Joy reigns
Series: Holy – Holy – Holy | Bible text: Ephesians 5:27
Easter – a joyful drama with extras and leading actors.
Good Friday and Easter affect us all. On Good Friday, dramatic events of Jesus» suffering and crucifixion happened and the disciples were frustrated after his death. But on Easter Sunday, a new day dawns as the tomb is empty and Jesus is risen. The disciples are fearful and unbelieving at first, but Jesus appears to them and brings them rest and peace. The story of Jesus with his church was not finished then – quite the opposite: it continues!
It is something very special to preach on Good Friday and Easter, because the gripping thing about these two days is that both are Jesus experiences that affect us humans at 100%. What happened then concerns every person in this world. What dramatic events they were: After an unparalleled tirade of mockery, after whip lashes, punches in the face, many fist messages and a crown of thorns, Jesus is finally nailed to the cross. In a terrible agony, Jesus dies; then the soldiers stab his side to be quite sure that Jesus is dead. Two good-natured men take care of the body, anoint it, wrap it in fine linen cloths and place the deceased in the tomb belonging to one of the men.
Jesus – that was once
Finally, the men push a heavy stone in front of the entrance to the tomb – finished, that’s it! Many of Jesus» followers at that time had the impression: «Now it’s all over. Jesus, that was once!» He did so much good. He spoke of things we have never heard before! Everything was fine and good. Now this frustration! And Jesus» opponents are now beaming, laughing and celebrating: the chief priests, the Pharisees and the Roman rulers: «Jesus, that troublemaker, is finished. Now peace can return to our region!«For them, the heavy stone in front of the tomb was the final conclusion of a troublesome story. They had Pilate, the governor, seal the stone and soldiers guard the tomb! Even today there are people who have cleared up with God, Jesus, the Bible, the Church – they have buried everything Christian and closed and sealed their hearts!
A new day begins and I rejoice, yes, I rejoice
But then – on the morning after the Sabbath, a new day dawns! Nothing with end! To be continued! Jesus is far from finished with us. A new day begins… Easter, the resurrection day dawns! The earth shakes; an angel comes from heaven and rolls the stone away from the tomb as if it were made of Styrofoam and sits on it – what a picture!
«Early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to the tomb. Suddenly there was a strong earthquake because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled the stone aside and settled on it»(Matthew 28:1–2 NLB).
The women who walk to the tomb early in the morning are speechless. The grave is empty! Are they happy? No! Mary Magdalene is crying because she thinks that someone has taken the body away. They still wanted to embalm the body. The women go to the disciples and tell them that the risen Jesus had met them on the way – but none of them believe the women. Whoever thinks that a frenzy of joy has then broken out among the disciples is mistaken. The disciples have barricaded themselves behind closed doors. Two disciples finally dare to go to the tomb themselves, but there are no more angels to be seen. They go into the tomb and still see the linen cloths with which Jesus was wrapped. Anger, disappointment and fear are often breeding grounds for crises of faith and low spirits. The most beautiful promises and promises of the Bible are simply forgotten! The disciples only really rejoice when Jesus comes to them through the closed door on the same day in the evening.
«On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples met behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Suddenly Jesus was standing among them! «Peace be with you,» he said. And after these words he showed them his hands and his side. Joy filled the disciples when they saw their Lord» (John 20:19–20 NLB).
Jesus brings calm and peace to these moving moments of days gone by. «Peace be with you!» These are words that remind us of Christmas! Today is another day of joy! Joy reigns in heaven and on earth!
The church – the next chapters of the Jesus story!
I can imagine that afterwards there was great expectation among the disciples that things would now go on as before. But they have to go the long way to Galilee without the rabbi, where Jesus wants to meet them again. Jesus still has many things to say to his disciples. He meets them again and again until he returns to the heavenly Father on the day of his ascension. After this difficult farewell, they confidently embarked on their changed daily lives. The evangelist Mark describes it like this: «But the disciples went everywhere preaching the good news. The Lord worked through them and confirmed everything they said with many miraculous signs.»(Mark 16:20 NLB).
Jesus returned to his heavenly Father at the Ascension. But he is still the one who is present among us in the Holy Spirit. People who believe in him and have accepted Jesus into their lives represent Jesus on this earth! In Ephesians it says that now the church here on earth is his body: «God has placed everything under the rule of Christ and has appointed Christ as Lord over the church. But the church is his body, and it is filled with Christ, who fills everything completely with his presence.» (Ephesians 1:22–23 NLB).
Jesus is even more intensely present on this earth than before, where he could only be in one place! The power of God working in these churches is the same power with which Jesus was raised from death. Can we grasp this sufficiently? We are the members of his body here! Together, here on earth, we are the body of the resurrected Jesus Christ! «The church is his body, and he lives in it with all his fullness – he who fills everything and everyone with his presence»(Ephesians 1:23 NGÜ).
You are magnificent!
Jesus himself goes one better: we share in his glory! «The glory that you have given me I have now also given them, so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me – so that they may attain complete unity, so that the world may know that you have sent me and that they are loved by you as I am loved by you.» (John 17:22–23 NGÜ).
What image do you have of yourself as a Christian? «I’m certainly not that bad, but glorious would be quite a bit of an exaggeration!» If that is your opinion, I can only ask you: Why do you always look only at yourself and forget Jesus who dwells in you with his glory? There is a fitting experience on this theme in the Passion story. When my wife and I read the story of Peter, who denied Jesus three times, she said to me: «Why do you always look at yourself?You, what Peter experienced, that is the most impressive and mind-blowing event for me. How many times I wanted to confess Jesus and I didn’t do it!«Of course I could immediately join in this lament: «Why have I so often kept silent and not said what Jesus means to me in front of others – only out of pure fear of man!»
The beauty of this story is that Jesus did not stop loving Peter. Immediately after his denial, Jesus sought eye contact with Peter. It then occurred to Peter that Jesus had predicted this denial to him. This was not a look from Jesus, that could killbut a connecting eye contact! You are a God who sees me! And interestingly, at the empty tomb, the angel says to the women: «Now go to his disciples and tell them, Peter also: Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, as he told you before he died!»(Mark 16:7 NLB). In other words, Peter the failure should not run away now! «Peter, I’ll see you in Galilee! I have not buried my promise to you!» From now on you shall be called Peter. Upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell shall not prevail against it.»(Matthew 16:18 NLB).
The pastoral conversation with Jesus by the Sea of Galilee is healing for Peter. Three times Peter says to Jesus with strength: «I love you. I love you. You know it: I love you!«Paul aptly recorded in Ephesians what kind of church God wants to build with Peter and the other apostles: «For he desires to make her a bride of spotless beauty, who can come before him holy and blameless and without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection.» (Ephesians 5:27 NGÜ).
We were recently at St. Chrischona for a conference of our Viva Church. The speaker Johannes Hartel raved about the beauty and glory of God. Everything he creates in his beauty is beautiful. Now, in spring, when we rejoice in the reawakening of nature in the gardens, we marvel once more at how gloriously he has created this world. And if the God who created the world so beautifully creates new people in Jesus Christ, then they are also gloriously beautiful!
The conference speaker told us an important sentence about spiritual beauty: If you pay too little attention to the beauty of God in yourself and always despise yourself, get angry and reject yourself because of your flaws and weaknesses, then you remain emotionally attached to your contempt and pay far too little attention to Jesus in you. Jesus loves you and he is closer to you in his divine beauty than you are to yourself! That is how close Jesus is to you! He looks at you and in His eyes you are gloriously beautiful, without spot, without wrinkle – simply flawless and holy to boot! A beautiful bride for the groom!
In Colossians there is this glorious verse: «He has erased the list of charges against us; he has taken the indictment and destroyed it by nailing it to the cross»(Colossians 2:14 NLB).
Sometimes you have to do that in a very practical way: Put away this letter of debt! Write down everything that is on your conscience, repent and then throw away this letter of debt. If that doesn’t awaken Easter joy!!! Joy reigns! We diminish the joy of Easter for ourselves if we do not take God at his word. If we do not take seriously many things that are promised to us. No: «We do not trust in our privileges and in our own achievements, but in Jesus Christ. Yes, I want to know Christ better and better; I want to experience in myself the power with which God raised him from the dead.»(Philippians 3:3b,10a NGÜ). We know that Jesus is risen and alive. But we want more. We want to experience even more of his resurrection power, day by day. In ourselves, but also in the people around us.
Amen.
Possible questions for the small group
- What are your experiences with people who don’t want to know about Jesus? How have you reacted?
- What do you think is the reason that the resurrection accounts are so different in the four Gospels? How would you explain this observation? Does this damage the credibility of the Bible?
- Why did Jesus» people have so much trouble believing and talking about the resurrection news? Read about the 3 women in Mark 16:1–8!
- What «joy killers» in faith do you experience?
- What kind of resurrection power experiences do you want in your life?
- How do we succeed in radiating more joy of faith? How does it work: to see more Jesus with his glory in me than my shortcomings and deficiencies?
