Easter 4/16/06 Text Mark 16:1-8 Title Truth Revealed
Easter 2006
4/16/06
Text: Mark 16:1-8
Title: Truth Revealed
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you today, asking that you will bless the words that I am about to speak, so that we who are gathered here this morning will be strengthened in our understanding of the resurrection and its meaning for our lives. Amen
As I was preparing for this sermon earlier in the week, my attention was drawn to verse 7 of Mark 16. It is where the young man dressed in a white robe, more than likely an angel, is telling the three women to “Go, tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
That is a remarkable passage, for it not only shows us that Jesus is alive, but that he is in the world. In other words, he is not in heaven. His followers are going to be able to see him, to touch him, to eat with him, and to talk to him. Jesus is not a spirit. He is alive and well.
That verse tells us that Jesus is alive and well, but it does more than that, for it brings up a couple of interesting questions. Why did the angel say that Jesus is going ahead of the women, and why did he choose to go to Galilee? Why did he not head into Jerusalem after he had shown himself to those in hell?
That is what I would have done. I would have marched right into the temple, stood on the steps and declared victory over those who had thought they had gotten rid of me. The looks on their faces would have been priceless. At the very least, I would have gone to Pilate’s palace and told him that he should have listened to his wife that morning. Yes, that is what I would have done, but Jesus did not do that.
He could have done that. It is what we might have expected him to do, but he didn’t. He chose to go to Galilee where his ministry had started approximately three years earlier. Now Galilee was not known for anything special. It was more of a dusty out-of-the-way place. The people who lived in that area were generally thought of as being outsiders, that is, until Jesus had arrived on the scene.
Things changed then as Jesus began calling people to follow him, as people began leaving their homes, walking off their jobs, and trying to act like disciples. It was strange, the effect he had on certain people, and it caused quite a stir in the area.
You wouldn’t think it, but when you add up all the time Jesus was in Galilee, you will see that he spent about four-fifths of his ministry there. Every time he was there he really shook things up. His ministry began in Galilee and according to the angel he was going to start his ministry there again. He was going back to a group of people who were considered by the faithful Jews in the Jerusalem area to be somewhat less than them.
Jesus is not in the tomb. He is not in the temple. He is not in Pilate’s palace. He is on his way to meet his disciples in this rather ordinary place called Galilee.
Now, we are not told in Mark’s Gospel how the disciples reacted after the women told them that Jesus is going to meet them in Galilee. We are not told, but I bet that the news of Jesus meeting them in Galilee caused them to have mixed feelings. I am sure there was wonder and astonishment, maybe even some joy, but I have the feeling that there was a lot of apprehension on their part. And why not? They had not exactly stood by him when he was arrested, tried and then nailed to that cross. They had betrayed his trust and had run like little scared rabbits back into their holes.
They had to be nervous. They did not know what to expect. What would Jesus say to them? Would he chew them out? Heaven knows they deserved it. Who would want to face the man they had left to die alone on that terrible cross? They were going to have to face him and hope for the best.
Mark’s Gospel account of Jesus’ resurrection is short and to the point. In the oldest manuscripts, it abruptly ends. Mark leaves us with Jesus on the move. There is to be no getting away from him, no safely keeping him tucked away in the tomb, or forgetting him, or stashing him in some far away recess of one’s mind. Jesus is loose and he has come to where we live, to our town, to our congregation.
Despite the failure of the disciples, the denial of Peter, the betrayal, the forces of evil, Jesus is alive and well. That means that Jesus is not sitting in heaven watching what is going on. He is not just in the Bible or stuck in a church building. He is not even in some grand cathedral. He is where you live.
I say that, because Jesus appeared to his disciples in the most ordinary of places. He meets them at suppertime. He meets them for breakfast. He meets them behind closed doors, where they were hiding. He meets them on the beach and he meets them at work.
He meets them were they are, and in doing so, he shows them and us that he is not just some God who goes up to heaven and leaves us alone as he waits for the right time to come back. He is not that kind of God. There is something special about this Jesus who continues to meet people in the most ordinary places, just as he did before his death on the cross. And that is a good thing, because we all live in ordinary places.
The failure of the disciples, the denial of Peter, and all the betrayal, none of this is the end of the story. It was not the end of the story for them. It is not the end of the story for us, either, for just as Jesus’ resurrection gave his followers a fresh start, Jesus’ resurrection gives us a fresh start.
He is alive and well. But you say, you can’t see him, so how do you know he is alive? You know through your eyes of faith, for you see him healing through the hands of those trained in medicine. You see him taking care of you through the farmer, the truck driver, the police officer, firefighter, teachers, pastors, and all the others that supply your daily needs. He is caring for you in thousands of ways, ways that you do not even think about.
But, most importantly his grace, mercy, and forgiveness come to you where he said he would be present, in his Word and Sacraments.
What that means is that every time you hear or read his Word in his Holy Scriptures, he is there with you. Every time you hear me, as your pastor, tell you that your sins are forgiven, he is there. Every time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, he is there, for in his supper, God himself is present. He is present, not because he is the creator and sustainer of all, which he is, but because in the ordinary things of life like bread and wine, he proclaims himself to be risen.
The next time you go to his Holy Meal, (late service: As you go to his Holy Meal) let the words of that young man dressed in white robes ring out the Good News of the resurrection, “There you will see him, just as he told you.” It is true. He is risen; he is risen indeed. Amen
4/16/06
Text: Mark 16:1-8
Title: Truth Revealed
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you today, asking that you will bless the words that I am about to speak, so that we who are gathered here this morning will be strengthened in our understanding of the resurrection and its meaning for our lives. Amen
As I was preparing for this sermon earlier in the week, my attention was drawn to verse 7 of Mark 16. It is where the young man dressed in a white robe, more than likely an angel, is telling the three women to “Go, tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
That is a remarkable passage, for it not only shows us that Jesus is alive, but that he is in the world. In other words, he is not in heaven. His followers are going to be able to see him, to touch him, to eat with him, and to talk to him. Jesus is not a spirit. He is alive and well.
That verse tells us that Jesus is alive and well, but it does more than that, for it brings up a couple of interesting questions. Why did the angel say that Jesus is going ahead of the women, and why did he choose to go to Galilee? Why did he not head into Jerusalem after he had shown himself to those in hell?
That is what I would have done. I would have marched right into the temple, stood on the steps and declared victory over those who had thought they had gotten rid of me. The looks on their faces would have been priceless. At the very least, I would have gone to Pilate’s palace and told him that he should have listened to his wife that morning. Yes, that is what I would have done, but Jesus did not do that.
He could have done that. It is what we might have expected him to do, but he didn’t. He chose to go to Galilee where his ministry had started approximately three years earlier. Now Galilee was not known for anything special. It was more of a dusty out-of-the-way place. The people who lived in that area were generally thought of as being outsiders, that is, until Jesus had arrived on the scene.
Things changed then as Jesus began calling people to follow him, as people began leaving their homes, walking off their jobs, and trying to act like disciples. It was strange, the effect he had on certain people, and it caused quite a stir in the area.
You wouldn’t think it, but when you add up all the time Jesus was in Galilee, you will see that he spent about four-fifths of his ministry there. Every time he was there he really shook things up. His ministry began in Galilee and according to the angel he was going to start his ministry there again. He was going back to a group of people who were considered by the faithful Jews in the Jerusalem area to be somewhat less than them.
Jesus is not in the tomb. He is not in the temple. He is not in Pilate’s palace. He is on his way to meet his disciples in this rather ordinary place called Galilee.
Now, we are not told in Mark’s Gospel how the disciples reacted after the women told them that Jesus is going to meet them in Galilee. We are not told, but I bet that the news of Jesus meeting them in Galilee caused them to have mixed feelings. I am sure there was wonder and astonishment, maybe even some joy, but I have the feeling that there was a lot of apprehension on their part. And why not? They had not exactly stood by him when he was arrested, tried and then nailed to that cross. They had betrayed his trust and had run like little scared rabbits back into their holes.
They had to be nervous. They did not know what to expect. What would Jesus say to them? Would he chew them out? Heaven knows they deserved it. Who would want to face the man they had left to die alone on that terrible cross? They were going to have to face him and hope for the best.
Mark’s Gospel account of Jesus’ resurrection is short and to the point. In the oldest manuscripts, it abruptly ends. Mark leaves us with Jesus on the move. There is to be no getting away from him, no safely keeping him tucked away in the tomb, or forgetting him, or stashing him in some far away recess of one’s mind. Jesus is loose and he has come to where we live, to our town, to our congregation.
Despite the failure of the disciples, the denial of Peter, the betrayal, the forces of evil, Jesus is alive and well. That means that Jesus is not sitting in heaven watching what is going on. He is not just in the Bible or stuck in a church building. He is not even in some grand cathedral. He is where you live.
I say that, because Jesus appeared to his disciples in the most ordinary of places. He meets them at suppertime. He meets them for breakfast. He meets them behind closed doors, where they were hiding. He meets them on the beach and he meets them at work.
He meets them were they are, and in doing so, he shows them and us that he is not just some God who goes up to heaven and leaves us alone as he waits for the right time to come back. He is not that kind of God. There is something special about this Jesus who continues to meet people in the most ordinary places, just as he did before his death on the cross. And that is a good thing, because we all live in ordinary places.
The failure of the disciples, the denial of Peter, and all the betrayal, none of this is the end of the story. It was not the end of the story for them. It is not the end of the story for us, either, for just as Jesus’ resurrection gave his followers a fresh start, Jesus’ resurrection gives us a fresh start.
He is alive and well. But you say, you can’t see him, so how do you know he is alive? You know through your eyes of faith, for you see him healing through the hands of those trained in medicine. You see him taking care of you through the farmer, the truck driver, the police officer, firefighter, teachers, pastors, and all the others that supply your daily needs. He is caring for you in thousands of ways, ways that you do not even think about.
But, most importantly his grace, mercy, and forgiveness come to you where he said he would be present, in his Word and Sacraments.
What that means is that every time you hear or read his Word in his Holy Scriptures, he is there with you. Every time you hear me, as your pastor, tell you that your sins are forgiven, he is there. Every time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, he is there, for in his supper, God himself is present. He is present, not because he is the creator and sustainer of all, which he is, but because in the ordinary things of life like bread and wine, he proclaims himself to be risen.
The next time you go to his Holy Meal, (late service: As you go to his Holy Meal) let the words of that young man dressed in white robes ring out the Good News of the resurrection, “There you will see him, just as he told you.” It is true. He is risen; he is risen indeed. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 7:44 PM
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