Sermon - Matthew 28: 1-10 - What Happened?

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
Sermon - Matt. 28: 1-10 - What Happened?
April 24, 2010

In ancient times priests would look to the heavens for wisdom. They wanted to know when the farmers should being planting. So the priests would watch the sun rise and the sun set each day. When they saw that the daytime and nighttime were equal they knew that the Sun had spoken and the planting should begin soon. But they had to wait for the moon to confirm this. So they waited for the first full moon after the equinox. Once the moon had spoken the people would be gathered and the priest would tell them that it was time to plant.

The ancient Hebrews knew the sun and the moon do not decide when the planting should begin. God, the creator of the sun and moon decides when this should occur and God used the sun and moon to tell us when to plant. So the Hebrews held the great feast of Passover on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

On the night before his death Jesus celebrated this passover meal with his disciples on the first full moon after the vernal equinox and the church has traditionally celebrated Jesus' resurrection from dead on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

On March 21st we experienced the arrival of Spring with the equinox as the length of day and night were the same. Last Monday, we saw a full moon. Today is Sunday, the day Jesus was resurrected from the dead. So we are at the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. It is time for the farmers to plant. And this must be Easter. Let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Matthew 28:1-10 RS Matthew 28:1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And 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. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 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.' This is my message for you." 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

It was the first day of the week, a work day. A couple of women got up early as the sun was rising. They wanted to get to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body. So they made their way hurriedly and arrived just in time to see something that scared them to death. Fear was the emotion everyone was experiencing on that first Easter morning.

We all experience fear. Maybe you are afraid that you won't have enough money to pay for both groceries and gasoline. Maybe you are afraid that your company may downsize and you will be out of a job. Maybe you are afraid that the pain you are feeling may be sign of deeper problems. Maybe your are afraid that your loved one will leave you all alone.

Fear is a part of our lives. It is our early warning system that something, something bad is about to happen. God has given the us the gift of fear to protect us. When in danger fear causes us to either flee or freeze. Of course with any gift from God it can be twisted around by the devil. Sometimes we flee from what we are suppose to do. We flee from our responsibilities to our families. We flee from the ethical behavior we learned as children. We flee from God. Sometimes we freeze when we shouldn't. A child has an important question about life and we freeze up fearing to talk about important issues. We freeze when the boss offers us a promotion fearing losing the comfort of our existing jobs. We freeze went God is offering us new lives. Fear is always around us.

For a long time I was afraid of riding a bicycle. I fell off once when I was a kid and I was too frightened to get back on. Years later as an adult I decided to try to tackle this fear. So I bought a bicycle and started riding it. It wasn't until I fell off a few times and got back up that my fear finally dissipated.

The Israelites were afraid to enter the promised land. There was a report of giants in Canaan. They said, “28 Where are we headed? Our kindred have made our hearts melt by reporting, 'The people are stronger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw there the offspring of the Anakim!'" (Deuteronomy 1:28). The Israelites experienced great fear that froze them in the wilderness. But, God does not want us to be afraid. That's why he keeps sending messages with the angels who say, “Fear Not”. Moses told the people who feared entering the promised land,

Deuteronomy 1:29-33 29 I said to you, "Have no dread or fear of them. 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way that you traveled until you reached this place.

Fear is what keeps us in slavery to sin. Why else would we remain enslaved? Slavery can only be maintained in the slaves fear their masters. And if we fear the devil more than we fear God then we will remain as slaves to sin forever. But if we no longer fear the devil then we are free to leave sin behind and embrace the promised blessings of God.

On that first Easter morning fear was everywhere. The Jewish leaders in the temple feared the Roman reaction to the Kingdom of Heaven talk that had swept across Jerusalem that Passover. Pilate feared that there might be a revolution in the streets for which Rome would hold him accountable. The guards at the tomb were afraid of the earthquake that rolled away the stone. And a couple of women were afraid at what they saw inside the tomb, or more specifically what they didn't see. The tomb was empty. Jesus' body was not there. Immediately they were fill with fear. They feared the unknown. They feared the Roman reaction. There feared for their families in a possible civil war.

God was so concerned about their fears that he immediately dispatched an angel with an important message, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised.” Of course this didn't work. The women were even more afraid. Their fear caused them to flee. They ran as fast as they could to get back to the safety of the others. So God sent another messenger to comfort them. A more familiar messenger. Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid”. So it is Jesus who comes to remove our fears so that we are no longer paralyzed by fear into slavery to sin. Jesus is the messenger from God who comforts us in our fears and helps us to leave our fears behind and enter into the promised blessings of God.

Our most fundamental fear, of course, is our fear of death. We are afraid of death more than anything else. We grieve when a loved one dies because of our fear that this will be the last time we will ever see them again. We fear death because is seem that a giant The End to our lives. We fear the unknown and wait for what may or may not happen after we die.

This fear of death is what keeps us in slavery. The Israelites could not freely worship their God because the Egyptian army would kill them. The people of Jesus' day were unwilling to stand up to the Romans for the same reason. And we remain slaves sin because we fear our own deaths.

But the message God sent to those women through Jesus was that death was to be feared no longer. Death was not the end. The Egyptians or the Romans could kill you, but not end your life. And Jesus demonstrated this fact in his resurrection from the dead.

In Jesus Christ we see that death is no longer the last page of our life story. We live on in life after death. Our slave masters can threaten us with death, they can kill us on a cross, but the promised blessing of Jesus Christ is eternal life for all who believe. The apostle Paul spoke of this promise in this way, “5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5) And Peter said, “ 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3).

So hope replaces our fear. As Christians we no longer fear death. Death has no sting. Rather, we are a people of hope who believe in the promised blessing of Easter that even though we may die and return back to the dust of the ground from which we came, we will one day be resurrected to new life, eternal life, in Jesus Christ.

So I urge you this Easter morning to fear not. Rather, be filled with hope that in Jesus Christ death is not the final chapter, but the beginning of a glorious future in a resurrected body, in a new creation, in the Kingdom of God.

“Brightness of God’s glory and exact image of God’s person, whom death could not conquer nor the tomb imprison, as you have shared our frailty in human flesh, help us to share your immortality in the Spirit. Let no shadow of the grave terrify us, and no fear of darkness turn our hearts from you. Reveal yourself to us this day and all our days, as the first and the last, the Living One, our immortal Savior and Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Worship p 324)