Scripture: John 20:1-18
Theme: New Creation
Title: Ready or Not - Here Comes Jesus!
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world!
Growing up, I watched my father worked hard for our family. He not only worked hard, he worked very long hours all of his life. It was not unusual for him to work 60 or more hours a week every week all year long. Vacations and an occasional day off were not a normal occasion around our house.
So, if we wanted to be with our dad it usually happened on Saturday morning. My brother and I would get up and be ready to go with him to work around 6 AM or if we slept in it would be around 8 - 9 AM. My dad worked in the Oil fields and Saturday was the day that he would go around and check on all the company's oil wells around a section of Eastern Kentucky. We would drive to all these little places around Lee County, Owsley County and Breathitt County checking on some oil wells that would be located way back in the woods.
I remember those Saturday mornings mom coming into our room and telling us that we better get up and get ready because when dad came by to get us if we weren't ready then he would go on and leave us behind. He didn't have a lot of time so we had to be ready when he drove up in the company truck. Otherwise, we would be stuck at home. And that meant that we would spend the day cleaning the house and waxing the floors with my mom and my sisters. My mom loved to wax her kitchen floor every week with Johnson's Pax Wax and was already ready for us to help her with all the cleaning.
Usually, that was incentive enough for us to get out of bed and get ready. Going with dad meant that we would get to walk in the woods, shoot the .22 rife and if we were good we might even get a snack ( a pop and a honey bun) at the little country store that was near one of the oil wells. It also meant that we were able to hear these great stories from dad about all kinds of things. My dad was quite a story teller so it was always fun to be around him when he shared all the things that had happened to him that day/week.
The key was we had to be READY. If we were not ready then we would miss him when he came back home to get us. We had to be ready and listen for his truck. We couldn't be busy watching TV or playing in our rooms. We had to be ready. Most of the time we waited outside so that we couldn't miss him.
Apparently, a similar thing was going on in our passage this morning. When it was time for Jesus to come out of the tomb however, there was no one was there to meet him. No one was ready to receive Jesus and enjoy the morning light with Him. No one was ready to enjoy what later would be called the 8th Day of Creation. No one was ready to begin the New Life and New Age with the Risen Lord.
Let's take a few moments this morning and look at exactly who was not ready that First Resurrection Day and then ask ourselves a very important question - ARE WE READY TODAY to meet Jesus - the LORD of LORDS and King of Kings.
I. We see that the World was Not Ready
Where was Cesar - Tiberius Cesar? Where was Pontius Pilate? Where was the High Priest of God's Temple in Jerusalem? Where was the Sanhedrin? Where were all those Pharisees, scribes and Temple lawyers that use to follow Jesus around?
The truth is Tiberius Cesar was back in Rome snoozing. Most likely he was unaware that Jesus had been condemned to die. Most likely Tiberius was unaware that the One and Only True Son of God had been nailed to a Roman Cross for all of mankind's sins. More than likely Tiberius was still under the false impression that he was in fact the true son of god (Cesar Augustus being divine). At least that is what Tiberius put on all his coins - that he, Tiberius was the son of god. How sad.
Pontius Pilate was no doubt also snoozing in his digs in Jerusalem or back in his residential palace in Caesarea. I wonder if allowing the Jews to pressure him into murdering Jesus was still bothering either him or his wife. I also wonder if she was still having nightmares over how her husband and others had treated Jesus.
Caiaphas, the High Priest was no doubt taking the morning off after the big Passover Celebration a few days ago. He probably had already scheduled a meeting with his father-in-law Ananias to take care of some mopping up business with the disciples that Jesus left behind. After all, one can't be too careful when it comes to these radical groups. They could quietly make sure that Peter, James, John and the others could be taken care of without bothering the Romans again. All it would take is a quick thrust of the sword a quick swipe of a dagger and the whole Jesus business would be history.
The same was probably true of all those Pharisees, scribe and Temple lawyers. They were either still getting some Z's or they were just waking up to start another day. They were getting ready to go about their daily business having put this nasty business with Jesus and the Passover in their rear view mirrors.
From the passage we read this morning I believe we can accurately state that the world in general was not ready for Jesus to walk out of that tomb. The world was not ready to meet its true Savior and LORD that Resurrection Morning. And so, they were left behind.
II. Jesus' Disciples and Friends were Not Ready
The world wasn't the only ones not ready to meet Jesus. Jesus' closest disciples, James, Peter and John were nowhere to be seen. They too must have been someone catching some much needed sleep. They probably were doing their best to keep out of sight in fear that they would either be stoned, gutted or have their throats slit by some overzealous Temple guard.
Mary, Martha and Lazarus were not ready to meet Jesus either. You would have thought that perhaps anyone might be ready it would be this trio of disciples. I mean it had not been that long since Jesus had resuscitated Lazarus. They had seen Jesus do all kinds of miracles and you would have thought that if anyone would have thought Jesus might come back to life it would have been Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But, sadly, they were AWOL.
But they were not the only ones. You could add to that list Peter's mother-in-law who had been healed from a life threatening fever. Also the blind and lame people Jesus had healed. We also see that Nicodemus was nowhere to be seen and neither was Joseph of Arimathea. After all, who buys 75 pounds of spices to put on a dead body and lays that body in a tomb if they really think that in less than 72 hours that the body is going to come back to life?
None of the 5,000 who Jesus fed were there ready to meet the Risen Lord. Neither was the Woman at the Well, the Woman caught in adultery or all those lepers Jesus healed and made whole. Tragically, even Jesus' own mother and siblings were not there on Resurrection Sunday. Think about that for a second or two. The Virgin Mary, the woman who the angel visited and declared that she was to give birth to God's Only Begotten Son was a no-show. Even though she had heard all of Jesus words the fact is Mary was not ready to meet Jesus.
The World, the Jewish Religious Authorities and even Jesus' Disciples and Followers had all done a No-Show. In what should have been the most witnessed event in all of history was a total No-Show. Unless of course you add in those few soldiers that had been given the wonderful task of protecting a dead body.
Can you imagine how stupid those soldiers felt when they were given this assignment? How many people seal a tomb to make sure that the dead person stays inside the tomb? Talk about a waste of time and energy. But it was all because Caiaphas and Ananias were afraid that Jesus' followers would come and steal the body and declare that Jesus had risen from the dead. But they didn't have to be afraid. The disciples were huddled away in some corner afraid to come out and dead men don't rise.
After all that is the main reason why no one was there that morning to meet Jesus. Since the time of Adam and Eve when people died they stayed dead. Oh, a few had been resuscitated but eventually they died as well. The fact remained that all human beings die. They cease to breath, they cease to walk and as their family and friends we bury them. We put them in tombs, underground, in urns and in mausoleums. We don't go back three days later to wait for them to get up and rejoin us in this life.
And yet that is what Jesus told the world, his family, his disciples and his followers that he was going to do. Jesus let it be known that on the 3rd day He would rise again. Jesus clued them on the fact that - God's Only Begotten Son, Israel's Messiah, the Savior and LORD of all that would be coming out of that tomb. That He would be alive - Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Socially and Spiritually. The One who had taught them, healed them, feed them, calmed the storms and walked on water told them all of this on more than one occasion. He told them all of this and they still did not show up to receive him. Why? Once again, because dead men don't rise. Dead humans stay dead humans. They are gone. Their bodies turn back to dust. They don't come back on their own.
Now, a great many of the Jews at the time of Jesus did believe in a resurrection. But it was a general resurrection that would take place when God would finally come and set all things right. It was a resurrection that would happen at the end of this Age and right before the New Age. It would happen to all righteous Jews. God would raise them from the dead and would set the world back in order. All - the focus was always on All.
The idea of just one person experiencing such a resurrection never entered into any of their minds. They thought it was impossible. For that to happen it would mean that God Himself had come to earth. That God Himself had somehow become human and paid the price of sin for mankind. That God Himself had taken on the penalty and power of sin.
Some day that may in fact happen. Even some of the prophets hinted of such a thing. But to think that Jesus was God Himself in Flesh was absolute lunacy. There was simply no way God would allow Himself to be killed on a Cursed Cross. Certainly not at the hands of pagan Romans. Certainly the religious authorities in the Temple would not be so blind that they could not see God in human form. If God had come in flesh and if Jesus of Nazareth was really God's Son then Caiaphas, Ananias and the rest of the Sanhedrin along with all the Pharisees and scribes would have greeted Him with open arms. Or at least they should have been ready. But as we all know they were spiritually blind.
2,000 years ago the world was not ready, the religious world was not ready nor was Jesus' closest disciples and friends ready. Even Mary Magdalene was not ready. She was only there to decorate the tomb and perhaps put some more spices on the body. She was not there to receive a Risen Jesus. She was not ready to walk with Jesus into the New Age. She was not ready to experience the new human life that Jesus had now made possible.
III. Today, are we ready to Receive a Risen Jesus?
There is a certain part of us that thinks that we would have acted differently if we had been there some 2,000 years ago. I have talked to people who have stated that if they had lived back then they would have been there that Resurrection Morning to receive Jesus. They would have not been there with spices or with grave flowers but they would have been there ready to receive their Risen Lord and Savior. They would have believed Jesus when He said that He was going to Jerusalem to be handed over and killed only to rise again on the 3rd day. They would have been there with arms wide open. Jesus would have walked out to a rather large audience instead of some soldiers who had fainted out of fear.
I am afraid this Resurrection Sunday that those people either think very highly of themselves or they are very badly mistaken. The truth is we would have either been asleep or huddled up somewhere doing our best to stay out of the way. We could have even been already traveling back home to live out life with the new normal that this man Jesus who we thought might be the Messiah was now dead and buried. Everyone around just knew in their hearts and minds that Jesus was not be coming back. At best we might have been with Mary Magalene taking some spices and flowers to Jesus' tomb. But in no way would have been ready to receive Jesus as our Risen Savior and LORD. We might want to think that we would but in reality we wouldn't have been there. We too would have been a No-Show.
+Are we this morning ready to meet the One who has been Resurrected?
RESURRECTED - NOT RESUSCITATED! Not brought back to life after they have been clinically declared dead for a few minutes. Jesus is the only One who has gone through death and out to the other side. Jesus did not merely die. He died wholly = fully. He experienced the full totality of death - Jesus was dead body, mind and soul. And yet, Jesus went through death and because He is God's Only Son, He came out the other side in complete and ultimate victory!
The Jesus that died is not the exact same Jesus that came out of the tomb. The Jesus that went into the tomb was in this old body. The Jesus that came out of the Tomb had a new Resurrected Body. Jesus tells us that He is the First Fruit - that means He is the first person to have died and came out the other side - physically, emotionally, mentally, socially and spiritually. What Jesus did that first Resurrection morning is what He tells us through the Apostle Paul and others that we will be doing one day if we receive Him as our Savior and Lord.
We will not be resurrected as mere ethereal or spiritual beings. Such thoughts come from Plato and Greek philosophy. We will not spend eternity floating around on some cloud. We who will be raised again in Christ with do so with a New Resurrected Body. We will be body and soul rejoined together. We will join Jesus in living in the New Heaven and New Earth. We will be transformed into a new creation - one that will enjoy everlasting life without sin, without pain or without suffering.
+Are we ready to Live Out a Life of Forgiveness?
When Jesus walked out of that Tomb it was a watershed moment. Jesus ushered in a New Age of Forgiveness. As N. T. Wright says a new age of "chain breaking", "idol smashing" and "sin abandoning" power and presence. Are we ready to live in an age where we can receive full and absolute forgiveness?
Are we ready to have all our sins forgiven? From the largest to the very smallest? Are we ready to enjoy what it means to have all our sins removed? Are we ready to ready to receive a full pardon?
Are we ready to both receive forgiveness and grant forgiveness. Forgiveness is the New Reality in Jesus. Not only can we be forgiven we can in Christ forgive others. We can truly say the Disciple's Prayer - "Forgive us our trespasses (sins) as we forgive those who have trespassed against us". We can say those words in Truth and Reality. We can Forgive others of what they have done against us. We can experience that kind of freedom and joy. We can enjoy a life knowing that we have no barriers between us and others.
It does not mean that they are totally absolved from their sin(s). That is something only the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY can do. But it does mean that we are freed from holding grudges, seeking revenge, retaining unforgiveness and being enslaved to unbridled anger, hate and malice. When we forgive others it brings a certain type of freedom that enables us to enjoy life more abundantly. We don't have to walk around with all kinds of baggage full of gripes, grudges and ill feelings.
+Are we ready to live in Jesus' New Age
When Jesus walked out of that tomb a New Age was ushered in upon all of creation.
Since the time of man's rebellion in the Garden we have been under the curse, penalty and power of the Old Age. The Old Age in which we humans because of our rebellion against the Good God of Creation, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit gave the Devil power over us. We choose to be under the sin's enslavement rather than to enjoy a life of commitment and harmony with God. We chose to serve other gods including ourselves over serving the One and True God. We chose to live a life of sin rather than live a life of holiness and purity.
All around us we see the effects of the Fall. In Colossians 3 Paul gives us a brief list of some of the sinful effects. Listen to some of the sins that we ushered into our world by rebelling against our LORD:
"sexual immorality, impurity, sexual passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry, inappropriate anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk"
We could add to that list - lying, stealing, gossiping, lust, adultery, disobedience, sorcery, witchcraft, enmity, strife, jealousy, dissensions, divisions, drunkenness, foolish, faithless, heartless and ruthless. And of course there are more than we have time for this morning. There are a million and one ways that Evil (the Devil) has designed for us to be enslaved and under His control.
When Jesus came out of that Tomb - He invited us to follow Him to the New Age. For on the cross Jesus rescued us from our sins. Jesus rescued us from this Evil Age and Jesus defeated the powers of Evil, Sin, Death and the Grave. Let me say that again - Jesus defeated the powers of Evil, Sin, Death and the Grave.
That means today that today the Devil is no longer in control of our planet nor does he have to be in control of our lives. That means that the powers of the air have been defeated. We are not under the control of sin, evil nor death. The Devil is no longer in charge no matter how many times he puts forth that lie.
Yes, the Devil still exists. Yes, evil still exists. Yes, we still die physically but as Jesus showed us in Him we will one day be resurrected. Yes, we have to still live in this fallen world but we do not have to be subject to either the power or the penalty of sin. We do not have to be under the control of the Devil, of demons or any evil power or presence.
+In other words we can live the Spirit-filled/Spirit-led Life
When Jesus walked out of that tomb it was a signpost for everyone that while they are here on this earth they can live a New Life in and through God's Holy Spirit. We can be cleansed of all our sins and we can be infilled with His Holy Spirit. We can be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Yes, it does mean that for a while we still have to deal with our own flesh and its boundaries but those boundaries do not mean that we have to live defeated, bound by sin or enslaved to sin. We may still have to deal with our fleshy bodies that are deteriorating but we do not have to cave into carnal desires or be defeated by evil.
Our Risen Lord and Savior calls us to live a whole new human existence. An existence that is free of sin and is free from the penalty and power of sin. An existence that is filled with God's Holy Spirit and is able to produce a life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
This morning, the Good News is that we can live a life that reflects God's Holy Image of Love, Purity and Holiness. We can live a life that is free to just enjoy God's Good Creation and other people as well. We can live a life that is above such things as comparison and confusion. We can live a life that seeks to share even more than it seeks to grab and hoard. We can live a life that looks very much like the lives we read about in Acts 1 - 6. Lives of people who were dedicated to making the earth look, act and be more like the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus did not die for us to merely wait around for awhile until we are whisked off to heaven. Even as Heaven and Earth came together in Jesus so too does Heaven come down on the Day of Pentecost and Heaven comes down on the New Earth.
Sometimes we forget this. When we read Revelation we forget to read chapters 21 -22 which speaks of us living on the New Heaven and the New Earth. Which also speaks of the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven and being on the Earth where God will reside. "God will dwell with man and they will be with God". That "with" is on the "New Heaven and the New Earth".
God sent Heaven to us in the form of Himself as Jesus of Nazareth. God sent Heaven to us in the form of Himself as His Holy Spirit.
One of the questions we must ask ourselves this morning is - Are we ready this morning to receive a Risen Lord, the indwelling of His Holy Spirit and live out the life here and now that God has for us. A life in which through the power and presence of His Holy Spirit we can live above sin and enjoy all the fruit of His Holy Spirit.
For far too long we have lived as if Jesus won the battle but left us to live in the mess. That yes, Jesus died for our sins but poor pitiful us we have to endure this world with his evil and hellish ways.
No, we have to reject such heresy and lies. Jesus died for us. He rose again. He inaugurated the New Age of the Holy Spirit. He sent His Holy Spirit so that we could live here an Abundant Life and that we could transform this earth.
That is the whole idea around the Great Commission. Go and make disciples all over the world. Disciples that will do what - they will live as Jesus lived. They will live a life filled and guided by the Holy Spirit. They will live a life in which they will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They will live a life of what it means to be a genuine human being doing everything that can to reflect the image of the Risen Lord - Jesus Christ.
If we could only capture what this would mean. If we could only wrap our heads, our hearts and our minds around what this would mean for everyone around the world. We would see more peace, harmony, good will and love than we could ever imagine.
A pipe dream? No, a Jesus' dream. Jesus defeated sin, evil and death. Jesus gave us the power and presence of His Holy Spirit. It is now up to us to allow His Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us to bring Heaven to Earth. Again we pray the Disciple's Prayer - "Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done"
Jesus did bring the Kingdom. God's Will can be done.
Can you imagine how different our world would be if after defeating the Axis Powers in WWII we acted like they won and that they were still in control? If we had left the battle field and didn't accept the victory? If we had left the battle field and allowed the Axis Powers to not only retain control of their lands but extended control to our lands as well?
You say - your foolish. No one would do such a thing. There was no way that Truman, Churchill or Stalin was going to win the war and then allow the Axis Powers to still take over control. That is not how you win a war. The winners take over. They control the agenda. They control the direction the world will go. That's what it means to win a war. You rebuild a society that you want to experience. You build a world that you want to experience.
Jesus did not win the battle for His Church to turn it back over to Evil, to Sin or to Satan. Jesus did not send His Holy Spirit to give us goose bumps and good feelings but to not transform our societies, our lives and our world.
Are we ready for Jesus? Or are we still waiting for Him to either come out of the tomb or have we decided that so much of what Jesus did is good to think about, study about, contemplate about but in the end it really doesn't change anything?
This Resurrection Sunday it is time we take up the banner of Jesus Christ and begin to live like Spirit-filled, Spirit-led Disciples who know that Jesus is on the Throne, We need to acknowledge that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him - not to Satan, not to evil and certainly not to death. We need to know that we have been called to be His Witnesses - which is more than just telling people about Jesus. It is about living a Jesus life and when more and more people live a Jesus life - everything changes.
What do you think would have happened if the Allied Powers had merely walked away without standing their ground or holding their ground. Even though they were defeated the Axis powers would have regrouped and in no time they would have been determined to take more and more ground.
That is exactly how a majority in the Church has lived the last 100 years or more. We have allowed a defeated enemy called the Devil, evil and sin to retake more and more ground. We have suddenly decided that this defeated evil was not really defeated. That what Jesus did on the cross had no lasting power or influence. We have been sitting around waiting for Jesus to rescue us from the world when the reality is the world should be scared to death of us.
The world should not be infecting us with wickedness we should be infecting the world with holiness. The world and its darkness should be afraid of the Church and its light. The only reason the world is winning is that we are believing the lies of the Devil and evil. They hold no power over the Church of the Risen Lord. They hold no power over our Risen Lord. They hold no power over the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Are we ready to meet Jesus this morning? Are we ready to join in His cause of revolutionizing our world? Are we ready to live out a life that causes our world to be radically changed? Are we ready to do our part by putting God #1 in our lives, by living out a life of holiness and by sharing the message of God's Good News?
We don't need to be rescued this morning. We have been rescued. When Jesus walked out of that tomb it was a huge signpost that we have been rescued. We don't need Him to come and protect us. He already is here in His Holy Spirit. We don't need Jesus to put down evil. He has already done that and is continuing to do that through His Holy Spirit.
What we have to do is to remember that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. All we have to do is to remember to put on the whole armor of God that defeats the schemes of the Devil. When you have no power you scheme - you lie, you deceive and you get people to believe your lies and deceptions. You get them to enslave themselves. And that is what the Devil has been trying to do today to all of us since Jesus' Resurrection.
We have to remember that in Christ we have died out to sin and have been raised with Him. We have to remember that this world has been given to us by God to multiply and to bring Heaven to earth.
Yes, one day God will make all things right. Yes, one day there will be an accounting. But until then the LORD has unleashed His Holy Fire - the Holy Spirit upon each one of us to go out and be that fire for Him and for our world. We are to be a purify and refining fire. We are to be revolutionaries that spread the Good News and that live out that Good News.
The World was not ready for a Risen Jesus.
His Disciples and Friends were not ready for a Risen Jesus.
Today, are we ready for a Risen Jesus?
As we close today we celebrate Jesus' Resurrection by sharing the Lord's Supper (Communion/Eucharist). The Risen Lord invites us to His Table to receive healing and grace. The Risen Lord invites us to His Table to enjoy His Presence and His Power. The Risen Lord invites us to His Table to be One with Him and with One Another. The Risen Lord invites us to His Table to remind ourselves that He is our Savior and LORD and that we are to live out what it means to be a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Disciple.
The Lord's Supper/Prayer/Blessing
