When You Simply Cannot See

Well, Happy Easter! After a cold, damp spring and an arduous Lenten season, we have finally arrived at a day that the Christian Church has been celebrating for two thousand years. Jesus has risen from the grave, and his promise is that so, too, shall we. And with that promise safely tucked into our minds, we worship today with glad hearts and joyful songs. He is risen? (He is risen, indeed!). That is the reason for our being here this sunny Sunday morning. Let us pray:

God of Creation, when the time was right, you chose to love your disobedient children back into your fold. We will never understand why Jesus had to die such a horrible death. We will never grasp the torment you must have felt when you watched your son on the Cross. But this much we know is true: our sins are now forgiven, our eternity has been determined, and now we are free to live. Thank you for the gift of Jesus. Amen.

It was a misty morning on the Atlantic Ocean, the thick fog blanketing everything for miles. The captain of a large vessel noticed a faint light on the horizon and went to his telegraph terminal.

We are on a collision course, he wrote. Turn three degrees to the north.

Within moments, the response came; NO, you turn three degrees to the south.

The captain was not amused as he typed his message again; You are in our path, to avoid certain destruction, I suggest you turn three degrees to the north.

Again, a response; And I suggest you turn three degrees south.

Now raging with anger, the captain replied I am a 95 thousand ton war ship equipped with 700 battle-tested sailors and 30 canons.

And the reply simply said And I am a lighthouse.

There are times when we simply cannot see what is ahead of us. Something always seems to get in the way; it may be thick fog, or dense darkness, or simple ignorance or stubborn pride. Whatever the obstruction, there are times in our lives when we simply cannot see.

On that first Easter Sunday, it was neither fog nor pride that blocked the view of the followers of Jesus. It was flat out desperation, grief and fear. Many had followed Jesus for three years as he healed the sick and fed the hungry; they had been astounded by his wisdom, and his kindness, and his compassion. But on that Friday afternoon, the sky turned black, as Jesus died a cruel death. They didn’t see it coming. In fact, they thought he might even be the Messiah that the prophets had foretold hundreds of years earlier. Their grief was unspeakable, their spirits were absolutely crushed.

And yet, these three women arose early on Sunday morning and began to make their way toward the cave where Jesus had been buried two days before. Sunday was just another work day for most people in Jerusalem; the shops were open, the kids were off to school, but Mary and Mary and Salome gathered the necessary embalming supplies and slowly and silently walked together.

At some point on the path, one of the women remarked “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the grave.” Hmmmm. Nobody had thought of that. But when they arrived, in their gloomy stupor, they noticed that the stone had already been moved. Somehow, they had the courage to enter the open tomb and they were startled to see a man dressed in white, sitting inside. “Don’t be afraid” the stranger said to them. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified, but he is risen. He is alive.” And then, as if to substantiate his claim, this stranger says “Here, have a look at the place where his body was laid. Now, go, and tell Peter and the other disciples that you will see Jesus again, just as he said you would.”

I expect that the women were beside themselves with confusion. They came, expecting a sealed tomb, but the stone had been rolled away. They came, thinking they would be preparing their friends body with spices, but there is no body to be found. They came, thinking they would be alone, but they are met by a stranger dressed in white, telling them that Jesus is not dead, but he is very much alive! It is all very surreal to them.

Surely, the news seems wonderful to them; this message that Jesus is alive, and that they will see him again, and that they should start spreading the news. But there’s just one problem, you see: there’s no Jesus. They know he died, they watched him die on the Cross on Friday, and now one anonymous voice is telling them that their friend had risen from the dead, and they are supposed to believe him?

You should know that, in the coming days, people would see Jesus alive again. He would appear to the disciples in the upper room that very evening. He would appear to two heartbroken followers as they journeyed home to Emmaus. He would even appear to Thomas – Doubting Thomas – after Thomas says “Until I see the nail holes in his hands and feet, until I put my fingers in the holes, I will not believe.” The bible says that Jesus appeared to more than 500 eyewitnesses in the days following that first Easter Day. But not this day. Not to Mary, and Mary, and Salome. Not yet.

The text says the women fled from the tomb. They fled from the tomb! Of course they did; so would I. I would have run from that space as fast as my portly body could go. But that’s not the whole of the story. Mark writes:

“So they went out and fled from the tomb,
for terror and amazement had seized them…”

Make no mistake about it, the women were terrified. They were filled with fear and confusion, and they sprinted back to town. But they were also amazed; amazed at something that had been planted in their minds by the stranger dressed in white. That Jesus was alive. They could not see him yet. The certain evidence was not yet theirs. But they were amazed at what they had seen and heard, and at the possibility that the man was speaking the truth.

I have been a pastor now for 27 years. In all this time, I have never met one person who saw the resurrected Jesus in the flesh. Not in seminary. Not in the four churches I have served. Not in bishop’s offices, or African companion congregations, or Billy Graham Crusades. No one has ever told me they have met the risen Christ in person. But I have met hundreds – thousands in fact – who have told me that because of what they have seen and heard about this man named Jesus, they have come to believe and trust that he had risen from that tomb in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. What I simply could not see with my own eyes, and touch with my own hands, I have come to believe as true, just like those three faithful women on that first Easter Day.

And for 2000 years now, people have left worship on Easter mornings, carrying fear and amazement…and even doubt…that Jesus is alive. You may be a skeptic who has simply come here out of obligation, or cooperation, or curiosity. But I tell you what I believe to be most certainly true: Jesus died and Jesus rose from the grave, and Jesus now reigns in heaven for eternity. Jesus died for you; for your sins, for your shame, for your broken heart and your shattered dreams. He did that for all of us.

You may be one who leaves with fear today. You accept as true, this notion that Jesus is alive, but when you walk out our doors, you will walk back into a relentless cloud that is called “the economy.” It doesn’t matter that 92% of our work force has a job, because you don’t. Our maybe you are one who grieves the death of a loved one and seems that the pain will never end. Or you are worried about your health, or your children, or your parents, or about the condition of this world of ours. In short, you feel like a causality of this dark time and, like the sea captain in the fog, you can’t see the future. May I tell you that God has not abandoned you? May I tell you that your brothers and sisters in this Body of Christ stand beside you, and lift you up every day in prayer? Hold on, friend; the God of Grace is on this journey with you.

Finally, you might be one who leaves this place with faith intact, and filled with joy. What does the resurrection mean for you? For many of us, it means that we keep our faith as a personal, private thing. Sometimes, I am certain that those women at the tomb on that first Easter day were Lutherans! Listen to how Mark tells it: “The women said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” And that verse defines most Lutherans. Our faith is solid, our love for God is strong, but our voices are silent in this world. How can we be quiet when we know that Jesus is alive? Now is the time to tell others that there is a God who died so that they might live.

And that is the ultimate message of Easter, folks. That our debt has been paid. Our eternity is secure. God has made us family; let the brothers and sisters rejoice! Thanks be to God. Amen.