Sermon: I will Rise, Again and Again!
based on John
20: 1-18
and Luke 24:45-47
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
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resources for this sermon:
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I
want to begin my
Easter message with a quote that may seem odd for such a big occasion;
It is a quote from
Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal who describes a
roadside trash dump just down-the-road from a monastery:
“Behind the monastery, down by
the road,
there is a cemetery of wore- out things
there lie smashed china, rusty metal,
cracked pipes and rusty bits of wire,
empty cigarette packets, sawdust,
corrugated iron, old plastic, tyres beyond repair:
all waiting for the Resurrection, like ourselves.”
[“Marilyn Monroe and other Poems, Search Press 1975, p 60]
Perhaps that’s how some
of us feel this morning; perhaps we
feel washed up and useless – like a piece of trash tossed up on the
scrap heap of humanity, good for nothing. Today
we celebrate Easter Sunday and
part of the Easter message is that nobody has to feel like this any
longer. Nobody needs to feel rejected or useless, because . . .
Christ is Risen!
For
what we celebrate this morning is not just that
Jesus has risen from
the dead.
It’s the celebration of what his
resurrection means for us. It’s a celebration of new life, of
God’s life, which is available for us to live out right here and now
at this very moment.”
And this spirit of resurrection
is not just a future promise – it is a promise for the present –
Jesus says: “I am the Resurrection and the life” NOT: I was the
resurrection that one time—you know, on Easter Sunday, 30 A.D.”
He says: “I AM,” present tense!
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
Mary Magdalene stayed back at
the grave; all others had inspected the empty tomb and left; but she
stayed.
She had unfinished business.
She was waiting for answers.
Was there something she hadn’t
said to her Lord that she felt she needed to tell him? Did she
need to say fare-well one more time? Like we do when we say
farewell at the grave side right before the casket is lowered?
Or did she need to touch his
hand or the hem of his garment one more time?
To receive healing and strength
to go on?
She waited there in front of the
empty grave, she couldn’t get herself to go home, or to join the
others. She didn’t know what to do; where to turn, what to pray.
She starts talking to the
gardener and as soon as she says her name: “Mary” she knows that it’s
him, alive, risen from the dead. There is no doubt in her mind. She
falls to her knees to worship him.
She rises up and runs to the
disciples.
Can you see running towards you?
Can you hear their cry?
I’ve seen the Lord, he is alive, he is risen!
Can you feel the excitement in
her voice?
Because Jesus is risen, she has
risen. And now she is running, shouting, praising God.
Let this be our shout this
morning:
“Because Jesus has risen, I will
rise!”
I will rise in the name of the
Lord!
I will rise in God’s strength!
I will rise on Eagles wings!
I will rise!
All who feel like the darkness
has closed in on them!
Let them say: I will rise!
All you who feel shackled by sin
and the forces of evil!
Let them say: I will rise!
All who wake up every morning
questioning if some joy will ever return to their life. Let them
say: I will rise!
All who are wondering if their
life can ever be worth living again while looking at the pieces of
shards that was once your life.
Let them say: I will rise!
All who are standing at the end
of broken dreams, missed callings, and shattered opportunities.
Let them say: I will rise!
All who are living a life in the
shadows--beyond even an inkling of hope.
Let them say: I will rise!
For there was One who
was despised and rejected by men
who said: I will rise!
A man
of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
One who was pierced for our transgressions, who was bruised for our
iniquities and while enduring the sufferings
he said to himself: I will rise!
He
was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
keeping silence, while his strength and demeanour exclaimed: I will
rise!
And when he faced his accusers
and the crowd shouted “crucify” his whole being exuded the message:
you can crucify me, but I will rise!
No matter how much pain you
inflict on me, I will rise!
No matter how much you defame
me, how much you disfigure me, how much you denounce me, I will rise.
He is the One, Jesus Christ, our
Lord, who says: I will rise, again and again!
I have risen from the grave and
I will rise again in you:
I will rise in you who are faint
and broken-hearted
I will rise in you who are
tormented by evil and temptation
I will rise in you who are
waiting upon the Lord
I will rise in you who are sick
and in pain
I will rise in you who are poor
in spirit
I will rise in you who hunger
after righteousness
I will rise in you who mourn
I will rise in you who are pure
in heart and spread peace on earth.
I will rise in you; and through me, you will be raised
and lifted up to a higher place; I will set your foot upon a rock and
instil my faith in you until one day you, too, will be able to say: I
will rise. In Jesus’ Name, I will rise.
Amen!
More Easter Sunday Sermons:
Point Me Toward
Tomorrow,
Mark
16:1-8
By
Dr. David Rogne
Sermon Excerpt:
In
the Gospel according to Mark, which was read earlier, we heard how three women
came to a grave to do what people have traditionally done for the dead, but they
couldn't even find the body. Instead, they heard the words, "He has been
raised; he is not here." Truly, something significant had happened for
Jesus, but what is the message this event has for us.
The first thing
this Easter narrative says to me is that life is filled with temptations to hold
on to the past. When those women came to the tomb, it was out of respect
for a remembered life. There had been no time to render the last service
to the body of Jesus. The Sabbath had intervened, and the women, who
wished to anoint the body, had not been able to do so. Now the Sabbath had
passed, and as early as possible, they set out to accomplish their sad task.
They had heard Jesus preach and teach, they had witnessed his acts of
compassion, they had thought that he was to become the Messiah. Then they
had witnessed his cruel death and burial. Their minds were occupied with
thoughts of what might have been. As long as their attention was focused
on the past, their gloom was unrelieved. And hasn't that been our experience
too? .....[
full manuscript ]
Children's Sermons:
1)
Rise and Shine
2)
God's Witness Protection
3)
God of Happy Endings
4)
Inside of an Egg
5)
It's All in the Eggs
