a short Easter morning sermon on Matthew

Don’t be afraid.

Where have we heard those words before?

It is all through the Christmas story.

Don’t be afraid the angel said to Mary,

don’t be afraid Joseph was told in a dream.

Don’t be afraid  the shepherds were told by an angel.

It seems that angels must be scary, every time they speak to someone, the first thing they say is ‘don’t be afraid’.

Or maybe it is because no one expects to see an angel.

And the women who went to the tomb were certainly not expecting what happened that morning.

They were not expecting an angel,

or an empty tomb,

or to meet Jesus.

 

The women had seen what had happened on Friday,

the crucifixion and burial,

and they were coming to mourn.

Some gospels mention burial spices,

but not Matthew.

Matthew has the women going to see the tomb,

I guess it is like some people these days go and visit the graves of loved ones.

But,

something happened that morning,

something extraordinary and amazing and earth shattering.

 

I wonder what it was like for the women that morning,

Going to the tomb, my guess is sad, and maybe concerned about getting into trouble for even being there.

Then when an angel rolled the stone away, and spoke to them?

And then when Jesus spoke to them?

 

Then they grabbed his feet and worshipped him.

 

They went to grieve at the tomb,

and end up worshipping Jesus.

 

Sometime the best things in life are surprises J

 

Every so often something happens in our lives that is life changing, and in my experience, that is often accompanied by pain or fear, or both J 

 

I wonder what this story has for us today, most of us have heard this story, or variations of it from Mark, Luke and John, many times over. 

Remember  the Leunig image I showed earlier: “Look at that! Brilliant! You kill the leader and you nip the whole movement in the bud.”

 

And  then just a few days later, the leader isn’t dead anymore, and the movement …

 

The movement has lasted another 2000 years.

 

What shape is the Jesus movement in today?

 

Both the angel and Jesus tell the women : don’t  be afraid, and then ‘to go and tell’.

 

Don’t be afraid, go and tell.

 

Tell the story of Jesus –

The story of compassion,

of grace,

of inclusion,

of acceptance,

of healing,

of liberation.

 

Tell it in words and actions

Tell it with your time and your money,

with your  voice and your hands,

tell the story of love with your life.

Don’t be afraid, go and tell