The Message Of The Morning Light
Sermon
The Victory of the Cross
Sermons for Lent and Holy Week
Just as a handful of women and disciples came early in the day to the garden tomb, so do Christians come out early on this Easter Sunday to find the empty grave. Let us try to recapture the original wonder, the original excitement they felt on that special day so long ago. Let us imagine that God is speaking directly to us this morning, down through the heavens and deep into our hearts, giving us the message of the morning light.
"You see how the stone has been rolled away," says the Lord our God, "and you wonder what it means. Behold, the old creation which I made for you has passed away, and now the new has come. See how much I loved the world, that I gave my only begotten Son, who now lives and reigns for ever more."
"I have torn down the greatest barrier which stood between you and Me. From now on, you need regard no one from a human point of view. From now on, you may see all things, even death itself, in a brand new way. All of this is the meaning of the empty tomb you see this morning."
"Your time on earth is short and your memories even shorter, but My time and My memory go on forever; so I will tell you how you came to this place this morning. Listen carefully. Be still and hear My words, and know that I am God."
"In the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth. I filled the earth with everything you need to survive and prosper, and then I created you. Male and female, I made you in My own image. Do not think you look like Me, for no one has seen the face of God. No, the image you share with Me, which you have seen but through a glass darkly, is seated in your soul."
"I set before you the ways of life and death, and you chose the ways of death. From the very earliest day, as soon as you knew the difference between good and evil, you chose your own way. You wrote your history with the blood spilled by Cain. It was through your own freedom to choose evil that sin and death came into the world. You are Adam, and you are Eve."
"Yet I did not turn My back on you. When I despaired of all your sin and violence and nearly destroyed the world because of you, I let the faithfulness of Noah preserve you. When you cried out as Pharaoh's slaves, I sent fearless leaders to take you to the Promised Land. I showed you many signs and wonders. I gave you My law, that you might know My ways and build a beloved community in My sight, a light to all the nations of the earth."
"But still you pursued your own selfish advantage over one another. Still you divided yourselves and hated each other by race and clan and creed. I told you that by My law there would be no poor among you, and behold: you have filled the land with your poor and oppressed! You have stubbornly sought your own gods, thinking that they will satisfy your longings, instead of receiving life in all its fruitful abundance in obedience to My will."
"Even then, I kept pursuing you, involving Myself in your affairs. I sent prophets to speak in My name, to tell you of the new heart and new spirit I would put within you. And when they spoke harsh words to you, it was for your own good, that you may return to Me and repent of your wickedness and faithlessness."
"Still, you did not listen; you persecuted My prophets instead. When you cast them out of your cities and threw them into pits, you defied Me and defiled My truth, which was spoken to you in love. I have endured much on your account."
"But I am God, and God is love, and My love for you cannot be shaken. Finally, I decided that the hearing of My Word was not enough for you. At last, I decided that I must come and be with you Myself, that you might understand Me better in the human form most familiar to you. I came to shatter the limits of your moral imagination and reveal to you the Way to your salvation."
"Maybe, in your false piety and empty worship, you thought you would honor My arrival with fanfare and trumpets. I came quietly, in a manger. Maybe you expected a king on a throne. I came as a servant. I showed you by My birth and in the whole manner of My living that My ways are not your ways. I walked your streets and visited your homes, teaching and admonishing and healing you in body and spirit, showing you at every moment what I look like in your own flesh and blood."
"I came to you knowing how you would receive Me: knowing you would reject Me and send Me to Calvary. Still I persisted, suffering all on your account, completing My chosen course."
"And now look what I have done! Though you killed Me, yet do I live! Though you crucified your only Hope, yet have I returned to you. Is this not how I said it would be?"
"Today, I have offered you more than you can ever imagine. Give up all you think you need, and receive more than you could ever desire. Be ready to die to all that is in you for the love of the world, and live for evermore in the love of your God."
"When you are burdened with the sorrow and the pity and the anxieties of this life, trust in Me; for I have shown you all along that I am always there. When you feel alone, distant and cut off from Me; know that it is I who came to you in the flesh, to remove all distance and break all barriers between us'
"When you despair of the ways of this world - when you cry out in anguish at the injustice and poverty and bloodshed which never cease - put your faith in Me, for I have overcome the world. I have revealed to you the first fruits of My kingdom. Wait with patient hope for what you cannot see, but see in My Risen Son that the love of injustice and the grinding of the face of the poor and the spilling of blood must someday pass away."
"And when you contemplate the end of your earthly days, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid; for the grave no longer has its victory, nor death its sting any more. I have shown you that your earthly life is but a small part of the life I have given you. I have shown you how I take you to My own house with many mansions, which no human hands have built."
"By the empty tomb, do you believe at last in the power of the Lord your God? No longer are you bound by your misuse of My first creation, for I have overcome the wages of your sin. Now you are the new Adam and the new Eve. You are My ambassadors - I who have not counted your trespasses against you. I have reconciled you to Myself, and given to you the ministry of reconciliation."
"Now you must respond. Now it is time to open your hearts to Me, to become My righteousness and live as My people born again."
"Take the love I have shown you and share it with all, offering freely what you have freely received. Take My Risen Spirit within you and give it to a sinking world. Take the light of faith out from under your bushel and put it on a stand - let your light shine, which dark death itself cannot put out. Take to heart the living of My commandments, that by My grace and by your words and deeds, you might now build the new creation which I have begun for you this day."
"So, seek Me no longer among the dead, but among the living. Seek Me no longer in far off places, that you should ask where you must go to find Me, for I am very near to you, even in your hearts and minds. Know that now there is nothing to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus." Blessed are you who come today to celebrate the death of death! Blessed are you who hear and see apd believe the message of the morning light. Amen.
"You see how the stone has been rolled away," says the Lord our God, "and you wonder what it means. Behold, the old creation which I made for you has passed away, and now the new has come. See how much I loved the world, that I gave my only begotten Son, who now lives and reigns for ever more."
"I have torn down the greatest barrier which stood between you and Me. From now on, you need regard no one from a human point of view. From now on, you may see all things, even death itself, in a brand new way. All of this is the meaning of the empty tomb you see this morning."
"Your time on earth is short and your memories even shorter, but My time and My memory go on forever; so I will tell you how you came to this place this morning. Listen carefully. Be still and hear My words, and know that I am God."
"In the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth. I filled the earth with everything you need to survive and prosper, and then I created you. Male and female, I made you in My own image. Do not think you look like Me, for no one has seen the face of God. No, the image you share with Me, which you have seen but through a glass darkly, is seated in your soul."
"I set before you the ways of life and death, and you chose the ways of death. From the very earliest day, as soon as you knew the difference between good and evil, you chose your own way. You wrote your history with the blood spilled by Cain. It was through your own freedom to choose evil that sin and death came into the world. You are Adam, and you are Eve."
"Yet I did not turn My back on you. When I despaired of all your sin and violence and nearly destroyed the world because of you, I let the faithfulness of Noah preserve you. When you cried out as Pharaoh's slaves, I sent fearless leaders to take you to the Promised Land. I showed you many signs and wonders. I gave you My law, that you might know My ways and build a beloved community in My sight, a light to all the nations of the earth."
"But still you pursued your own selfish advantage over one another. Still you divided yourselves and hated each other by race and clan and creed. I told you that by My law there would be no poor among you, and behold: you have filled the land with your poor and oppressed! You have stubbornly sought your own gods, thinking that they will satisfy your longings, instead of receiving life in all its fruitful abundance in obedience to My will."
"Even then, I kept pursuing you, involving Myself in your affairs. I sent prophets to speak in My name, to tell you of the new heart and new spirit I would put within you. And when they spoke harsh words to you, it was for your own good, that you may return to Me and repent of your wickedness and faithlessness."
"Still, you did not listen; you persecuted My prophets instead. When you cast them out of your cities and threw them into pits, you defied Me and defiled My truth, which was spoken to you in love. I have endured much on your account."
"But I am God, and God is love, and My love for you cannot be shaken. Finally, I decided that the hearing of My Word was not enough for you. At last, I decided that I must come and be with you Myself, that you might understand Me better in the human form most familiar to you. I came to shatter the limits of your moral imagination and reveal to you the Way to your salvation."
"Maybe, in your false piety and empty worship, you thought you would honor My arrival with fanfare and trumpets. I came quietly, in a manger. Maybe you expected a king on a throne. I came as a servant. I showed you by My birth and in the whole manner of My living that My ways are not your ways. I walked your streets and visited your homes, teaching and admonishing and healing you in body and spirit, showing you at every moment what I look like in your own flesh and blood."
"I came to you knowing how you would receive Me: knowing you would reject Me and send Me to Calvary. Still I persisted, suffering all on your account, completing My chosen course."
"And now look what I have done! Though you killed Me, yet do I live! Though you crucified your only Hope, yet have I returned to you. Is this not how I said it would be?"
"Today, I have offered you more than you can ever imagine. Give up all you think you need, and receive more than you could ever desire. Be ready to die to all that is in you for the love of the world, and live for evermore in the love of your God."
"When you are burdened with the sorrow and the pity and the anxieties of this life, trust in Me; for I have shown you all along that I am always there. When you feel alone, distant and cut off from Me; know that it is I who came to you in the flesh, to remove all distance and break all barriers between us'
"When you despair of the ways of this world - when you cry out in anguish at the injustice and poverty and bloodshed which never cease - put your faith in Me, for I have overcome the world. I have revealed to you the first fruits of My kingdom. Wait with patient hope for what you cannot see, but see in My Risen Son that the love of injustice and the grinding of the face of the poor and the spilling of blood must someday pass away."
"And when you contemplate the end of your earthly days, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid; for the grave no longer has its victory, nor death its sting any more. I have shown you that your earthly life is but a small part of the life I have given you. I have shown you how I take you to My own house with many mansions, which no human hands have built."
"By the empty tomb, do you believe at last in the power of the Lord your God? No longer are you bound by your misuse of My first creation, for I have overcome the wages of your sin. Now you are the new Adam and the new Eve. You are My ambassadors - I who have not counted your trespasses against you. I have reconciled you to Myself, and given to you the ministry of reconciliation."
"Now you must respond. Now it is time to open your hearts to Me, to become My righteousness and live as My people born again."
"Take the love I have shown you and share it with all, offering freely what you have freely received. Take My Risen Spirit within you and give it to a sinking world. Take the light of faith out from under your bushel and put it on a stand - let your light shine, which dark death itself cannot put out. Take to heart the living of My commandments, that by My grace and by your words and deeds, you might now build the new creation which I have begun for you this day."
"So, seek Me no longer among the dead, but among the living. Seek Me no longer in far off places, that you should ask where you must go to find Me, for I am very near to you, even in your hearts and minds. Know that now there is nothing to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus." Blessed are you who come today to celebrate the death of death! Blessed are you who hear and see apd believe the message of the morning light. Amen.
