SERMON TITLE: Easter People, the People of the Future
Preached by the Rev. John Lee on April 8,
2007 at DPUC
SCRIPTURE READING
20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."
20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.
20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
20:5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
20:8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
20:9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
20:10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
20:12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
20:13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher).
20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
20:18 Mary
Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the
Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Easter People, the People of the Future
The German theologian Jurgen Moltmann expresses in a single sentence the great span from Good Friday to Easter. It is, in fact, a summary of human history, past, present, and future: "God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him." So the Easter morning is the time of the greatest celebration for us and for the people all around the world.
We had sunrise service together with
friends of Faith Presbyterian and
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb and the tomb was empty. They saw what had happened in the tomb, and they went back home. They told friends, but they wouldn’t believe. So they came and saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that Christ must rise from the dead. We too believe in the resurrection as they came, and saw, and believed.
Christ is risen. And he is here; here today, here in our midst, here in our hearts, here in the words we speak, here in the love we show, here even in our questions and our doubts. Christ is here to share his power of self-emptying, his truth, his love, his strength, and his faithfulness with all who would receive it.
Christ is risen. And he is here; here to do what we can not do for ourselves, here to grant us victory over evil powers and death, here to open to us the way to God, here to lift us up when we fall, here to forgive and to heal, here to transform and make new, here to let us know that God is always with us. What we celebrate here today, and every Sunday,
is the coming future that God continues to create. Therefore identifying us as disciples of Christ is that we are Easter people, and we are the people of the future.
We celebrate that God cares for us, and blesses us to be in harmony. We celebrate today and every Sunday the fact that God is with us, the Easter People. And we celebrate that we are the people of the future. In this celebration we get to understand that Easter is the key to our faith and to our hope. In this celebration, we get to know that this hope is right at the end of our hands and moves for the future society and the future world. But the question is whether we perceive it or not.
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around
and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Even the faithful disciple, Mary,
couldn’t recognize Jesus who was standing beside her.
On this Easter Sunday, let us think of our
future, the future of DPUC. And think of where we can find the risen Christ. Let
us think of our future, not 100 or 1000 years, but five or ten years from now. And
let us think of how and where Jesus Christ leads us. We do not have an answer
or a concrete map of the future. But we do have the answer to how we can follow
the way Jesus leads us.
We can find and follow the way that Jesus leads us by emptying ourselves as Jesus did, and seek God’s will by keeping the Christ in our hearts, and pray to God for God’s inspiration as we say in prayer, “Not my will but thy will be done.” On this Easter Sunday morning, the risen Christ speaks to us, saying, “Empty yourself. Empty yourself and accept others as they are, and seek the ways to have mutual respect, and have the fellowship like I am in God and God in me. This is the way of the Easter people, the people of the future. This is the way to the eternal life.
On this Easter morning we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit. In this our new journey, we, Easter people, are not alone. God’s is with us in life, in death, in life beyond death. Thanks be to God.
This site is prepared by the Rev. John Young-Jung Lee,
a minister of The United Church of Canada
with volunteers who are committed in the works
of Peace and Justice in our global village
Volunteers are wecome. Please Contact web master
Acknowledgement:
Web planning team: Marion Current, Hannah Lee
Technical support & web designer: David Nam-Joong Kim
Art design team: Raymond NamKi Jung, Johnny Jong Hyun Jeong
Updated April 8, 2007