He Is Not Here

[The following is the gist of the sermon delivered at St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant, NC, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, as an emergency fill-in supply for the pastor who became ill.]


Please allow me to first set the stage by reading words the prophet Isaiah wrote over 600 years before the birth of Christ, and then continue into an account recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.

Who has believed our message?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.  By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?  His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.  As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.  Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

-- Isaiah 53 (NASB)

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.  And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.  And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.  The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.  The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.  Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.  And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

-- Matthew 28:1-10 (NASB)

How many basketball fans do we have?  If your team, or at least the team you are pulling for, wins the NCAA tournament, will you call a bunch of folks you know?  Why?  Maybe just to gloat a bit because your team won and theirs didn't.  Or maybe you'll just want to share the news, to share your joy of your team winning.

In verse seven of our message text, the angel tells the women to "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead."  He instructs them to go and share the good news that the tomb is empty, that Jesus has risen from the grave, that their Master has been resurrected.  Go quickly and share the good news!

In verse eight, Matthew confirms that the women "left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples."  They got out of there in a hurry and ran to where the disciples were holed up.  I'm sure they were more than a little frightened by what had just occurred.  First they see this huge stone had been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb.  Then they see the armed guards cowering off to the side, even playing dead trying to avoid being hurt.  Then they see a man shining as brightly as lightning, dressed in all white clothing; obviously the source of the guards' fear and the stone's dislocation.  And finally they look inside the tomb, where they had expected to find the remains of their beloved Master and Lord, but that now lies empty, with nothing in it but the burial cloths.  Now this is not a normal, everyday occurrence.  In fact, it has only happened once in all history and this was that once!  I'd certainly be scared in this situation, wouldn't you?  So the women left quickly partly out of fear.  But Matthew notes they also left with great joy!  They ran to the disciples, who were huddled together confused, dazed, lost without Jesus to lead them.  They ran to share their great joy with these men who were probably feeling very miserable.  Isn't that kind of natural for us, to try to cheer up others when they are down, and especially if we can share some good news with them that is sure to brighten their spirits.  The women ran to them to share both the good news and their great joy.

Is any basketball team more important, more newsworthy, than Jesus?  Is winning a game, even a national championship, greater news than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the defeat of death, the hope and promise of life eternal?  I think not.

The Apostle Luke's version of this event, in chapter twenty-four and verse seven of his Gospel account, reports that the angel reminded the women that Jesus had told them that, "the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."  (Please see Luke 24:7.)  In their confusion of the moment, the women may have forgotten that Jesus Himself had foretold all of this, to prepare them for His death and resurrection.  But it seems none of His followers understood what He tried to tell them.  The angel reminded the women of this, of what Jesus had said would occur.  Luke also tells us that the women went and relayed all this news to the disciples, all that they had witnessed, but the men wouldn't or maybe couldn't believe them, not until Peter and John ran to the tomb and saw for themselves that it was indeed empty.  (Please reference Luke 24:10-12.)

Consider for a moment how the world symbolizes Easter: with a rabbit carrying a basket filled with brightly colored eggs.  The world visualizes Easter with children receiving baskets filled with those dyed eggs and more candy than any child should eat at once, those same children almost greedily searching for dyed eggs and special treats hidden in all manner of locations, with the more found the better.  And there's nothing wrong with that view.  Kids enjoy any special time when they can get candy and treats, and we enjoy watching them have fun.  It just doesn't tell the true story.

Compare that to how Christians symbolize Easter: with an empty tomb, no body lays there, nothing but burial clothes and a rag that once covered the eyes of the Son of Man, a huge stone effortlessly rolled away.  Empty, nothing.  Look at our cross - empty, no beaten, battered body hangs there.  Empty, nothing.

So is Easter for the Christian empty?  Is it a hollow celebration like the tomb was hollow?

Far from it!  Our Easter isn't only filled with mounds of candy and colored eggs or with a lifeless body.  Our Easter is filled with great joy, just like those women experienced as they ran from Jesus' grave to tell the disciples.  Great joy and immense awe at the wonder that was wrought that most beautiful day.  Our Easter is filled to overflowing with the love of God who would sacrifice His only Son, the love of a Savior who would take all our sins, even all the sins of the world upon Himself, to the point where our heavenly Father could not bear to look at Him for all the horrific sin, would take all of this to the grave and leave it there, just for us!  And the angel reminds us that He did all of this just as He said He would.  He kept His promise just for our sake!

So be like those women.  Run quickly from here and share the good news!  Share your great joy with everyone you meet, so that they may in turn share the joy with you!  You have been filled to overflowing with love so that you'll have more than enough for yourself and plenty to give to others.  Share that love, share your joy, share the great news...  He is not here, for He has risen!  Jesus lives!  Amen.

Father in heaven, blessed Jesus at Your side, thank You so much for this wonderful news, the Good News of our Jesus being resurrected from the grave, of His victory over death, all for our sake, for our salvation through Christ our Lord!  We are so sorry You had to take our sins upon Yourself, dearest Jesus, and had to suffer so much for us.  But we rejoice in Your resurrection and in knowing that You still live today!  Thank You blessed Jesus!  In the name of our risen Savior Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.