2 posts tagged “mercy”

St Clare's Mission to Mexico 2005 024

As the political bandwagon heats up, each candidate will bang their drums for their particular pet causes.  No matter which side of the political fence you sit on, one things seems to be clear: none of them are talking about the average Jane and Joe.

However, it's the average Jane and Joe and the less than average Jane and Joe that God's cares and loves so deeply.  The Gospel, the Good News of God in Christ was intended for all...which includes the least, the left behind, the lost, the forgotten.  God is the "Lifter of our heads," our steadfast friend, our rock, our provider, the one who will never let us go.

The link provided with this very short article leads to an awesome video that covers my topic. I pray that if you find yourself in a space of need that its song and clips refresh you and encourage you.

Here's the clip: <object width="230" height="250"><param name="movie" value="http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/hosting_files/theworkofthepeople.com/content/store/images/preview_video.swf?preview_file=/hosting_files/theworkofthepeople.com/content/store/files/previews/V00304.flv&thumb_file=/hosting_files/theworkofthepeople.com/content/store/files/thumbs/system_thumbs/V00304.jpg"><embed src="http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/hosting_files/theworkofthepeople.com/content/store/images/preview_video.swf?preview_file=/hosting_files/theworkofthepeople.com/content/store/files/previews/V00304.flv&thumb_file=/hosting_files/theworkofthepeople.com/content/store/files/thumbs/system_thumbs/V00304.jpg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="230" height="250"></embed></object>

Yours for the reign of God,

Ron

Phillip Yancey’s book, The Jesus I Never Knew, includes an old joke about a sad man standing in front a church greeting another on Easter Sunday. When asked by his friend why he is so sullen on Easter Sunday, he says: “Didn’t you hear? They found the body.” Yancey remarks that even though this joke is in bad taste, it has a very clear point: If they had found the body, not only would Easter not be Easter, but also Christianity would not really be Christianity. Instead, what Mary Magdelene finds is Jesus, alive and risen from the dead!  “I have seen the Lord,” she proclaims to the other disciples!

For Christianity, this is the “shot heard ‘round the world” that transforms all of Christ’s followers and announces the defeat of our greatest enemy, death. A former professor of mine once reminded me that the biggest fear of Old Testament believers was not sin. Sin, as troublesome as it was, had remedies in the Old Testament. The biggest fear, even among those who were righteous, was death. Death, even for the righteous in the Old Testament, was veiled in mystery. Death was described in terms of the Hebrew word, Sheol, which evoked spooky and mysterious images of a place outside of meaningful fellowship with God and others.

Easter Sunday, the Sunday of Resurrection, reminds us that death does not cut us off from the care of the Lord. Death, once our biggest foe, is now defeated, thanks to the resurrection of the Son of God!

Some of us this morning may say to ourselves “So what?”  I have friends, family and loved ones who have died…what difference has the resurrection made for them?  The answer is plenty, but perhaps for most of us we, like Mary, and like those disciples who went to the tomb, we just don’t have the eyes to see.  In Luke’s account of this story, the women were looking in the wrong place and sometimes we look in the wrong place.  In John’s account, Mary saw a gardener instead of her Lord.  In the case of the women in Luke’s gospel, they were looking in the place where dead people reside for a Lord who had risen! In our case, we look in all kinds of places where there is nothing but death, seeking in desperation for some sign of life. Thankfully, God’s grace calls out to us: “Don’t look there! There is only death! Look here. Look to me! I am Life!” God’s grace is calling (Not Las Vegas, but God’s grace). Are you looking in the right place?  When was the last time you read the scriptures, the word of life?  How long has it been since you worshipped, not on the golf course, but with other human beings?  When was the last time you prayed or gave up of your time for the sake other human beings?  Those are places to look for the face of the risen Jesus.  And, here’s one more place: In a few moments we are going to baptize Shaley Rose.  She is all of two years old, and she will be the newest member of the household of God, a new sign of the resurrection.  Can you see in her our risen Lord?

For some of us, even looking at a child in hopes of seeing the resurrection can be difficult thing.  There are some of you here today who have deep and abiding problems that just seem like they won’t go away.  There are some of us today who wonder if God really loves you, if you’re worthy of God’s saving grace. I’m here to tell you yes your worthy…worthy through his love. And, that God aches with you.

Christian artist Larnelle Harris recorded a song years ago that in part goes like this: “So, You were in it after all. All of the times that I spent crying when something inside of me was dying; I didn’t know that you heard me each time I called.” I want to tell you that God can be so tender.  God hears and God knows our hearts and treasures our tears. The pain in your life that may seem to eclipse every good thing you’ve know is nothing to be embarrassed about or to make you feel ashamed. Even the saints knew what it meant to be in difficult places. Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong.

On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes.

“Who’s dead?” he asked her.

“God,” she replied.

Luther rebuked her, saying, “What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die.”

“Well,” she replied, “the way you’ve been acting I was sure God had died!”  Our God is not dead, but risen!

Pain has an end.  Hurt has an end.  In the resurrection, life consumes death.

Did you notice in the text that the same question is asked twice to Mary who was crying? The angels ask, “Woman, why are you weeping?” (20:13). And Jesus asks Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping?” (20:15).

On Easter Sunday, perhaps it’s still the question before us: “Why are we weeping?  Why is there still such anguish in the world? Why are we laboring on, burdened and living as though there has been no resurrection? Christ is risen!  And resurrection is only the beginning of the journey not the end.

In our text it says: Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

There are many of us who are still going and telling everyone about this resurrected Christ, especially today. Come, experience God’s call for yourself. Feel free to look around in the direction you feel God tugging you. Reflect upon the words of Jesus in God’s Word. Allow the Holy Spirit to demonstrate to you through these ancient words that Jesus is just as alive and present today as He was then. And when you do, you will encounter life. This life invites and empowers us to go in His name. He is risen indeed! Amen.

Source: Homiletics.com and Preachers Magazine