Text:\u00a0 Mark 16: 1-8<\/p>\n
I imagine there were a lot of Easter egg hunts these past few days.\u00a0 Lot of excited little children running from place to place and right behind them their excited parents.\u00a0 When all is said and done, the kids open their eggs to see what is inside.\u00a0 Some kind of candy or prize.<\/p>\n
But what if the egg is empty?\u00a0 That\u2019s not a happy thing.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong here!<\/p>\n
It the same with so many things.\u00a0 An empty refrigerator.\u00a0 An empty bank account.\u00a0 It won\u2019t be long before I have to go back east to empty my dad\u2019s house now that he is gone.\u00a0 Emptiness.<\/p>\n
Yet today we celebrate a kind of emptiness.\u00a0 An emptiness that makes a profound difference, an eternal difference.\u00a0 An emptiness that might seem too good to be true.\u00a0 But it is.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we say:<\/p>\n
This is the Day the Lord has Made When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus\u2019 body<\/span>. Who are these women we meet this morning?\u00a0 All of them were disciples who had followed Jesus.\u00a0 One Mary was the mother of the apostle James, known as James the less.\u00a0 I wonder if have been short. \u00a0Salome was the mother of another James and John, also apostles.\u00a0 Mary Magdalene was one that helped support Jesus and the disciples as they went from place to place.\u00a0 Like us, they came from different towns.\u00a0 They came from different situations in their lives.\u00a0 But they all believed that Jesus was the Christ, their Savior.\u00a0 They put their hope in him.<\/p>\n But think of what they had experienced these past few days.\u00a0 Just the other night we sang:\u00a0 Were you there?<\/em> Were you there when they crucified my Lord.<\/em> Some of them were there.\u00a0 They were there when they nailed him to that cross.\u00a0 They were there as people came by and taunted Him.\u00a0 They were there when he cried out to his Father My God, my God why have you forsaken me<\/span>.\u00a0 They were there to see him grow weaker by the hour and finally die.\u00a0 Were you there.\u00a0 They were.<\/p>\n They were there when they took his lifeless body down.\u00a0 This one who had called Lazarus back to life by the power of his Word.\u00a0 He now lay dead.\u00a0 They were there to follow the two men who carried his body to the tomb.\u00a0 And there they watched these men try as best they could to get Jesus body ready for burial before the Sabbath.\u00a0 Were you there?\u00a0 They were there to see that there was more that should have been done for Jesus\u2019 body, if there was time.<\/p>\n But there wasn\u2019t time until Sunday morning.\u00a0 So Saturday evening they went out and bought the supplies they needed.\u00a0 And early Sunday morning they set out for Jesus\u2019 grave.<\/p>\n What do you think they felt as they made their way?\u00a0 They must have been numb and confused. \u00a0They believed and yet their faith was full of question marks.\u00a0 They did not understand but they had learned the lesson of discipleship. When life is upside down the best thing to do is what is right in God\u2019s eyes and trust God for the outcome.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0For them that meant to honor Jesus with a proper burial.<\/p>\n But one thing they had forgotten with the rest.\u00a0 One thing they did not expect even though Jesus had promised it.\u00a0 They did not expect the grave to be empty even though Jesus had told them. \u00a0And even when they saw the stone rolled away it did not occur to them that this was the day the Lord had made.<\/strong> For he had risen.<\/p>\n Do we see ourselves in these women?\u00a0 I do. \u00a0We know what God has told us.\u00a0 I will help you.\u00a0 I will give you rest.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never leave you. I forgive you. \u00a0I have gone to prepare a place for you.\u00a0 We know what God has said.\u00a0 But how often we let the troubles, the problems, the hurts confuse us.\u00a0 So when life throws us a curve, we forget God\u2019s promise like these women did.<\/p>\n Well here it was especially important that they remember.\u00a0 So important that God sent an angel messenger to tell them what had really happened.\u00a0 This is the day the Lord has made.\u00a0 See the place.<\/strong><\/p>\n Think about that place, the tomb where Jesus\u2019 body had laid cold and still.\u00a0 Humanly speaking, there Jesus\u2019 body would stay.<\/p>\n A heavy stone as big as one of us was rolled into the entrance.\u00a0 The governor had that stone secured with a seal that if broken was punishable by death and to make doubly sure that nothing changed, he posted a guard at Jesus\u2019 tomb. Think about that place. Like our graves will be, it seemed that Jesus body would stay. And like the graves of loved ones we have visited, it was a place of weeping and \u00a0loss.\u00a0 Think about that place where Jesus body had laid cold and still.<\/p>\n 5 <\/sup>As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. <\/span><\/p>\n 6 <\/sup><\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t be alarmed,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him<\/span>.<\/p>\n Now think about what that place had become?\u00a0 A place that was no longer needed by Jesus.\u00a0 For what did they see?\u00a0 John tells us they saw Jesus\u2019 burial clothes lying on the floor.\u00a0 They saw that their \u00a0spices were no longer needed.\u00a0 For those things were about death.<\/p>\n You see, this place had become something else.\u00a0 Not a place of death, but a place of life, a place of victory, a place of hope.\u00a0 For what did they not see when they looked — at least for now.\u00a0 They did not see Jesus.\u00a0 For he had risen.\u00a0 He lives.\u00a0 This is the day the Lord has made. <\/strong><\/p>\n This is the day the Lord has<\/strong> made<\/strong> for you.\u00a0 For what can we now know?\u00a0 Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith died and turned to dust.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where there words belong.\u00a0 But Jesus Christ rose to life.\u00a0 So this you can know.\u00a0 Every word he spoke is true, God\u2019s truth.\u00a0 This you can know.\u00a0 Your sins are forgiven.\u00a0 For the very Son of God paid the price for you at the cross.\u00a0 This you can know.\u00a0 That Jesus is the resurrection and the life and if you believe in him you will live even though you die.\u00a0 And when we have to say our good byes to those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, we can know this.\u00a0 We will see them again in a much better place. Do you see why day is so important?\u00a0 Yes, this is the day the Lord has made<\/strong><\/p>\n But not just for you.\u00a0 For others as well.\u00a0 God so loved the world, not just you and me.\u00a0 So take this to heart.\u00a0 But don\u2019t just take it for yourself.\u00a0 Like that Easter dish on your table that is so good, it\u2019s meant to be passed on.\u00a0 This is the day the Lord has made.\u00a0 Go with the good news. <\/strong><\/p>\n The angel gave these women their assignment.\u00a0 Go and tell his disciples. Christ is risen.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of interesting that God chose women to be the first to carry this news.\u00a0 In that time and place, the testimony of women and children was not to be trusted.\u00a0 But that tells you something about who God wants to share this good news with others.\u00a0 Not just a man in a robe or a clerical collar.\u00a0 But everyone, everyone\u00a0 who can say in his or her heart, I know that my redeemer lives.<\/p>\n So immediately, everything fell into place.\u00a0 The women understood perfectly.\u00a0 They had no doubts or fears.\u00a0 So off they went ready to tell the world.\u00a0 Right? Wrong.\u00a0 8 <\/sup>Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid<\/span>.\u00a0 Yet they did what the angel called on them to do.\u00a0 Go and tell his disciples.\u00a0 And when the time came they would tell others as well.<\/p>\n Well that time has come for us.\u00a0 This is the day the Lord has made.\u00a0 Christ is risen.\u00a0 This is the day the Lord has made.\u00a0 Let us rejoice and be glad.\u00a0 But don\u2019t just keep it in.\u00a0 Go and tell the good news.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Mark 16: 1-8 I imagine there were a lot of Easter egg hunts these past few days.\u00a0 Lot of excited little children running from place to place and right behind them their excited parents.\u00a0 When all is said and done, the kids open their eggs to see what is inside.\u00a0 Some kind of candy or prize. But what if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>And here The Holy Spirit invites us in this Word:
\nI.\u00a0\u00a0 Follow the women<\/strong>
\nII.\u00a0 See the place.<\/strong>
\nIII.\u00a0 Go with the good news<\/strong><\/p>\n