Matthew 28: 1-9

 03/23/2008 - Choosing to Believe
                           
 An angel announced Jesus’ birth.  Now, an angel announces his resurrection.  An earthquake accompanied Jesus’ death.  Now, an earthquake accompanies his return to life. 

Readers of Matthew’s gospel, & persons who are familiar with this story, have the advantage of knowing these facts.  These advantages can help us to believe as we see how God works. The two sets of individuals in the resurrection narrative did not have these advantages.  They did not have a gospel to read & see the events’ connections.  Then again, the soldiers & the women had the advantage of being there, eyewitnesses to this event.  Different advantages & disadvantages, yet the choice to believe or not, remains the same for us all.

 A soldier pulling duty on the cemetery detail does not sound like an honorable or invigorating assignment.  Jesus of Nazareth, though, this legendary & controversial figure, posed quite a threat to the Jewish leadership, as well as to the Roman government.  He was a high-value personage known far & wide.  At the very least, guarding his grave meant an adrenalin rush when confronting conspiratorial tomb-raiders who may attempt to steal the corpse.  Even without such excitement, there’s the rare privilege to brag about the assignment to awed listeners who can also brag that they knew the soldiers at Jesus’ sepulchre.  

 The guards, however, get much more than they ever imagined.  An angelic figure in dazzling white shockingly confronts the soldiers who respond by freezing in fear. 
 
 The women, though, witness the same amazing event.  Unlike the soldiers, they anticipate no trouble & are unprepared for any thrilling occurrences.  They are merely going to visit their dead friend.  What could be more innocuous?  The appearance of the heavenly messenger certainly frightens them, perhaps even more than the soldiers are scared, & the soldiers have weapons.  The two Marys may have justifiably expected the armed men to protect them from such a frightful visage, but the sentries play dead at their post.  They are no help, terrified as they are.

 Both sets of individuals – the guards & the women – witness the exact same thing. Both groups are understandably afraid.  The army detachment feigns unconsciousness.  “For fear the guards shook & became like dead men,” Matthew reports in verse 4.  The women respond with total elation.  “They left quickly with fear & great joy,” according to verse 8.

                                 The identical event.  Two opposite responses.
Guards, visiting women, readers of the story, someone who just came to church for the first time this morning: we all confront this empty tomb & we do so from our own places of emptiness.  Our lives are so full & filled with busyness, yet emptied of what matters, empty (on the) inside. 

We each lead lives many days “where hope is in constant danger, & might makes right, & peace has little chance, & the rich get richer, & the weak all eventually suffer under some Pontius Pilate or another” (Tom Long in “Matthew,” Westminster Bible Commentary, p. 322). Some of us fear death.  Some of us fear life.  Others feel trapped by success at work in ways never considered, or ensnared in a bad marriage with a spouse you no longer know or like, or caught with parents who don’t understand why you do what you do, or roped into a medical treatment that is either not promising, or promises too much, or held hostage by an addiction or emotional illness.  There’s emptiness.

There are economic worries & terrorism worries, & whether you’re liberal or conservative, I hear persons on each side with worries about the direction of the country & culture.  “The opposition is gaining too much illegitimate power,” both sides state about the other.  Doubts, fears, loss, disillusionment, hurt, disappointment, meaninglessness, unfulfillment. With varying degrees, but from similar places of emptiness, we all confront the empty tomb.
 
 And we all respond (to that tomb) in one of the same two ways: unbelief or belief, which translates to crippling fear or joy, embarrassment or relief, cynical doubt or empowering hope, wishing it would go away or wishing for even more, living like we’re dead or living like we’ve received a new lease on life.

 The two same-named companions choose belief that leads to joy.  From a place of sheer disbelief that comes from some mighty unbelievable circum-stances, they choose to believe, & that belief brings unbounded joy.  They don’t know what hope-filled blessings will come from belief, but they go for it. 

 Scientific research into the human mind & emotions informs us how healthy it is for us when our beliefs create meaning & purpose in life.   When we lack that kind of fulfillment & satisfaction & hope & joy, existence becomes depressive & tragic.  That’s not good for us.  It’s not good, full stop.

 I invite you to belief in Christ & his resurrection.  How do you get belief?

 Well, when Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, was a priest in the Church of England, despite his ordained status as a pastor, he did not believe.  He wanted to believe.  It was a spiritually wise Moravian, Peter Boehler, who coun-seled him to “preach until you have faith, then preach because you have faith.” 

 For us, pray until you have faith.  Read the life-giving words of the Bible until you have faith.  Worship until you have faith.  Act each moment with Jesus in mind until you have faith.  Serve others until you have faith.  Then, as the Holy Spirit of the Resurrected Christ works on your soul, pray because you have faith.  Read the Bible because you have faith.  Worship because you have faith.  Act with grace each moment with Jesus in your heart because you have faith.  Serve others with love because you have faith.  Live for Jesus.  Live anew.  Live the most abundant & wonderful life now & into eternity.  Make the choice to believe.

 When you come forward to receive the gifts of Christ’s body & blood today, spend time at the communion rail, & give God your disbelief or your unbelief that it may become belief & hope & joy.  Make the choice to believe.

 Jesus Christ takes the worst about us & nails it on the cross with him.  He takes the best about us & lifts it up to God with him.  The resurrection that happened to him is offered to us to transform us so gloriously for God.  Make the choice.

Matthew records about the Marys: “And they came to him, took hold of his feet, & worshiped him.”  They made the choice.  Make the choice.

In the Name…. Copyright 2008 by G.D. Knerr at Lansdale, Pa.  All rights reserved.