The written transcript of Pastor Lola’s Easter message follows below.
LUKE 24:1-8 JESUS HAS RISEN
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”8 Then they remembered His words.
LUKE
24:1-8 BECAUSE HE LIVES
Springford Baptist Church:
EASTER SUNDAY, April 12,2020.
“He is not here; He has risen! (vs. 6a) Because Jesus lives, it changes everything, then and now!
Waiting for the incredible hope of Easter Sunday morning to be revealed is the hard part. The women who went to the tomb had forgotten the words that Jesus spoke while He was with them and so they walked to the tomb with heavy hearts and no hope at all.
They had not remembered that there was hope.
When we can know that there is hope on the horizon, we can wait and trust and believe. This takes faith and as Scripture describes faith, it is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.“ (Hebrews 11:1)
The angels who announce to the women that Jesus has risen from the dead say to them, “Remember how He told you while He was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” vss. 6b,7)
They had not remembered that there was hope.
The women had not remembered what Jesus said and so they have no hope to accompany them to the tomb.
This Easter Sunday morning, we can imagine the thoughts of these women as they made their way to where Jesus was buried. Their lives had literally been turned upside down. They had gone from following Jesus and believing that He was the “blessed one who had come in the name of the Lord” to witnessing the horrific events of Friday when Jesus died on a cruel Roman cross. They knew He was dead because they had seen with their own eyes when He breathed his last breath. So where was the hope now?
This was the Jesus who spoke and taught with such understanding and authority. This was the Jesus who went about healing people of all their afflictions. This was the Jesus who challenged hate and prejudice and injustice. This was the Jesus who treated them with respect and compassion. When they had been with Him, they had dared to believe that there was hope in a world where hope was scarce.
But where is the hope now when all that they can think to do for Him is a final act of love-to properly prepare his body for burial according to the Jewish custom?
They had not remembered that there was hope.
If we travel with the women to the tomb very early on that Sunday morning, we can understand how very desperate and sad their hearts were. We can understand how in their minds all hope had disappeared when Jesus died.
Elsewhere in Scripture we learn that the women were wondering how in the world they would roll the heavy stone away from the entrance to the tomb. (Mark 16:3) That too would have been on their minds. We have just been through this unspeakable sorrow of seeing our Lord put to death and now we don’t know how we will deal with this huge obstacle that seals His tomb.
They had not remembered that there was hope.
In our travels with these heavy hearted, hopeless women we too can approach the tomb with them to be reminded again of the miracle that they discovered on that early Sunday morning.
They
find that the stone has been rolled away and when they enter the tomb
the body of Jesus is not there. (vss.
2,3) What are they to
make of this?
While they are confused and still trying to figure
this out, they encounter two angels. Initially these angels frighten
them. They do not imagine that they are messengers of hope.
They had still not remembered that there was hope.
The women only expect the worst.
On
this Easter Sunday morning hear again with these women the hope
filled message of the angels, “Why
do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has
risen!” (vs. 5b, 6a)
And now finally, they are so close to
remembering that there is hope.
They are told what we have already heard, “Remember how He told you while He was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” (vss. 6b,7)
Then what happens? Then what happens? “Then they remembered His words.
That simple phrase is crucial, “Then they remembered His words.”
The hope had been there all along, but they had forgotten and never really understood what Jesus had said.
What about us? On this Easter Sunday 2020, are we remembering what Jesus has said? Are we holding on to hope that rises above our present circumstances and fears?
The hope of the women was threatened and ours is too. When we see events unfolding around us which we feel helpless to control, of course there is fear and uncertainty. That is completely understandable.
Just as there was hope beyond the seemingly hopeless events of Good Friday and what these women had experienced, there is hope for us beyond the sometimes seemingly hopeless events we are now experiencing.
What Jesus accomplished when He overcame death and was raised back to life gives us hope, eternal hope!
We too can remember what Jesus has said and know that God’s plans will steadily unfold. Hope is not gone! Hope is forever secure because Jesus God’s Son lives forever!
There is a gospel song that we sing together on Easter Sunday and at other times. The affirmation of this song is the hope we proclaim and the hope we want to remember and live with every day!
Here
are the words:
Because
He lives I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives all fear is
gone.
Because I know He holds the future.
And life is worth the
living. Just because He lives.
We can remember this Easter hope every day and serve God by reminding each other of the words of Jesus and know that there is everlasting hope because He lives!!
