He is here ---- He is risen

The stone over the grave could not keep him locked away. He is alive.

The soldiers and guards could not keep him locked away. He is alive.

All of the wickedness and hate of this world could not keep him locked away.

He is alive.

Death itself could not keep him. He is alive! Let us rejoice.

And so we sing Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia.

O Good and Loving God, who first heard MARY’S weeping and then her shouts of joy on that blessed Easter morning, help us to receive that joy and live in its grace all the days of our lives.  Lift from us the yoke of past disappointments, now that Jesus is alive again. Set us free from the prison of regret and distress and shame, now that Jesus is alive again.  Lift our sights beyond the troubles in the world today to see the glory, which is coming to the world, now that Jesus is alive again.

O Most Precious God, Help us to live more fully in Christ, with no need for weeping any more.  Fill our hearts with gladness and our spirits with thanksgiving. Fill our minds with the knowledge that because he lives, nothing can ever defeat or destroy us, certainly not despair and not even death itself.

All praise to you our risen Lord. AMEN!

SERMON: “He Is Here – He is Risen”

When I was growing up there were five children in the family: my older brother and three younger sisters. My mother was a seamstress; it seemed like she made the dresses for all the girls and the ladies in town. I can remember that she was especially busy at Christmas and Easter. I can also remember that during Easter week she sat in front of the sewing machine round the clock. When we went to bed she was sewing; when we woke up she was sewing. When the last person had collected their outfits then she would finish our outfits for Easter.

Easter has always been for my favorite season of the year. When I was growing up it was my favorite time because it was the time when my parents go me a new suit, a new pair of shoes, and new shirt and tie to go with it. And so I grew up looking forward to Easter, not because of what Easter means but because of what it had come to mean for me new clothes, and a new look.  And even today, I don’t do it every year but every now and then on Easter I like to have on all new clothes. You remember, that I had received a new suit for Christmas; Well I kept it for Easter. I had received a new shirt, and socks and tie at Christmas; I kept them for Easter. So then I went out and bought a new pair of shoes for Easter.  So at Easter I take Paul literally when God said

Behold I make all things new!

You can check me out if you want to; everything I have on is new.

Now I know I am not the only one who has on a new outfit today; look at all of you, looking so beautiful in your Easter outfits.

Yes we are all looking so beautiful, with lovely smiles on our faces, and the bright flowers and festive music, as we focus on the joy and celebration of this day.

We forget sometimes that the first words we heard spoken on that Easter morning was the question of who will roll away the stone from the door of the sepulcher;

The first sound heard that Easter morning was the sound of weeping.

It was Mary Magdalene’s weeping. Tears of hopelessness poured out of her in loud wailing and moaning; this was the sound, which greeted the first Easter dawn in Jerusalem. (P157. White). On her way to the garden, she had wondered how she would roll away the enormous stone, which sealed the tomb.  When she got there she was relieved to see that she did not have that problem, but she had a new problem – the body was gone.  Mary stood there weeping, devastated, and broken hearted.

“They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him”.

She wept much because she had loved much (Luke 7:47).

We who have loved and lost loved ones; we who love and weep in our own lives might try to imagine what she was feeling.

Mary Mag was one of those who loved Jesus enough to go the distance.

That song asks the questions:

 Were you there when they crucified my Lord

‘’’’’’                                     nailed him to the tree

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’pierced him in the side

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’the sun refused to shine

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’laid him in the tomb

To each of those questions she would answer yes.

 She was present at our Lord’s crucifixion and burial because following Jesus had become a way of life. Sometimes it causes her to tremble, but she followed.

Some only followed him on special occasions; some only followed him when he was passing through their towns. Or as was mentioned in the drama on Friday some were fair weather friends. They only followed when it was not raining, or snowing, or when the sun wasn’t too hot. Or if they can finish work on the farm.

Others followed when they wanted something from him.

When they wanted healing for their children; but MM was part of that small group of women who, along with the twelve disciples had followed him from place to place. In time she had become one of his strongest and most faithful supporters.

The Scriptures do not tell us when Jesus and Mary met. The Gospels of Mark and Luke tell us that Jesus had cured Mary of seven demons. Most of the scholars believe that this was a mental condition, not a moral issue. It means she probably suffered periods of insanity – paranoia, schizophrenia, and hallucination. Before she met Jesus she was a tormented person, and she had no hope of a normal life. Like the demon-possessed man that came out of the graveyard to meet Jesus and told him his name was Legion, many things troubled Mary M.  Seven demons would make anyone act crazy.  Her mind was disoriented, her spirit confused, and her appearance messy.

And one day she met Jesus and Jesus healed her; he touched her.

Bill Gaither’s song was ever so true. In fact He was telling Mary’s story:

She was shackled by a heavy burden

Beneath a load of guilt and shame

Then the hand of Jesus touched her

And now she was no longer the same

He touched me and O the joy that floods my soul!

Something happened and now I know, he touched me and made me whole.

Since I met this blessed Savior, since he cleansed and made me whole

I will never cease to praise him

I’ll shout it while eternity rolls.

Jesus healed her; gone were the voices in her head that drove her to do strange things;

Gone were the strange thoughts that disrupted her life. Gone were the days when she did not know what to do, or where to go.

Mary became a devoted follower of Christ.

What do you do when Jesus has healed you of some dreaded disease?

When Jesus has healed you of lung cancer, healed your hypertension, healed you of diabetes.

Healed, Mary decided to support Jesus in his travels so that he might do for others what he has done for her. She decided to devote herself to the ministry of the person who had given her life back to her. Mary is the best example of a grateful heart.

A thankful heart does not go along with a grudging spirit. If you are truly thankful, then you cannot be cheap and stingy at the same time.

Selfishness asks what can I get?

Ingratitude asks what can I keep?

Thanksgiving asks what can I give?

When David’s heart was filled with thanksgiving: he said

What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

Mary M had just discovered her spiritual gift of generosity and she was going to use her gift. Mary and Jesus made a good team.

Jesus was poor; he said he had no place to lay his head.

Jesus was so poor that he had to depend upon the goodness of others to eat.

He was so poor he had to take money out of the gill of the fish to pay his taxes.

He could have turned the stones on the road to bread and the water from the well into wine; but he never used his powers or his gifts for himself, only for the benefit of others.

Thus he had nothing, yet he had everything because he had people who loved him enough to provide whatever he needed. No one who has loving friends to help them is poor.

Jesus and MM made a good team. She helped provide the financial support that he needed; he gave her the spiritual nourishment and physical healing that she needed.

Those are always the best relationships – you are generous enough to give to each other and mature enough to receive from each other. There are some relationships where one person always gives while the other person always receives. Sometimes the one who is receiving believes he or she has nothing to give, and thus offers nothing. Sometimes the giver is too proud to receive anything from the other.

But Mary M and Jesus gave to each other. Thus she followed him to the end.

She followed him through his ups and downs, in good times and bad times.

She was with him when the Palm Sunday crowd cried Hosanna, and she was with him when the Good Friday crowd cried Crucify him. She wept when she saw him scourged, bruised and bleeding, a crown of thorns on his head. She saw Pilate point to Jesus and say “Behold your King”. She saw him when he was led away with two criminals; she saw him when he carried the cross beam upon his shoulders. She saw him every time he stumbled and fell. She was there when Jesus turned to the women and said:

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children”

 She saw Jesus nailed to the cross. She saw him when they hung him high and stretched him wide.  It took courage for Mary to stick around, to linger near; she was not worried about those who were talking about her; she knew her spiritual gift was to comfort.

She was there when the body of Jesus was taken down from the cross; she was there when they laid him in the tomb. She was there when the stone was rolled to seal the tomb. As she started to make her way home that Friday evening, I can imagine she was thinking who would have thought it would end like this? Who would have thought that a life so noble, so full of love and goodness would come to such a tragic end?

Who would have thought that a life with so much to offer would end up on a cross at such an early age?

However Mary had this one consolation: she had kept her promise and followed Jesus to the end. The old folks used to say I’m pressing on to see what the end is going to be.

Sometimes things don’t turn out as we would like them, but if we have been true and faithful, we can receive that consolation that we done what we could.

Sometimes we give our all to our marriages and it doesn’t work out, we need to remember that it takes three to make a marriage work – the husband, the wife, and God.

All we can do is what we are supposed to do.

Sometimes our children don’t turn out as we might desire. The streets of the city can turn the heads of young people from their home training. But if as parents we have tried to raise them in the church, we’ve taught them the way of the Bible, and live the right kind of life before them, at some point they must make their own choice about whom they will serve. Sometimes their choices hurt us, but if we’ve done what we are supposed to do, all we can do is leave them in the hands of the Lord and linger on our knees and pray that they will come to themselves before it is too late.

Sometime our programs don’t turn out as we desire. We want every Sunday to be Easter, and so on Easter we work extra hard; we have a Celebration Choir, we have the Hand bells, we bring in the drums; we blow the trumpet, all of this so you can hang in here with us and with Mary Magdalene and come back next Sunday.

I am not sure that anyone has heard the message or done any good, but I have this consolation: I’ve done what I am supposed to do.

Oh if you can be like MM. As she left the tomb that Friday, she vowed to return. Maybe she went home and got on her knees. Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, she went to the tomb. She noticed the stone had been rolled away; she noticed that the body was gone; she ran to tell Peter and John. Peter and John ran to the tomb; they saw that the tomb was empty; they ran back home, but Mary kept lingering.

Because she kept lingering, she heard a voice they didn’t hear; Jesus called her by name. She saw what they didn’t see; she saw Jesus Christ her resurrected Lord.

Because she lingered she has the blessing of being the first person to see the resurrected Christ.

She was the first to see that the tomb was empty.

A few weeks ago some archeologist said they found the casket that contains the body of Jesus. They always come up with these stories at Easter time or around Christmas time.

They get the most attention; they get to be on the 6 o’clock news and the world news. They were not there when MM gave her Press Conference; the tomb was empty; there was no casket; the grave clothes were there but there was no casket.

That is why we say He is Here – he is Risen

Lingering love may seem like wasted love and energy. But the lesson of Mary M, and the lesson of Easter is that lingering love is rewarded.

They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint”

If we stay when others leave, keep going when others stop; draw near when others run away; stay on our knees when others give up; keep loving when others lose patience; believe when others doubt; give freely when others scrimp; give our all when others hold back, get up when others are sleeping; return when others do not return, then we shall see Jesus in His glory. Our lingering love will be rewarded. Across 2000 years his promise comes to those who linger and wait with patience: