Welcome to LAFUMC

715 Diamond Drive, Los Alamos, NM

505-662-6277

Sermons

"GET OUT OF THAT GRAVE!"
GOSPEL SCRIPTURE TEXT: MATTHEW 28:1-10
DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
EASTER SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 4, 2010 - 11 AM

SCRIPTURE LESSON: MATTHEW 28:1-10--(Good News Version) "After the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the grave. Suddenly there was a strong earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from Heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men. The angel spoke to the women. `You must not be afraid,' he said. `I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to the cross. He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he lay. Quickly now, go, and tell his disciples -- He has been raised from death and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you -- there you will see him! Remember what I have told you.' So they left the grave in a hurry, afraid and yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, `Peace be with you.' They came up to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. `Do not be afraid,' Jesus said to them. `Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.'"

PRAYER: (Let us pause for a moment to seek God in the intimacy of prayer.) Thank you, O God, for Easter! Thank you for Jesus! And thank you for your abiding Word, which we now would hear. Amen.

MESSAGE: On this glorious Resurrection morning, as the beautiful light of the spring sun illuminates the multicolored windows of this sanctuary to brilliance -- and directs our thoughts toward the eternal light of God's son -- I want to pose an unusual Easter morning question. What if -- what if Jesus had decided not to come out of the grave on that first Easter morning? What if He had chosen to allow His Spirit to make its way directly back to Heaven, from whence it came, without re-animating the human form it had assumed for approximately 33 earthly years? In other words, what if Jesus had simply, from a human perspective, decided to stay dead?

The Bible says little to us about the three days which elapsed between the death of Jesus on the cross and the events chronicled for us in our Scripture text on Easter morning. There are a few cryptic thoughts in a couple of New Testament Epistles which have been embellished by a lot of imagination and folklore to create stories of a three-day ordeal in hell by which Jesus eventually overcame Satan and rescued God's faithful people who had died in prior ages. Those stories may or may not be true -- I don't know, and the Bible doesn't clearly say. But I would like, rather, to picture Jesus in an equally imaginative manner, lying for three days in that sealed, cool, quiet, and dark rock tomb, with his dead body yet inhabited by his ever-living soul, slowly and carefully deciding whether or not to go ahead with the Resurrection.

There were many reasons why Jesus might have chosen not to return to life on earth, for 40 days or even 40 minutes. From the very beginning of his earthly existence, humans had sought to drive him off the earth. King Herod slew every child under two years of age in Bethlehem, seeking to end his life almost before it began. Men in his own hometown of Nazareth sought to push him off a cliff early in his ministry. That the Jews and Romans finally together succeeded in forming an unholy alliance to kill him was no surprise -- it was, realistically, surprising that he lived as long as he did.

Of those who did not wish to kill him, most, if not all, completely misunderstood his reason for being on earth. Crowds followed him about not because of the message of reconciliation and love he preached, but in order to view the unusual, the unfamiliar, the miraculous. To them, he was entertainment -- a traveling circus act. And his few close followers -- the disciples -- likewise misinterpreted who he really was. They wanted to make him the spearhead of a political uprising. They saw him as a revolutionary gathering supporters, like Vladimir Lenin, or Fidel Castro, or Hugo Chavez. When his last days on earth began to make clearer his true purpose for being here, the crowds melted away and the disciples -- every one of them -- deserted.

Alone - rejected - hated - misunderstood --murdered. Lying in that cool, quiet, peaceful tomb those three days might have been a welcome relief from earthly life -- among human beings. In life he had experienced only struggle and sorrow, wound and woe. In death there was relief -- and peace. It could have been almost a pleasure for Jesus -- to stay dead.

What if Jesus had not come out of the grave on that first Easter morning? What if he had simply stayed dead?

Praise God! -- those are questions that need no answers -- because it didn't happen that way! Despite every other reason to the contrary, our Lord had one compelling drive which overcame all the rest. Only one power could re-animate that dead body -- and force it back to life -- back into the world of humanity. To return to life undoubtedly meant more struggle, more rejection, more disbelief, more sorrows for Jesus. But God's love -- the pure, distilled essence of God Himself -- could allow him to do no other. God's love -- focused into human flesh in Jesus Christ -- raised that body back up -- out of the grave.

Not reluctantly -- not with misgivings -- none of that! Anyone who had been there to witness would have said, I am sure, that Jesus fairly bounced out of that tomb! The prophets had said he must remain three days in the tomb -- and so he did -- but not one minute longer! There were men and women outside -- human beings who needed hope. Lost sheep, without a shepherd. Everywhere, then as now, people needed a savior. And their Savior wasn't about to abandon them!

Get out of that grave - out -- now! God's love fairly shouted through every fiber of Jesus' being! The stone sealing the entrance blew away as though it were a child's marble! God's love had triumphed -- over death itself! Jesus rose from the dead, and life on earth would never again be the same!

People of Los Alamos -- friends, members, visitors --whomever you may be: I can't see inside of any of your heads this morning. I don't know, for any one of you, exactly why you're here today, nor what you expected to see, hear, or find. But for whatever reason you came -- whatever your expectations this Easter morning -- I want to lay it straight on the line for you. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ challenges you.

God's Word says that every one of us -- no matter how alive and vibrant we may seem -- young or old, sick or well, affluent or in poverty -- no matter -- every one of us is dead apart from Jesus Christ! Every person here has allowed himself or herself to be killed -- by sin. Some of us are still moving around, acting as though we're alive, but make no mistake. Satan is standing by, just waiting for the inevitable --when the old ticker stops and he can cart us off to eternal hell. You may or may not believe that -- no matter, it's still the plain, unvarnished truth about worldly human existence. You need to know that, and I won't mince words to hide it from you.

But there's also another truth--the most powerful truth in the universe, that you need to know even more. The love of God -- the same love that raised Jesus Christ from the dead -- is even now beckoning, pleading -- yes, even shouting -- to your immortal soul: "Get out of that grave!"

Get out of that grave! Now! Right now - today -- this morning -- this beautiful Easter day! You can be raised from the dead, with Jesus, unto life eternal! That's God's offer -- His challenge to you this Easter morn. His love is shouting for your attention! Get out of that grave! Out! Now! Be raised from death -- unto life eternal, through Jesus Christ! Amen!

Back to Church Sermons Table of Contents