Pastor Dan Eddy
Matthew 28:1-15
Fears, Lies, and an Invitation
4-24-11 Easter Sunday
I.
Introduction
– What do we fear in life.
What do you fear in life?
Perhaps like me…you have a fear of embarrassment and failure.
Maybe, it could be as simple as telling a joke on Easter Sunday morning, where the
fear is few to none will laugh. At the seminary they warned us that joke telling
during a sermon is very risky. So this morning I am going to face my fears by
telling a joke. Are you ready? Here we go.
A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the
middle of the road.
He swerves to avoid hitting it, but
unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car.
The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out
to see what has become of the rabbit. Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the
Easter Bunny, and he is dead.
The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A woman driving down the
highway sees a man crying on the side of the road and pulls over.
She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong.
"I feel terrible," he explains, "I accidentally hit the Easter
Bunny with my car and killed him."
The woman says, "Don't worry."
She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can. She walks over to the
limp, dead Easter Bunny, bends down, and sprays the contents onto him.
The Easter Bunny jumps up, waves his paw at the two of them and hops off
down the road.
Ten feet away he stops, turns around and waves again. He hops down the road
another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, and
repeats this again and again and again and again, until he hops out of sight.
The man is astonished. He runs over to the woman and demands,
"What is in that can? What did you spray on the Easter Bunny?"
The woman turns the can around so that the man can read the label.
It says. Are you ready for this? Are you sure? OK,
here it is.
It says, "Hair Spray. Restores life to dead
hair, and adds a permanent wave."
I didn’t think you’d like it. Doug Wilkins sent me the email.
Now what does the fear of telling an awful Easter Bunny joke
have to do with our text from Matthew 28?
Fear is something everyone except Jesus and the angel have. What
they did with that fear is the difference between death and life…between lies
and the truth.
II.
Fears,
lies, and conspiracy of the guards and Chief Priests
Well just like I have a fear of embarrassment and a fear of
failure so did about 12 soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb to make sure those
Disciples didn’t steal His body. These
hardened, tough, physically strong soldiers should be embarrassed that they
couldn’t protect a simple tomb. Their fear of failure was realized when an angel
whooped them thoroughly.
Their fear did not lead to a confession of faith like the solider
at the foot of the cross. No, these soldiers had the fear of telling the Chief
Priests that they failed at great risk to their lives. They were Roman guards
on loan from Pilate under the temporary command of the
Did you notice the facts of the text are not in dispute by any
of these people? The soldiers knew the Disciples didn’t steal the body. The
Chief Priest had heard Jesus on more than one occasion predict He would back
from the dead. That’s one of the reasons why the guards were placed their in
the first place. And their worst fears were being realized: if Jesus was really
alive their religious power would be drained. People would turn from them to
Christ.
So how did they deal with their fear? They bribed the guards.
They concocted lies. The Sanhedrin passed a resolution to cover up the facts. I
mean come on. Most of the Disciples fled in the day of Jesus death…why would
they then be bold to come and steal his body? They were locked up in fear of
the Jewish religious leaders…in fear they would be next to be crucified.
You see the guards and the Chief Priests believed the
resurrection of Jesus….they just didn’t believe in it. The facts are not in dispute, and neither is their lack of
faith in Christ.
Fears lead to lies. Lies lead to conspiracies. And those fears
and lies are still being told today. Scholars today are still floating the idea
that the Disciples or someone else stole Jesus’ body. And one of the reasons
people tell or believe in these lies is they have a fear of human mortality.
And those fears lead to other lies. For example, do you know what one of the
biggest lies being told to people today is…Karma. Karma in our western culture
is the idea that if I do good things eventually good things will happen to me.
And if I do bad things eventually bad things will happen to me. And if I do bad
things I can reverse course by doing enough good things to make up for the bad.
This Karma thought is so pervasive that it has even crept into
the church. A pastor friend of mine recently took a week off from preaching and
went to his mother-in-law’s church where during the children’s lesson the
pastor told the children that if they did five bad things that they could to
make up for them by doing five good things.
The truth of the matter is we can never make up for all the
wrongs we’ve done…sin is that prevalent in our lives. But that day the kids heard no mention of
confession of sins. No mention of Jesus dying the cross to forgive their sins.
No mention of how by grace through faith in Him alone saves us, not by our good
works. He might as well as added that Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead and
that the Disciples stole His body.
Where is the hope of immortality in our actions? Where is the
certainty of salvation based on our deeds? If that’s where our faith is…then we
should have a fear much greater than the soldiers or the Chief Priests. We
should fear Christ…because we only believe Him not believe in Him. It’s the difference
between knowledge and true faith.
Do we believe the resurrection account or do we believe in it?
IV. Fear of
the Women and the invitation
Well the soldiers and the Chief Priests weren’t the only ones
with fear in this text. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were gripped with
fear when they saw the angel, and then when they saw Jesus. The angel had to
tell them emphatically: “Both of you,
stop being afraid.”
You see their fear in part was based on not listening. The angel
reminded them that Jesus predicted His own resurrection. While the Chief Priests
knew very well that Christ had predicted His own rising from the dead, the Mary’s,
the other women, the Disciples and other followers all heard similar predictions
but they never really listened to them. They thought Jesus was referring to the
resurrection at the End of time or something else. Repeatedly the Gospels point
out the clueless nature of Jesus’ followers in this regard.
So the women ran away with a mixture of fear and great joy to
tell others about Jesus being alive. Not run away in fear like the guards to
cover up the facts. And when the women ran into Jesus, He had to tell them to “Stop being afraid.”
Jesus wanted Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to face their
fears, including the fear of death so He could invite them to live with Him,
forever. Jesus invites you this day to face your fears in life. Easter is a
celebration of life to show us that by faith in Christ alone death has no power
for us.
And for Mary Magdalene to take hold of Jesus’ feet was profound.
Faithful Jews never worshipped humans…they only worshipped the Lord God. Their
actions showed they saw Jesus for who He really is. The Lord God. They now just
didn’t believe Jesus’ resurrection…they believed in it and in Him. Their
faith was fully revealed.
When their fear evaporated they began to put Jesus’ whole plan
of salvation together…why He needed to suffer…why He had to die…the power of
His resurrection.
By the way…if you’re going to fabricate a story about the resurrection
in these times you wouldn’t have women see the Christ first. Unfortunately in
that day their testimony was not seen as reliable as men, and yet who saw and proclaimed
the resurrected Christ first….women.
Are we just hearing Jesus or are we really listening? Have we
stopped fearing God? Is our fear evaporating to really believe in what Jesus did and why He did for
you and others?
And then to matters even better...Jesus gives the women two great
assignments. One He invites them to a great rendezvous event in
Do you know what Jesus was inviting them all to? A huge church
service. A huge church service to worship Him and to celebrate His
resurrection.
And it is believed by some scholars
based on 1 Corinthians 15: 6 that about 500 people were at that worship service
for Jesus in
The same Word of God spoken at your baptism. The Word of God taught each week here in
worship and Bible study. The Word of God we live by as we leave here today. We
have been invited to go out and proclaim the Easter message. And to speak
against the lies…and the deception that are out there in the world.
It’s not Karma that saves you it’s our Savior…Jesus Christ. He
saves you from the flames of Hell to give you Heaven. And He gives you a little
piece of Heaven today in a few moments in the sacrament….when you dine on His true
body and real blood. To be restored to go out and invite others so their fears
can be evaporated.
Do more than believe the
resurrection. Believe in it. Stop
fearing. Stop believing the lies, and take Jesus up on His invitation for you. Share
your faith with others…so they too can stop fearing, and believe in Jesus.
My dad has been a real inspiration
sent by the Lord to help me with my faith in this most challenging year. His
approach to dealing with his cancer has been a witness to me, as his son, and
as a pastor. He sent me the following email this week, and in closing I would
like to share it with you:
When I say that “I am a Christian”, I am
not shouting that “I am clean living.” I'm whispering “I was lost, but now
I'm found and forgiven.”
And when I say “I am a Christian” I don't speak of this with pride. I'm
confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
And when I say “I am a Christian” I'm not trying to be strong. I'm
professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.
And when I say “I am a Christian” I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting
I have failed and need God to clean up my mess.
And when I say “I am a Christian” I'm not claiming to be perfect. My flaws
are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
And when I say “I am a Christian” I still feel the sting of pain. I have my
share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.
And when I say “I am a Christian” I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple
sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!
All of what we believe in and about
Christ rises or falls on the events of that first Easter Sunday.
Like in the Easter Bunny joke where the hair spray restores life
to dead hair and adds permanent wave so Jesus Christ through the power of God’s
Word restores life to dead bodies and adds a permanent, perfect life with Him, forever.
Go proclaim that this day. Amen.