Fear and Disbelief – April 4, 2021, Easter Sunday!

Psalm 118:14-24, Luke 24:1-11
April 4, 2021, Easter Sunday

“This is unbelievable!”  We say that, don’t we?  Maybe something is hard to believe.  Or maybe we’re upset or frustrated that something is happening and that’s just an exasperated statement.  “This is unbelievable!”  Or maybe something is just so “incredible” sounding that it just doesn’t seem possible to believe it.

Think about that.  Think about something in your life that you just couldn’t believe – or you said you couldn’t at the time.  Whatever it was, it just didn’t seem possible that it happened, or maybe that it ever would.  Certainly Covid is one of those things.  It’s all unbelievable, isn’t it?!  That was the feeling that first Easter morning.  Disbelief!  It just didn’t seem possible.  It was surreal.  It was unbelievable!  That was the feeling – that and fear!

The women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.  You know the story.  It’s pretty simple.  Jesus had been buried in haste on the Friday before, because it was almost the Sabbath.  As soon as the sun went down, that was it.  Any work of burying Jesus would have to wait.  Jews weren’t allowed to work on the Sabbath.  It was one of those “Commandment things!”

So now it was Sunday morning, and the women had to go and complete the burial process.  They brought with them the burial spices that were used to “anoint” the body.  And I love Mark’s account here, because he tells us that, as they were walking there, they were asking, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb.”  They hadn’t thought about that part!  But it didn’t matter.  When they got there they found the stone already rolled away.  Matthew even used a word for “away” that meant “separated by a distance.”  So the stone wasn’t just rolled away from the door, but away from the tomb, suggesting a force had flung the heavy stone aside!

Then the women were met by two men, dressed, as Luke tells us, “in dazzling apparel.”  I believe the understanding there is that they were angels.  They were certainly angels in the sense that they were “messengers of God.”  The word “angel” comes from the Greek word “engelion,” which means “messenger.”  And they had a great message to deliver!  So they were angels in that sense.  And they were also angels, in the sense that they were fearsome beings!  The women were all afraid when they saw them!  As would anyone, I would think!

Yes, these two had a great message to deliver!  Maybe the greatest of all time!  And I’ve always loved how they delivered it!  This is perhaps the greatest “I told you so” in history!  “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” they asked.  “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 rise?”

That was their message.  And I’ve also always been somewhat amazed at the brevity of the Easter story.  Or at least it seems brief from this account.  It was a simple story, yet an unbelievable story!  The women came to the tomb, saw this vision, fled in fear, and told the disciples, who didn’t believe them.  That’s it!  We can read that, and we can go eat ham!  And in Mark’s Gospel, it was shorter, because they didn’t even tell the disciples, because they were afraid!  (Of course they did, eventually!)

There is more to the story, of course.  There’s more to the story of that day, and there’s 2,000 more years to come.  Later that same day some other things happen.  Luke tells us the story of the Road to Emmaus.  Matthew tells us of the reaction of the religious leaders.  John tells us the first appearances of Jesus, and the story of Thomas.  Those are all stories of Easter day.

But for now, the story is simple.  It’s simple.  It’s beautiful.  It’s amazing.  And it’s unbelievable!  The Lord is risen! (?)  He is risen, just as he said he would!  Again, this is the greatest “I told you so” in history!  We’re going to deal with the other stories in the next few weeks.  But for now, this is the most important thing – the resurrection.  That is the central theme in Christianity – the empty tomb!  Jesus’ mission is now accomplished!  He has completed the atonement!  He has secured our redemption!  Life would never be the same again!  We reset the calendar.  This is now the beginning of the years of A. D. – “Anno Domini.”  This is “The Year of our Lord 2021.”  And that’s Our Lord!  Not just “The Lord,” but “Our Lord!”

Because this is our story, too!  And this is not just a nice, amazing, and unbelievable story that happened a long time ago.  If that’s all it is, then it is just a fact of history.  That’s all!  And if you read the stories and the history of the time, it is a fact!  Just quickly here.  Could the disciples have defeated the Roman guard?  Could they have stolen and hidden the body of Jesus.  His enemies accused them of that.  But all they had to do was to produce the body, and this was all over!  Could the disciples, in their state of fear and utter devastation, have attempted all of that, let alone gotten away with it?

And if they had, and they knew it was really a hoax, would they have allowed themselves to be put to death for their faith?  All of them?!  Wouldn’t at least one of them have said, “No wait!  We faked it!?”  No, they died for their faith – in most unpleasant ways.  Peter was crucified – upside down, because he didn’t feel worthy of dying the way his Lord did.  Paul, was an enemy of the faith!  Yet, he met the resurrected Jesus, and was convinced, and became the greatest proponent of the faith.  He was beheaded in Rome.  The others, too, were martyred.  All except for John!  Would they all die for their faith, knowing it was a hoax?!  And what about the millions upon millions who have trusted this “fact” ever since?  This was either the greatest turning point in history, or it was the biggest hoax the world has ever seen!

No, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact of history!  Easter reminds us of that every year.  And for the first part of Church history, they celebrated it every week!  They changed the first day of the week to their Sabbath, because it was the day of the Resurrection.  Then later, Easter was made part of the yearly celebrations of Jesus’ life and ministry.

This is a fact of history!  But the bottom line is still that it is a simple story.  Simple, amazing, and unbelievable!  The Lord is risen! (?)  The only question – the only question there has ever been about it – is, what does it mean to us – to you?  It is Easter!  Ask yourself that question today, and every day!  What does it mean to you that you follow the risen Christ?

Prayer

Eternal God our Heavenly Father, we are amazed at this story!  And we thank you for all that you have accomplished through our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Fill us this day with the Joy of your kingdom, and love for you and one another.  Help us to feel the power of your Spirit living within us.  For we pray in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus the Christ, Amen.