[The following is a manuscript of the meditation delivered Easter Sunday morning, the 21st of April, 2019 during our Sunrise Service at Pilgrim Reformed Church. Look for the video of our services on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
Hear the words of the Apostle Matthew, in the 28th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 10…
1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
--Matthew 28:1-10 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, this morning we can rejoice, for You have resurrected our Lord Jesus! You raised Him bodily from the grave so that He could defeat death. And You and Jesus did it all just for us! Your Son suffered, and You had to stand by and watch, just so we might enjoy everlasting life in paradise with You both… if we only believe in Him and follow His voice. We believe, Lord Jesus. We believe that You are the one true Son of God, and we believe that You rose bodily from the grave. We are here this morning to celebrate that glorious day. Bless us Lord, and help us to better serve You and to never falter in our belief and faith. In Your sweet name, Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.
Late Friday afternoon, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph followed Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb where he laid the body of Jesus. They hurried home to prepare some fragrant oils to anoint the body of their Lord. But the Sabbath began before they could complete this task, so they had to rest as was their law.
Once the Sabbath ended, early Sunday morning, just as the sun began to lighten the sky, the two women returned to the grave to finish what they’d started. But as they arrived, the ground shook as an angel came from heaven and rolled the heavy boulder out of the tomb’s opening. The soldiers placed there to guard the tomb also shook, but with fear of what they’d just witnessed.
The angel said to the women, “I know you came seeking Jesus but He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said He would.” As they rushed back to tell the others, they met Jesus on the way. They came seeking the body of Jesus, but instead found Him, risen and still alive, still active, still vibrant.
There are two things I wonder this morning. First, I wonder if anyone went seeking the body of Jesus today, would they find it? I remember a number of years ago there was this big fuss about finding what were believed to be the bones of Jesus, but they couldn’t really prove it to anyone’s satisfaction. So there are probably still some people looking for the remains of the Son of Man.
But what does our Bible tell us of the body of Jesus? What does the Apostle Paul say the body of Christ really is now? We are the body of Christ Jesus! We are His church, His body left on earth to carry out His work once He went back home to heaven!
So I’ll ask again… Would anyone seeking the body of Jesus find it in this world today? Sure they can find this beautiful building, and many others that have “church” in their name. And if they come on a Sunday morning they can find us all together worshiping God. But the world is not likely to come here looking. The world is out there, looking to see what, if anything, the body of Jesus is doing… out there. If they’re seeking the body of Jesus, will they find it?
I also wonder how many are still seeking Jesus today. And I don’t mean just among the non-believers of the world. I’d like to think there are some out there who are interested in the Christian faith, who may want to learn more about this Jesus, who might want to follow Him if they could just give up whatever it is that holds them back. These are the folks we need to be reaching out to, because they have a chance of salvation.
But for this morning, I’m more concerned with how many of us who profess to be Christians are still seeking Jesus! When we exercise the faith God gave us and believe in Jesus as God’s Son and accept Him as our Master and our Savior, then we are granted eternal life through Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s mercy and grace.
Many of us grew up as steadfast believers and never had to make a drastic transition. But as for the rest, something happened in our life that shook us enough that we had no other choice but to believe and accept Jesus in our life. So we believe, we’re save, but then what? We just wait for eternity to roll around?
Family, we still need to be seeking Jesus! No matter what level of maturity our faith might be at, no matter how assured we are of our eternal life, no matter how close a relationship we have with our Lord, we still need to seek Him out! We can still grow in our faith, we can still strengthen our personal relationship with the Author of our salvation. Jesus is still alive and active and vibrant. We need to seek Him in our daily life. We, His church, His body, needs to be alive and active and vibrant.
Fear shouldn’t keep us from seeking a closer relationship with Jesus or from doing His work. The angel told us to not be afraid, for Jesus, who was crucified, has risen, just as He said. He also said He will be with us to the end of the age as we carry on His work, and He keeps that promise too.
So let’s all still seek Jesus, in our Bible reading and study, in our worship, in our fellowship together, and in our work in the world spreading the Gospel and making disciples. Seek the Lord and rejoice! For Jesus lives! Christ our Lord is risen today! Alleluia! Amen.
Let us pray… Lord Jesus Christ, Savior, Redeemer, Master… We stand before Your empty grave, we see the stone rolled away, we hear the angel’s words, and we are in awe, too amazed to believe what our eyes and ears tell us. And then You speak: “Rejoice!” And all we can think to do is to sing Alleluias and worship you. You sacrificed all for us, You died for us, You were buried for us. You bore no sin of Your own so You carried all the sins of the world to the grave and left them there. You shed every last drop of Your precious blood just so we might be washed clean when we stand in judgment before our Father God.
We praise You, Lord Jesus, and we thank You! Words alone could never convey just how thankful we are, so we give You our hearts in gratitude. We give You our lives – take and use them as You will. In Your glorious name, Lord Jesus, we pray.
And now, Father God, hear us as we pray to You as Your Son Jesus taught us… Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Late Friday afternoon, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph followed Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb where he laid the body of Jesus. They hurried home to prepare some fragrant oils to anoint the body of their Lord. But the Sabbath began before they could complete this task, so they had to rest as was their law.
Once the Sabbath ended, early Sunday morning, just as the sun began to lighten the sky, the two women returned to the grave to finish what they’d started. But as they arrived, the ground shook as an angel came from heaven and rolled the heavy boulder out of the tomb’s opening. The soldiers placed there to guard the tomb also shook, but with fear of what they’d just witnessed.
The angel said to the women, “I know you came seeking Jesus but He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said He would.” As they rushed back to tell the others, they met Jesus on the way. They came seeking the body of Jesus, but instead found Him, risen and still alive, still active, still vibrant.
There are two things I wonder this morning. First, I wonder if anyone went seeking the body of Jesus today, would they find it? I remember a number of years ago there was this big fuss about finding what were believed to be the bones of Jesus, but they couldn’t really prove it to anyone’s satisfaction. So there are probably still some people looking for the remains of the Son of Man.
But what does our Bible tell us of the body of Jesus? What does the Apostle Paul say the body of Christ really is now? We are the body of Christ Jesus! We are His church, His body left on earth to carry out His work once He went back home to heaven!
So I’ll ask again… Would anyone seeking the body of Jesus find it in this world today? Sure they can find this beautiful building, and many others that have “church” in their name. And if they come on a Sunday morning they can find us all together worshiping God. But the world is not likely to come here looking. The world is out there, looking to see what, if anything, the body of Jesus is doing… out there. If they’re seeking the body of Jesus, will they find it?
I also wonder how many are still seeking Jesus today. And I don’t mean just among the non-believers of the world. I’d like to think there are some out there who are interested in the Christian faith, who may want to learn more about this Jesus, who might want to follow Him if they could just give up whatever it is that holds them back. These are the folks we need to be reaching out to, because they have a chance of salvation.
But for this morning, I’m more concerned with how many of us who profess to be Christians are still seeking Jesus! When we exercise the faith God gave us and believe in Jesus as God’s Son and accept Him as our Master and our Savior, then we are granted eternal life through Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s mercy and grace.
Many of us grew up as steadfast believers and never had to make a drastic transition. But as for the rest, something happened in our life that shook us enough that we had no other choice but to believe and accept Jesus in our life. So we believe, we’re save, but then what? We just wait for eternity to roll around?
Family, we still need to be seeking Jesus! No matter what level of maturity our faith might be at, no matter how assured we are of our eternal life, no matter how close a relationship we have with our Lord, we still need to seek Him out! We can still grow in our faith, we can still strengthen our personal relationship with the Author of our salvation. Jesus is still alive and active and vibrant. We need to seek Him in our daily life. We, His church, His body, needs to be alive and active and vibrant.
Fear shouldn’t keep us from seeking a closer relationship with Jesus or from doing His work. The angel told us to not be afraid, for Jesus, who was crucified, has risen, just as He said. He also said He will be with us to the end of the age as we carry on His work, and He keeps that promise too.
So let’s all still seek Jesus, in our Bible reading and study, in our worship, in our fellowship together, and in our work in the world spreading the Gospel and making disciples. Seek the Lord and rejoice! For Jesus lives! Christ our Lord is risen today! Alleluia! Amen.
Let us pray… Lord Jesus Christ, Savior, Redeemer, Master… We stand before Your empty grave, we see the stone rolled away, we hear the angel’s words, and we are in awe, too amazed to believe what our eyes and ears tell us. And then You speak: “Rejoice!” And all we can think to do is to sing Alleluias and worship you. You sacrificed all for us, You died for us, You were buried for us. You bore no sin of Your own so You carried all the sins of the world to the grave and left them there. You shed every last drop of Your precious blood just so we might be washed clean when we stand in judgment before our Father God.
We praise You, Lord Jesus, and we thank You! Words alone could never convey just how thankful we are, so we give You our hearts in gratitude. We give You our lives – take and use them as You will. In Your glorious name, Lord Jesus, we pray.
And now, Father God, hear us as we pray to You as Your Son Jesus taught us… Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
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