I read about a teacher would regularly volunteer her time tutoring children at Children’s Hospital. Her name and phone number were available to both the hospital and other teachers if they had a child who needed to catch up on some lessons. One day, she received a call from a teacher to go and visit with one young boy in the hospital. “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in class right now,” the boy’s teacher said. “I’d be grateful if you could help him with his homework so he doesn’t fall behind everyone else.”
The teacher took the boy’s name and room number. When she got outside the boy’s room, she realized he was located in the burn unit. This boy’s little body was horribly burned, and he was in a great deal of pain. She didn’t just want to walk away, so she approached the boy and said, “I’m the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs.” The boy was in so much pain that he barely responded or gave any indication that he cared what she was saying. The teacher stumbled through the lesson, feeling very ashamed that she was putting this boy through such a senseless exercise.
The next morning, the teacher was visiting another child in the hospital when a nurse from the burn unit found her. “What did you do to that boy yesterday?” she asked. Before she could open her mouth to apologize, the nurse went on, “We have been incredibly worried about him ever since he came in. But ever since your visit yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back. He’s responding to treatment. It’s as if he’s just decided that he wants to live.”
A few weeks later, when the boy had recovered well enough that he could speak, the nurses asked him what caused the sudden change. The boy said, “I thought I was going to die. Nobody told me otherwise. But then a teacher came in to help me with my nouns and adverbs, and I thought, they wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy who was going to die, would they?”
Hope can be a very powerful thing. When your body is chard and falling off, when your skin is so damaged that it hurts just to blink your eyes or cough, sometimes hope can be the best medicine.
Does anyone here need a dose of that? Has anyone here had a hard week? Anyone here not looking forward to going back to work, or resuming your treatment, or meeting up with your ex, or spending another Easter all alone, or hearing the latest doctor’s report? Do you, or does anyone you know need a little dose of hope? Then it’s a really good thing that today is Easter, because Easter means that there is hope that things will get better; that no matter the pain you’re feeling, the hurt you’re seeing, the bad news you’re hearing, Easter means that there really is something better to come, there really is life after death, and healing after pain, and balm for your wounds, and the promise that your face will smile again.
Just ask the women. Three women – Mary, Mary, and Salome – were on their way to a grave, not even realizing how much hope they were missing. Here’s how hope returned to them on Easter morning.
(1) When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. (2) Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb (3) and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
On June 18th, 1815, on a typically foggy day in England, British families were anxious to hear what had happened. Their boys, under the direction of General Wellington, were fighting Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. News of the outcome was going to be transmitted by flashing light signals across the English Channel. When the signals finally came across, a heavy fog was settling in, but they could still barely make out the message, which said, “Wellington defeated …” Word spread very quickly. The battle had been lost. Their boys were dead. Napoleon’s murderous campaign was soon going to reach them. Families started packing their bags, grabbing their children, and planning to leave the place, up till now they had called home because, if the only people who could defend them were all dead, then hope was all gone. A couple hours later, the fog lifted, and the signal was sent again, and this time, the fog didn’t prevent them from seeing the whole thing. The full message was, “Wellington defeated Napoleon.” They had won. But for the previous couple of hours, they were acting like they hadn’t.
These women were very dedicated to Jesus. They kept a close eye on him when he was buried, making sure it was done properly, which it wasn’t (he was anointed on the outside of his burial linens, not directly on his body), which is why they spent the entire Sabbath looking for money to buy the ointment. They looked through all the merchant shops to find the right one. They looked for the first light of dawn so they that no one would bother them or try to stop them. And, after all that looking, they were looking forward to giving their Lord a proper burial. In other words, they were looking for Jesus, expecting that he would not be living. They were hoping to find him dead, which would be absolutely horrendous for anyone who calls himself a Christian.
If Jesus is still dead, then we’re all here wasting our time. If there is no resurrection, then it really does matter the pain you’re feeling, the hurt you’re seeing, and the bad news you’re hearing because, if there is no Easter, then there’s no guaranty that better things are coming; then we don’t really know if there’s life after death, or healing after pain, or balm for our wounds, or hope that our faces will smile again; all of which Jesus’ entire ministry was based on.
If it’s not true, then there is no hope for you because, if Jesus isn’t alive, then the devil beat him, and this world got the best of him, and the sins he tried to carry were too heavy for him. And if that’s what those things did to him, who is stronger than you, smarter than you, more intelligent and standing on a better spiritual foundation than you, then there really is no hope for the people who have a long history of letting the devil beat up on them, the sinful world suck them in, and their stupid mistakes ruin them.
But, of course, those lies are just a smoke screen to make you believe that Jesus isn’t risen and isn’t currently with you. And because we now have the full message of hope, life is just great for you. You never worry. There is no stress in your life and no difficulties too. You sleep well at night. You’re not losing hairs on your head. Your blood pressure’s just fine, and your family looks at how busy you are, how well you do, how much you smile, and believes that everything’s alright.
These women were busy too. And this work for Jesus was something they were happy to do. But when they came to Jesus’ tomb, when they came face-to-face with the empty grave, it didn’t give them any more hope. They didn’t feel all squishy inside or believe that everything was now ok. In fact, the empty grave made them scared, alarmed, overwhelmed, and afraid.
(4) But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. (5) As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
Don’t think for one second that it was just the sight of an angel that scared them. It was being ignorant of what this open grave really meant for them, even though Jesus had time and again told them. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again.” “As Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, so long will the Son of Man be in his grave.” And most importantly, that God will declare righteous all those who believe that he died and rose from the dead; that the open grave means your sins are forgiven.
The busy-ness of your life for Jesus does not determine whether this means anything to you, just like the fact these women were busy all week with their minds only on Jesus did not mean they were hoping in his resurrection. It’s the moments when you’re alone, looking at the grave, that really tell the story. The next time you’re alone, ask yourself, does the open grave fill me with hope, or do your hopeless thoughts continue?
Kelvin Jones was a sophomore English major on a full academic scholarship to college. He had a 4.0. He graduated with honors from his high school class, where he was captain of the football team and voted most likely to succeed. He loved scuba diving and photography. He mentored at-risk children in his free time and had a summer internship lined up at Georgetown University. Life looked great for Kelvin until his girlfriend walked into his backyard this past October and found him with a hole in his head and gun in his hand.
Jesus’ open grave didn’t give him a whole lot of hope. If he knew about it, he was still overwhelmed. Would you like to know to prevent the same thing from happening to you? The angel gave the women the solution. He simply told them to stop.
(6) Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. The next time you feel overwhelmed by anything at all in life, just remember that the angel told you to “Stop being overwhelmed.” Well, that’s easy enough; easy enough for an angel to say, who can’t make mistakes, who doesn’t have my job, my health (or lack thereof), my kids, my money problems or level of stress. His boss is just a bit better than mine. His co-workers are all on the same page. He doesn’t have to stand in long lines at the store or sit on the tarmac for 8 hours because he can just fly everywhere he wants with his wings.
“Stop being overwhelmed”? Why? Because Jesus is risen? At this point, the women hadn’t even seen him. They were in the same position they were in before they got up that morning. How about the angel waits a couple of hours until Jesus at least appears to Mary in the garden or the disciples in the upper room or the 500 disciples he appeared to all at the same time, and then, while he’s putting his loving arms around them, tell them to find some comfort in the certainty of his resurrection.
Wouldn’t you feel better if Jesus appeared to you like he did to Paul on the road to Damascus? Or if he joined you for a walk this afternoon and made sense of your messy life like he did for the two guys walking on the road to Emmaus? Wouldn’t your walk with Jesus be a bit easier if the risen Jesus actually appeared so that the sight of him would dry all your tears?
Ask Peter. Because when Peter saw Jesus in the courtyard, he wept, and not out of joy. He looked into Jesus’ loving eyes and had to cry because a rooster had just convicted him by showing him that he had been treating Jesus as if he were dead. After all, if someone’s dead, you don’t have to defend them, stand up for them, or put your life on the line just for the chance to stand next to him because, if he’s dead, then he’s not worth following.
But Jesus is, because he’s not dead; no matter how often we treat him like he is. And we do that when we are confronted with a hard week, or tough work, long treatment, a rough break-up, an Easter alone, or a negative doctor’s report and we believe that things can’t get better, not for me, because I know the pain I’m feeling, the hurt I’m seeing, the bad news I’m hearing, and I don’t see how there’s any hope that something better will happen; that there’s healing after pain, balm for my wounds, or any chance that my once happy face will smile again.
And if anyone knows how you feel, it’s Peter. He felt hopeless too; and, because he did, the angel sent word that the risen Jesus was going to get him though.
(7) But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (8) Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. No disciple deserved hope less than Peter. No disciple told complete strangers that Jesus was basically dead to him except Peter. No disciple did that three times in one night after promising just hours earlier he never would except Peter. And yet the risen Jesus sent word through an angel that Peter, of all people, had the right to feel the hope of the resurrection and the right to know that someday Peter’s dead body will also rise and join him in heaven.
And he sends the same word to you. In this book, you have heard the same message, the same words, the same truth that, despite the pain you feel, the hurt you see, the news you hear, Jesus really is alive. And because he is, there really is something better to come, there really is life after death, and healing after pain, and balm for your wounds, the promise that your face will smile again, as well as the truth that the only act that could forgive your and Peter’s sins of fear and doubt has already happened, promising you that, someday, your body, dead or alive, will also rise to join our risen Savior in the sky and live in the only place where hope is no longer needed because you will see the best life in heaven.
When the women left the grave, it’s hard to tell if they felt any better. Mark says they were “trembling and bewildered.” And today, when you leave church, you will leave the official celebration of our Lord’s empty grave, and you will go back to all those things that took away your hope Monday through Saturday. But that doesn’t mean the celebration has to stop. His Word is always here; ready to start a new celebration every day in your heart. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.