What we do with the children at the front of the church on Easter Sunday – I got that from my father.  I remember sitting in the congregation (I was young but too old to be going out for children’s church as we called it) and seeing the children gather around him as he told them about the first Easter Sunday.   He told them about the women who approached the place where Jesus’ body had been laid, and when they arrived, they were in for a surprise!

As you saw, at that point one of the children would be asked to go look behind the pulpit or some other out-of-the-way place to find a basket of chocolate eggs.  The thing is, even a child understands the significance of being surprised.  Do we get beyond that though, when we’ve lived through a few things?  Do we get beyond the capacity to be surprised when we’ve been around for a while; when memories of what it meant to know wonder and delight fade?  The capacity for astonishment and wonder.  The ability to imagine something new.  The ability to imagine ourselves made new.  Do we say with the ancient writer, “There is nothing new under the sun”?  One of the things we learn from the story recorded by Luke here is that the resurrection was not an anticipated event it catches everyone by surprise.  “What is going to make a difference?” we might ask.  “Is anything going to make a difference?” we might ask.  Is anything going to make a difference?  Are we so set in a routine or mindset about how things normally happen that we’re jaded or that we’re missing what God is doing or that we’ve forgotten about God’s promises?  Might God’s promises be made known to us in surprising ways?  Could we be surprised this Easter Sunday 2023?

This is interesting.  The books of the New Testament were not written in the order that we have them in our Bibles.  It is generally accepted that Paul’s letters were the first to be written down and distributed, starting from the late 40’s.  Paul’s 1^st letter to the Corinthians is generally thought to have been written in the early 50s.  The four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – came a couple of decades later.  We can’t be 100% on dates and you may be wondering rightly why I’m bringing any of this up at all on this celebratory day.  I want us to take a look at how Paul tells of the good news of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 and notice something. 

  Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters,^[a] of the good news^[b] that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ² through which also you are being saved if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

³ For I handed on to you as of first importance what I, in turn, had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters^[c] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.^[d] 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me.

1. Raised.  Appeared.  Why are we looking at this story as Luke tells it?  What might God have to say to our hearts through it?

I wonder how we’re approaching Easter.  Are we happy/excited/mourning/fearful/perplexed?  One thing you cannot accuse us of around Blytwood is shying away from reality.  Whether it’s in the form of a head-in-the-sand-type pose or toxic positivity.  We’re not called to these things as followers of Christ.  These women who came to the tomb that first Easter morning were in mourning.  It was early dawn – literally deep dawn.  It was darkness on the edge of light.  Light was beginning to break and it was enough light to let them see something.

The women who had come with him from Galilee have not left him.  Their response to Jesus even now continues to be one of devotion.  They have shown up and left themselves open to receive something that they don’t yet know they’re going to receive.  We have all shown up today and there’s a significance in showing up and leaving ourselves open to receive something.

They found the stone rolled away. When they went in, they did not find the body.  Now an empty tomb is no proof of anything and we’re not here to prove anything this morning.  Faith is not the result of a deductive chain or a successful argument.  Faith is, as someone has said, a decision of trust based on a declared truth.  We are here this morning to declare the truth.  We’re not here this morning to celebrate spring.  We’re not here to simply celebrate new birth and flowers and buds on the trees (though we like these things and they remind us of other things).  We’re not here to celebrate a subjective inner experience that a bunch of people had some time after their teacher had been executed or to celebrate wise teaching from a first-century teacher and follow that teaching.

We’re here to celebrate and proclaim this.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed! Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

We’re in God’s presence here.  We are in the presence of something beyond ourselves this morning, just as these women were.  We know this is the case whenever a couple of people appear in white or dazzling clothes.  Dazzling! When the figures in white show up, things are happening.  When the clothes are dazzling, something is going down.  There’s something happening here indeed.  The women react in a fitting and a proper way when confronted with the divine – they bow their faces to the ground.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” is the question. And then the news.  The news that we are marking today. 

“He is not here but has risen.  Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  Remember how he told you what the plan was?  How the Son of Man must… Throughout Luke, Jesus has been speaking of what must happen.  “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also…”  “I must stay at your house today.”  Jesus executing the plan.  Jesus handing himself over.

Just as he told you.  What he said he was going to do, he did. You know what one of the really wonderful thing is about being in church today?  We have a chance to do the same thing that these women did over 2,000 years ago.  Listen again to v 8.  “Then they remembered his words.” 

Very often this is how faith works.  You hear something that might not have very much meaning until later when you remember it.  Someone has said that faith does not usually move from promise to fulfillment, but from fulfillment to promise.  In other words, it is not usually in hearing a promise that we come to faith, and then see the fulfillment of that promise – more often than not we come to faith or a deepening of our faith in knowing the fulfillment of a promise and then looking back and remembering the promise.

So it was for these women.  They remembered the promise. “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 

They saw the promise fulfilled and they remembered it.  If you’ve been following Christ for any length of time you understand what I’m saying.  What are the things that Christ promised?  Let us remember his words together.  Words from Luke’s Gospel.  “I do choose.  Be made clean.”  “Follow me.”  “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.”  “Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”  Let us remember his words.  Let us remember his promise.  “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  “As the Father has loved me, so love I you.”  “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  Is it any wonder this is called the good news?  What did you know of those promises when you first took up Jesus’ call to follow him, to call Jesus Lord?  How have you seen them fulfilled in your life and in the lives of those around you?  What has this meant to your faith?  To step out in faith and follow the risen Lord Jesus Christ is to know his promises fulfilled in our lives.  It is to trust one who has proven himself to be more worthy of our trust than we could imagine or explain.

These women remember.  They make their choice.  They choose well.  As is so often the case, the women are far out ahead of the men.  Luke names them.  The first to tell the news that has been reported now for over 2,000 years.  Mary Magdalene. Joanna.  Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them.  They went and tell all this to the eleven and to all the rest.  All the rest.  Let’s include ourselves in that number.  Because the grave is empty and we’re hearing the news too. 

Let’s ask ourselves a question.  What are we going to do with this empty tomb?

The Bible doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything and our story doesn’t have everyone believing and going happily on their way.  Our story shows the weight that resurrection puts on faith.  We’re talking about Jesus who has died and whom God has raised.  If that hasn’t happened then we are of all people the most to be pitied and there’s really not much point about talking about the fact that he was born in a manger because he might as well have been born in the back of a cab for all it matters. We’re not children anymore.  We’ve known something of life and all that life brings and has brought and we might even have some sort of idea of what it could bring.  What do we do with this?  The women are reporting everything.  The message is he is risen.  “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”  This is another possibility of course and I’m not naïve enough to think we’re all on the same page on the Jesus thing here.  It’s an idle tale.  Same word that describes delirium.  The women are delirious.  It’s an old wives’ tale. I read a novel recently where two women are talking about the phrase old wives' tale after they’ve just experienced the restorative nature of chicken soup.  One says “It’s not just an old wives’ tale about chicken soup.”  The other responds, “I hate that phrase… it’s so hateful and sexist and ageist when you think about it.  ‘Old wives’ tale’ means something that’s untrue or not scientifically proven?  ‘Old wives’ tale is basically a way of saying ignore everything that dumb old woman says… I hadn’t thought of it that way either.  Not until I became an old wife myself.”  I can’t prove any of this to you.  I can’t explain to you what it means in your life to find life in giving our lives over to the risen Christ who loves us and loved us to the end, even unto death.  If you’ve experienced the risen Christ you know what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t I invite you to experience him this morning.  Make Easter 2023 the Easter where everything changed.  Pray I want to know those promises.  Promises of forgiveness.  Of accompaniment.  Of a new heart. Of peace.  Of rest. Of life with Christ as my foundation, my centre, my king.

Our passage ends.  Peter got up and ran to the tomb.  He stooped down, looked in, saw the linen cloths by themselves, and went home, amazed at what had happened.  There’s very little immediate effect, but there will be effects.  The story didn’t end and it hasn’t ended and we’ll keep telling it and asking God to help us live it.  Sin and death have done the worst thing they could do.  God used their power against them like a judo champ.  God took death’s best shot and rolled it over (like the stone was rolled away) in self-giving love to show that the glory of God (majesty of this King) would be displayed in self-giving love.  Death defeated.  Nothing would ever be the same and nothing need ever be the same for us.

Nobody expected it. Nobody expected this God of the unexpected who does life-changing things.  World-changing things.  Things we could never have imagined.  Things we could never have found within ourselves.  Things we could never have done ourselves.  Ways that we have loved.  Ways that we have forgiven.  Ways that we have grieved.  Ways that we have mourned.  Ways that we have celebrated.  We say this morning “Thank you risen Christ for your grace.  Thank you for our love for us and all you have made.  Help me to live in you and show and tell of you.”   May this be the prayer of our hearts, and may this be true for us all dear friends.  Amen.