Its great to celebrate isn’t it?
What are some of the things you celebrate?
Finishing school?
Birthdays? (it is someone’s birthday here today)
A new home?
A new job?
Sporting achievements?
Marriage?
Sometimes our celebrations are not for the big achievements in life…
But for the small ones…
In fact it is quite healthy for everyone to have small celebrations in their life to for the small achievements and hard work.
As someone who struggles with dieting most of the diets talk about regularly celebrating weight loss…
Not by eating a whole block of chocolate,
but one little square.
Sometimes when we celebrate it is not because we have worked hard
or actually achieved anything, but because others have.
When Geelong Football Club won last year’s AFL premiership it wasn’t just the 22 players or the players and the coaching staff.
Many people celebrated.
Infact most of the town were celebrating.
Even one of the members of our parish was affected by this win and celebrated for some weeks.
For weeks their answering machine instead of starting with the usual you have called….
It began with…
Yes we’ve won, we have finally won
The Geelong boys have done it…
And at Easter we can say….
Jesus has done it!!!
Easter is something celebrate about!!!
But imagine being those first disciples…
On Sunday morning they were still contemplating life without Jesus.
Imagine for a moment being there and you had just experienced the events of the crucifixion of your leader.
What is going through your mind?
What does it mean?
Are you thinking will we be next?
What has happened?
Are you thinking I thought he would be the one to lead us to victory?
Where is God?
Did you notice in today’s reading it wasn’t any of the 12 disciples who went out to see Jesus.
In other parts of scripture we know that they had locked themselves in a room!!
Petrified!!
But the two Mary’s went to the tomb.
Today’s reading doesn’t reveal why they went there.
But a few verses before today’s readings we see that they had seen the body placed inside!!
And the rock rolled over the top!!
And the soldiers placed on guard.
And now along with the guards they had seen an angel roll away the rock.
And to their amazement the tomb was empty.
There was no Jesus.
There are plenty of people who would be happy to have no Jesus in their life.
For them it would mean not being accountable to anyone.
But not the Mary’s
And what would you have done, if you were there with the two Mary’s?
Would you see it as something good or bad that Jesus was not in the tomb?
Would you be celebrating or worrying!!!
Well the guards were afraid!!!
No Jesus meant they could be accused of not doing their job!!
At best it could mean they may lose their job, at worse possibly their life.
It was also likely that the two Mary’s were going to be afraid!!
Even confused!!
And so the angel speaks to them!!
Reading from verse 5 of chapter 28.
The angel said to them, “But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 28:6 He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. 28:7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you!”
This small section scripture highlights something that is important for each of us.
Throughout our lives we will experience good times and difficulties.
At times we will be celebrating because of the good things in our lives.
And at times we will be wondering what God is up to.
Ever been there?
When you have been wondering where on earth God is.
During those times it is easy to lose hope!!
However listen again to what the angels said to the two Mary’s from verse 6.
He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said.
Jesus had told His disciples and other followers,
that he would he would rise again.
Yet they don’t seem to remember this.
And do you know what God has said to us about life now and in the future?
Do you remember these?
I encourage you to put your life into perspective,
the perspective of what God says to you and His promises to you.
For instance
From John 15 verse 18 and 19
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
From John 14:1-3
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
And from 1 Corinthians 15:55-58
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
In scripture God gives us a perspective of life now and more importantly a perspective of the future.
The future,
which He has secured for us through the resurrection of Jesus.
This is worth celebrating,
like the women did when they met Jesus…
Listen again to verse 9 But Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings!” They came to him, held on to his feet and worshiped him.
Are you holding onto Jesus and worshipping Him throughout your life?
Easter defines who we are.
That death is not the finish for us…
but we have a future with God because there is an empty tomb and a risen Christ.
Not everyone appreciates this.
But consider the following story.
One day a Moslem said to a Christian, "WE Moslems have one thing you Christians do not have. When we go to Medina (Saudi Arabia), we find a coffin and know that that Mohammed lived because his body is in it. But when, you Christians go to Jerusalem, you find nothing but an empty tomb."
"Thank you!" exclaimed the Christian. "What you say is absolutely true, and that makes the eternal difference. The reason we find an empty tomb is because we serve and are served not by a dead Jesus but a risen Jesus, an alive Jesus. "
So let us celebrate the risen Christ
every day of our life…AMEN
