Rev. David Holwick Easter Sunrise
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 8, 2007
Luke 24:1-11
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
I. I HAVE A WORD FROM THE LORD.
On a Sunday morning in a certain city church, the Gospel lesson
had been read and the minister was about to begin the sermon.
Suddenly a stranger seated in the balcony stood up and interrupted
the service.
"I have a word from the Lord!" he shouted.
Heads whipped around, and ushers bounded up the balcony stairs
like gazelles.
They managed to escort the man into the street before he could
elaborate further on just what "word" he had been given.
Week after week, preachers like me in countless pulpits stand up
and say, in effect, the same thing as the man in the balcony:
"I have a word from the Lord!"
But no alarms sound, no one is astonished and no apprehensive
ushers race forward to muscle me into the street.
If a sudden unexpected shout erupts from the congregation, the
place gets set on edge.
But when a preacher starts into the Gospel word for the day, people
crease their bulletins and settle in.
No wonder some pastors, in hopes of putting a little electricity
into the sermon, have taken to wandering the aisles Oprah-like
with handheld mikes.
#34327
II. THE FIRST EASTER SERMON DIDN'T GO OVER WELL.
It is somewhat reassuring to realize that the first Christian sermon
ever preached did not register high on the Richter scale either.
When the women came back from the tomb on Easter morning, they
brought with them word of an empty tomb and astonishing news:
"He is not here but has risen."
All Christian preaching is based on this fact.
Two thousand years ago, what was the response?
The translations differ; you can take your pick.
The words seemed to them like "an idle tale," "empty talk," "a
silly story," "a foolish yarn," "utter nonsense," "sheer humbug."
The apostles dismissed it out of hand.
III. WHY WAS IT REJECTED?
A. The messengers were women.
The Jewish Mishna, early commentary on the Old Testament, says:
"Do not let evidence be accepted from women, because of the
frivolousness and recklessness of their sex."
The gender of the speakers may be part of the reason for the
apostles' indifference, but not all of it.
After all, the women were confirming a message that Jesus
himself had already told the disciples.
Before he entered Jerusalem, Jesus informed them that he would
be killed but that on the third day he would rise.
When the women came racing back with the news that these words
had come to pass, the disciples should have been prepared,
eager, receptive, believing.
Instead they yawned, checked their watches and wondered when
the sermon would end.
B. The message was too overwhelming to believe.
A friend of Thomas Long told him that his young son was a great
fan of both Captain Kangaroo and Mister Rogers.
The boy faithfully watched both of their television shows, and
one day it was announced that Mister Rogers would be paying
a visit to the Captain Kangaroo show.
The boy was ecstatic.
Both of his heroes, together on the same show!
Every morning the boy would ask, "Is it today that Mister
Rogers will be on Captain Kangaroo?"
Finally the great day arrived, and the whole family gathered
around the television.
There they were, Mister Rogers and Captain Kangaroo together.
The boy watched for a minute, but then, surprisingly, got up
and wandered from the room.
Puzzled, his father followed him and asked, "What is it, son?
Is something wrong?"
"It's too good," the boy replied. "It's just too good."
Maybe that's it.
Maybe the news of the empty tomb, the news of the resurrection,
the news of Jesus' victory over death is just too good to
believe, too good to assimilate all at once.
C. They didn't like the implications.
The disciples were not really bored, they were "slow of heart
to believe."
The story of the two guys on the Emmaus Road brings this out.
They are not indifferent to the news of Easter; they are
resistant.
Perhaps a clue can be found in what the disciples are called
in this story.
Initially Luke tells us that the women told the news of
resurrection to "the eleven."
But later he changes their title to "the apostles," to those
who are sent.
If the Jesus story ended on Friday, then the disciples can
simply be "the eleven," and after an appropriate time of
mourning they can go back to life as it was.
If the story ended on Friday, then they can be "the eleven,"
alumni of Jesus' school of religion, students of an
inspiring though finally tragic teacher.
In short, if the story ends on Friday, we can close out the
Book of Luke.
But if the news of Sunday is true, they must become "apostles,"
those sent to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of
the earth.
There will be arrests and beatings and shipwrecks and
outpourings of the Spirit and years of weary travel.
If we believe the news of Easter Sunday, then the scary truth
is that the story is just beginning.
God has work for you to do.
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SOURCE USED IN THIS SERMON:
#34327 "Empty Tomb, Empty Talk," by Thomas G. Long, Christian Century
magazine, April 4, 2001. My sermon borrows very heavily
from this excellent article.
This and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.htmL
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