Sermon by Stephen Ricketts
Damascus and Clarksburg Unted Methodist Churches
Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; I Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18
Easter Sunday - April 12, 2009
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!
As we gather on this Easter Sunday we are filled with Wonder - God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and this is wonderful in our sight.
As we gather on this Easter Sunday, we join with Christians from all over the world to rejoice and celebrate - Jesus Christ has defeated death and has risen victorious from the grave.
As we gather on this Easter Sunday, we come together to worship God and to Tell the story of Christ. Over the years, many people have told the story of Jesus. Four of Jesus’ followers wrote down the story in the books that bear their names: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Many preachers have told the story from their pulpits and many simple folk have told the story as they gathered in small family groups. The story of Jesus has been told for hundreds of years and yet it never gets old - there is always room for one more person to stand up and tell the Story of Jesus the Christ. So, today I want to tell the story of Jesus yet again - I want to tell the story of Jesus who is my Lord and my Savior and I want to tell this story as I remember it. So, hear again the story of Jesus.
Jesus came into the world about two thousand years ago. He was born into an unremarkable Jewish family in an unremarkable Jewish village - he came into the world at a time when the Roman Empire dominated the land we now call Israel. Jesus was a Jew - he was a descendant of Abraham - the man who trusted God and sojourned in the Land God gave to him. Jesus was also a descendant of King David, a man after God’s own heart who ruled God people. Jesus grew up among family and friends and when he was about thirty years old he entered public life by accepting baptism with water from John the Baptist.
After his baptism, Jesus began to proclaim this message: The Kingdom of God is near at hand, Repent and believe the Good News. As he preached he called people to follow him - he called them to lay aside their worldly occupations and become his messengers to the world. Jesus was a powerful teacher and prophet who spoke with authority. Yet, he did not come to destroy the traditions and teachings handed down from Abraham and Moses and the Prophets - he came to fulfill them. He reached out with kindness to those who were hurting and healed them of their afflictions. Some in positions of authority were offended by what he did because violated their narrow interpretation of the Law. He offended some when he embraced those marginalized by poverty and disease and welcomed them to his table to eat with him. He offended others when he reached across ethnic and gender boundaries to welcome all people into God’s Kingdom. He rebuked all who put their selfish desires before God and who made their traditions into idols. But, he welcomed all who came seeking God’s grace and God’s mercy.
Jesus was a great prophet - mighty in the word of God. And Jesus was a powerful teacher who showed us how to live fully and freely in God’s love. And, if that was all Jesus was, then he would still be remembered today as a great man much as we remember Isaiah, Aristotle, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. But, Jesus is more - much more. Jesus is the Word of God - the very expression of God’s inner most being from the beginning. Jesus is the Word of God who humbled himself and became a human being for our salvation. Jesus is the Son of God who forgives our sins and lavishes God love on us. He laid aside the power and privilege of divinity and became fully human so that, through him, all of humanity might be incorporated into the reality of God.
But, as Jesus taught and preached, the tension with the authorities continued to grow because he was threatened their beliefs, their tradition, and their power. The tension grew to the point that the leaders felt they needed to rid themselves of this meddlesome prophet from Galilee. So, when Jesus entered Jerusalem several days before the Passover to the cheers of a palm waving crowd and drove the merchants from the Temple, they decided to make their move. They convinced Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Judas was one of Jesus’ close disciples - he was one of the twelve who had been with Jesus from his early days. Judas devised a plan whereby he would wait until Jesus was away from the crowds and then he would betray him into the hands of the authorities. This happened on the very night of Passover - the most solemn celebration when the Jews remember their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. During the meal, Jesus showed his great love for his followers by washing their feet and then he shared a last supper with them. After the meal, they he went out to a garden where Judas was waiting and Jesus was arrested. He was taken before the Jewish authorities and before the Roman governor, Pilate, and they condemned him to death - death by crucifixion. The Romans carried out the sentence immediately. The Roman soldiers led Jesus outside the city to a small hill where they nailed him to a cross and there he died. After his death he was placed in a borrowed tomb where he laid until the third day.
Now, if this were the story of an ordinary man, the story would end here - it would end with his death. But, this is the story of Jesus Christ the Son of God and death was not able to hold him. On the third day, some women who were disciples of Jesus came to the tomb thinking they would weep and mourn and pay their respects to their Lord. But, when they arrived, the tomb was empty - Jesus was not there! The place where he had lain was empty - only the grave clothes remained. Angel messengers from God, appeared to announce the Good News: Jesus has risen - he is not dead, but alive for evermore. As the women left to tell the other disciples, they were greeted by Jesus himself. He was not dead but alive. Over the next days and weeks, Jesus appeared alive to many of his followers. Jesus appeared to Thomas who demanded absolute proof before he would believe. And, Jesus appeared to Peter who had denied his Lord. But, through his love, Jesus reclaimed Peter as his own. And, while I have not seen Jesus in the flesh, I feel his presence in my life. One dramatic moment came almost forty years ago when I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my life. That experience convinced me that Jesus Christ is not just a character out of history. I am convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And, I am convinced that Jesus Christ is alive today.
I know I have omitted many details from the Story, but today “I hand on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” Today’s sermon title, Traditio, is an old Latin term that means “delivery of a possession with the intention of passing ownership” That is what I have done today - I have passed the story to you and now it is yours! Today you have received the story of salvation - you have received the story of Jesus Christ. From now on, this story belongs to you and it is yours to pass on to those who will come after you.
Today, receive the Good News: Christ is Risen! Truly, Christ is Risen!
Amen.
