Very Early In the Morning - Easter Sunrise Sermon

EASTER SUNRISE—April 16, 2006
“Very Early In the Morning”
Luke 24:1-11

The Gospel of Matthew tells us that on Easter morning the women went to the tomb “at dawn on the first day of the week”

The Gospel of Mark tells us that it was, “Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise.”

The Gospel of Luke also tells us that it was “very early in the morning.”

Lastly, the Gospel of John says that the women started out, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark”

The four Gospels all agree that women from among Jesus’ disciples woke up in the early morning darkness of that first Easter day and headed off to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been placed two days earlier.

Why, I wonder, did they go to the tomb so early? It’s not as though they were worrying that Jesus might be going somewhere!

No, Jesus was dead and he would have been just as available to the women at 11:00 am as he was at 6:00 am!

What was the hurry?

During the Sabbath the day before, they had quietly collected oils and spices to place around Jesus’ body. This ritual was customary at burials in those days but there had not been enough time to do things right when Jesus had died so late on Friday afternoon.

The sooner the women got to Jesus’ body the better, of course. One of the main reasons for the spices, after all, was to cover up the smell of death and decay that would have already begun.

Although the women headed out with this task in mind, we read in Mark’s gospel that the women wondered how they were going to get inside the tomb at all.

They knew that they were not strong enough to move the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb by themselves.

It is not clear whether they even knew that the tomb entrance had been sealed and that guards had been posted to keep anyone from looting the grave or from stealing Jesus’ body.

I have given this all a great deal of thought this past week and I’d like to share with you why I think these women disciples went to the tomb so early and so eagerly on that Sunday morning.

1. First of all, they were motivated by FAITH. They believed that they were responsible for making sure that Jesus was buried properly. The element of faith is obvious in the fact that they clearly believed, or at least hoped, that God would bless their efforts by providing them a way to enter the tomb.

Have you ever faced a difficult situation that you were not sure how to handle?

I remember once climbing 20-30 feet up a granite cliff while backpacking in the Touolome River Canyon in Yosemite National Park. Why did I do this? I really have no idea. It just seemed to be a fun thing to do at the time.

Well, up I went until I could go no further. It was at that point that I realized that I did not have a clue how to get back down without simply letting go and falling onto the sharp rocks far below. I had gone off by myself and there was no one nearby to call to for help.

Now I’m sure that none of you would ever be so foolish as to ever start something you did not know how to finish! Or are you? Of course you are!

You may not have ever climbed a granite cliff but I bet you have started at least one thing in your life that you really were not completely prepared for.

How about repairing a leaky toilet or a faucet?

Out comes the wrench; the water line is turned off to the house. The nuts and bolts are unscrewed. The broken part is identified and then . . . Well, of course you do not have the part you need to replace it. So, off to City Mill you go, hoping, hoping, hoping that they have the part you need in stock because you know that there is no way in the world that you are ever going to be able to put the whole thing back together without it!

My friends, you have stepped out in faith!

I have so much faith that I once had the opportunity to make four different purchases from three different hardware stores before finally finding at some obscure corner knick-knack repair shop in Wahiawa the one simple part I needed!

Meanwhile, for most of the day, the water in my house had been shut off and not even the toilets were working! I can assure you that my family was not pleased by my efforts!

After having this experience once or twice we will never again try to start anything until we have all the possible parts fully researched, purchased and lined up next to us before we even think about turning off the water!

So it is that we learn to plan every detail of every task, whether it be a party, a vacation trip or church building campaign so that we will be in complete and total control of it all.

But this is not faith! Where do we allow God any opportunity to work his will when we have predetermined everything that will happen ourselves?

Faith means taking control of what you can do and then stepping out boldly, trusting in God to do the rest!

When Psalm 127 says that, “Unless the Lord build the house, they who build it labor in vain,” the Psalm really means what it says!

We must always leave room in our plans for God to complete the work according to his plans!

On that first Easter morning, those women stepped out in faith. They had done all that they could have done and then went to the tomb anyway, leaving it to God to somehow roll that stone away for them.

Their faith was, of course, rewarded. For when they arrived at the tomb they found that the stone had already been rolled away!

If they had spent the morning running around and getting all the necessary permits to open the tomb and had taken time to get permission from the tomb’s owner and hired men who knew how to move the stone they would have had everything under their control but they would have missed out on being the first to discover the empty tomb and to meet the risen Jesus!

It is only faith that gives us the opportunity to experience miracles and other signs and wonders of God. If we do everything ourselves without including God in our plans then that is what we will get: Our own work and none of God’s!

So, the women were, first of all, motivated by faith.

2. Second, the women were also motivated by COURAGE.

HAve you ever wondered why the men didn’t get up early and heaD for the tomb instead of the women? It was because the men were afraid. They were afraid that they might be recognized and identified as Jesus’ disciples. They were afraid that they, too, would be arrested, beaten, stoned or crucified. So they stayed hidden, locked safely away in the Upper Room.

The women knew that even if they were recognized as being followers of Jesus they would most likely have been left alone. Besides, with their head covering and veils they would have been hard to recognize anyway!

Still, it took courage for these women to step out into the open and mingle with people who had, just two days before, called for the death of their teacher and friend.

What would you have done if you had been in the disciples’ place?

Have you ever hesitated to state your opinion or to take a stand on some controversial issue because you were afraid of what others might think of you? Have you ever kept quiet about something important because you didn’t want to “rock the boat” or get on the wrong side of your boss, your employer or your commanding officer?

I remember once when I failed to do what I knew to be the right thing to do. I failed to act because I was afraid that I would damage a friendship, betray a confidence and make a difficult situation even more complicated than it already was.

Because of my fear, because of my lack of courage, I did nothing. And because of that someone almost died. That day was one of the most awful days of my life.

Since then I have decided, that insofar as I am able, I will always try to do the “right thing” no matter how afraid I might be of the consequences.

I want to be like those women on Easter morning who stepped out in courage to go to the tomb.

They were rewarded for their courage by being trusted with the most important message given to humanity since the creation of the world! The resurrection of the Son of God from the bonds of death.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for having done the right thing!” Sometimes the suffering and blessings come together. But it is always the blessing that we should hunger for! The blessing that come from having chosen to do the right thing. And that takes courage.

3. Thirdly, the women went to the tomb early in the morning because they were motivated by CURIOSITY.

Now it has been said that “curiosity killed the cat” but that is not what I am trying to say to you this morning!

What I mean by curiosity is that God has placed us in a wonderful, amazing universe which he has personally designed and constructed for our benefit.

It is God’s desire that we be curious about what God has made and what God is doing.

I, for one, am particularly curious about current events, the unfolding of contemporary history and the amazing recent and ongoing discoveries of science, especially in the area of astrophysics.

By keeping up with the news, by seeing the big picture of world history and current events and by putting them all in the larger context of the whole of creation I believe that, guided by God’s word in the Bible, I am busily engaged in the observing the work of God’s Holy Spirit and the unveiling of God’s plan of redemption and salvation for fallen humanity.

What are you curious about? It is good for you to follow up your curiosity and there are many ways to do this. One of your highest priorities, however, is to be curious as to how God is at work both in your own life as well as in the world around you.

A person without curiosity is a person who has ceased to learn.

Such a person is as good as dead to God!

One of the basic biological criteria for life is that it must be growing, reproducing . . . constantly replacing dead cells with new, living cells, and always adapting to change.

Without curiosity we might as well be vegetables!

So the women were motivated by curiosity. They wanted to see what had happened to Jesus. They wanted to see what was going on that very morning. They wanted to see what God had “up his sleeves” and they were ready to be surprised and amazed!

They were ready to be changed and ready to grow into the people God had created them to be. They wanted to know the truth—the very truth of God that would set them free from sin and death.

So, they stepped out in FAITH, COURAGE and in CURIOSITY.

4. Last of all, they stepped out into the Jerusalem streets early that Easter morning because they were motivated by LOVE.

They were motivated by their love for God.

They were motivated by their love for Jesus.

They were motivated by their love for their spiritual family that Jesus had created from among his faithful disciples.

Lastly, they were motivated by their love of others who had never known Jesus, had never felt his healing touch, had never heard his words of life and had never seen the glory of God shining in his face.

The love that moved them to action that morning was, in fact, not from themselves at all, but from God. It was God’s love that motivated them, the same love that brought Jesus to earth in the first place; The same love that led him to lay down his life for his friends, and, as the women were soon to discover, it was the same love of God that had conquered death and raised Jesus to life that very morning!

A good Boy Scout should be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.”

A good Christian, however, should always be motivated by FAITH, COURAGE, CURIOSITY and LOVE.

Without these there would have been no Easter and without these there would have been no one to discover the empty tomb or to meet the risen Christ face to face.

Let these Easter women be role models for your own life.

Christ arose, but he chose these women to be the first witnesses to the greatest event in the history of the world.

If you want to experience the creative and healing power of God in your life; if you want to experience what it is like to be refreshed, renewed and reborn; if you want to experience the forgiveness of your sin and receive the assurance of God that you have been saved to live with him forever; then I invite you this morning to:

--Step out in faith, trusting that God will complete any good thing that you have begun for his glory;

--Step out with courage, risking everything on Jesus Christ and the salvation that he has won for us.

--Step out in curiosity, asking questions, seeking answers, peeking around corners and looking for God in every place and in every thing and in every idea.

--Step out in love in response to the love God has shown to you in Jesus Christ. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Love others as Christ has loved you.

Step out and walk . . . no, I mean run to the tomb of Jesus! If you do you will find that it is empty this morning. If you do you will be filled with wonder and fear and joy all at the same time. If you do you will return a different person than you were when you left.

But if you do not step out in faith, courage, curiosity and love like those women disciples of Jesus then nothing in your life will change. It will all remain the same. Forever. The women knew better. And they were proven to have been right all along.

Follow them this morning. Follow them so that, like them, you, too, will become a follower of Jesus. See? The tomb is empty. He is not here! He is risen! The power of Death to hold you has been destroyed! With Jesus you are free! You are free! Alleluia! Amen!

--by Jim Tweedie, Pastor
Mililani Presbyterian Church