What did God roll back that 1st Easter morning? Hosea said, "You have fallen through your iniquities! Come back to the Lord! (14:1)." Paul said (Romans 3:23), "We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So what happened that morning?
Jesus, by His action and example, gave us some great lessons for life, and some great gifts that came at the price of His life, death and resurrection. The first action is both actual and symbolic. God rolled away the stone. Actual power is demonstrated in Matthew 28:2, "an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled away the stone." It is not so impressive that a rock is rolled away ... but it is wonderful, amazing and powerful that the Father sends an angel down to roll away what Matthew calls "a large stone. But, and I love this, the symbol here is that God rolls away the barriers between us and eternal life. Death was placed in the tomb. But when the stone rolls away, life enters the tomb. Jesus breathes, lives and continues His life for His people, which will be completed upon His return. We say, every Sunday, "The third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended to heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead." God rolls away the power of death! Do you believe it?
Before Jesus leaves the tomb, He taught us another lesson ... the lesson of faith, peace and trust in the midst of an event that changed the world. In the midst of being raised from the dead, being released from a tomb and being sent back out into the world that caused His death, Jesus is calm, patient and assured. God's word describes His funeral cloth (that was wrapped around Jesus' head) as being "wrapped together in a place by itself." Not randomly thrown over to the side. Not wadded up in a pile of other things. Laid aside and neatly wrapped in a calculated and unhurried manner. I would have been running out of that tomb, and it would have never seen my face again ... only the soles of my shoes and my back! Jesus folds the napkin, and is walking in the garden when Mary Magdalene (John 20:15) sees him and is in shocked awe and joy. Jesus rolls away our panic, our peacelessness and our lack of faith. Do you accept it?
Jesus also rolls away our binding to this world. We, truly, are a people chained and bound ... even Christians! This Sunday we will celebrate Easter. We will meet at 7am at 1st Baptist, and we will share the resurrection with our brothers and sisters in Abbeville, as we say, "He is risen ... He is risen indeed!." We will then go to our respective congregations, fill the pews (9am and 11am here at Abbeville UMC) and fill our hearts and eyes with the Easter story. It will be beautiful, I hope! But then, many will return to old habits ... old church attendance patterns ... old avocations ... old worries ... old prejudices. You get the point ... we will return to the muck and rat-race of life we call "normal." All of this will happen as Jesus says (He shouts it on Easter) "Return to me!" Return to a new heart ... a right Spirit ... a new life ... to peace ... to faith ... to corporate worship when the church doors are open! Jesus is saying, "I want to roll away the iniquity of your time!" Will you claim it?
So ... here is my ending question. Will we let Him? Will we let Jesus roll away the power death has over our lives? Will we accept the wonderful gift that rolls away our inability to grasp peace and trust and faith? Will we allow God to roll away our iniquity that tells us the lies of our time? That we can be part-time worshippers. That we can belong to Jesus without being in unity with brothers/sisters that are different than us. That we can make time for events (concerts, pageants, graduations, recreation) but place corporate worship on the back burner. There is a beautiful verse of prophecy (usually forgotten) from the Book of Hosea (6:1-2) that says it like this ... "Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us. He has wounded us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us. On the third day, He will raise us up that we may live in His presence!" Accept God's gift! Perceive God's miracle! Return! AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment