TELL PEOPLE
Matthew 28:1-15
And
behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was
like lightning and his clothing white as snow.
So many Easter services I’ve
attended in my life, so many Easters I’ve preached, and this week was the first
time I noticed what a crash-boom-bang entrance the angel made: the great
earthquake, the power to roll away the stone, an appearance like lightening,
clothing white as snow. This is no pink, white-diapered cherub on a valentine
card, friends; this is a full-blown meteorite-like blast into earth’s
atmosphere, sonic boom and all! It was so frightening, the big Roman guards
with their swords and shields fainted—“and for fear of them the guards trembled
and became like dead men” (28:4).
Interesting,
isn’t it, that Jesus lives again, and those who put him to death are the ones
walking around like dead men! Truth be told, they were dead men if they didn’t
figure out how to cover up the fact that Jesus’ body was missing from the
tomb—that he was alive, as the angel had told the women. So “some of the guard
high-tailed it into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken
place” (28:11); it was a preemptive strike.
The
matter was so serious they went up the chain of command to the elders, where
they concocted the BIG LIE, offered the soldiers a handsome sum to “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by
night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the
governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble” (28:13-14) heh, heh, heh!
The
chief priests and elders, the roman guards and citizens, their game plan was to
tell people a lie, a big lie, as it turns out. There are people and whole countries
today who tell people that it ain’t
so, that this resurrection story, it never happened. There was some other
explanation for the body of Jesus to be missing from the tomb. People just
don’t become alive again.
Maybe
you’ve had a friend or coworker say to you at Easter time, “If it helps you to
believe in things like the resurrection, I’m cool with that, but I just don’t
happen to believe in it, and I don’t see what difference it makes anyway.”
Does
the resurrection make a difference to you, to the world? Well, if you’re a
Christian, it better make a difference! You know, if Christ is truly risen from
the dead, it’s the most important event in all of human history. And if Christ
is not risen, then this whole Christian faith thing, the Church thing, this
whole Christmas and Easter thing is a farce; it’s a BIG LIE and there’s no
point of standing on Spring Hill before sunrise and no point to all the music
and celebration; and no point to even take notice of the day at all; we can
just abandon Easter to chocolate bunnies, peeps and Cadbury eggs.
The
resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an event that we Christians can afford to
be casual about. It
matters that we believe in the resurrection. It’s “not a religious myth that
coincides with springtime to inspire us with hope and positive thinking….” The
resurrection of Jesus Christ is real, and it happened in his physical body—a
body that could be seen and touched, a body that could eat and drink[1]. The resurrection matters!
And here’s a little sampling of why:
The Law
of Gravity is true, whether you believe it or not. Jump from a cliff at the
Grand. If you live to tell, which you won’t, you will learn that the Law of
Gravity is true, whether you believe in it or not.
The resurrection
of Jesus Christ matters because it IS true! My sermon at the sunrise service
this morning addressed the evidence for the resurrection. Now we are going to
dig into the its meaning for Christians.
·
There is no substance to the gospel if Christ
is not raised. If he’s not raised, then Christianity is just like any other
religion of the week (the weak!). Might as well throw out the whole bible. If
the resurrection is a lie, then all the gospel writers, the prophets, the history
are simply tall-tale tellers.
·
There is no worth to the gospel if Christ is
not raised. Perhaps you’ve heard people say, “It doesn’t matter what you
believe, as long as you believe.” You can believe with all your heart that your
car can fly. Drive it over the edge of the Grand Canyon and find out if it
flies. We may be coming close to the time when cars will be able to fly, but
right now, GM, VW, BMW and Cadillac are not offering this option. Faith is only
as good as the object it points to.
·
There is no power to the gospel if it does
not show us the way to face our sin problem. We need Christ to have died on the
cross, taking our sins with him to the grave. We need him then to be raised
from the dead because our sins remain in the grave so that we are righteous
before our God, who is righteous through and through Christ died to pay our sin
debt, but if Christ is not risen, then the penalty is not paid, we are not
saved, and therefore faith in Him is waste of time.
Do
not be persuaded that the resurrection is unnecessary to the Christian faith;
that it’s an option; that you can take it or leave it; that it’s ok if you’re
into that kind of thing; that it requires no pain or suffering; that Christians
are happy peppy people because Christ is their potion.
Christ
is not our potion, he is our portion. He has shown us the way to live and the
way to love; the way to heal and the way to help; the way to serve and the way
to be saved. Friends, if Christ is not risen, the gospel is worthless,
believing in the gospel is worthless, and that hope beyond the grave is also
worthless.
“To
the extent that God and His church make you feel good and increase your
happiness, you get involved. But in the final analysis, the controlling value
in your life is personal happiness. But that’s how a person lives if the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is not true.”[2]
The
good news of Easter is that this: If the grace of God and the fact of the risen
Christ are a reality in your life, then, like Paul, you should be denying
yourself and following Jesus, no matter how hard that may be.”[3] And let there be no
mystery about living for Christ; it’s hard. Paul tells us in I Corinthians just
how to do it: “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Cor 15:58).
Work
for the Lord is a life force for every resurrection believer in Christendom; it
is the source of the Christian’s true fulfillment. If you want your faith to
mean something really real in the world, then get to it. Seek first the kingdom
of God and its righteousness. Live and work and believe all the time.
And
for the love of God, TELL PEOPLE the truth! The resurrection is real and it
matters—it matters to you and to me! Nothing less than the light of Christ and
the eternal destiny of our souls is at stake here. Tell the People! Make this
your most faithful Easter! Amen.
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME
April 5, 2015
