Tears… on Easter Morning?
John 20:1-18
Mary was in tears. Why? She
saw an empty tomb. But it is interesting to see that after knowing that the “gardener”
was Jesus, her tears changed from tears of sorrow to tears of joy.
That’s it. This morning is a morning of victory. This morning
we are gathered here to celebrate.
And I know many of us have problems.
Think of wives who lost their
husbands in the
Think about Iraqi children
and widows.
Think of mothers and fathers
who are in grief of lost son or daughter in war or sickness.
How about here? Many of you
have memories of lost ones who used to sit next to you in this service and they
are not here any longer.
This morning Jesus is here like that “gardener” in a
new way, and in a new body saying:
“Nerses, Mary, John …” put
your name.
And your face expression can
turn from sorrow to joy, because you are meeting the risen Jesus.
So, the parade is continuing
today and there is no full stop. It is the continuous tense; it is moving nonstop.
I love the tradition of donating
Easter lilies to the alter on this in memory of a loved
one. Why lilies?
Life,
beautiful life. The source is the risen Jesus Christ.
Only when you meet Him, your tears
this morning will be different. Although you will have pain of loss, yet you
know that one day we will be together. That was done today, the resurrection
day. Therefore today my tears are tears of joy.
As Armenians, we have been
celebrating the resurrection of Christ for 1700 years.
I remember in
God had victory on death. As
Paul wrote to Corinthian church, “O death, were is
your sting?”
Once a couple
adopted a child. After some time
they realized this child had Down’s
syndrome. They loved this child as their own and did their best to help him
grow.
He did not have many friends.
Even in Sunday School,
he was lonely.
On resurrection day, the
teacher gave each child a plastic egg, which would open when pressed in the
middle. She asked them to go to the field and find something and put in it.
All went out and came back.
One opened the egg and there
was a flower inside. Another child had
hidden a butterfly.
This boy’s turn came. He opened the egg and there was nothing
inside. With eyes full of tears, he said, “It is empty, because the tomb was empty.”
The whole class shouted with
joy, surrounded him, and embraced him with joy.
Today is the day that the Lord has made. Death is conquered. Yes, we have physical death. We
have accidents and problems. But these worldly sorrows are not final. We do not
have answers for all our tears. But we have one answer. If there were no resurrection,
why should we be Christians? Paul wrote:
“More than that, we are then
found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he
raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are
not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised
either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still
in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If
only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all
men.”(I
What a tragedy to live a life
of tears of sorrow. Many of us kept the grief in us.
Blessed are the ones who know
the Resurrected Jesus. The truth is in Jesus, and he will make you free.
No one likes to go to a physician
who will not tell the truth. If you have some kind of problem, you need to know
so that you can take action for healing. How long can one hide from the truth?
I had a friend who was an expert
in cheating in exams. He had his High School diploma. His parents forced him to
be physician. And believe it or not, he cheated even there. He got his diploma.
One day he was in tears telling me he would kill his patients by mistake
because he did not have much knowledge about his job. He left the country to do
something else.
HOW LONG CAN ONE HIDE WITHOUT
FACING THE TRUTH?
Jesus Christ is the TRUTH.
The resurrected Jesus is the Truth. The resurrection is the evidence of this
truth, the only truth. Jesus turned the tears of Mary to tears of joy when he
called her by name.
God is calling you this
morning by your name.
An atheist woman, asked her
children to bury her in a highly sealed tomb, because she did not believe in
resurrection.
Her children did what she
wanted. They sealed the tomb with hardest rocks so nothing can come out.
After one year they visited
their mother’s tomb. What a surprise. They saw green branches coming out of
this sealed tomb. Nothing can stop the new life in nature.
God is a God of resurrection.
"If a dead man is raised to life, all men spring up in
astonishment. Yet every day one that had no being is born, and no man wonders,
though it is plain to all, without doubt, that it is a greater thing for that
to be created which was without being than for that which had being to be
restored.
Because the dry rod of Aaron budded, all men were in astonishment;
every day a tree is produced from the dry earth... and no man wonders...
Five thousand men were filled with five loaves; every day the grains of
seed that are sown are multiplied in a fullness of ears, and no man wonders.
All wondered to see water once turned into wine. Every day the earth's
moisture, being drawn into the root of the vine, is turned by the grape into
wine, and no man wonders.
Full of wonder then are all the things which men never think to wonder
at, because they have by habit become
dull to the consideration of them." 1
I wonder if we lost the sense
of wonder in life and we became dull.
You should visit the lab of
the
Resurrection is reality. Resurrection
is truth. This is the day that the Lord has made. You have pain and tears. God
will heal you. God is the God of transformation.
Let every knee bow down and
Let every tongue confess
That Jesus Christ is the Risen
Lord and the King of Kings.
Amen
1 St. Gregory the Great, Moralia
(translated: Morals on the Book of Job, 1844–50). Gregory I (540–604)