10 - Sermon - Year C - Season # - Verse
luke 24
24
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Grace and peace to you from our Risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen - Alleluia, Christ is risen.
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Jennifer Nelson exclaimed “I don’t believe it” as she stared at her phone. She had just received a picture and text message from her friends... the picture showed them in their grad dresses and getting out of the limo and waving. The text read in capital letters, “YOU ARE FORGIVEN... STOP BEING A DRAMA QUEEN AND GET YOUR BUTT OVER TO MOJO’s”
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Jennifer Nelson believed that she was going to be walking home that night and that this would look stupid because people wearing grad dresses look stupid when they are walking home alone... her shoes were going to be ruined, and her dress was going to be filthy.
Jennifer Nelson had been crying and wondering if she was ever going to have friends again... she was wondering if anybody was ever going to want to hang out with her for the rest of her life.
It wasn’t her fault really... she didn’t know how much pressure really builds up in a bottle of champaign... she didn’t know that twisting that... little thingy could result in such a bang... No amount of makeup would cover the black eye that her friend endured as the small brown projectile smashed into her face. And there would be no time to clean up as Champaign covered everyone in the car... flowers... makeup... dresses... all ruined...
Jennifer Nelson got embarrassed... she cried... she blamed... she exploded... she was ashamed and angry and scared and this caused her to be really mean... to demand that the limo pull over... and to storm away cursing everyone and everything. She sat alone... weeping by a dumpster wishing everything were different.
She firmly believed that she would be walking home alone that night....
She would put on sweat pants, wash off all her wrecked make up and sit in front of the TV.
She just wanted to go to go bed. She was already thinking of what her last status update on facebook would be... it might be something like “Jennifer Nelson is lost forever” or “Jennifer Nelson is an unloveable clutz.”
And so... as Jennifer Nelson’s cell phone rang again, and the bubbling voice of her friends called and told her to come... she just couldn’t believe it.
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Unbelief doesn’t usually mean that you simply don’t believe something to be true... unbelief normally means that you believe in something different even more... and so the new information can’t be believed in light of the old...
It’s a common enough phrase...
“I can’t believe that the Flames finished ahead of the oilers...”
“I can’t believe that my street hasn’t been cleared yet...”
“I can’t believe my kids are leaving home already...”
“I can’t believe that I would ever come back to this place...”
“I can’t believe he’s dead...”
To not believe something is to cling to something else more than the new belief that is put in front of you.
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An incredible Word is given to us today. Incredible... and I would almost say... unbelievable.
The Passion narrative that we live this Holy Week is the story of Jesus announced as Messiah, entering Jerusalem, getting arrested and tried and sentenced to death.
Jesus has made all the wrong people mad and challenged the deepest held beliefs of the powerful... he proclaiming change... something new...
All through this last week we hear of his crucifixion and death and how the women prepared the spices for his lifeless body and were deeply in mourning... The women walked to the tomb with a deep belief in the power of death.
If you find the proclamation we chant today “Alleluia, Christ is risen” hard to believe than you are in good company.
The women who travelled with Jesus, those who loved him deeply while he was teaching and preaching had watched in sadness as he died... and they mourned... and they prepared spices to wrap his dead body in...
All the women were mourning because despite what they were told, they were firmly believing in death. It is easy to believe in death.
The women were mourning because they had seen with their own eyes that Jesus had breathed his last. There was nothing they could see that would indicate that death was beaten... they believed they would find the broken, lifeless body that would need to be entombed and enshrined and... buried... dead...
And so the empty tomb doesn’t make sense...
And then the dudes in the white shining clothes shows up and say “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Well... seems like a silly question doesn’t it... Whipped, beaten, bled, nailed, hung on a cross... stabbed in the side with a spear and dead... dead dead dead... Why are we looking for the living among the dead? Because the living are now dead. And death is supposed to be death right?
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How do we hear this gospel message? This good news? Does it sound to you like “an idle tale”. Do the words “Alleluia, Christ is risen”... Does this sound like an idle tale?
If these words sound strange then you are indeed in good company. The disciples hear story and think it is garbage...
These words of new life... this proclamation of life demands that old beliefs be released and a new belief take on the central roll.
So the women sprint to the disciples who don’t believe it...
Except for Peter... good ol’ Peter... fresh from denying all knowledge of Christ when challenged by a little girl and I’m sure feeling just awful about it... maybe he is just crazy enough to wish and hope that this is true.
Maybe he is so desperate to find something to hang hope on that he will believe this idle tale and go... no... sprint to the tomb like a person who has lost all hope!
And he looks... and he see’s the grave clothes... and he see’s no body... and he is confused... he is amazed... he is opened up... and he doesn’t know what he believes anymore... New information has come to light.
The news of an empty tomb, the vision of grave clothes shatters his old belief that death is final... the new belief that Christ has risen... that Christ is the Messiah... that life gets the final word starts to sink in.
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Today in Braedens Baptism we witness the work of God doing a new thing through this church. New life is given AS promises are made.
Our promises we said are one thing... but much more important than what we promise this day is the promises that God makes.
Forgiveness is assured... death will never get the final word as in Baptism God promises Braeden and everyone else that they have been given new birth, new life, the promise of forgiveness of all sins and life everlasting... Braeden is one of the baptized... invited to live life trusting that God makes promises this day as the water and Word come together in baptism. And God keeps promises.
And he is marked by the cross of christ forever which means
... never left out or forgotten or given up on...
It means always welcome at the meal of forgiveness, the Lord’s supper....
it means adoption into the family of Christ... God always welcoming....
it means God states the desire and seek relationship with all of us...
it means that even as we continue to work out what it means to be washed in baptism, to be marked by the cross of Christ... we believe in the events of Easter Sunday... and as strange as this belief may seem some days... it is a promise that God will always continue to believe in us.
God will draw close even as we push away... Life, not death, gets the final word.
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And so hear these words again... Alleluia, Christ is Risen!...
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Jennifer Nelson received the call and then started to walk. As she rounded the corner and saw the limo... Her friends shrieked and ran over to her... they hugged her and kissed her... they wiped the tears from her eyes and started to fix her makeup...
They wanted her to look just like the rest of them, they took out some thick black makeup and drew on her face a huge ugly black eye... and they stood around giggling and staring at the black eyes they all now wore together...
Jennifer started to stutter out an apology but they shushed her... and they stood in a tight circle, safely pointed a bottle of Champaign into the sky... and let it explode everywhere as they celebrated being together..
Jennifer Nelson was forgiven. She was given a new lease on friendship and the brokenness of the evenings earlier interaction was washed away in the new reality they celebrated and lived together.
May it be so among us...
Alleluia, Christ is Risen!...
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