Were You There

Sermon Title: A Resurrection to Remember

Good News Statement: Jesus resurrects us

SonRise Service @7:00AM

Preached: Sunday, April 17, 2022 at Dogwood Prairie United Methodist Church

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Mark 16:1-8 Today’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Mark chapter sixteen verses one thru eight. Listen to these promising words of Mark…

The Resurrection of Jesus

16 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ⁴ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶ But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” ⁸ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

The Shorter Ending of Mark

[[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]]

 

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

 

Introduction:

Let’s start with a few riddles: A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. How is that possible? The man’s horse was called Friday.

Here’s another “easy” one. Ray asks for tea and gets $5,000. Then he asks for eyes, but Mrs. White can’t give him any. How is this possible? Ray is a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune.

Here’s another: A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator down to the ground floor in order to leave the building. When he returns home he takes the elevator to the 6th floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He does this every day, unless it’s raining. If it rains, he rides the elevator all the way to the 10th floor. Why does he do this? The reason the man would only go the 6th floor on his return home, was because that was the highest button he could reach on the elevator control panel. He was a short man. On days that it rained, he had his umbrella with him, so he could use the umbrella to punch the button that indicated his floor.

Here’s another: Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. The window was open and there is water and glass all over the floor. There are no marks on either Anthony or Cleopatra, and they were not poisoned. How did they die? Before I give you the answer, it might help you to know that Anthony and Cleopatra are fish. The dog, Brutus, knocked over the fish bowl, which broke and spilled water all over the floor.

Now that you’ve got the hang of it, let’s try one more. On Friday afternoon, a man dies. He’s buried that same day. Three days later, His friends arrive at the tomb, only to discover His body is gone. What happened? And how did he rise from the dead?

 

Body:

Throughout history, for almost two-thousand years, biblical scholars and scientists have been perplexed about the riddles and events that took place from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. How did Jesus come back to life? Who actually rolled the stone away? Who was sitting in the tomb when Mary Magdalene appeared? Who were the two men spoke to Mary Magdalene and Mary, the wife of Clopas? What happened to the linens of Jesus after he was raised and walked out of the tomb? The story of Jesus’ resurrection comes with many riddles and questions. However, although finding the answers to these questions and many more alike would be remarkable, the meaning of the resurrection is more powerful. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Christ overcame death and has brought us salvation and unconditional love.

From the resurrection, as we stand before the empty tomb, we find ourselves reliving the story of Christ in hopes that we, too, can be resurrected; that we, too, can be saved; that we, too, can be loved; and that we, too, will be able to conquer death as we live eternally in heaven. But before we get there, we must attempt to solve the riddle of Christ’s resurrection.

Mark concludes his Gospel by telling us the events that took place on the Sabbath after Jesus was crucified. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go anoint Jesus’ body for proper burial. This isn’t the first time Jesus is anointed. Remember in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, a woman—possibly Mary Magdalene—appears before Jesus as he is reclining at the table of either Simon the Leper, a Pharisee, or the home of Martha and Lazarus, and anoints his feet or head.  John writes, “Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial’” (John 12:3-7). The women have come to the tomb to end what they started: to make sure Jesus is anointed one last time.

But on the way to the tomb, they encounter a riddle. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” (Mark 16:3). It is reported that the weight of a typical stone door that would have been place before a tomb would have been approximately 300lbs. Additionally, this stone door would have been pushed into a groove cut out in front of the tomb. So not only would one have to be strong enough to push a 300lbs door, but one would have to push it up a small incline to get it out of the groove. These women would have been stuck if their riddle wasn’t solved for them.

“When they looked up,” notes Mark, “they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed” (Mark 16:4-5). First, the riddled filled conversation about who was going to roll the stone way was answered for the women as they approached the tomb. It appears that Jesus, himself, or God rolled the stone away. Second, they encountered another riddle: who is the young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side of the tomb? Not knowing who this man was, Mark notes that the women were alarmed. I don’t know if I would use the word alarmed if I went to the tomb and saw what they saw—a possible stranger sitting where Jesus should have been laying. As a matter of fact, I would probably be confused and probably a little angry. “Who in their right mind would come and steal the body of Jesus Christ? Who would do such a thing like this? Who is this man?”

Many scholars believe that this man sitting in the tomb was Jesus, himself. This young man is dressed in white: Revelation 3:5 states, “He who overcomes [death] shall be clothed in white garments.” The young man is sitting on the right side of the tomb: Ephesians 1:20 states, “[When] he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…” and then in Colossians 3:1, Paul notes, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God,” and finally in Hebrews 8:12, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” The young man, dressed in white, sitting on the right side of the tomb, and speaking to these confused and alarmed women, could have been Jesus, himself. But they didn’t realize it at first. Like the women, we might be confused when Jesus appears before us. If you were at the tomb on the day of resurrection, would have known it if Jesus was the one sitting there speaking to you?

This brief moment of conversation at the tomb reminds me of a song performed by Joan Osborne. Osborne asks the question, “What if God was one of us?” Instead of God, we can simply ask, “What if Jesus was one of us?” Would or could we recognize him if we saw him, if we heard his voice, if we felt his presence? The women didn’t recognize Jesus, just like many of us today might not recognize Jesus if he appeared before us.

Knowing the possible confusion and fear that the women might be experiencing, this person said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7). The words “do not be alarmed” sound very familiar to the words both God and Jesus spoke to the prophets, to Mary and Joseph, and to the disciples: “Do not be afraid.” But the women still went out and fled from the tomb, in terror and amazement (Mark 16:8). The original text of Mark ends with these words, “And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). Could you imagine if the story of Christ’s resurrection ended by having the women running from the tomb in fear and terror and not telling anyone about what they just saw or heard? The news of Christ’s resurrection would have stayed within the empty tomb. The salvation, hope, and love that Jesus will later tell his disciples to teach to all nations (Matthew 28:19-20) would not have happened. The power of Christ’s resurrection wouldn’t be what it is today. And the cross probably would have had the last word.

The Gospel of Mark adds these words as a short amendment to the original ending, “And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation” (Mark 16:8). With or out these words, we know that the cross did not have the last word. We know that the resurrection of Christ happened three days after his crucifixion. And we know that Jesus is the one who is one of us because we were there.

In 1986, William Farley Smith, composer, arranger, and professor of music, reminded us of our presence during the last days of Jesus’ life when he adapted the words of an African-American Spiritual and arranged them into a hymn. This hymn is titled “Were You There.” This powerful spiritual asks us, the singers, five questions: 1) Were you there when they crucified my Lord?, 2) Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?, 3) Were you there when they pierced him the side?, 4) Were you there when the sun refused to shine?, and 5) Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? This Spiritual asks us to remember the story of Christ not like we remember to get certain groceries at the grocery store or to send a birthday card to someone or to remember to take something out of the oven. Instead this Spiritual calls us to remember the past and bring it into the present. This Spiritual is a riddle that brings the resurrection to life.

Verse one, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord, “ asks us to remember that it is our Lord, your Lord, that was crucified, that experienced pain and unrelenting torture, as he carried the cross to Calvary so that we will begin to acknowledge that unconditional love requires sacrifices.

Verse two, “Were you there when they nailed him to the tree,” asks us to remember the words of Luke from the Book of Acts. Luke writes, “The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 5:30), “…They put him to death by hanging him on a tree…” (Acts 10:39), and “When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb” (Acts 13:29). We heard the nails, we felt his pain, and we stood by as he took our sins away as he hung on the tree.

Verse three, “Were you there when the pierced him the side,” asks us to remember that Jesus is the life, the truth, and the way (John 14:6), and that from his side we are given the living water of life and the blood of the new covenant that was poured out for us and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Verse four, “Were you there when the sun refused to shine,” asks us to remember the words of John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Although, the sun sometimes refuses to shine and darkness covers the earth because of his resurrection there is no amount of darkness, no amount of sin, and no amount hatred that can cover the light of Christ. By his resurrection, we have been given an eternal light that outshines the sun.

And verse five, “Were you there when they laid him in the tomb,” asks us to remember that not even a sealed tomb could keep Christ from being resurrected, that no stone can keep us from experiencing his life, and no unsolved riddle will ever be able to conquer his unconditional love for us. We were there at his crucifixion and heard him cry out to the Father as Mary, his mother, and John, the beloved disciple, stood at the foot of the cross. We were there when he was nailed to the tree. We were there when they pierced him in the side. We were there when the sun refused to shine. We were there when they laid him in the tomb. And we were there when he was resurrected! Jesus was crucified and laid in the tomb, but today he has risen to remind us that he has promised us forgiveness, love, and eternal salvation. And it is our duty to continue his promise and to share with others that Christ has risen today!

Conclusion:

If there was a verse six to this African-American Spiritual, it would probably ask, “Were you there when my Lord was raised?” And today, we can say, with reverence and awe, “Yes, we were there when my Lord was raised! We were there when the stone was rolled away! We were there when the tomb was empty! And we were there when Jesus spoke to us! Like Mary Magdalene and the other women, we were there!

As the hymn “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” reminds us, “Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia! Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia! Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!” Today, Christ has risen! Today, Christ has left the tomb! Today, Christ has given us a triumphal love that deserves an Alleluia! Today, the Resurrected Christ has given us paradise!

The resurrection of Christ is just the beginning. And because we were there, it’s our turn to go tell others that He is risen and to let them know that his resurrection is no riddle, but salvation for a hopeful tomorrow. Christ is Risen! Indeed, the Son is risen today!

Closing Prayer:

Let us Pray…Risen Savior, we give praise that you have risen in our lives, that you have come to grant us forgiveness, love, and salvation. We pray that you remind us that we were there during the last remaining days of your life, and that we are still here today waiting to share the wonderful news that you have risen, Alleluia. All Honor and Glory is yours now and forever, Resurrected Savior, Amen.

Benediction:

Christ is Risen today! Raise your joys and triumphs high! Hail the Resurrection! In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go, transforming lives as you live well and wisely in God’s world. Amen. Amen. Amen.