3/25/51

Scripture: John 20: 1-16.

During the pre-Easter season we have looked for the impact of Jesus’ teaching and spirit upon the lives of some of his followers --- particularly upon those whom he called to be his apostles -- preachers and teachers of the faith after he should be no longer of the earth. During this past week, we have reflected upon the events of the Master’s last week of mortal life -- on his entry into Jerusalem while people followed and cheered their “hosannas!” -- on the plotting of enemies to be rid of him -- on the last supper took with his close disciples and how he made a service of remembrance, consecration and communion out of the breaking of bread and the receiving of the cup -- of his betrayal, capture, trial and execution.

We have meditated upon the meaning of his devotion to the truth of God that finally led him to suffering and death by crucifixion. Our reading of the storm and darkness that engulfed the crucifixion was underlined by the storm that enveloped us while we were at Good Friday services and into which we had to plunge when we came out of the church that afternoon. A further reading of the Biblical account informs us that a certain man of influence and means, one Joseph of Arimathaea, arranged to receive the body of Jesus and to put it away in a private tomb in a garden that he owned. And there it rested from dusk on Friday, to Sunday morning. During the day intervening, Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the Jewish Passover, was solemnly observed. For the friends of Jesus, it was an occasion of sorrow -- worse than sorrow -- of disappointment and despair.

And yet there was to be a glory only a few hours away. The account of it varies in the Bible, according to who does the telling. Today we read the account as related in the gospel according to John. The story in John is marked by a high degree of spiritual reserve. And yet it is vivid. The story there is that Mary Magdalene, having come to the garden, found the stone tomb empty. She had seen that the heavy stone at its opening was rolled back and had quickly gone to tell Peter and John. They had satisfied themselves that the body of Jesus was not there, and had gone home. But Mary stayed there weeping. As she stooped down to look within, someone spoke to her, asking why she cried. She thought it was an angel. As she turned back, she saw someone whom she thought to be the gardener and who also inquired why she wept. She had started her plea that he would tell her what was done with the Lord’s body when he spoke another word -- just one word -- he name -- “Mary.”

And heaven itself was in the word. In that moment, her thoughts sprung from death to life. It was as though her whole spiritual garden sprung from winter’s death to spring’s beauty and promise. She uttered only one word herself -- the word in her tongue for “Master.” And all of earth was in the word. The birds must have begun to sing at that dawning of light and understanding; the flowers to pour forth their fragrance; the water springs to flow more freely and the leaves to rustle with sheer joy. The garden that had in sorrow seemed to be rock and dust and thorns must now have seemed a place of impossible hope and beauty.

Now I know that there are elements of fact in the story that have puzzled and baffled the minds of sincere people, and still do. But this I also know: that something happened to transform beaten and despairing people into evangelists of faith. Their perception was so vivid that the fire of their belief, hope and love has reached out with transforming power to all the world and through 19 centuries of history. Early on that first Easter morning, their very souls knew that Jesus was no dead body, but a living spirit.

Thoreau once said with profound insight: “It is morning when it is dawn in your soul.” The religion of the living Christ brings a new day to the soul of man -- the rising of a new kind and quality of life that a person experiences as coming from beyond himself, toward himself, like sunlight. It quickens hope and faith, lightens burdens and perplexities, enables us to bear the shadow of death, deepens our confidence in immortality.

Jesus is still a creative power in human life. It is pathetic to hear some people repine [complain] that they did not live at a time when Jesus was in the flesh. For He is more alive today than he was before his death. He permeates more of human understanding and experience. He is more comforting and inspiring. Jesus it still a great creative power in human life. There are still unexhausted resources in his soul.

Jesus said then that he had many more things to say to his hearers than they could then receive or absorb. He continues to speak through deeper meanings which growing experience in his religion brings forth. It is a Christ that transcends the grave of defeat, disgrace and obscurity, that comes to Mary in the garden in the morning. It is the Christ that expects his own to go on before him into their Galilees, their Antiochs and their Wisconsins [and Hawaii and Japan]. It is the Christ who calls his own not servants, blindly doing his bidding, but friends, partaking of his very nature. It is a Christ that makes a new creature of those who are willing to become his own. Vital contact with Him does something transforming to a life.

Hot water is hot water. But when the heat in hot water reaches such an intensity that it is steam, it really becomes something different, something with vastly more power. So it is with the spirit of the risen Christ in people.

Judge Medina, the judge who presided at the long trial of US communists, wrote very personally in a recent issue of the Christian Century magazine. He says it was days before he realized that the communist attorneys were trying to wear him out and badger him into some decision that would disqualify him. And there came a time when he was worn out, and doubted that he could get back to the bench. But he is a man, he says, who has always said his prayers, every day. And he asserts that his prayers, offered in the faith of Christ, were answered with an upsurge of strength and adequacy that enabled him to complete the trial with no break and with a competency that astonished those who understood what was happening.

The gardens of our Wisconsin still slumber beneath the winter snow. But they will presently stir to life with the loveliness of spring’s returning hope. If the garden where your soul lives should be bleak for a moment with the coldness of heartache of sorrow, with some unbearable burden, some despair, look up and see who lives to reassure and renew you, lives to fill you with comfort, and hope, and joy. Look not to the tombs of disappointment where only an angel says, “He is not here.” But look up to the risen Lord who calls your own name For he is risen; he lives; he is here --- the Master of our lives!

Alleluia and Amen!

[the following prayer was used with this sermon on 4/18/76, and also on 4/22/73, 4/14/74, and 3/30/75]

Eternal God, before whom the morning stars first sang together, and who holdest in Thy hands the destiny of every living thing, we worship Thee. Thanks be to Thee for the note of victory that fills our souls today. Thanks to Thee for our living Lord who could not be controlled by death! For the rich heritage of trust and witness borne by our spiritual father, we thank Thee. Blessed be Thy name that love can never lose its own! Build and strengthen our believing. Confirm our confidence in Thee and in life eternal.

We thank Thee for all things excellent and beautiful; for the light and loveliness of this day; for the love of friends and family; for the homes that nourish us; for the height and depth of the human spirit; for the majesty of Thyself; and for Christ, who had brought all this into vivid light. Join us today with all those who praise Thy name; with those we have loved, and who now live with Thee in an abode not made with hands. Gather us into the fellowship of all the saints, perfected and imperfect, who make up the church.

We pray for all defeated souls who fail to hear the note of victory, or find it distant. Thou seest; and Thou knowest how to bring forth blossoms on the desert like roses and lilies. Replenish with hope all who are discouraged with the world. Strengthen faith in the ultimate victory of what is right. Lift our vision above the immediate to the unfolding eternal.

We lay before Thee our concern for Thy church. Draw her members closer together in spiritual unity; in strong and saving faith. Send us out from this high hour of worship to be fearless and faithful citizens of Thy kingdom. And bring us together faithfully for worship in Thy house, that our regular re-newal may fortify us for living.

In sustaining faith, may we, like our Master, overcome the World. We pray in his name.

(Lord’s prayer)

Amen.

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Sermon delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, March 25, 1951.

Also At Waioli Hui’ia Church, April 18, 1976.