The Reason We Live
John 20:1-18
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace UMC, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
“Woman why are you crying?” the two angels asked Mary Magdalene.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves this same question this morning.
Because deep down inside, or perhaps right at the surface…many of us…so many of us are—crying.
This world is full of tears…
…full of heartache…
Have you ever felt your heart ache?
I used to just think that was an old saying that didn’t mean much, but on a couple of occasions my heart has actually been broken to the point where it ached…
…really ached.
Perhaps your heart is aching this morning.
Perhaps you are going through a terribly tumultuous time.
Perhaps your marriage is on the rocks.
Maybe your job is in jeopardy, or you have no job.
Perhaps your children are rebelling against your love…
…and you are hurting…
…hurting beyond measure.
There is only one cure for the heartache.
There is only one way.
And that ONE WAY is all about submission.
Giving everything you have…
…all your heartache…
…all your worries…
…all your fears…
Giving them to the only One Who can truly be trusted with them.
And that is the Resurrected Christ.
The Lord of Lords!
The Lover of your soul.
God is so good.
God’s love knows no bounds.
Even when we make mistakes—hurting ourselves and perhaps hurting others…
…Jesus is there with us…
…and that is the reason we live.
It is the only way we can make it through.
I remember several years ago when a dear friend of our family, a widow who lived all alone, was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The doctor was concerned.
He was especially concerned because this dear woman had no close relatives.
She had no husband or children to take care of her.
The doctor asked her, “Will you be alright…all alone?”
And there she sat.
And she sat up straight, and looked the doctor in the eyes.
With the utmost confidence, faith and assurance she replied.
“Jesus is with me. I am not alone. Jesus is with me. It will be alright.”
She ended up spending her last days living in my parent’s house.
She was surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ…
…not blood brothers and sisters…
…but spiritual brothers and sisters…
…she was indeed, surrounded by the love and presence of Jesus Christ.
My friends, we all need Jesus.
We all need the community of faith.
For we were not created to be alone.
And God knows this.
So no matter what you are going through, remember, and keep remembering…
…write it down if you have to…
…and put it in your pocket or purse…
…The Risen Christ is always with you!
This is the Reason we live!!!
It is the Only Reason.
It is the Only Way.
And oh, what Christ has done in order to let us know how much He loves us…
…what He has done…
Today is Easter!
It is a beautiful day.
It is a day for rejoicing.
It is a day of celebration.
But as we read moments ago from the Gospel, it did not start out as a day of exhilaration, but as a continued day of sadness, of heartache for the disciples and the women surrounding Jesus’ life and the end of Jesus’ life.
It was also a day of confusion about where His dead body had gone.
The picture starts before dawn with Mary Magdalene going to the tomb and finding the stone which had been well-placed over the entrance—now rolled aside.
Who could have had the strength to do that?
Were there grave robbers about?
Had they been here and stolen this poor beaten, crucified body?
Mary didn’t know, and wasn’t sure of anything.
Remember, it was still dark—literally and figuratively.
She ran away to tell Peter, not about the Resurrection yet, but about the robbery of the tomb.
“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,” she gasped, “and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Talk about a horrible situation getting worse by the minute!
Where is He?
And why would they do such a thing?
A friend of mine recently found a large REWARD poster in his yard where a house nearby had been robbed, burglarized.
The poster listed everything that had been taken out of the home.
There was a long list of expensive items and down at the bottom was a plea to call this number if you know anything about this.
When your house has been broken into and your precious possessions have been taken you are upset, to say the least!
And it makes living in that house sometimes difficult, if not impossible.
Mary Magdalene was in a state—she’d been robbed of her Lord, the very man who had convinced her of her being freed from her sins.
He’d probably been the only man who’d given to her and not taken away.
So Simon Peter came running too and John writes that they came running together.
Yes.
The body was gone, the linen wrappings were lying there.
They saw it for themselves.
How terrible it all was.
How terrible the feelings we might have right now.
The pain and heartache many of us feel.
Poor Mary was still weeping.
Could this really be happening?
Could things really be this bad?
Have you ever felt this way?
How many of us have found ourselves standing outside the tomb of our lives—weeping?...
…feeling all alone…
…betrayed by the world…
…with no hope?
I know I have.
It was then that Mary “saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.”
Sensing that someone was behind her—Mary “turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t realize it was Jesus.”
How often do we not realize that Jesus is right here with us all the time?
“Woman,” Jesus said, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
“Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’”
And as soon as Jesus called her name, she knew it was Him!!!
Have you heard Jesus calling your name?
Have you listened?
Are you listening?
You know, for all her searching, it wasn’t really Mary Magdalene who found the Risen Christ, it was Christ Who found her!!!
And this is the normal experience.
This is whole point of the Gospel—that God is seeking us… and that it is God Who finds us and calls our name!
When God found me, I wasn’t even looking for Him…
…and at first, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be found.
It was only as I surrendered my whole self to Him, and my life began to be transformed…
…and the heartache began to subside…
…that I realized how glad I was that He died for me…
…that He rose from the dead for me…
…and that He didn’t stop there—He searched me out until I was found!!!
“Here I am!” declares the Risen
Christ, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”
That is a promise we can count on, my friends.
Perhaps it is the Only Promise we can truly count on!!!
Do you hear the Risen Christ knocking on the door of your life?
Do you hear the Risen Christ calling your name…asking to come in and live in you and with you?
This is how it works with God.
As we are told, it is God Who first loves us…not the other way around.
It is Christ, the Only Good Shepherd, Who goes after that lost sheep until it is found!
Or how about the parable of the lost coin?
It is Christ Who lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until He finds it.
We are the lost sheep.
We are the lost coin.
Are we willing to allow ourselves to be found?
Although Mary was seeking Christ with her whole being…she was seeking a dead Christ…not a Resurrected Christ!!!
And this is often the way life is for all of us.
Sluggishly or bravely we might accept some future for ourselves that doesn’t look so bright.
And this is all we see in it.
Yet, God Himself is in it…
…and is very close to us…
…and is calling us to new life…
…He is calling us to something for which we can truly live!!!
Remember how Jesus described the Kingdom of Heaven?
He said it was like “a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is our Treasure!!!
Are we willing to get rid of all the other garbage in our lives in order to have it for ourselves?
Recently a colleague of mine told me about a member of a church he served many years ago.
That member took her teenage daughter for an abortion.
The story is long and complicated, but he talked with them long and hard about it.
They felt it was the right thing to do under terrible circumstances.
So, they went and had it done, and afterwards the mother told my friend, “I don’t think I can come back to church.
I’m filthy, too filthy to appear before the altar of God—too ashamed of myself…
…too heartbroken over what I have done.”
My friend talked and talked to her about God’s forgiveness.
She wept and wept, but somehow, God was in it…
…God was there…
…in His healing and Resurrected Presence.
He was there to bless and heal that mother and daughter all the time.
My friend tells me that after many years had passed, and life had gone on, and years had mounted he saw the mother one day at Annual Conference where she is now seeking ordination, trying to finish her education and get that college degree.
Her daughter is now whole and well and has children and a family of her own.
God was in all of that.
Just like Mary found out, not at first, but then later—for real!
Our treasure is Easter!
It is yours and it is mine!
It is for us to acknowledge and praise God for…
…forever and ever!!!
Easter really belongs to us, doesn’t it?
It is the Ultimate gift of God!
It is the gift of God outright in the middle of our tears, our filthy sins, our ignorance of Him and all the rest.
Right when we think He has been snatched away, He speaks to us—He calls us by name!!!
He is the Only Reason we Live!!!
Let us remember this, not only today…
…but tomorrow…
…next week…
…at work…
…at school…
…at play…
…when things are going good or bad.
Jesus is the Only Reason!
Jesus died and is alive forever more!
He is with us!
He is for us!
God is good.
Death, sin and guilt need not have the final say!!!
Thanks be to God!!!
Amen.
