1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Two evenings ago, while gathered at Minnie’s Chapel in Stuart we remember that Jesus was crucified on the cross. Some probably thought, “Good Riddance! He was just a pest and a thorn in our side.” Jesus’ disciple fled for their lives, spending the next few days in hiding. I like what Pastor Ron Walker said that evening, “Victory was begun on Good Friday.” He’s absolutely right. Do we typically think of Good Friday as a day of victory? Not usually, but it was.
Maybe you have noticed it and maybe you have not. So far the choir has sung songs based on the cross and the price that Christ paid for us. I love that last hymn that we sang, “The Power of the Cross.” There was a real turning point while Jesus hung on the cross. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” the curtain of the temple was torn in two. For thousands of years, the mediator between God and man was the priest in the temple or tabernacle. When Jesus died, the vale was torn and no longer would sin be able to separate us from God. From then on, we would have direct access to God. In the cross, Christ paid the penalty that was due to us. The scriptures tell us, “for all have sinned and all fall short of God’s glorious standard. “ Not only that, but they tell us that “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.” Most of you have heard this verse from your earliest days. “For God so love the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.” Christ went to the cross because He loved us – not that we deserved it because we are considered enemies of the cross. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He loved us – he loved you so much that he would give his life for us – that he would shed his blood for a ransom. Through his blood our sins are washed white.
But if the cross was all, that would be nothing. The cross is powerful, but if Jesus would have died and not rose again, the story would be over – finished – done – the end. But praise the Lord, the cross is not the end. Three days later, Jesus rose again from the grave victorious. The victory that began on Good Friday was completed on Resurrection Sunday. Over two thousand years ago, Christ died for your sins and three days later gave you the victory over those sins. He completed the work giving us freedom from death, the grave, and hell.
Thursday night, we recounted how God delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians. In Exodus 14, we have these words:
29 But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. 30 That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. 31 When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Much like God delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians, today you can be delivered from the power of sin and death in your life. Christ has risen! Christ is alive! Much like the new life we celebrate this morning, there can be new life for you. Christ came to break the chains of sin in your life. We are about to teach you a brand new Easter hymn and I am excited to share it with you. My favorite line is in the third verse. If we receive Christ and live the way He calls us to live – we have this reassurance.
And we are raised with Him,
Death is dead, love has won,
Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him,
For He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!
