A Sermon
Presented by Rev. Merlin T. Batt
Intentional Interim Pastor
St. Matthew’s United Church of Christ
Maiden, North Carolina
Easter Sunrise Service
March 23, 2008
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 28:1-20
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Two women, both of them named Mary, or Miriam in Hebrew, one from the town of Magdala and one other, made their way to Jesus’ tomb in the pre-dawn darkness. Both Mark and Luke explain the women’s early morning visit by saying that they had brought spices, the traditional spices used in the Jewish burial practices of that day.
The women came, say these other Gospel writers, to do right what had been done hastily and inadequately at the rushed burial of Jesus on late Friday afternoon just before sunset. But Matthew says simply, “…they went to see the tomb.”
No mention of spices; no suggestion of conducting a proper burial; they simply went to look at Jesus’ tomb. Their only purpose was expressing their grief. They wanted to be there, near to Jesus’ body. They needed to pour out their great sorrow in as much peace and quiet and privacy as was possible, which they assumed the early hour and the deserted burial place would provide. Theirs was the same human motivation which brings you and me to a loved one’s grave, again and again, especially in the days and weeks following a death, during the time of intense grieving.
But peace, quite and privacy were the last things these two women got that morning. Listen as Matthew describes the most dramatic graveside scene in all the four Gospels:
Suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”
Earthquake, an angel, stunned guards, messages about Jesus going ahead of them to Galilee – the point of these dramatic happenings is this: what is happening is the action of God himself. The God who had remained silent on Good Friday, inexplicably silent, is having the last word!
Remember? Jesus had cried out from the cross, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” – translated into English (say it with me): “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
But God was silent.
Those who loved Jesus and saw him unjustly accused, brutally beaten, nailed to a Roman cross, bleeding profusely and struggling for breath, (they) had questions for God, too, hard questions, though unspoken – “Why is this happening?” “What does this mean?” Was our hope in Jesus all in vain?” “Where are you, God?” “Is there a God?”
But God was silent.
Now in the damp, dreary and eerie darkness of a cemetery, God spoke by acting – earthquake, an angel, stunned guards, messages about Jesus going ahead of them to Galilee – and then, as if this were not enough: “Suddenly Jesus met (the two women) and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’”
God was no longer silent.
God had the last word. And what God did was not just an extraordinary miracle, as if to display His supernatural power for its own sake. Nor was God doing a special favor for Jesus. Nor even was God simply illustrating the truth that when we die, we go to heaven. Something much larger happened that first Easter morning, something that tore a hole into history, something that changed the world forever.
What happened on Easter morning in that Jerusalem cemetery was the start of God’s new age, the dawning of God’s kingdom. The world would never be the same again. When Jesus emerged from his tomb, alive with a life that will never die, God’s new creation was decisively launched. And Jesus’ followers, including you and me, have become its agents, the means by which God’s victory over sin and evil will be put into practice in the everyday world.
That’s why the risen Jesus said to his disciples gathered in Galilee,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the close of the age.
Christian friends, what brings us here at this early hour to worship God is the Event that changed the world. On the third day, the crucified, dead, and buried Jesus was raised from the dead. Thus God’s kingdom dawned, the fulfillment of which kingdom we pray in the Lord’s Prayer (“thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”), the kingdom which will be completed when all nations and peoples are brought into obedience to Jesus Christ, the world’s true Lord. Christ is risen! Alleluia!
