“The Road Not Taken”
March 23rd, 2008Matthew 28:1-10 - Death wil
l mess with our senses. The death of a loved one affects our ability even to function in the world. When the two Mary’s went to the tomb on Easter Sunday, they expected to find a Jesus’ body in the tomb. That is not quite the way it turned out. Christ has arisen! And nothing - neither life nor death - would ever be the same again. We all have “tombs” in our lives. But, Jesus has brought life where once there was death. Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
“The Road Not Taken”
Matthew 28:1-10
1. Death has a way of messing with our heads, doesn’t it? After my dad died in February, I walked around in a fog for quite some time (some might say that I am still in a bit of a fog).
A. I forgot things. I had difficulty attending to some of the practical tasks of daily living.
B. I slept a lot.
C. Have any of you walked around in that strange place after the death of a loved one?
D. Death is a cruel reality. Whenever I read any of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, before I get to the good part about the empty tomb, I am struck by these words.
E. “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.”
F. Now, I want to stop here for a moment and take a small digression. It bears mentioning that 4 of the 5 people that knew Jesus and that stayed with him until the end of his life were women.
G. And women were the first to bear witness to His resurrection.
H. For those who would seek to diminish the role of women in the life of Christ – and the life of the church – I offer that little food for thought.
2. But, what haunts me is the question: where did the two Mary’s get the strength to go visit the tomb?
A. They went to anoint Jesus with oils, as was the custom of the day. But, where did they find the strength to perform such a task, especially after bearing witness to Jesus’ brutal death?
B. And so they get to the tomb. Matthew 28:2-5a – stop with “do not be afraid…”
C. Do not be afraid – any one of those things would scare me to death. But an earthquake, flashing light, and frightened soldiers…I am afraid…I am very afraid.
D. But, the Mary’s stay and listen to the angel. And thank God that they did. Because he had some very good news. Matthew 28:5b-7.
E. And so they went to tell the disciples. These two brave women who have been open and fearless about their devotion to Jesus go to tell the good news that Jesus lives to the scaredy-cat disciples, hiding away in a room somewhere trying to figure out what to do next.
F. Can you imagine their joy? They must have wept crocodile tears the whole way home. They must have danced like schoolchildren. Oh, what a celebration these two women must have shared.
3. What started out as a day of mourning, of deep, unbearable sorrow, had not become a day a great joy! Christ is risen! What can this mean?
A. The story is told of the day a black minister took the pulpit in a West Philadelphia church, and wowed the congregation with a sermon that consisted of roughly five words. “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a’ comin.”
B. “It’s Friday – Jesus dead on the tree, but…”
C. “It’s Friday – Mary is crying her eyes out, and the disciples are running around like a sheep without a shepherd, but…”
D. “It’s Friday, and people are saying that ‘you can’t change nothing in this world.’ But, they didn’t know, it was Friday, but…”
E. “It’s Friday, people are saying darkness is going to rule the world, sadness is going to be everywhere, but they don’t know it’s only Friday, but…”
F. My friends, that first Easter morning began with the sense of darkness that lingered from Friday. But, they did not know – that Sunday had come.
4. It is important to recognize that when the Mary’s walked to the tomb, they expected to experience death – not life. They expected to see, encased in the stony tomb, the body of Jesus. And because of that expectation, there lives were gripped with unimaginable sorrow.
A. To what tombs do we make pilgrimage in our lives? What are the signs of death that entomb us?
B. For many of us, we go to the tomb of alcohol abuse, or drug abuse, hoping for life in the brief escape that chemicals provide.
C. Some of us go to the tomb of workaholism, hoping to bury our pain or fear in the busy-ness of being busy.
D. For some of us, our tomb is the grief that we carry from painful childhood memories, or from a relationship that has become estranged, or from the loss of a loved one.
E. For many, our tomb is simply the grief of dreams unfulfilled.
F. Others of us choose the tomb of selfishness and greed. We live our lives by the creed “it’s all about me” rather than the commandment to “love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
G. And for many, we go to the tomb of “quiet desperation” to use Henry David Thoreau’s phrase. We just keep our passion and joy and love to ourselves and “go long to get along” in this world. Our tomb has made us “comfortably numb.” But, we are not alive…
H. What is the tomb that you go to this morning? Where is the place in your world where you seek life, but find none?
5. In 1999, I sat in a room with about six other men. We had been meeting together once a week for several years. We all had different reasons for starting with the group. I began as my first marriage ended and I sought to move on with my life.
A. Whatever our reasons, each person was there because of a wound of some kind. Each one of us had a “tomb” in there life that they had to deal with.
B. One evening, a good friend – “How long are you going to waste your life?”
C. I broke down and cried. I made space for the work of God’s spirit in my life. That was the beginning of my accepting my call to ordained ministry.
D. The tomb no longer held my fears. They had died with cross, and not the tomb was empty – and I was free.
6. The word this morning is that the resurrection is real. The earthquake and bright light might have signaled that the tomb was empty.
A. But, don’t be impressed by the drama of it. Because, Jesus will meet us where we are, not with fireworks from heaven, not with a light show or special effects. The resurrection may be as simple as a “greeting” along the road; but, it will signal the new life that is yet to come.
B. The tomb is empty. What was once a place of death and despair is now a place of life and hope.
C. The tomb is empty. “He is not here,” the angels tell. He has been raised to a new life.
D. My friends, the good news this morning is that the new life that Jesus ushered in with his resurrection is available to all of us.
E. We no longer have to seek for the living among the dead. We no longer have to trek to the tombs of our lives.
F. We can shout with joy, along with the Apostle Paul, that “death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?”
7. Jesus Christ was not what people expected. He hung out with the lowest of the low. He was a friend of tax-collectors and sinners.
A. He allowed himself to be crucified on a cross for the sins of humanity.
B. He was not what anyone expected. He took, what poet Robert Frost termed, “the road not taken.”
C. And because he did, the world will never be the same.
D. He invites us, this morning to travel that same road – it may not be the most popular road in our culture. For many, it remains the road not taken.
E. But, it is the road to abundant life. It is the road to eternal hope. It is the road that leads all the way up to the cross of Friday…and the empty tomb on Sunday morning.
F. The resurrection is not simply a neat thing that happened 2000 years ago. It is an event that continues to transform history.
G. It is an event that comes with an invitation to all to walk with Christ on the road not taken…
H. The tomb is empty. Christ is risen. Will you live in Him, and let Him live in you? Amen.
Sermon delivered 3/23/08 at Light of the Canyon United Methodist Church, Anaheim Hills – Easter Sunday worship service.
