Flora First Christian Church - Flora, IN

March 30, 2008

Mark 16:1-8

Hospital Chaplain

A woman named Gerry was the hospital chaplain at the Geisinger Medical Center Danville, Pennsylvania. Late one evening, while on duty, she was called to the room of a woman who was having a severe heart attack. By the time Gerry arrived at her room, the woman was pronounced dead. All the staff had left except one physician and a nurse.
At first Gerry started to leave, however, she felt led to stay and pray for the woman’s family. As she began praying the dead woman suddenly bolted straight up and cried out, “What’s going on here?” There was no agreement as to who was more frightened, the woman . . . the staff . . .
or . . . Gerry.

Fear is a natural thing. It’s a reaction to the unexpected. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t known anyone who was pronounced dead who then sat up in front of me. That would probably cause me to fear.
Fear was on the faces of Mary Magdalene, James’ mother Mary, and a third woman named Salome when they arrived at the tomb of Jesus Easter morning. Last week we examined this story from the Gospel of John. No one really expected to see what the women found.

FEAR

In this morning’s scripture reading from Mark’s Gospel, we heard the tomb was already open when the women arrived there. My hunch is their mouths dropped open, they were chilled and they weren’t certain they wanted to look inside. Mark says that’s when a young man in white showed up and told them “Don’t be alarmed.” John called the man an angel. In the Bible whenever the words “Be not afraid,” “Fear not,” or “Don’t be alarmed” appear, two things are occurring. First, the one being told that IS afraid, and second, God is getting ready to do something unbelievable! This was the same message that the angel gave to the shepherds on the hillside outside of Bethlehem.
Remember what Mark said they did: they shook, trembled, and ran, “Because they WERE afraid.”

The Real Response to Easter

Friends, the real human response to Easter is fear - not joy.
Of course now in the 21st century we respond to Easter with Joy! Death has been defeated! Christ is alive! But . . . hindsight is 20/20. I believe at that tomb the women were visualizing how they had seen Jesus arrested, tried and crucified. They were there when the Roman soldiers took his body off of the cross, and they stood nearby while the stone was rolled across his borrowed tomb and sealed up. That’s documented in Matthew’s gospel. Now his body was gone and they were crying. Of course they cried . . . this is how we generally grieve over the death of those we love. We know this pattern. However none of us have ever faced an empty tomb before. The women could cope with the death of Jesus as terrible as it was. But . . . what do you do with a resurrection?

No Rules for Resurrection

There are no Emily Post or Martha Stewart guidelines of conduct for handling a resurrection. There are no support groups or help lines to tell you how to cope with a resurrection. No one had ever dealt with an empty tomb, except Mary and Martha and their friends when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And that was frightening. Everything the women at the tomb understood about life was now in turmoil.
Someone once said, “If death is not the end, then all the cards in the deck may be wild.” Now nothing is secure and fixed. God had come. Christ HAD risen! Life could never be the same. The women couldn’t begin to understand what life on the other side of the resurrection was all about. And that HAD TO BE FRIGHTENING!

NEW LIFE

Mark wanted us to realize even the resurrection of Jesus is not the END. It’s not even a “happily-ever-after ending.”
Mark opened his Gospel in chapter one with the words “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.” And he seems to have concluded his gospel the same way when the angel told the woman: “He is going before you… you will see him.” Go and Tell!

We Run When Scared

What do most of us do when we’re afraid and fearful . . . we run! That’s what Mary did. It’s not always good to run from the things that we fear, even though it is a natural emotion.

Football Player Runs for His Life

College football fans know the name Paul “Bear” Bryant, the legendary tough & tumble football coach for the University of Alabama from 1958-1982. There’s a story that has been around for decades about one of Bryant’s players who raced down the field and overtook an opponent who was about to score. The man with the ball was known to be a faster runner than the tackler. When asked to explain his exceptional performance the Alabama tackler described the FEAR that was within him when he said, “That guy was running for a touchdown, but I was running for my life!”
Among God’s many fascinating gifts is adrenaline. In times of fear adrenaline can prompt us to find and utilize reserves that we never knew we had until they were needed.

We Run to Get Help

There comes a time when we must face our fears or let them conquer us. Mary also did what many of us do when we’re fearful, she ran to get help. She ran, found Peter and John and took them back to the tomb. In the face of fear we need our families and friends and we need the church. It’s good to get help. We receive strength from each other.
When Peter and Jon didn’t know anything else to do they went “home” while Mary stuck around. Then the unbelievable happened! She . . . SAW Christ! She saw the very face of God. When we face our fears with God’s help, we experience His strength, and change; the change that our lives often needs.

The Disciples Before and After the Resurrection

Even a casual reader of the Bible can see a clear difference between the attitudes of the disciples before and after Jesus’ resurrection. The fear and uncertainty that kept them locked in the upper room after Jesus’ arrest changed to courage and enthusiasm as they preached Christ’ message throughout the world. Persecution, torture, hardship, and the threat of death couldn’t stop them. What made them change? They had experienced the resurrection of Jesus, a friend and Savior. (Paul L. Maier. First Easter (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1973), p. 121.)

The real message of the empty tomb is God is not finished with us. The Good News calls for a response.

Remember Chuck Coleson?

How many of you remember the name CHUCK COLSON? Colson was a special assistant to President Nixon. Colson went to prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, became a Christian while in prison, and later became the founder of Prison Fellowship International, a global ministry to prisoners and their families. Colson said after prison, “I don’t just want to be forgiven, I want to be changed.”

The Fear of Change

The fear of living in Easter’s light is: change. Often we fear change because we’re comfortable with how we are. We fear change because we worry about falling at it. What if we change and our friends don’t like the change in us? Change is scary, but God who holds the future says to us “I’ll give you the strength, trust me, and I’ll do the rest.”

A Quote on Change

Prior to Easter about five years ago, a friend e-mailed me this quote:
“If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.” Any hardship we may face because of our faith in Christ Jesus, you can bet that the risen Christ will go with us and see us through our trials.
So what should our response be to the resurrection of Jesus Christ? One, we grab hold of the promise.
Two, we are to share the freedom that the resurrection gives us and pass it on to others.

Jon Walker’s Encouragement

Jon Walker writes a daily on-line devotion for Purpose Driven Life.com. Walker says we pass this hope and joy over fear by loving the fear out of others.
Walker says that loving the fear out of each other requires that we develop tender hearts. We develop tender hearts when we support each other. In the New Testament, the word ‘support’ can literally mean “to increase one another’s potential.” (Romans 14:19 NJB)
Jon Walker makes some suggestions on how to love the fear out of others with our tender hearts. This complete list is your bulletin inserts to take with you. We love the fear out of others when we say with affirmation:
It’s OK to have a bad day.
It’s OK to admit your mistakes.
It’s OK to share that you’re scared.
It’s OK to grieve a loss.
It’s OK to doubt and be confused, to cry. Doubt and denial aren’t the same.

We exhibit love over fear when we say to one another:
It’s OK to be happy you got a new car.
It’s OK to celebrate that you got that raise.
It’s OK to joyfully tell us you lost 17 pounds.
It’s OK to say you won the sales competition.
It’s OK to shout “Hallelujah!” when a prayer was answered.

It’s GOOD for us to tell each other these things because these blessings come to us personally. Christ is alive and living among us. Life over death and joy over fear is OUT IN THE OPEN. We have every reason to rejoice not just for ourselves but for one another. Amen!