Easter Day: He Must Rise

Anthony W. Franklin

Easter: He is/We are • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented 2 months ago

John 20:1–18

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Scripture: John 20:1-18

John 20:1–18 NIV

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

3/31/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Special Music

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 3: Special Music

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we gather here to remember and celebrate Your great victory over the grave today. We know Your resurrection was just the beginning of the waves of salvation You have washed over the earth, freeing us from sin and death and leading us into new life. May our joyous and grateful worship touch Your heart today as You have touched ours. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

He Must Rise

Taken For Granted

You never really know how much something is worth until you lose it.

Mary had a baby, who the angel said was the son of God. While she and Joseph had one holy night when he was born, the news of his birth caused them to flee the country. They lost contact with their family for years. And for 30 years, Jesus was a pretty ordinary boy, growing into a pretty ordinary carpenter. There were a few moments when He reminded her exactly whose son He was. But not many. Then, one day, He left her with His younger brothers and never returned home.

The disciples had some incredible encounters with Jesus, many of which led them to give up everything they had to follow Him, almost unquestioningly. They gave their all for three years, witnessing some unforgettable miracles and becoming increasingly confused by Jesus daily. The week leading up to Passover was the worst. They had come to the place where they hoped for a final victory. Instead, everything went wrong, and it seemed like Jesus led it that way. Jesus made it seem like everything was going according to His plan.

After that, He was gone, and all their grumblings went away with Him, buried in the cold, stone tomb, and they were left alone with their grief. But that is not the end of the story. Jesus had to die for our forgiveness, and He had to rise to lead us into a new life.

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He Must Die

What have they done with Jesus?

That was the question on everyone’s mind from the moment of His arrest until they took His body down from the cross. I can see Peter standing outside the gate, jumping every time the spiked whip cracked across Jesus’s back, as Peter felt that sting along with Jesus. It’s no wonder he was confronted not once, not twice, but three times by people convinced he belonged to Jesus.

Jesus got under their skin. As much as they struggled to understand what He was teaching and doing, they all found new life with Him. They were like plants that had struggled their entire lives trying to grow in the sand, rocks, and thorns. Finally, they were picked up and transplanted into beautiful black, fertilized soil, and they were beginning to bloom. But now their soil was being scraped away from them, and there was nothing they could do but sit there and watch.

They didn’t understand why Jesus had to die. They were familiar with the Old Testament prophecies, but with all of those predictions, none came outright and said that the Son of God would die for the sins of the world. Jesus told them that. He was able to piece those prophecies together in a way that showed them that, but they couldn’t believe and could not understand why Jesus said He must die.

Those who were the closest to Jesus watched Him breathe His final breath, heard Him cry out to God, and felt their hearts pierced when the soldier stabbed His side with a spear to be sure He was finally dead. They huddled together, afraid, agitated, angry, in their grief for two days, unable to do anything anymore because Jesus was gone.

What had they done with Jesus?

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He Must Rise

Now, it is the third day, and they can finally go to the tomb to prepare His body properly and give it the burial He deserves. Mary and the women travel to the tomb. It is still dark. The sun is only beginning to rise in the eastern sky, and Mary is trying to find the cave in this rocky landscape where they buried Jesus.

Her heart is racing. She goes ahead because they still expect Roman guards to be in the area, and she hopes that being a woman, they will overlook her. But as she approaches the tomb carved into the hillside, her heart surges, and she can feel in her bones that something is wrong—very wrong. The guards are gone. That enormous stone has been moved. The tomb is wide open.

She instinctively holds her nose, remembering Lazarus. He had been in the tomb for several days, too, and the stench was unbearable. They had not even had the time to wash Jesus’s body as they carried him from the cross to this tomb. The smell should be overpowering, and she begins to fear she will have to chase away the wild animals from mangling His body.

But as she lets go of her nose, she only smells the dew on the grass growing on the hillside. She hears no sounds of animals fighting over scraps, only the gentle song of crickets in the morning. The realization begins to dawn on her that this tomb is empty, and the tears start to flow from her eyes as she sobs and wails, every bit of strength she had built up to stay strong over the last two days finally breaking.

In the waves of her grief, she hears a strange voice filled with “curiosity”?

“Woman, why are you crying?”

Through her tears, she can barely make out these two strange-looking men, dressed in white, sitting on the slab in the tomb where they had laid Jesus’s body.

“They have taken away my Lord!” she sobs, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.”

Then, behind her, she hears again that same question in a different voice. This one is not so much curious as caring.

“Woman, why are you crying?”

This man has a look to Him of confidence and fresh alertness this morning that comes from knowing every inch of the ground beneath His feet. He is no stranger or visitor here. He carries Himself and speaks with the voice of someone in charge. He must be the caretaker of this land, and nothing would have happened here without His say-so. And so, Mary finally has someone to direct the question plaguing her for days.

“What have you done with Jesus?”

For three years, Jesus had held her close, keeping her safe and showing her who she could be when she was close to Him. All she wanted to do for the past three days was hold Him. He didn’t have to say anything, and at this point, He didn’t even have to be alive. She just wanted to hold Him one more time. And there, stewing in the hurt and anger rising in her, she hears her name spoken in a way that only one person ever said it.

“Mary.”

And she sees Jesus. No longer is He the stranger from a strange place, sent to show us a different way. No longer is He the one the powers of this world reject and belittle, maim, kill, and cast aside in disgust and anger. Here he is, plain as day, alive, and looking like He is completely in charge. He looks like the man who just won the kingdom back for God.

“Teacher! she cries out, and then all Mary can do is sob and hold Him, as everything: all those feelings, questions, worries, and fears are stripped away in a moment.

Just as He said, He must die, and He must rise.

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Do Not Hold On To Him

Finally, after she calms down, Jesus tells her, “Mary, you have to let go. Please do not hold on to me. I still have work to do, and so do you. We still have to wait a little longer before being together forever because others still do not know. They are still in their grief, guilt, anger, and despair. They still don’t understand why I had to die and why I had to rise again. I have to return to my father, and you have to return to your brothers and sisters and tell them everything. To do that, you first have to let me go.”

It was the hardest hug she would ever relinquish and the most difficult steps she ever took walking away from Him at that hillside, even though her heart was filling up with a new kind of joy and courage and her mind was spinning, trying to figure out what she would say to the other disciples. What could you say?

Jesus had to die to free us from sin and rise from the dead so that we could continue following Him into the new life and new purpose that Mary began as she took those steps back to Jerusalem. But Mary’s question reaches out to us through God’s Word to challenge our love and loyalty to Jesus.

What have you done with Jesus?

Have you ignored Him and His call on your life? Have you rejected and fought against Him as He tears at the walls you build up around yourself?

Have you used Him like a washrag to clean yourself up after you have made a mess of your life? Have you sought Him out like a guidebook on how to run your life?

Or have you, like Mary, built your life around Him so much that you cannot stand to be apart from Him... that it takes everything in you to let Him go and be able to see that there are others around who still have not seen and heard, have not met this Savior whom death and the grave could not hold, and neither can we.

Do not hold on to Him. Love Him. Trust Him. Know that He wants You to let go because He is going ahead of you to prepare the way for you. You cannot hold Him down, and you cannot hold Him back. He still lives, and He still leads. And He still calls you and I to Follow Him.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, master, ruler of all, we rejoice in your victory over the grave. We cannot fully express gratitude to You for giving Your life to free us from sin. You fill us with boldness when we face our fears, worries, and the temptations of this world, knowing that our strength comes from you. You are our hope in a way we have never experienced Hope. And although, in these moments, we want to hold on tight to You and never let go, we trust You. We receive Your love gratefully, and we go to share it graciously as we follow You forever. In Your Holy name, we pray. Amen.

Easter Communion

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to give thanks to you,

Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,

brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey,

and set before us the way of life.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your Church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

By your great mercy, we have been born anew

to a living hope through the resurrection of your Son from the dead

and to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

Once we were no people, but now we are your people,

declaring your wonderful deeds in Christ,

who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always,

in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread,

gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

On the day you raised him from the dead

he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread,

and in the power of your Holy Spirit your Church has continued

in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,

we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving

as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,

as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,

that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,

one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,

all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God ), now and forever.

Amen.

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