Easter Service:
In a Moment Like This: I Will Remember it Forever
 

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

 Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008

There are certain moments in life that we remember forever. We remember them forever because they forever change our lives. It was the first time Dad tossed you the keys and said, “You take the car.” It’s the moment when he finally popped the question or the instant that she said yes. That day when you first held your newborn son or daughter. The moment you had to toss the keys and say, “Be careful.” The moment the last child went off to college and the house became deafly quiet.

They are moments that are forever transfixed in our minds because they have changed our life. After that, all of a sudden there is newfound freedom. You’ve become a spouse. You’ve become a parent. The house is empty and you have to transition. It’s those moments we remember forever because, after that moment, it seems like everything is changed. There are spiritual moments as well, spiritual moments that once we experience them, everything changes. Our perception of God changes. Our perception of life changes. Easter is one of those moments when we see the resurrected Lord. All of a sudden, our viewpoint of God and His church are different than they were before. We don’t just see some moral code. We don’t see a building down at the corner of the block. We don’t see the Ten Commandments and the thread of eternal condemnation. No, in the resurrected Lord, we see a loving God who came into our dark world and He guides us, no, He carries us to freedom. That’s an Easter moment, a moment when we see God in a whole new way. And I wonder if you need an Easter moment.

All of us have come here this morning for different reasons and each of us has a different perception of God and who He is and the impact that He has on our life so I wonder if you need an Easter moment, if you need to see the resurrected Lord and to gain a new perspective on our God. Perhaps you need an Easter moment like Mary Magdalene. You see, Mary had a perception of God and the church and it wasn’t really a very favorable one to be honest with you. Scripture tells us that Mary had seven demons. I’m not sure we can really understand what that means, for a person to have seven demons, unless we lived back in that time. I suppose we could conjure up images of a Stephen King novel but I really don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. Scripture, when it talks about a person having a demon, sometimes talks about physical ailments threw him into fits or convulsions or seizures. Sometimes it talked about emotional, psychological problems. Anyway, she had seven of them. I think it would be safe to say her life was a mess. You might even say her life was a living hell. And as far as she was concerned, she was outside of God’s kingdom. She wasn’t welcome there. Certainly, she wasn’t welcome in the religious community and that was justifiable. She would have been an outcast of society, ostracized by everyone, including her family, so she didn’t have a real favorable opinion of God and of His people.

And it’s quite possible that you’ve come here this morning and neither do you. You’ve come here this morning because it’s Easter. Maybe a friend or a relative asked you to come and you knew it would make them happy if you attended worship with them. As a side note, I’d like you to know it makes me happy, too. I’m glad to see you. But honestly, your perception of church and of God’s people, organized religion, it’s not very favorable. You’ve cleaned up and you’ve dressed up and now you’re going to put up. You’re going to put up a facade. You’re going to come in here with all smiles and a happy look on you and you’re going to have a little small talk, a little bit of chat here and there. But really, that’s not you. But that’s your perception of what church is because church is full of people who have it all together. They don’t have any problems or at least they pretend like they don’t have any problems and that’s not you because you have challenges in your life and you have ups and downs in your life and you’re not into pretending. You’re not into make believe that everything is wonderful in your life so God’s kingdom isn’t for you and the church isn’t for you. If that’s your perception, my friends, you need an Easter moment.

You need an Easter moment like Mary needed an Easter moment. Mary actually had a couple of Easter moments that are recorded for us in scripture. The first one was when she met Jesus and the first time she met Jesus, it says Jesus cast out the seven demons in her life. Jesus may have well been the only person who accepted Mary for who she was and accepted her where she was at. He was the one who restored her dignity, restored her pride and her life, who gave her life back to her. That was an Easter moment for her.

But the real Easter moment, the one that she would have transfixed in her mind, the one she would remember forever was on that first Sunday. Mary stands in the garden. She is just overwrought with grief. Jesus is dead. The only one who helped her, the only one who reached out to her and now He’s gone. She felt abandoned. Now she had to face life alone. Could she face life alone? Would the demons come back? Would she have a relapse? Would all of a sudden her family and society have her as an outcast again? She’s overwrought with grief. But then the Easter moment comes. She is grieving so much she doesn’t even recognize Jesus. Jesus came up to her and said, “Why are you crying? Who is it you’re looking for?” She thinks He’s the gardener. So she says to Him, “Sir, if you’ve carried Him away, tell me where you’ve put Him and I will get Him.” And then Jesus said to her, “Mary.” And she turned and looked at Him and cried out, “My teacher, my teacher.” That was the Easter moment for Mary. At that instant, she knew she had not been abandoned. At that instant, she knew she wasn’t going to face life alone, that Jesus was still with her, Jesus was going to walk beside her. She was not going to return to that former way of life. That was her Easter moment and she’d remember it forever.

Do you need an Easter moment like Mary? You see, behind your smiles and pretty faces this morning, are there tears and pain? Are there the so-called demons in your life that you’re fighting against? It’s the relationship that’s falling away. It’s the depression you’re fighting against. It’s the addiction you can’t sort of get a handle on. Have you convinced yourself that church isn’t for you? That it is full of people who have it all together? My friends, if this were full of people who had it all together, we would be empty every week.

You see the resurrected Savior and know why He came. Jesus came to bring healing and hope to our lives. As He brought healing and hope to Mary’s life, so He brings healing and hope to your life. Jesus once said, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” The resurrected Savior says, “You don’t have to face life alone.” Jesus is going to walk beside you every day along the way. Is that the Easter moment that you need today?

Or is your Easter moment a little bit different? Maybe you need an Easter moment like Peter. You see, Peter thought that he’d crossed the line. Peter thought that he’d gone too far. You might recall, Peter, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus suggested the fact that Peter might deny Him that evening and Peter vehemently defended himself and said, “I’ll never deny you, Lord.” In fact, he insinuated, “All the rest of these folks, they may fall away but I will never fall away. I will die for you, Jesus.” Only to be within a few hours of swearing like a sailor that he never met the man, didn’t know the man, didn’t want to have anything to do with Him. And now here stands Peter. He’s crossed the line. He’s gone too far. God can forgive a lot of things but you can’t come back from this. You can’t come back from denying that you even know Jesus.

Is that where you are this morning? Do you think you’ve crossed the line? Do you think there’s some skeleton in your past, something that you’ve done, that you’ve gone too far? Are you having a Governor Spitzer moment here? The very thing you railed against, that you preached against, that you said should never happen, that’s the one thing you did? Was it the affair? Was it the embezzlement? Was it the abortion? Was it the lies? What was it? What is it that you’ve convinced yourself that you’ve crossed the line and now you are outside of God’s grace? My friends, you need an Easter moment. You need to see the resurrected Savior and the message He has for you. Peter had such an Easter moment. It happened very early one morning when he and the boys went out fishing and Jesus came up to them and Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” And Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Now that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to you. It meant everything to Peter. Everything to Peter. In those words, when Jesus said, “Feed my lambs,” He was saying, “Peter, I have forgiven you. Peter, I entrust you with the care of my people. Just as much as I entrust the rest of the disciples with the care of my people, Peter, I entrust them to you.” That was his Easter moment, forever transfixed in his mind, he would remember it forever. He was not outside of the bounds of God’s grace and, my friends, neither are you.

You need to see the Easter moment of the resurrected Lord. You need to hear the message that He has for you. There is nothing you have done that Christ has not already paid the debt for. On Friday, when he hung upon the cross, He didn’t die for just some of the sins of the world. For all of them. No matter how dark your past may be, no matter how heinous the crime might be, Jesus has already paid the debt and His resurrection shows that the Father in heaven has accepted His sacrifice which means the slate is wiped clean. He is the God of second, third, fourth, unlimited chances. Everyday, the slate can be wiped clean and we have a fresh start. That’s what the resurrection is all about. That’s an Easter moment.

Is that the Easter moment that you need this morning? Do you need to see the resurrected Savior and know that you’re not outside of the bounds of His grace? Or do you need an Easter moment like John? John was part of the inner circle along with James and with Peter. John is the one who referred to himself in his gospel as the one whom Jesus loved. In other words, he was a very close personal friend of Jesus. John is the one who came up with his brother, James, and he said, “Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, can I sit at your right hand and my brother at your left hand?” John is the one who always kept his nose clean. Read through the gospels. You never see any controversy around John. He always did the right thing at the right time. He followed the rules. He did what he was supposed to do. He thought he had everything laid out and then Jesus died. And everything fell apart.

Can you relate to John? Is your perception of God you just have to keep your nose clean? You have to do the right things at the right time as long as you keep your obligations, you come to church, you read your bible, you study a little bit, you have it all laid out. What happens when it falls apart? Is there nothing more? You need an Easter moment. An Easter moment like John had an Easter moment. His came on that first Sunday. Scripture tells us that Peter and he ran to the tomb but John outran Peter and he arrived first but he stopped short and didn’t go inside the tomb. Peter rushed in and then John himself records for us, “Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside. He saw and believed.” That was the moment for John. He saw and believed. The moment would be transfixed in his mind, the moment he would remember forever. For at that instant, all of a sudden, it became clear to John. Jesus’ kingdom was far beyond just this world. It expanded beyond this world. Jesus just wasn’t a set of rules and regulations, customs and traditions but it went much deeper than that. He saw and believed.

Maybe you don’t understand John’s Easter moment. Understand the Easter moment of a young kid at church camp. A 13-year-old boy who had been raised in the church, end of confirmation year on a confirmation retreat. Here he sits in this log cabin on this hard bench that’s been made out of a tree that was split down the middle. His pastor is up front and he’s talking and he’s kind of, sort of paying attention and then, all of a sudden, the words his pastor is speaking, they make it past his mind and they penetrate his heart. The pastor is talking about Jesus and His love and the reality of Him every day. And he says, “We’re going to celebrate a meal Jesus left for us.” He says, “But we’re going to do it a little bit differently. Each one of you is going to give the bread and the wine to each other, calling them by name.” I don’t remember anything else from that retreat but I remember that moment and I remember turning and saying, “Cindy, take and eat the true body of Jesus given for you. Take and drink the true blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of your sins.” And somehow my faith went from a collection of teachings and knowledge and rules to something much deeper. Jesus had lived for me. Jesus had died for me. And He rose for me. And He was concerned with every moment of my life. That was an Easter moment. I’ll remember it forever.

And since then, I’ve wanted others, I want you to have an Easter moment. When your perception of God changes. You don’t see some moral law or rules. You don’t see a building on the corner. You don’t see the Ten Commandments and the threat of eternal condemnation. You see a loving God who entered into our dark world so He could carry us to freedom. When you see the resurrected Savior, that’s an Easter moment. It’s an Easter moment that I hope each of you experience because you’ll remember it forever. Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church