Title: The Empty Promises of Easter
Isaiah 65:17-25 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Acts 10:34-43 Luke 24:1-12
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s,
in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 31st March 2013.
(A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable to oh lord. Amen.
Summary: If you find the promises of God are just too good to be true then you need to understand what happen at the cross to understand that you are accepted only by your belief that Jesus rose from the tomb: and that is all.
You must admit that the promises of God are just too good to be true. In our world, we are taught that; “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”; yet the bible tells us that to be accepted by God, all we have to do is believe that Jesus rose from the tomb that Sunday; that he is still alive; and that he is our Lord. That is all.
It is so simple, yet many people struggle to accept it; because they do not feel they deserve to be reconciled to God; but that is where grace comes in. Grace basically means that although we do not deserve it, we earn our place before God by believing in Jesus, and what he did for us on the cross.
Now, if that is all there is to it, you must be saying, well ok, where is the catch? … Is there one? … Well yes there is. … By believing in Jesus we are instantly transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
In the kingdom of darkness, we are our own God: the world revolves about us, and that we want everything for ourselves; everything is all about us; and in this kingdom people go to extraordinary lengths to make sure everything goes through them; the ultimate goal therefore is to be like God himself, just as Satan promised Adam and Eve.
The kingdom of light however, is the exact opposite. Everything is about Jesus: everything comes from him, and everything returns to him; it is all about him; and absolutely nothing about ourselves.
That is a big catch, so you may ask … why change kingdoms? Well the kingdom of darkness is all about greed, evil and selfishness; me, me and me again. The kingdom of light however is about love, about generosity and helping others.
The kingdom of darkness is about taking, whereas the kingdom of light is about giving. The kingdom of darkness promises us everything, but delivers nothing but death and destruction; whereas the kingdom of light promises us that we will be the lowest, the servants of all, and in ourselves deserving nothing; but in return, we receive everything for God; and that includes life and living.
In conclusion, the kingdom of darkness demands that we get people to run to us, to serve our very wants and desires; to be in abeyance to us, and the higher up we go in this kingdom, the weaker we become, as we give into the flesh.
The kingdom of light however, is all about servitude, and helping others, and the high up we go in this kingdom, the more people we can serve.
So … it does not take a genius to work out that the more people we serve, the stronger and more powerful we must become; because we are working with God, and his word tells us that he will supply all our needs. Can you see the vast difference; it is all about denying yourself, carrying your cross, and aligning yourself with God?
Now, as you know, the world is full of empty promises: and the advertisements, especially on TV tell us that we can be happy … and rich … and famous … and that we can look exceedingly good, if we … but only purchase a certain product, their product.
And it doesn’t take long before we realise that we have been fooled and start looking for something else, concluding that world’s promises are full of emptiness; whereas God is different; on Easter, he gave us emptiness that was full of promise; and it was the emptiness in that very Tomb, that brings us all here today.
This morning, I would like us to think about the promises of Easter; and although there are many, I will focus on three of them; and each promise is marked by something empty; an empty cross; an empty tomb and the empty burial clothes.
The Empty Cross.
We will begin with the empty cross; the very symbol that we have the promise of forgiven sin, and righteousness before God. Let us go back, if we can, to that 1st Easter morning as light broke and we see a few of Jesus followers, four women, on their way to the tomb. Their conversation must have been very subdued as the task before them was a very sad one; the task of anointing the body of Jesus.
On their way they would see the silhouetted figures of three crosses on top of the Hill the locals call, “The Skull”. To them, yesterday was the Sabbath, and so nobody had yet removed them, and they stand as an empty reminder of the horror that took place on the Friday.
The one in the middle was the one where Jesus was crucified, still covered in bloodstains were he died. Don’t ever believe anyone who tells you that he did not die; as there was absolutely no question that he did. The Romans knew it; as did their soldiers. Herod, the scribes and the Pharisees, and all the Jews also knew it; and so did the disciples.
Jesus died on that cross, and if he did not die on the cross why did these authorities go to the extraordinary lengths of placing a company of soldiers to guard a tomb that was sealed. Why … because they were afraid, as it was foretold that the messiah would rise from the dead on the third day, and destroy their world, which he did.
And that was the last thing both the Romans and the Jewish authorities wanted, so they had to take action; and I researched this and found that a company of soldiers was estimated to between 64 and 128 soldiers; now that is a lot of soldiers. The stone itself was estimated at about 2 tons or more, and it was sealed meaning it would be virtually impossible to remove, as it would be chocked in.
What excuse did the authorities make; what lie did they say? “The disciples stole the body”. That is the same disciples who were hiding in fear their rooms; overpowered a company of hardened Roman Soldiers; removed a sealed 2 ton stone, and then carry the body away so they could claim he had come back to life.
You see, Jesus really did die, and that is why I want you to see the cross this morning. It is the place where he died, but that morning, it was empty; and all that remain was his blood, that precious blood that is so full of hope.
The promise of the empty cross is that we stand forgiven, because Jesus paid the penalty for our sin; and it is a reminder that God himself has forgiven us for; “God so loved the world, he sent his son to die for us; to free us for sin”.
It was on that cross that Jesus offered the perfect sacrifice. He could have run away, but he offered his own sinless perfect life on behalf of each and ever one of us; no one else in history did that. Not Moses or Abraham, not David or Isaiah; and certainly not Muhammad or Buddha. No one has ever lived a perfect life and then given up that life so that others may receive eternal salvation; and that is why the Bible tells us that “there is no other name given under heaven by which we can be saved.”
Before that Friday, God could open the book of life, (the book that is described in revelations), and write beside each of our names, guilty, “guilty of sin”; but when Jesus went to the cross, God had to rub this out and write “Forgiven, forgiven by the blood of lamb, forgiven in full, because of Jesus”. That is some promise!
Tomb
Let’s get back to our ladies as they continue on their way down the path to the tomb. As they go, they must have been thinking about the stone. If it was after three days and if the stone was still in tact, they would request the help of the Roman soldiers to move it, which I am sure they would, as it would prove Jesus was human, allowing the women to anoint the body in their disappointment. Can you see what was going through their minds that morning? It was a right mixed of emotions and confusion, and you can understand why they were so afraid.
The ladies continued; then suddenly, they felt the earth move with a tremor; and frightened, they looked at each other, not certain what to do; then after a few minutes, they continue on their way.
As they approach the burial site they come upon something remarkable; the soldiers were all unconscious; and the stone had been rolled away; and two men dress in white are by the tomb, and one said to them, “do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here; He has risen!” Jesus had risen, He was alive and so, the tomb was empty.
And it is this empty tomb that symbolises the resurrection of Jesus, and the promise to each and every one of us here today, that we too will be raised, to eternal life, Amen.
To those who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, death has lost its sting; it is no longer something to be feared; as we have the promise that one day we will live forever, with Him, in Heaven? That is another tremendous promise!
Years ago when I was in the Business Men’s Fellowship, we often spoke of this new promised life in heaven, and how we are being prepared for it now on earth, and I will give you an example of how we spoke … one of my friends told me a story of how he was riding down a hill on his push bike, and as he was gaining speed, he suddenly spotted a large pothole in the road ahead; and that he had no time brake and the next thing the bike was caught in the pothole and he went flying over the handle bars, and as he spoke he shouted, “Yes, I thought I was going home”, but disappointing he went on to say, “I managed to land on the grass verge and skin my arms, and hurt my ankle”.
You see, that is the promise of the empty tomb, death is no more; death does not frighten us as we look forward to a new life with him. I just love what the Salvation Army used to put on their grave stones, “promoted to glory”, I would love that written on mine. Death where is that sting now? We are going home, and we are looking forward to it. Amen!
Why was the tomb empty? Because Jesus was alive; he had risen, and with that, he promised us life after death, and that we too will rise as well. What a promise!
The empty clothes.
But, it doesn’t end there. There is one more promise, the promise symbolised by the empty burial clothes.
After the Angel had spoken to the women, they immediately went back to the Apostles and reported what had happened. With this incredible news, Peter and John immediately raced back to the tomb to see for themselves; and Peter ran right in to find the tomb was empty, and all that was left was the burial clothes.
These too were empty, meaning that Jesus was alive! If someone had stolen his body, they wouldn’t have left his burial clothes behind; no Jesus was resurrected, and it wouldn’t be long before he would appear to Mary Magdalene, and to all of the Apostles, and eventually to over 500 people; dressed in proper clothes I may add, and not like a zombie in burial attire.
The bible tells us that Jesus sat down with them; and that he walked with them, and talked with them; he even ate fish with them.
Once again, they were able to fellowship him; you see, that is the promise of the empty burial clothes; that Jesus is alive, and that he wants to fellowship with us.
Jesus is our living Saviour, and he desires to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us, just as he did with his disciples 2000 years ago.
Just think about that … the cross couldn’t hold him, the tomb couldn’t contain him, and the burial clothes were totally unnecessary; as Jesus had risen, he was alive!
And away in the distance stood the empty cross … the promise that our sins are forgiven. At the end of their journey was an empty tomb … the promise of our eternal life; and inside the tomb there were empty burial clothes, the promise that we have a close and personal relationship with Jesus our living Saviour.
I trust the Lord will truly bless each and every one of us this Easter day.
Amen
Let us pray,
Father we thank you for Jesus, that he died on that cross; and rose from that tomb that 1st Easter morning; and so we thank you, that for us, death has lost that sting.
Father from this we take great assurance that Jesus is with now, and for ever; that he is watching over us, and that he is wishing to fellowship with us continually; Father grant that we may his voice.
Father we are aware that we do not deserve your love, but we approach you for what Jesus did for us on that cross. We thank you that you have forgiven us each and every one of us; accepting and loving us because of Jesus, and not because of our earthly performance.
Lord God, we want to know more of you, we want to see you in our lives; we want to experience your spirit leading us to victory after victory; we want you to be strong in us.
Father we pray also for our church, and our place in this society, which at times seams so desperate. Lord, bring your resurrection to us; let us experience your Son alive and active, and leading us by your spirit into our parish; to do your will, by your power, to let people find faith, and grow in you.
Father we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
