Good God, It's Morning

Easter C

4/8/2007

Luke 24:1-12

“Good God, It’s Morning!”

I’d like to begin this morning’s service by asking you a very simple, but direct, question: How do you wake up in the morning? When you wake, do you roll over, put your head under your pillow or blankets & moan, “Good God, it’s morning!” dreading the prospect of facing the world w/ all its trials, tribulations & problems. Or do you inwardly (or even outwardly) shout w/ joy: “Good God, it’s morning!” thrilled by the potential a new day in God’s creation offer & filled w/ hope at the possibilities of what you might encounter, good or bad, that you might bring honor & glory to the name of God.

Think about it & be honest w/ yourself. I know that there are some you who, as you were jangled out of your sleep for the service at Preparation Point & knew it might be a bit nippy, might have found yourselves tempted toward the former of these possibilities.

Well, my friends, you’re in good company. Because that’s exactly how the disciples initially felt that first Resurrection morning. The women disciples had gone to the tomb &, boy, were they in for a surprise. You see, they didn’t go the tomb to experience the resurrection. They didn’t know what you & I know. They went to the tomb in sadness, to anoint Jesus’ body. When they arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the body gone. This probably horrified them & definitely confused them. Luke says they were “perplexed.” I can imagine them w/ open mouths, items slipping from their grasp, as they wondered, “What’s going on here.”

They weren’t excited & delighted by what had occurred. The possibility of resurrection was the farthest from their minds. The events of Friday, the crucifixion, made them ache. Jesus was dead…they’d come to embalm his body…& they discovered it missing. Not exactly a recipe for being happy campers. That doesn’t even deserve a dismal “Good God, it’s morning.” That’s more like, “What else can go wrong.”

Well, how about "two men in dazzling clothes" who come, stand beside them & scare the pajeezers out of them. & I’m not talking “I’m late coming home from my date, I hope Mom & Dad are in bed” scared or “I hope that police car following me w/ its lights & siren on isn’t coming after me” scared. I’m talking hair rising on your neck terrified!

They didn’t have clue one what was going on until the “men in dazzling clothes” began to speak: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be handed over to sinners, & be crucified, & on the third day rise again.”

Finally it had sunk & the women are overjoyed. “Good God, it’s morning! Christ has risen!” & they run off to tell the other disciples, who just so happen to be stuck in the same funk they were just a few moments ago. They’re stuck on the events of Good Friday, Good God, it’s just another morning” & they don’t believe them. Their words “seemed to them an idle tale” scripture says. It was nonsense. In other words, they were either hallucinating or lying.

Even so, Peter responded. Maybe it was something in the back of Peter’s mind that spurred him to action. Whatever it was, he ran to the tomb to see for himself. What he saw was an empty tomb w/ “the linen cloths by themselves” and “he went home, amazed.” “Good God, it’s morning! Christ has risen!”

Don’t you wish that every day, but especially Easter, could still offer that kind wonderment to us? Wouldn’t it be great to awaken w/ a mighty shout: “Good God, it’s morning! Christ has risen!” Perhaps we’ve become too jaded. Perhaps because of all the planning & gift buying & preparation for out of town guests, Easter has become just another day & it no longer surprises us. Perhaps we’ve heard the message so much that we don’t incorporate into our lives & we take it for granted. That would be sad, indeed. Maybe I can help you go from “Good God, it’s morning!” it’s just another day to “Good God, it’s morning!” Christ has risen!

I’d like to tell you a story that maybe you’ve heard before. & that’s ok if you have. It’s still a

wonderful Easter story, w/ a great theme for Easter. It’s about a man named George Thomas.

George Thomas was a pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning, he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit.