March 23, 10:00 am, Easter Service

Lesson: Psalm 118.1-2, 14-24; Jeremiah 31.1-6; Colossians 3.1-4; John 20.1-18

Sermon Title: An Open Gate

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Real Person (1)

Manning the computer help desk for the local school district was my first job. And though I was just an intern, I took the job very seriously. But not every caller took me seriously.

"Can I talk to a real person?" a caller asked.

"I am real," I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the caller said. "That was rude of me. What I meant to say was, could I talk to someone who actually knows something?"

INTRODUCTION:

  1. John M. Buchanan, Editor of the Christian Century writes about the preacher's task on Easter. (2)

The preacher's task on Easter is to talk about something that doesn't submit to reasonable discourse-the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Every preacher in the land knows that he or she is not up to this task. Every preacher is grateful for the other ways the resurrection is celebrated: by way of the hymns, the music of the organ and brass and the flowers.

When on occasion I whine a little bit about the daunting task of creatively conveying the message of the day, my closest adviser tells me what she also tells me at Christmas: "Keep it simple. Nothing fancy. What we want is to sing the hymns and hear the story."

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MAIN BODY:

  1. To keep it simple it is important to see what is closed and what is open

    1. Keeping it simple requires sight and insight.

    2. The Waitress learned something from her experience.

Tiny Sacrifices Count, Too (3):

A hurried waitress approached the table where a young girl was sitting by herself.

She quickly asked the girl what she wanted.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" the little girl inquired.

The waitress snapped, "$1.75."

The girl looked at her fistful of change and then asked,

"How much is a dish of just plain ice cream?"

"$1.50," retorted the waitress.

"Then I'll take the plain ice cream, please," said the young customer.

The waitress returned with the bowl of ice cream but delivered it in rude silence.

After the little girl finished her ice cream and left, the waitress went to clean off the table.

To her shame, she found two dimes and five pennies.

Her tip was the exact amount the little girl needed to get a sundae rather than just plain ice cream.

      1. The waitress used her physical sight to see what was taking place.

      2. She had to use her used her insight to understand what had taken place.

    1. This is an excellent example of a closed mind that was opened by a small child and her experience.

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  1. Kevin Moore asks, Who Do You See?

    1. He invites us to do some thinking about the four principal characters in John 20.

    2. It's likely that the each of us who are gathered here this Easter Sunday are represented by one of these four people.

      1. Peter: He saw the empty tomb, but was confused.

        1. He had no idea what it all meant.

        2. But, oh well, it wasn't going to stop him from getting on with his life.

        3. He returns to Galilee, his old job and moves on.

      2. Mary: She saw the empty tomb and, like Peter was confused, but totally immobilized.

        1. It was hard to think about how she was going to live without Jesus in her life.

        2. It is she who, when Jesus calls her by name, is able to utter the great resurrection affirmation: "I have seen the Lord."

      3. Thomas: He didn't see, and he didn't believe.

        1. He didn't get it.

        2. He could not get his head or his heart around an alleged resurrection without some kind of empirical evidence.

      4. John: He saw and believed. Period.

        1. That is, he saw the empty tomb.

        2. He got it immediately.

        3. He knew that Jesus was the risen Lord!

  2. Today, on this Easter Sunday, we use both sight and insight.

    1. Insight helps us to see beyond the immediate to the eternal.

Alpine Shrine: There is a famous shrine in the Italian Alps.

Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in order to visit this shrine.

On their pilgrimage they pass the "stations of the cross" and walk up to an outdoor crucifix.

One tourist noticed a grass-covered trail leading on beyond the cross.

It was clear that most of the people who came to view the shrine stopped at the crucifix.

This tourist fought through the rough thicket beyond the crucifix and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine

This shrine symbolized the empty tomb.

      1. It was neglected, over-grown.

      2. Too many had stopped too soon.

    1. We sometimes stop with the cross because our sight does not allow us to proceed to an empty tomb.

    2. Insight helps us to see beyond the physical limitations of human thought and experience to the divine reality.

      1. It is said that Michael Faraday (4), a great man of science once heard a student sneer at the mention of the resurrection of the body.

As the story goes, Faraday threw a silver goblet into a jar of acid, which completely dissolved it.

Then he threw in a substance which precipitated the silver on the bottom of the jar.

He later took the silver to a silversmith who made it into a goblet more beautiful than before.

The teacher then said, "If I, an ordinary scientist, can dissolve and remake a silver goblet, is it a thing incredible that God can raise the body from the dead?"

  1. It is not an incredible thing, is it?

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  1. The limitations that are imposed on God are human ones.

    1. These limitations are the ones that we come to believe about ourselves.

      1. This is because we are limited by our own experience.

      2. Insight helps us to have faith in a God who can raise the dead.

    2. Insight permits us to personally experience and to share the truth of Easter.

Tell It Like You Mean It (5)

The famous conductor Reichel was conducting a practice of Handel's Messiah.

The soprano soloist had just finished singing "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth."

She had done a beautiful job, and everyone expected her to receive heaps of praise from Reichel.

Instead, he scrutinized her a moment, then said, "My daughter, you do not really know that your Redeemer lives, do you?"

The woman squirmed a little, then said, "Why, yes, I believe I do."

"Then sing it!" Reichel commanded. "Tell it to me so that I'll know you have experienced the joy and power of it."

The soloist sang it again, this time with all the joy and passion that the song deserves.

She brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the room.

When she finished, Reichel wiped his own eyes and said, "You do know, for this time you have told me."

    1. If we have not truly experienced the story, we cannot tell it with the strength and emotion that communicates it.

    2. If we have personally experienced a resurrection of spirit, we will tell the story like we meant it.

    3. Jesus tested the system and proves its reliability for us.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. Sight and Insight help us to understand what is closed and what is open.

    1. Some time ago a newspaper carried an unusual headline.

      1. It read, "Test Takes Risk Out of Dyeing." (6)

It was talking about dyeing hair.

An expert on feminine beauty was being quoted.

He said that a woman should make a test on one strand of her hair before dyeing all of it.

  1. That makes sense.

    1. But it was the headline that attracted attention.

      1. "Test takes risk out of dyeing."

      2. It does doesn't it.

      3. If the risk is reduced then can we allow ourselves to live as Christians ought to live?

    2. If the risk is reduced can we strengthen both our sight and insight?

    3. If we are willing to allow ourselves to live in strength, then the sacrifice that Christ made for us and witnesses to on an Easter Sunday morning is not in vain.

  1. Martin Luther observed and wrote:

Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands,
For our offenses given;
But now at God's right hand he stands
And brings us life from heaven;
Therefore let us joyful be
And sing to God right thankfully
Loud songs of hallelujah.

Amen!

1. Received from "All In a Day's Work" by Sharron Jones. The Good, Clean Funnies List [gcfl-info@gcfl.net]

2. Buchanan, John M., "Lines for Easter, Editor's Desk," The Christian Century, March 25, 2008, page 3.

3. The NEWSLETTER Newsletter, November 1992, p. 1. Quoted in In Other Words.

4. Roland Q. Leavell, KING AND KINGDOM

5. Norman G. Wilson, "The Salvation of Jesus the Messiah," The Wesleyan Advocate, Dec. 1992, p. 23.

6. James E. Carter, People Parables, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1973)

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