Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

I have to be honest this morning. The account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded by St. Mark, which was read at the beginning of this service, has never been my favorite. For me, it’s too short. For me, it omits some dearly loved portions of the Resurrection account. Mark omits any mention of the violent earthquake and the angel coming down and rolling away the stone and speaking to the women as they arrived at the tomb, as St. Matthew mentions [Matthew 28]. Mark omits any mention of the question asked the women by the angels, “Why do look for the living among the dead?” and the women running back to tell the disciples the Good News but that their message was dismissed by the disciples as nonsense, as St. Luke mentions [Luke 24]. Mark omits my favorite scene of the Resurrection, with Mary Magdalene standing at the empty tomb so deeply engrossed in grief and loss and sorrow that Jesus literally had to tap her on the shoulder and call her by name to jar her back into reality, as St. John mentions [John 20].

No, the account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded by St. Mark has never been my favorite. In fact, honestly, there have been times in past years when Mark’s Gospel was the assigned Easter Gospel but I have chosen to use one of the other accounts instead. Something happened this year, though, that made me fall in love with Mark’s account. I guess two things became especially clear to me this year about Mark’s account, two things that I have always before missed.

First of all ths year, even though it is mentioned by all the other Gospel writers as well, Mark’s account this year drove home in my mind the first people to visit the tomb on Easter morning. Was it the strong, bold, masculine, impetuous disciples? No, it sure wasn’t. They were all locked away, hiding. No, Mark makes it very clear that the first witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection were the women – two Marys and Salome – who, as they traveled to the tomb, asked themselves an all-important question, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

That was a good question! They weren’t just talking about a little tiny rock. By some estimates, that entrance stone could have weighed a couple of tons and it would have been rolled down an incline to be secured in place in front of the tomb. It wasn’t meant to be removed easily. Rolling that stone would have meant not only moving a couple tons of rock, but also doing so back up that incline. “Who will roll the stone away?”

If it were you or me on the way to the tomb that morning, we may have likely just turned around and gone home, figuring it was useless to go any further, but the women didn’t stop. That’s the second thing I noticed this year. The women kept going. And, as they got to the tomb, they did something else very important. They then lifted up their eyes and – wonder of all wonders and marvel of all marvels – they discovered that the stone had already been rolled away. That’s when they got the Resurrection message from the angel: “Don’t be alarmed. Jesus is not here! Jesus is Risen!” Can you say “Amen”??

That got me thinking. Who rolled that stone away? At least one of the other Gospel writers tells us that the angel rolled away the stone. Mark omits that fact, too, leaving open the possibility that Jesus Himself rolled away His own stone. Whether Jesus Himself did it or whether the power of God at work in and through those angels did it, the fact remains that no human hands removed that stone. It took divine power in one form or another to roll that stone away. And that also got me thinking.

In your bulletin this morning, there should be a bright Easter grass green piece of paper – just a quarter of a sheet. Would please take that bright piece of paper out of your bulletin and find a pencil in the pew racks in front of you? I would like to ask you to think of one or more “stones” in your life right now and to write the name of that stone on that sheet of paper. Maybe the stone you’re facing this morning is related to your health. Write that down. Maybe it’s a financial stone. Maybe is a stone concerning a friend or family member. Maybe it’s a fear. Maybe it’s loneliness. Maybe it’s a weakness or a failure or an addiction. Whatever that stone is, please write it down on that sheet of paper. Be honest! No one’s going to see this but you and God – and you both already know what that stone in your life is. Then take that piece of paper, whether you’ve actually written something down on it or not, crumple it up and deposit it in these baskets that are coming around.

My friends, the true Easter message – the place where that first Easter of 2,000 years ago that sometimes seems so distant from us connects with each of us in 2009 in Pasadena, California – is that just as Jesus had the power and the ability and the desire to roll away His own stone on the morning of His Resurrection, so Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior, has the power and the ability and the desire to roll away our stones, to not only remove them from our lives but to totally obliterate them before our very eyes, to give us the faith like those first women to keep going despite knowing that stone in our life right now and the barrier it’s proving to be in our life, to give us the faith and the strength, through the power of His Holy Spirit, to lift up our eyes out of our own pain and grief and sorrow and worry and allow our eyes to see Jesus roll away our stones.

Let’s recall the Easter facts again this morning.

❈ Jesus was really dead (the professionally trained Roman crucifixion squad guaranteed that), but Jesus is really alive again and He gives that Resurrected life to you and to me.

❈ Jesus was sealed away securely in a tomb, carefully and professionally guarded by Roman soldiers, out of reach of being accessed by even His closest family and friends, but He broke out! He got away! He broke the bonds of death and the grave and is today available without any barrier to you and to me.

❈ Jesus proved His power in life over and over again. He changed water into wine. He made the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the diseased restored to full health. He raised the dead back to life. That power has become ours by His own gracious gift to each of us.

❈ Jesus ultimately proved His power even in death. He conquered sin. He conquered the devil. He conquered death. He raised Himself by His own miraculous power. He rolled away His stone. He did the impossible. That power has also become ours by His own gracious gift to each of us.

No wonder the angel said to the women, “Don’t be alarmed! He has Risen!” Their lives changed forever that Easter morning and it is my prayer that you and I will have that same life-changing experience again this Easter morning as we, in faith, enabled by Jesus’ Resurrection power, lift up our eyes and see Jesus roll away our stones.

Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus Christ, here are our stones. Roll them away. We know You have the power. We know You have the ability. We know You have the desire. Give us the faith to believe all that and to live as Your Resurrection people.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena