Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2008 : March 23, 2008

Theme: Crossroads: Traveling with our Savior - To and From the Tomb

Church year occasion: Easter

On Sept. 27, 1991, in the midst of "Desert Storm," Ruth Dillow, a woman from Illinois, received a heartbreaking message from the military. Her son Clayton had stepped on a mine in the Persian Gulf and had been killed. Mrs. Dillow wrote, "I can't begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For three days I wept. For three days I expressed anger. For three days I experienced true loss. For three days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great." Maybe you're wondering, "Why for only three days?" Because three days after she received that message, the telephone rang, and the voice on the other end said, "Mom, it's me, I'm alive!" It was her son Clayton. Ruth Dillow said, "I couldn't believe it at first. But I recognized his voice and he really was alive." She said, "I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels, because my son, whom I thought was dead, was really alive. I'm sure none of you can even begin to understand how I felt."

She's probably right. From her perspective, her son had really died. In all reality, to her, her son came back from the dead. Can you imagine how those three days and then the news of her son being alive changed her life ever afterward?

As amazing and as wonderful as that true story is, it can't even begin to compare to the three days that changed our lives forever. Instead of mourning over the death of Jesus and wondering why he had to die and what it means, Easter Sunday reveals what the cross means. Jesus died, but he rose from the dead. He conquered death, and our lives will never be the same. Let's see why, by contrasting how three people come to the tomb that first Easter Sunday and how they left the empty tomb.

As we began our travels with Jesus during this season of Lent, so now we come to Jesus' final destination -- the open and empty tomb. And we will walk to and from the tomb with three individuals: Mary Magdalene and two disciples, Peter and John.

Mary was the first to arrive. While many false ideas have surfaced recently about Mary Magdalene -- that she was a prostitute or that she even had an affair with Jesus and gave birth to his child -- really the Bible only tells us a few things about her. She was part of a group of women who followed Jesus on some mission trips and supported his ministry. Do you know why she devoted so much of her time and resources to Jesus' ministry? Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. Jesus' power had changed her life. Therefore, she wanted to show her gratitude by following him.

In the late afternoon of Good Friday, Mary and other women watched where Jesus was buried. Why were they coming back on Sunday morning? So they could return and pay their respects with a proper burial with spices since they didn't have enough time to do that on Friday before the Sabbath. It was not a joyful trip. There was no skip in their steps. No whistle on their lips. Only grief and sorrow in their hearts. Mary knew that her friend, her teacher, her healer was dead. They weren't thinking too straight, either, because they hadn't thought about who would be able to budge the stone that covered the tomb. And just when it seemed things could get no worse, they did. When they arrived at the tomb, Jesus' body was gone. Mary assumed Jesus' enemies had stolen it. She left the other women at the tomb and ran back to tell Peter and John: "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him." After Peter and John went to the tomb and left, all Mary could do was sit outside the tomb and cry.

What about us? Are we crying as we come to the tomb today? We're probably not crying for Jesus because we, unlike Mary, know that Jesus had risen and he's alive. But perhaps holidays like Christmas and Easter can stir up that grief and sorrow we felt as we laid loved ones in a grave and walked away and tried to move on with our lives. Mary's life was falling apart. She didn't know where to turn. Maybe your life has become full of grief and sorrow like Mary's, and you can barely get out of bed in the morning and face another day.

Or maybe there's more than grief and sorrow in your heart as you walk to Jesus' tomb this morning. Maybe guilt is what fills your heart, like Peter's. After hearing Mary's report, Peter and John headed to the tomb. Personally, I believe Peter took Jesus' death harder than anyone else. Why would Peter be feeling guilty? He had left his Savior's side after promising allegiance to the point of death. Even after all the other disciples would flee, he said he never would. But just hours later, he buckled under the pressure of a servant girl's interrogation and denied knowing the One who knew him so well. Although Peter was one of only three people who witnessed Jesus' transfiguration when he revealed his glory, it wasn't enough to keep Peter from not only denying that, but even saying he never knew Jesus. Unlike John, the Gospel accounts don't say that Peter was there when Jesus died. Peter wasn't there to comfort Jesus' mother, even though Jesus had once healed his mother-in-law. Peter went to the tomb with guilt and shame.

Is it any different for us? Maybe this is the first time we've worshiped in months and we're feeling guilty about our irregular worship life. Or, like Peter, we say one thing about our loyalty to Jesus with our lips and say something completely different with our lives. We lie awake at night because we know we're such lousy parents, lousy spouses, lousy workers, lousy church members, or lousy pastors. Like Peter, our trip to the tomb is accompanied by guilt and shame.

What about John? How did he come to the tomb? With grief and sorrow? Certainly. With guilt and shame? I'm sure -- he too had fallen asleep while Jesus prayed in agony. He too had deserted Jesus in the garden. He refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He, too, had witnessed Jesus' glory when he was transfigured. But he stood helplessly at the foot of the cross when Jesus died. What did it all mean? John was confused. He had doubts -- serious doubts as to who Jesus was and what everything that happened to him meant.

Do we have doubts when it comes to believing in Jesus and all he's done? Have you ever found yourself saying, "I want to believe, I just don't know if I can? There are so many questions that can be raised, how do I know this is the truth? Maybe Jesus simply passed out on the cross, then later revived and escaped. Maybe his followers did steal the body and spread the story that he was alive. Maybe all this is a legend that developed years later. Is it reasonable to believe this is true? Can so many billions of unbelievers be wrong?" I'll be the first to admit that throughout my life, Satan has worked on me as he's worked on you. At times, my trip -- our trip -- to the tomb has been made with serious doubts, like John's. But like John, it's not important how we come to the tomb but how we leave the tomb, the empty tomb. The empty tomb has life-changing power. First, look what it did for John.

After John went inside the tomb and saw the burial cloths arranged as they were, John himself reported, "He saw and believed." The empty tomb converted John's guarded skepticism into guaranteed certainty. And it does the same for us. The empty tomb proves Jesus is the one he claimed to be. The empty tomb and subsequent appearances to hundreds of witnesses guarantee that Jesus was not just a popular religious leader but was and is the Son of God. Only God has power over death. Thus John writes a few verses later, "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." (John 20:31) The empty tomb leads us to stop doubting and believe. The empty tomb allows us to walk away with a faith that's not limping on guarded skepticism but is established on guaranteed certainty.

The life-changing power of the empty tomb takes care of our guilt and shame as well. Go back to Peter. We considered how heavy that burden of guilt must have been on his shoulders. After realizing his sin, the Bible says, "He went outside and wept bitterly." (Matthew 26:75) But God used the empty tomb to comfortingly address Peter's guilt. First of all, listen to the message God's angel had for the women at the tomb, after Mary had left to tell Peter and John Jesus' body wasn't there. After reporting to the women that Jesus was alive, the angel instructed, "Go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee' " (Mark 16:7) Later on, Jesus personally would apply his grace and comfort to Peter by reinstating him as his spokesman. How awesome! In Peter, here's a guy who turned his back on Jesus more than once, yet Jesus went out of his way to say, "I forgive you. Your guilt is gone." The empty tomb assures us our sins are gone also. The Bible says, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:25) The empty tomb declares us to be innocent. The empty tomb guarantees that our sins are forgiven and forgotten. That means that although we stumbled to the empty tomb with guilt and shame yoked over our backs this morning -- guilt over our sporadic worship, shame over our frequent denials of Christ and failures to live as God's child -- we can leave here without guilt and shame. Jesus has forgiven you. The empty tomb gives us grace and comfort.

And then look at what it did for Mary. She came to the tomb full of sorrow. She lingered at the tomb crying, believing her Lord was stolen. But when Jesus appeared to her, thus proving that the tomb was empty because he had risen, her tears of sorrow turned into tears of joy. "Teacher," she cried, as she grabbed onto his feet. Only after the Lord instructed her did she let go. Then she went to the disciples, celebrating the good news, "I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18) What's better yet is that her grief and sorrow lasted only about 40 hours, but her gladness and celebration would last an eternity. For what does the empty tomb prove? It validates Jesus' promise, "Because I live, you also will live." (John 14:19) The empty tomb guarantees that we can walk away from this life of grief and sorrow into a new life where there are no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow. And when we realize this big picture, it sure changes our perspective on the griefs and sorrows we brought to the tomb today. We realize they're temporary.

On Easter I think of a particular painting. It's a picture of the cross on Calvary, but viewed through the doorway of the empty tomb. When we view the cross, let's remember to look at the cross in the proper perspective. If it's viewed by itself, it is simply a reminder of the seriousness of our sin. Sin causes death. But if the cross is viewed from the empty tomb, we see it for what it really was -- a necessary step on the Savior's road to get to his real destination, the tomb, so that he could walk away from it. And because he walked away from his tomb, we'll walk away from ours. That's some life-changing power! He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Amen.