He Still Moves Stones

Sunday, April 11, 2004

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you know a story so well that when the person is saying it to you, you kind of tune out, and you really don't hear it? You've heard it so many times before and the details are so vivid, you let your mind wander off to something else. It happens often this time of year, maybe even right now on Easter. You'll get together with your family and extended family, some you haven't seen for a while. And there you are just hanging out by the relish tray and all of a sudden, you look and there's Uncle Joe and he spotted you. Now you love Uncle Joe, but you know what you're in store for if Uncle Joe makes it over to you. So you look for an escape route but no, there are your sister's kids; they're in the way. You turn this way. No, it's too late. Uncle Joe is upon you. Uncle Joe starts talking to you like he's never met you before in his entire life and then pretty soon Uncle Joe says, "You know I'm lucky to be standing here today," which, of course, then is your cue to do as you always do. "Why is that, Uncle Joe?" Even though you know why that is because you've heard why since you were 5 years old and if Uncle Joe gets lost or misses a few details, you can fill it in for him. But you ask anyway, "Why is that, Uncle Joe?" And he begins to tell you. And, as he's talking, you find out that when you were 5, you hung on every word he said but not now. Now your mind wanders off, and you start thinking, "Gee, I wonder if we're having ham or turkey today. You know, I hope my wife remembered to make that favorite potato dish I always like." And before you know it, you look up, Uncle Joe has wrapped up the whole story, and you really didn't hear it at all.

I'm a little bit worried that maybe that's what happens on Easter Sunday. We hear the resurrection account, but we've heard it so many times before. We've heard it from the individual gospels. We've heard it as today, compiled of all four gospels. And do we just sort of tune out? When we were 5 years old, we hung on every word as it was being read to us. But now we've heard it so many times before, we're thinking about that ham dinner and potato dishes that are maybe waiting for us. And all of a sudden, we look up, and the story's done and we've moved on to something else.

You know, I have to confess that I'm there with you. I've read the gospel accounts I don't know how many times. I've taught on them. I've preached on them. It's very easy, when the gospel is read of the resurrection account, to have my mind wander. And I can miss things. Even though I know it in detail, we can always end up passing over something.

It happened to me this past week. I was reading one of my favorite authors, Max Lucado, and he pulled something out of the resurrection account that I hadn't noticed before. Oh, I'd read the words. I'd heard the words. I'd even studied the words, but the implication never really struck me before. And I wonder if it slipped past you this morning, too.

Well, before we go there, let's make sure we somewhat back up and we have the proper setting for what's happening. Scripture tells us that very early in the morning, in fact, John tells us it was still dark outside, and what do we find? We find the women heading for the tomb, the same ladies who were the last to leave are going to be the first to arrive. They reluctantly left Jesus for dead in the grave and now, out of duty and obligation, they're heading back to the tomb. Now there's something to remember here. They don't know this is the first Easter. Now maybe that seems self-evident to us, but that's because we've heard the story. They haven't. As far as they're concerned, there are no more dreams like that. The impossible no longer is possible. With their heads hung low and their hearts even lower, they head off for the tomb. And that's where Matthew gets us. Matthew records for us that very early in the first day of the week, an earthquake shook the ground and an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled the stone away from the tomb. Did you catch that? An angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled the stone away from the tomb. You're probably thinking, "Well, yeah, so? Yeah, we know that." Why? Why did God send an angel to roll the stone away from the tomb? Why would God dispatch one of His angelic hosts to come down on earth and roll the stone away from the tomb? It's not as if Jesus needed Him to do that. You remember Jesus is the one who walked on water. Jesus is the one who said to the lame, "Walk," to the blind, "See," the mute could speak. Jesus is the one who raised people from the dead. Jesus is the one who hung upon the cross, took on the sin of mankind, and paid for it. Jesus didn't need anybody to roll the stone away. It's not as if Jesus is in the grave saying, "All right, I'm waiting." Jesus didn't need an angel to roll the stone away. In fact, if you look at the scriptures, you get the distinct idea that Jesus isn't even in the tomb anymore. He's long gone. God sent an angel to roll the stone away, not so Jesus could get out but so we could see in. God sent an angel to roll the stone so we could see in. He rolled the stone away for the women who were coming to the tomb. Now these women had been with Jesus from the beginning. He was their teacher. He was their Lord. They believed Him to be their Messiah, and He was their friend. All of their hopes, all of their dreams were wrapped up in this man. When they were with Him, miraculous things happened. When they were with Him, the impossible became possible.

But now He's dead, and He's lying in a tomb. And out of obligation, they go to take care of His body. With their heads hung low and all of their hopes and dreams gone, the women come to the tomb. So God dispatches an angel to roll away the stone. And the angel says, "Come on, Ladies, come inside the tomb. See where He laid?" And in an instant, all of a sudden, hope was reborn. In just a second, it was okay to dream again. Everything changed in a moment. The angel said, "Do you remember what He said?" And the ladies did. Jesus said yes, He would die but He would rise again. The tomb is empty. He did what He said. Dreams are possible. God moved the stone away for the women.

God moved the stone away for Peter. Have you ever thought about what Peter's been going through for three days… Peter, the one who pledged allegiance to Jesus, "Never will I leave you. I'll die with you. I'll go to prison with you." And what is etched in Peter's mind? What is forever there? What is the shame, the guilt, the remorse that he carries around with him? That the last image Peter has of Jesus is while Peter is swearing and cursing that he doesn't know this Galilean. And Jesus' eyes met his. The eyes pierced to his soul as Peter denied his Lord for the third time. Peter is trapped in the past, trapped by the guilt and the shame. And now Jesus is dead. He can't run to Jesus and beg for forgiveness. He can't look to Jesus for advice of what he should do. Jesus is gone. He's dead. He's in the grave. So God rolled the stone away from the grave. And the angel said, "Now go and tell my disciples, but you make sure you tell Peter because Peter needs to know. Peter's been living with this long enough." And they tell Peter, and Peter runs to the grave. And when he gets there, he rushes inside. Could it be true? Could it really happen? When he sees inside, his life changes. All of a sudden, the guilt is lifted off him. The shame is taken away. Jesus is alive. He does have a second chance. He does have another opportunity. Jesus is still with him. He can run to Him. He can get forgiveness from Him. All of a sudden, Peter is released from his past. God moved the stone for Peter.

God moved the stone for John. John in his gospel always refers to Jesus when Jesus is referring to him as the disciple whom he loved. You get the impression that John was Jesus' best friend when He was on earth. John was the closest disciple to Jesus, so that meant that John hung on every word that Jesus spoke. He believed everything He uttered. He trusted everything He said. He put all of his belief in Jesus. But now Jesus is dead. John is confused. John doesn't know what to think. His mind is filled with doubt and questions. Was He really the one? Is He the Messiah? How could He be dead? So John runs to the tomb. He doesn't go inside. It's almost as if he doesn't want to look. He doesn't want to see the dead body of his friend. But finally, he goes inside. And what does scripture tell us? He saw and he believed. He believed. All of a sudden, his doubts are gone. He believed. Jesus is not there. That means if Jesus is alive, then He is the Son of God. If Jesus is alive, everything He said is true. If Jesus is alive, everything He said could be trusted. God moved the stone away for John to wipe away his doubts.

And God moves the stone away for you. God moves the stone away this morning for you. He moves the stone away so you can look into the empty tomb. Don't sit back this morning, check your watch, and think about the ham and potatoes. No. Look inside the tomb. Look inside the tomb and be released from your past. The regrets you brought in with you, the things you've said that you wish you'd never said, the regrets over the things you haven't done, the shame over the one thing you hope no one else finds out you did, the guilt that you live with and the sins you commit, all that baggage you brought in with you this morning, look in the tomb. It's empty. Leave all the baggage behind. The tomb is empty. That means Jesus is alive. It means the great exchange that happened on Friday, the Father has accepted it. The great exchange says this: Our sin became Jesus' sin and His righteousness became our righteousness. Our punishment was given to Jesus and His reward was given to us. The great exchange took place on Friday, and today says the Father accepts it. The Father accepts the sacrifice of the Son so when He looks at you, He sees the sin, but He calls you righteous. He sees the sin, but He calls you holy and blameless. Because Jesus lives, you're free from the past. Let go of the regrets. Leave the shame behind. Don't walk out of here feeling guilty for anything, because Jesus is alive. Look in the tomb. Look in the tomb, and let your doubts be erased. All of us have doubts. We may not want to admit it, but we do. We doubt whether God really cares. We doubt whether God's active in our lives. Maybe it's when times are going so well, we don't think about God, or when things are going so bad and there seems no relief and we wonder, "Is there a God? Does He care?" Look in the tomb. The tomb is empty. The tomb means that the man who died on Friday is alive on Sunday, and it's true. Jesus rose from the dead. Every person who sets out to prove the opposite, to prove that it was a hoax, to prove that it's just a legend, they end up becoming one of the most devoted followers of Jesus, the most vocal about His resurrection because the fact of the matter is, when you look at all the evidence, Jesus is alive. He's not dead. When you study it and you look at it from every angle, it's undeniable. Jesus is alive. And if He's alive, then everything He said is true. And every promise He made to you, you can trust.

Look in the tomb. Let your doubts be washed away. Look in the tomb and know that God still pushes stones out of the way. God still moves stones yet today. He's still active in your life. He still cares about you. Every moment of your life, He's paying attention. Those times when you just can't chalk it up to coincidence, those times when you can't say this just couldn't be chance, that's God moving stones. It's the times when you walk away from the accident, you look back at the vehicle, it's totally smashed, and you don't have a scratch on you. It's the times you're in the emergency room, and the doctor shakes his head in disbelief and he says to you, "You know, if that wound would have been an inch to the right or the left, your son would be dead. But he's not. He's fine." It's those times you can't explain. That's God moving stones, God moving the stones and showing you that He cares about you and He's active in your life.

Tim knows what I'm talking about. Tim Devick is a member here at Gloria Dei. He knows exactly what I'm talking about because God moved some stones in his life. You see, Tim's brother was dying of cancer. It happened just a few weeks ago. And Tim really wanted to see his brother. So he waited for the call and, sure enough, it came. It said, "Tim, he's not going to make it through the night. You probably won't make it here, but go ahead and come because the funeral's going to be soon." Tim didn't like that answer, so he started making preparations for him to fly out just as fast and as soon as he could. So he got on the Internet, and he started doing some things. The next morning, he got up and went down to the airport himself. He talked to a nice gal behind the counter, and she said, "Mr. Devick, I'm really sorry. We have a flight going out at 4:00 that is completely overbooked. You can go on standby if you want, but it's a waste of money. It's really full." "Put me down," he says. He left the airport at 9:00. He came back at 2:00. By the time he came back at 2:00, a larger plane had landed in Des Moines and there was a seat open for Tim. The lady behind the counter says, "But Mr. Devick, when you get to Chicago, there's only one plane out of there to Washington. You will be stuck in Chicago. You are 4, 5, 6 down on the list of standby. It's not going to happen." He says, "I'll take the seat." He flew to Chicago. Sure enough, just as they said, he went up to the ticket counter. They said, "Mr. Devick, there's not a chance. This flight is so overbooked, I'm just afraid you're not going to make it to Washington today." He says, "Isn't there another flight?" knowing what he'd been told in Des Moines. A couple of keystrokes away, the man shook his head and said, "You're not going to believe this. There's a flight that's leaving in 5 minutes." And he's looking down at the screen, and he says, "Oh, my. A seat just opened up as they were getting ready to close the door." Five minutes in Chicago O'Hare? Yeah. Tim says, "What gate is it at?" The man looks down and shakes his head, "Right there, Mr. Devick, the gate next to us."

God moves stones, my friends. God moves stones to let you know He's paying attention and just when you think you're all out of hope, just when you think you're at the end of your rope, God moves a stone and lets you experience His love and His grace, and He still moves stones in your life. Don't stop. Don't quit. Life may get you down. You may think you have no more hope. You may think that you're finally at the end of the line, but don't give up. Keep going, because God still moves stones. Could you imagine what would have happened if the women would have just thrown up their hands and said, "What's the use? Let's just go home." They'd have never seen Jesus. They'd have never seen the stone moved away. Could you imagine if Tim would have just gone home and said, "I guess I can't make it?" He'd have never seen his brother alive. Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't stop. That's what Easter is saying to us. Easter says we still have hope. Easter says we can still have dreams. Easter tells us that the impossible is possible. Easter tells us that the man who was dead on Friday is alive today. Easter tells us that we're free from our past. No guilt… no remorse… no shame… they are all taken away in the blood of Jesus. Easter says that hope is alive for you. Easter says this: The God who moved stones 2,000 years ago is the God who still sends angels and a God who still moves stones today. Amen.

Copyright 2004 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church