Iliff and Saltillo UM church
Easter Sunday
March 27, 2005
“It’s OK to Wonder”
Luke 24:1-12
INTRODUCTION: True or False. Fact or Fiction. Fiction or Non-Fiction. These are the questions which plague us this morning and which plagued the women and disciples 2000 years ago on the first Easter morning. Had Jesus really risen from the grave? Did the women tell the truth? Was this just an idle tale?
The women went to the tomb early in the morning to finish preparing Jesus’ body for burial. They brought spices, but they WONDERED how in the world they would slide the rock away to get into the tomb. When they got there, they found the rock had already been rolled away, and the body is gone. All of a sudden two angels appear in dazzling clothes and ask them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen.” (v. 5). “Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day arise?”
Mary thought to herself, “Oh, yes, yes I remember those words. I remember WONDERING at the time how this could be possible. But then, why not? He raised Lazarus from the dead and Jarius’ daughter and the boy at Nain and yes, this is INDEED possible. I must hurry to tell the others this wonderful news!”
Mary rushed back to the other disciples. Excitedly she proclaimed, “He is risen. The tomb is empty. The angels told me that he is risen!”
But the other disciples just stared at her in disbelief.
Peter wonders to himself, “Mary just told us that Jesus is alive. I WANT to believe that. But it can’t be true. How can someone who was dead come alive again? I didn’t see Jesus die, but John told me. The words that Mary brought from the tomb sound familiar. I think Jesus did say something like that, not just once but several times. Oh, how I wish I would have paid more attention to him. I WONDER--I WONDER if this really can be true! I’ll go to the tomb and check it out for myself.”
Peter sees the empty tomb and still goes away WONDERING. He wanders the hillside thinking and wondering--fighting with himself--wanting to believe, but not being really sure.
As Peter wonders and struggles to believe, finally bits and pieces unfold in his understanding and He finally believes. “It IS true. He HAS risen! I had hoped it was true!”
The story of the resurrection has been passed on by generations now for over 2000 years. It has withstood the test of time, the doubts and disbelief, the unfaithfulness of many, and the indifference and apathy of others.
STORY: In a very humorous and accidental way our federal government even believes in the resurrection. In Greenville, SC the Dept of Social Services sent out this interesting letter:
“Dear Sir, Your food stamps will be stopped, effective immediately, because we have received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”
I THINK THAT JESUS COULD HAVE REAPPLIED!!! DON’T YOU?
But many of us are like Peter. We don’t believe wholeheartedly like the women who came back with the message or with the disciples who do not believe at all. We WONDER. Could it be true? HAS he risen from the grave? Has there been a change in His circumstances? We are perplexed like Peter. His heart wants to believe but his reason wants to doubt. Peter most emphatically believed in Jesus during his ministry, yet he experienced doubt and a turning point away when he denied Him three times. To Peter, Jesus was still in the tomb. He could not picture the resurrected Christ just yet.
STORY: Some years ago, a new pastor was called to a spiritually dead church in a small Oklahoma town. The pastor spent the first week calling on as many members as possible, inviting them to the first Sunday service. But the effort failed. In spite of many calls, not a single member showed up. So the pastor placed a notice in the local paper stating that since the church was dead, the pastor was going to give it a decent Christian burial. The funeral for the church would be held at 2:00 p.m. on the following Sunday.
Morbidly curious, the whole town turned out for the funeral.In front of the pulpit there was a large casket smothered in flowers. After the eulogy was given the pastor invited the congregation to come forward and pay their respects to the dead church. The long line of mourners filed by. Each one peered curiously into the open casket and then quickly turned away with a guilty look. For inside the casket, tilted at just the right angle was a large mirror. Each one saw his own reflection in the mirror as perhaps never before.
This is still what happens when human beings allow the living Christ to confront them in their sinfulness. This special day calls us to make a choice to receive Christ and to let our lives be made whole again by His resurrection power.
It’s OK to wonder--at first. It’s OK to be hesitant at times.Then we must move on to a response.
Our story seems to indicate that it is with hesitancy that Peter begins to believe in the resurrection, and it seems to be with hesitancy and with wondering that we believe in the resurrection as well. Only as we begin to see ourselves as we are, recognizing our need for His lifechanging resurrection power, will we experience wholeness.
If you were there this very morning, standing beside the tomb, what would your reaction be? Would you rejoice and share your experience with everyone who would listen? Would you be looking for reasonable and logical answers? Would you try to explain it away?Or would you see that He is alive with power tochange your life in the process?
1. Wondering is OK: When we hear about the resurrection, it may take some time to comprehend this amazing story. We may be at various stages of the belief process. We may come right out and say, “I just don’t believe it.” Others may be stuck in the WONDERING stage for a long time, on one hand wanting to believe and on the other hand afraid to.
It has been said that there are four stages of belief that most people go through.
a. Thinking That it is like a Fairy Tale, Impossible to Believe: We may live in this stage for a long time going about our lives as usual. No reason to believe. Once in awhile we go to church. We have heard it all many times before, but it really doesn’t touch us personally. Yes, Christianity claims this. I don’t know. I doesn’t really matter much. We are just hesitant to believe.
STORY: A hesitant driver, waiting for traffic to clear, came to a complete stop on a freeway ramp. The traffic thinned, but the intimidated driver still waited.
Finally, an infuriated voice yelled from the car behind him.
“The sign says to yield, not to give up!”
It’s OK to be hesitant and to wonder but after awhile we need to move on--to make our response.
b. One Day Something Happens: We decide to check out the facts. We WONDER about a lot of things. Maybe our life has taken a different turn. Maybe we’ve experienced a crisis in our life or a wake up call of some kind. Checking out the facts like Peter did may leave us still WONDERING, but it shows that we are beginning to come alive in a move TOWARD faith. It’s OK to Wonder. There may be a lot of unanswered questions yet. Maybe it is still difficult to believe the facts that we have found. Peter WONDERED in himself at that which had come to pass. He went away, not much the wiser.
2. Peter Moved Beyond the Wondering Stage:
c. Encountering Jesus personally: Peter WONDERED and struggled, but eventually he encountered the risen Christ personally. It was only then that he was able to accept the fact of the resurrection. There comes a point in our lives when we need to assess the facts and remember what we have heard. Put the pieces of the puzzle that we have together. What do we make of it? What is still unanswered? It might seem like a lot is missing--but take that step of faith. “Lord, I believe--help mine unbelief.”
Peter did not isolate himself from the others who were also WONDERING. He showed up on the night of resurrection day where they were all assembled. More evidence was presented to him.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples on the night of the resurrection, it was the same Jesus they had known before the crucifixion. He showed them the nail prints in his hands and the scars on his side. He showed the marks of the crucifixion. Even the risen body carried these proofs. He had the same voice and they recognized it as Jesus.
The resurrection appearances were not illusions induced by wishful thinking. The facts made such an impression on them that they were CONVINCED that they had seen the Lord. Their faith was confirmed. At first they thought they had seen a ghost. But now they KNEW it was the Lord Himself. The disciple who doubted the most, Thomas, said, “MY LORD and my GOD!” This is the greatest expression of faith shown in scripture.
When we come to church, read the scripture for ourselves, pray, share with one another, and allow the Holy Spirit to illumine our understanding--the more we take STEPS TO RESPOND, the more we will be able to experience the reality of the resurrection for ourselves. This is not a once in awhile event but a continuous process.
d. Commit to Jesus and Devote Lives to Serving: that is when Peter began to really understand. That is when the resurrection becomes alive and meaningful to us too. We move beyond the WONDERING stage to the belief stage and continue on to live out His resurrection in our own life of service. At the end of the gospels, we see Peter reinstated for service and commissioned to proclaim the gospel. In the book of Acts, he was equipped by the Holy Spirit to carry out the work Jesus had called Him to do.
The miracle of the resurrection took place in the lives of people who didn’t believe at all, or who were perplexed and WONDERING, to people whose lives and ministries were totally transformed. They moved from being weak, ineffective people to powerful and effective messengers of the Good News.
That is exactly what the resurrection can do for us today.
3. What Will it Take for You to Believe?: You may be here today simply because it is Easter Sunday. You feel that you SHOULD be a part of the Easter services, but you are still WONDERING about it all. You may be a part of the crowd who says, “I remember the things I have learned in Sunday school, but it is not real to me. I would like to believe, but I WONDER...”You may have gone to church all your life but it is still not real to you.
STORY: John Wesley was the best of them. He was so earnest, so methodical about his devotional life that people called him a Methodist and the name stuck. But it was not until his 35th year, when he was a Aldersgate, that Wesley experienced God in such a way that he was able to write: “I suddenly felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that Christ had died for my sins, even MINE and had saved me from the law of sin and death.” Wesley needed to know how much God loved him. He needed to EXPERIENCE it for himself. And he did that day.
What will it take for you to believe? Maybe it is just to assess the facts you have and take that first step toward the Risen Lord. Move forward in your WONDERING today. Say “Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief.” Maybe you need to make an experiment of faith. If I start to read the scripture, if I start to pray about my concerns, where will the risen Christ meet me? Where will I begin to understand and see the transformation take place? And for those who have taken the steps of faith a long time ago, where are you now--are you experiencing the reality of service to Him where each week you are growing in the grace and knowledge He provides? Are you empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit to carry out the task he has called you to do?
The resurrected Savior meets each of us at our point of need, and He will do so today and in the weeks ahead. Allow Him to make His Presence real to you.
CONCLUSION: Remember:
1. It’s OK to Wonder
2. It’s Time to Move Beyond the Wondering Stage
3. What will it Take for you to Believe?
Shall we pray:
