SEIZED BY TERROR AND AMAZEMENT
Mark 16:1-8
So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them;
and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.
Anybody with any sense would flee from such a sight as the empty tomb. Occupied graves are foreboding enough, how much worse to see an opened one, an empty one. It is sort of like that old joke, What’s worse than seeing a worm in your apple? Half a worm! You don’t want to see ‘em! No wonder the women were seized by terror and amazement! God’s power was changing their lives moment by moment, early in the morning, with the rising of the Son.
God has the power to change our lives. Such a statement should cause anybody with any sense to flee from this place, like the grave-bound women with terror and amazement, but since we’re all still here, let’s stay together and explore this power.
How long has it been since any of us have been “seized” by anything, let alone something as dramatic as terror and amazement, both at the same time? I hope today that each of us will be seized by the terror and amazement of God’s almighty power—God’s power not just to roll away a very great stone, God’s power not just to raise Jesus from the dead, or God’s power not just to conquer sin and death, but God’s power to raise each of us to a new and far, far better life than the one we know right now—here, on earth, today!
We are so much like the women who went to the tomb expecting to give Jesus’ body the proper anointing and burial. We come to church on Easter to give Jesus the proper respect by attending a worship service in his honor. But this day like that day is a day that changes everything.
You may think you know the Easter story—it’s the same story every year—but I am not going to speak on this Resurrection Day about being raised from the dead, I am going to talk about being raised from the life of an ordinary Christian person to a kind of new and exceptional life ordinary Christians have never imagined possible. This new life is the kind of life that God has planned for us all along, and only God has the power to give it.
So, Friends, I kindly seek your undivided attention, and I pray that you will receive the Living Word of God, that is Jesus Christ, and accept the power of God to change your life TODAY! If your life is perfect in every single way—can anybody here claim that?—you’re probably not interested in having God change your life. But if you’re life, like mine, is not exactly perfect you just might want to consider engaging the power of God in your life.
What kind of life God might have in mind for you is up to you and your ability to seek, receive, and accept.
Don’t expect to sit back and listen today. You should expect to sit up and take notice. You should plan to be startled and astonished. You could be drawn to desire a new personal journey of purpose—one that will have you interacting with me in the pulpit, praying to God for his power, reaching out to one another for love and support, and making a faith commitment to travel to your Galilee where Jesus is waiting, just as he said he would be, for you and for me.
This journey requires much of us: our time, our commitment, our community. We will spend today and the next three weeks embarking on this journey of purpose. You’ll have to come back each week if you want to discover the YOU God intends you to be. You might be challenging me with the question, Why do you think you know what God wants me to do with my life?
The answer is, I don’t know. There are only two who will know, and they are God and you. No change, no power, will come to you if you do not engage it, invite it, seek, receive and accept it. God won’t do the work for you; Jesus won’t do the work for you; I can’t do the work for you. You have to do it yourself. Are you seized by terror and amazement yet?
Over the next four weeks, I plan to explore with you and challenge you to discover where power comes from and what you want that power to do for you. Do you want to change your life and follow God’s plan for you? Only you can answer that question, not off the top of your head, please, but from a place deep in your soul. So let’s get to our personal story of Resurrection.
We all could benefit from the power of God in our lives. For instance, this man was driving down the highway when his car phone rang. When he answered, he heard his wife’s urgent voice saying, “I just heard on the news that there’s a car going the wrong way on 95. Please be careful!!! The man replied equally as urgently, “I’m on 95 right now! And it’s not just one car! It’s hundreds of them!” (Dennis Deese, “The Purpose of Your Life” www.sermoncentral.com.)
I once turned the wrong way onto a one-way street. Talk about being seized by terror and amazement! I was surely terrified when I realized what I had done, and then I was also amazed, once I was safely on the other side, that I did not cause an accident. How many of us might think we’re doing right and everybody else is going wrong? If so, it’s time to reevaluate our direction!
Ever read a self-help book? The purpose of a self-help book is to help us get out of our dilemmas by ourselves. If the story of the three women at the tomb teaches us anything, it is that we can’t do everything by ourselves. We weren’t made to do everything by ourselves! We need God to roll away the big heavy stones that get in the way of our lives; we need God to tell us where Jesus is. We need God to point us to our Galilee.
Marketdata Research estimated in 2003 that the “self-improvement” market was worth $8.5 billion. This same firm projects that this same market will grow to over $11 billion by 2008 (Wikipedia, “Self-Help”).
The problem with self-help books is that they tell us what to do but can’t give us the power to do it” (R Warren, God’s Power to Change Your Life, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006, pp 11-12). Throw out your self-help books. There is no power in them. The only self-help book we need is the Bible. The Bible is the word of God, and God has the power to change our lives through our relationship with Jesus Christ, the one who is called the Resurrection and the Life. Give him a try; give the power of the Resurrection the chance to fill you with true living.
The Resurrection means that Good is greater than Evil. The Resurrection means that Grace is greater than all our Sin. The Resurrections means that Love is stronger than Hate. The Resurrection means that Life is stronger than Death. Do you want to know greatness and strength? Then join the Resurrection Race. Be seized by terror and amazement, and run for your life!
To run the Resurrection Race, you have to get yourself out of the literal sense of everyday living. You gotta get smart about the power God wants to give you in your life. Put your trust in him or this could happen to you:
A truck driver was hauling a load of 500 penguins to the zoo. Unfortunately, his truck broke down. He waved down another truck and offered the driver $500 to take the penguins to the zoo. The next day the first truck driver had his rig repaired and drove into town. He couldn’t believe his eyes! (He was seized by terror and amazement!) Just ahead of him he saw the second truck driver crossing the road with the 500 penguins waddling single file behind him. He jumped out of his truck, ran up to the guy and said, “What’s going on? I gave you $500 to take these penguins to the zoo!” To which the second truck driver responded, “I did take them to the zoo. But I had money left over, so now we’re going to the movies.” (R McNair, “What’s Your Purpose This Year?” www.sermoncentral.com.)
Be sensible, and be bold at the same time. Put your penguins in the zoo, and put your life in the hands of Jesus Christ. Do not fear the terror; do not be silenced by the amazement. Make a commitment today to experience your own Easter. It’s all about the Resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “I want to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection” (3:10).
My message to you today is not just more of the same ol’ same ol’. Today’s message is to empower you to accept what God has done for you and me in Jesus Christ: Receive the Resurrection with terror and amazement, for when you anticipate the best that God has to give you, then you will receive the power to lift high the cross, to proclaim the love of Christ, and to allow yourself to be the YOU God created you to be.
Are you not eager to know the YOU that God has designed for you? Are you not the least bit curious to discover the purpose for which you were sent? Would you not welcome the opportunity to name and then roll away some of those heavy stones that keep you either from getting in or getting out? Wouldn’t it be great to know how to get to Galilee? Then, put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.
Next week I am going to put something real, something tangible, into your hands, those of you who will accept it anyway, a means of seeing and sharing the Gospel. I will tell you the story of a Honduran peasant who held this very same item and now shares the gospel with anyone who will listen. He has no money. He can neither read nor write. His body is broken, but the Word lives in him. God’s power has changed his life. And he wants everyone to have God’s power, too.
What about you? Do you want to know about God’s power? Will you run the risky race? Will you follow through, coming back next week? And the week after that?
If you will, come here, then, having given thought to your present unchanged condition, and complete this sentence by naming a part of your personality you would like to have changed. This is the sentence: “It’s just like me to __________________?”
For example, I might complete the sentence this way: “It’s just like me to start something and not finish it.”
God always finishes what he starts. The Reconciliation that God started with the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, is completed in the Resurrection. “The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead two thousand years ago is available to us right now to transform the weaknesses in our lives into strengths” (Warren, p 13).
With your help, my friends, I will show you what God’s power is able to do: to cancel our past failures, mistakes, sins and regrets; to conquer all our problems; and to change us for the better. Be seized by this divine opportunity, friends: your story is about to be told. Amen.
Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007
The First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, Maine
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise
