been.  The clothes lay undisturbed, as if left behind by a person who had just vanished.

Peter and John did not know what else to do and returned to their homes — but Mary remained at the tomb and wept.

She didn’t know where to go or what to do.  She didn’t understand what was happening.

A man came and asked Mary who she was looking for.  Through her tears, she cried,

“Sir, if you have carried him away,

tell me where you have laid him,

and I will take him away.”

Then the man called her by name –– “Mary!”

That voice!

Even through the sound of her own sobbing, Mary recognized that voice.

It was Jesus!  It was Jesus!

She turned and spoke to him.

They talked.

It really was Jesus!

There really was a resurrection!

There really was hope!

Even in her greatest of despair – she realised that she could have the greatest joy and hope – because of the promise of Easter.

You know — we might wonder about such a story.

That first Easter took place over two thousand years ago.

Did it really happen, or was Easter simply a fanciful story invented to make grieving disciples feel better?

Did it really happen?

And – more importantly — does it have anything to do with us today?

What difference does Easter make in our lives?

Well, first, we must answer the question: “Is Easter true?

Was Easter invented just to make the disciples feel better?”

The disciples themselves provide the answer to that question.  The best evidence we have of Jesus’ resurrection is the behavior of the disciples after they saw the risen Christ.

The disciples had gone into hiding.  Most of them had not been present at the crucifixion.  They had been afraid.  They had locked the door of their hiding place for fear of the authorities.   Then, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples.  They saw him with their own eyes – and when the disciples saw the risen Christ, their lives were transformed.

Let me say that once again –– when the disciples saw Jesus, their lives were transformed.

They were no longer afraid, but became quite bold.

A few weeks later, at Pentecost, they set up their soap boxes in Jerusalem –– right under the noses of their enemies ––the very folks they had hidden from when Jesus  was arrested and crucified — and they began fearlessly to preach the gospel of the risen Christ. Having seen the risen Christ, they were no longer afraid! The authorities arrested the disciples and put them in prison, but the disciples continued to preach –– fearlessly! They preached to their jailers and sang hymns of praise to God while in their cells.

After seeing the risen Christ, the disciples were no longer afraid.  They quit hiding behind closed doors and started putting their lives on the line day after day in behalf of their risen Lord.

For me, that is one of the most powerful evidences of the truth of the resurrection.  If those disciples had not seen the risen Christ, there would be no disciples today.  If they had not seen the risen Christ, there would be no church today.

The results speak for themselves.

The church spread rapidly, and survived every attempt to kill it.  The church has survived persecution from then until now.  The witness of the first disciples started a revolution which continues to this day.

Arthur John Gossip put it this way:

“It was Christ’s resurrection that made the Christian church,  that transformed a huddle

of dispirited and frightened disciples into that valiant band ready to dare anything.”

I believe that the witness of these first disciples –– and the witness of disciples through the ages –– speaks powerfully of the truth of the resurrection.

But – what does Easter have to do with us?

The answer has to do with the fact that Easter was God’s answer to Good Friday.

Good Friday, of course, was the day that they killed Jesus – the day of greatest despair for Mary and the rest of Jesus’ followers.

Easter is important to us because we all have our Good Fridays.

We all have days of great despair.

We all have days when the devil seems to be winning.

We all have days when the sun does not shine –– when it seems that hope is gone –– when we cannot see the way out of our troubles and problems and pains.  We all have days when grief pushes us to the edge. We all have days when we want to give up.  We all have days when we just want to go into hiding – close the door and lock it from the inside, just as the disciples closed and locked the door of the Upper Room.

But – the joy of Easter is that –when we feel the greatest pain and greatest despair – we can have hope – in fact the greatest hope – because God gives us hope and life through the event of Easter – the resurrection of Christ.

When we have the times of our greatest despair, we can rely on God and find our times of greatest hope. Even when we have the greatest of despair – we can also have the greatest hope – because of the promise of Easter.

That’s the hope – joy – and meaning of Easter.

I read a story some time ago in the June 1995 issue of Guidepost magazine that I would like to share with you.  It was the story of a woman caught up in her own Good Friday experience—her time of greatest despair and sorrow — that cut the foundation from beneath her life.  Her son had been killed in an automobile accident, and grief descended on her like the grief that overcame those first disciples when Jesus died.

A year later, still burdened by her grief, she saw that it was a nice fall day.  Before her son was killed, she had bought some jonquil bulbs to plant in your yard –– but then her son was killed, and she forgot about the bulbs — but now it was a year later, and she happened across those bulbs, and thought  it might brighten her spirits to get out in the sunshine and plant them. She proceeded to do just that.  She dug a hole in the ground and planted a bulb.  Then she dug another hole and planted another bulb. But then the bulb in her hand crumbled, and she found herself with a handful of dust.  “Dead!” she cried.  Her bulbs, having spent a year in storage, had died and were no longer good for anything.  Angry, she crushed the remaining bulbs and threw the dust into the wind. Well,

winter came and went.  Springtime came.  Then one morning the woman looked through the window –– and there she saw a field of yellow jonquils.  The bulbs that she had thought dead had come to life under the winter snow, and were now brightening her yard –– and her spirits.  She ended her story writing:

I stood still before this unexpected garden. And clearly, as if spoken aloud, I heard the promise: I am the resurrection and the life:

he that believeth in me,

though he were dead yet shall he live.

Now, each spring when the jonquils bloom, I remember,  and I answer, “Yes, Lord, I believe.”

This Easter, I would like for you to remember Jesus’ resurrection –– and the transformation that came over the disciples once they had seen the risen Christ.

My prayer for you this Easter is that God might fill your life with the brightness of his beauty –– and that every one of your Good Fridays – every one of your times of greatest despair — will be followed by His Easter – and the time of greatest hope.  Amen.