Andy Graham

Read John 20:1-18

I expect that any kind of party celebration would have been the last thing that Mary Magdalene would have expected as she approached Jesus tomb that first Easter morning. The last few days had brought nothing to celebrate. Yes, the Pharisees and leaders of the Temple could celebrate. Jesus was now out of their way. The soldiers could celebrate, their work was now done. But for Mary there was no cause whatsoever to celebrate as the last few days had brought her nothing but heartache and tragedy.

Of course, Mary had been there, she had heard the leaders scream for Jesus death, she had witnessed the Romans beat and flog Jesus, she had winced and wept as he was nailed to the cross. She was there to hold her arm around the shoulder of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and she was there to close His eyes when it was all over. What was there to celebrate.

Yet still she wants to be there again. So in the early morning mist, with her cloths and spices, she leaves her home and sets off up the hillside towards Jesus tomb. She probably anticipates that it will be a sombre task as by now the body will be swollen and death’s odour will be all too self-evident. But as she approaches the tomb she gives an unbelieving gasp. The stone in front of the tomb has been moved – someone has taken the body. 

So she runs to tell Peter and John and they rush out to see for themselves. Peter comes out of the tomb, bewildered, John emerges, believing but Mary just sits in front of it weeping – and the two men go home to leave her in her grief. But have you ever wondered, why didn’t Mary go off with them at that point or at least back to her own home.

Maybe she hears a noise. Maybe she hears a quiet whisper. Or maybe something in her heart tells her that she is not alone. But for whatever reason Mary stays, and not only does she stay, she stoops down and peers into the tomb, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Woman, why are you crying. She sees what appears to be a man, but he’s radiantly white and he’s one of two lights on either end of the vacant slab. Like two candles blazing on an altar. They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have put him. Notice she still calls Jesus her Lord. In spite of all Mary Witnessed, Jesus is still her Lord..

Such devotion moves Jesus and He moves forward and asks her why she is crying. Then in that poignant moment, Jesus reveals Himself to her by calling her name and despite her undoubted faith, there would have been no doubt that Mary would not have been expecting events to unfold exactly as they did in those few minutes.

This revelation of Jesus in this way would have taken Mary by surprise.

And it got me thinking, when did we last allow God to surprise us in this kind of a way. You see, I believe that all too often we get to a point where we believe that we have God all figured out that we know exactly what He does. That we sometimes think of God as some kind of computer or machine, whereby if we input all the correct data and push all the right buttons, God comes out as exactly who we think He is.

But I wonder, when did we last stop to consider or reflect upon the fact that God is at his best when our life is at its worst. That this is when through his Son and by his Spirit that He will come and whisper to us as he did to Mary and all we need do is listen for him.

Listen to the Messiah whisper to the Samaritan woman – I am He who you speak of.

Listen to the widow from Nain eating dinner with her son…

Listen  to Lazarus laughing with Mary and Martha…

Listen to Jesus as he invites a convicted criminal hanging next to him on the cross to join him in the Kingdom of Heaven later that day…

And listen to the surprise as Mary’s name is spoken by a man she loved, a man she had buried – Mary…

God appearing at the strangest of places, doing the strangest of things…

Mary, he whispered softly…Mary was not unsurprisingly shocked, it’s not often you hear the voice of God speak to you so clearly. But when it did, she recognised it at once and she responded as she should – she worshipped him…

Today is Easter and with millions of Christians across the world, we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. And because of today many more names will be called, many more knees will bow and many more may come to know the Lord and celebrate.

The question is – will you be one of them?

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Amen.

Read John 19:38-42

All too often at this time of year this day gets overlooked, but what is the real significance of this day?

Read Luke 24:32-46

‘Father forgive them, for they do not understand what they are doing…’

Praise God for the love He has shown to us through His one and only Son.

Read Mark 14:12-26

‘Take this,  for it is my body…this is my blood poured out for many… ‘

Just take some time now to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

Read Matthew 21:33-39

What does this passage teach us about God’s love for us?

Read Mark 11:15-17

What do we learn from these verses? Is God’s house a place of prayer for us?

Bible Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9    Luke 19:28-38

Our old testament passage from Isaiah this morning is one of the so called ‘servant songs’, taken from the third of four found within the middle portion of the book of Isaiah and like all the others, it speaks of this servant of God. The question is, however, who is this servant…

When we look at the verses closely they do appear to be very personal, and almost, in a sense, auto-biographical. Also, there seems little doubt that here the prophet does appear to be talking about himself and the relationship he has with God. However, the nature of old testament prophecy is such that it is never simply confined to one time or place – and that certainly applies to these verses.

For whilst the prophet may indeed have been a servant of God and whilst all of this may have applied to him, there is no doubt that there are also distinctive Messianic overtones within these verses and that the ultimate servant we are looking at here is Jesus himself. Mocked, beaten, accused, condemned, but never disgraced and vindicated at all times by his Father in heaven.

Of course Jesus knew that he must endure all of this and more. He knew that he must be tortured and then crucified, but he did not hide his face. Indeed not only did Jesus refuse to hide his face, He boldly put himself out in the open that all of these things might come to pass.

The story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday is one that we all know and love, and as we read these verses again and again we can almost imagine ourselves being there. In amongst the heaving crowds, waving our palm leaves and joining in on the chorus of Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

It’s a wonderful image of Jesus in all his glory and all his majesty.

However, I wonder how often, if at all, we have taken time out to consider what a glorious act of defiance and courage Jesus demonstrated that day. Because let’s not forget, by now he was effectively a wanted man; a man with a price on his head, so to speak; a man whom the authorities were just waiting to seize at the earliest opportunity. Anyone else in such a position might have chosen to slip into the city quietly, doing everything possible to avoid attracting attention to themselves – but not Jesus.

He enters the city in such a way that he is the centre of attraction, the focus is very much on Him as he places himself on the centre stage. And of course it was no accident that things happened in this way, nor was it any sudden or impulsive action. This was all carefully planned by Jesus.

And the more we stop to consider this, the more we come to realise how breath taking all of this was. That a man who was now regarded as an ‘outlaw’ by the authorities should enter the city in such a defiant manner. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the sheer courage of Jesus that we witness in this behaviour. Yet it is perhaps something that we very seldom stop to consider.

As Christians we rightly think of Jesus as the Son of the living God, part of the Holy Trinity, a divine being – and he was and is, but Jesus was also fully human. He felt pain in the way that we do, he suffered as we do and he went through all the many emotions that we do – and he was tempted in the way that we are. 

Remember after his time in the desert, when the devil failed to tempt Jesus to join him – Satan left Jesus until an opportune time. Here we have such a time. Who really wants to be put to death in such a horrific manner, especially at such a young age and especially when you know you have done nothing wrong.

Who wouldn’t be tempted to keep our heads down and to look for an easy way out of the situation we now found ourselves in. To perhaps even run away from all the controversy, all the hysteria and all the danger. It would perhaps be the most natural thing in the world for any of us to do.

But Jesus knew what his mission was. He knew why God had sent him. He knew exactly what he had to do. And he had the courage to do so. No hiding away, no flinching from his mission. Nothing or no-one could stop him from serving God in the way he had be chosen to do.

But what about us today?…

None of us here today has been called to serve God in the way that Jesus did, our mission is nothing at all like His – how could it be? Yet we have all been called by God, called to serve Him as disciples of Jesus, as part of His Church here on earth.

And for the most part we all seek to do that in the way that we live our lives each day, as we bear witness to Christ and his message in all that we say and do. However, sometimes serving God isn’t quite as simple and straightforward as that, sometimes bearing witness to Christ involves more than this. Sometimes we are called to stand firm, to speak out, to proclaim the Gospel message against all the odds.

The question is, do we have the courage to do so, or do we look for an easy way out.

Serving God and bearing witness to Christ never has been and never will be easy and we will all face difficult times as we seek to do so. And sometimes we will be intimidated, we will be confronted, we will be mocked and we will be ridiculed. We will be told that any arguments we put forward against any situation based on the gospel message are nonsense. Because the Gospel message is nonsense and not relevant in our modern day society.

Yet the reality is that this in itself is absolute nonsense. The Gospel message is as relevant today as it has always been – and always will be. People still suffer today in the way that they did back then and people are still as much in need today as they were back then. We still have social disorder, poverty and depravation, we still have corruption and injustice, we still have greed, bitterness and enmity. The times may have changed, the peoples may have changed, but the inherent problems within humanity still remain the same.

And for all the excuses and reasons we might give, the harsh reality is that so much of this happens because people don’t believe that the Gospel message is relevant today. If those in positions of power and authority paid more attention to the teachings and example found in the Word of God, then maybe, just maybe things just wouldn’t be so bad.

Which is why we need to have the courage of our faith to hold on to that faith and to proclaim it whenever we get the opportunity to do so. Yes, we will be tempted to hide away, to stay quiet and do nothing, to go with the flow and accept the status quo. However, the question is, is that what Jesus would do?

So as we begin this holiest of weeks, as we remember Jesus final, faithful, defiant and courageous journey to the cross. Let’s do all we can to do as he did. Let’s bring our faith out into the open whenever we can, in defiance of the world around us, speaking out in the name of Christ and boldly witnessing to him in all we say and do. For just as he was with the suffering servant, just as he was with his own dear Son, so God will always be with us when we serve him in this way.

And he will help us to find the courage that we need…

Amen.

Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ (Mark 11:10)

Will we be among the crowds welcoming Jesus into our lives tomorrow?

‘Jesus said: whoever listens to me and obeys my words is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.’ (Matt. 7:24)

Are the teachings of Jesus the foundations on which we build our lives?

‘Mary has chosen to listen to me and that is the most important thing of all.’ (Luke 10:42)

How good are we at listening to Jesus? Can we hear Him through the clamour of everyday life? Do we listen for Him in everyday life? Are His words important to us?