Sunday's Message - Remember

On Sunday, April 17, 2022, we looked at the resurrection of Jesus Christ as written by the Evangelist Luke. Remember, you can stream the service live by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube page beginning at 10:00 a.m. 

Below is a copy and a recording of the message.

Luke 24:1-12 [Contemporary English Version]

Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. When they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, they went in. But they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, and they did not know what to think.

Suddenly two men in shining white clothes stood beside them. The women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men said, “Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? Jesus isn’t here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, ‘The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.’”  Then they remembered what Jesus had said.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women were the ones who had gone to the tomb. When they returned, they told the eleven apostles and the others what had happened. The apostles thought it was all nonsense, and they would not believe.

But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he stooped down and looked in, he saw only the burial clothes. Then he returned, wondering what had happened. 

Remember

Well, here we are on Easter Sunday. And you know, even though it was wet yesterday and this morning, well, it’s a little chillier than I would have wanted, still today is a wonderful day, because God has called us here to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his son and our savior. And I’ll tell you, the temperature outside can’t affect the warmth we’re feeling here. 

And you know, I think it’s interesting, like a lot of other holidays, Easter brings up all kinds of memories. At least it does for me; what about y’all? I mean, right now I can close my eyes and see just the way it was in the mid-sixties. You see, at the Rudiger house, Easter meant doing certain things, you know, following traditions. For example, right after we got up, my sister, brother and I got our Easter baskets that always included this big, sort of exotic egg which only my father would eat, a big chocolate bunny that my brother would finish off before dinner and then start on mine, a lot of those marshmallow peeps, always yellow, always chicks just the way God intends, and of course jelly beans. 

And you know, after getting the baskets, we’d put on our Easter clothes, and I’m talking about some really spiffy threads that of course, we’d never worn before; which meant that, unlike the rest of my wardrobe, there were none of those iron-on patches around the knees. And ladies, I don’t want y’all to get too excited, but on Easter, I looked good. You see, my mom would plastered down my very blond hair with some of dad’s Brylcreem, before I put on my seersucker sports jacket and my bow tie. And my sister, man, she’d have on a frilly dress and those little ankle socks, and she was rocking the kind of look you only get by rolling little bits of hair with toilet paper, curling them around and securing them with a bobby pin the night before. And my little brother, well, he looked OK, that is if you could get past the chocolate bunny stains on his jumper.  We were styling. 

And so in our Easter best, mom and dad would herd us into the front yard, with all the creeping phlox and the dogwoods and of course, the azaleas in bloom. And then my grandfather and grandmother Rudiger would come by in their Cadillac, you know the one with the big fins, and they’d take our picture with their Polaroid camera. And then after all this, we’d pile into the Fairlane and head off to church. Now, when I think of Easter, that’s what I remember.

But you know, this whole business about remembering, well, that seems pretty appropriate this morning, because in this passage from Luke, isn’t that what those two men in the tomb told the women to do? I mean, they didn’t order them not to be afraid, and they didn’t say that they should go and tell anybody. Instead, after asking, “Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? Jesus isn’t here! He has been raised from death” [Luke 24:5b-6a, CEV], they said, “Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, ‘The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.’” [Luke 24:6b-7] You see, that was the only command he gave, just to remember. And you know, it’s interesting; that’s exactly what those women did. According to Luke, “Then they remembered what Jesus had said.” [Luke 24:8, CEV]  But it didn’t stop there; I want you to notice how remembering changed them. I mean, even though they were never told to go and tell anybody, once those women started to think about what Jesus had taught and what he had done and maybe even what he’d called them to do, what’s the first thing they did? Just listen to what Luke wrote:

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women were the ones who had gone to the tomb. When they returned, they told the eleven apostles and the others what had happened. [Luke 24:9-10, CEV]

On their own, those women went and told. And even though most of the disciples thought their words were nonsense, Peter responded, didn’t he? In fact, he got so excited that he ran to the tomb just to check it out himself. You see, those women were changed when they remembered.

And I’ll tell you, the exact same thing just might happen to us, if we also do what those two young men told the women to do, and let me explain how we can do that. You see, first, we can remember some of the things Jesus taught when he was here on earth. For example, when we’re down and feel as though, if life’s rat race, the rats are winning, we can remember that Jesus said,

The Lord’s Spirit

    has come to me,

because he has chosen me

to tell the good news

    to the poor.

The Lord has sent me

to announce freedom

    for prisoners,

to give sight to the blind,

to free everyone

    who suffers,

and to say, “This is the year

    the Lord has chosen.” [Luke 4:18-19, CEV]

And when we start to wonder if God has forgotten us and whether divine justice is just a lot of words, we can remember that, according to Jesus, 

God will bless you people

who are poor.

    His kingdom belongs to you!

God will bless

    you hungry people.

You will have plenty

    to eat!

God will bless you people

who are now crying.

    You will laugh! [ Luke 6:20b-23, CEV]

And I’ll tell you, when we feel as though there’s no way we could ever be loved by God, because we’ve made so many mistakes and we’ll never be good enough, I think we need to remember that 

When the crowd...asked, “How can anyone ever be saved?” 

Jesus replied, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.” [Luke 18:26-27, CEV]

You see, these are some of the things Jesus taught, things that we can remember. And that’s one.

But that’s not all; second, I think we can also remember what he did. Now I want you to think about this. What are some of the things Jesus showed during his life? Well, he certainly showed power when he stilled the storms and kicked out demons. And he showed courage when he stood toe to toe with the people who pulled the strings and confronted all those religious leaders who used God and his word like a club to beat down the people. But most important of all, I believed he showed love. And although that love wasn’t limited to one group, he seemed to make sure that those folks who were usually ignored and condemned by their society knew that they weren’t alone. Now that’s what he did. And you know, that power and that courage and certainly that love sort of came together at the cross and the empty tomb. I mean, like I’ve said before, I have a hard time understanding how Jesus could have allowed himself to be hung on a cross to save the people who drove the nails. And just think about that empty tomb. Man, it means that God has power over death itself and that Jesus had the courage to face his fate with faith and that he loved you and me so much that he gave us a concrete sign that our futures are secure. You see, because his tomb was empty, we can believe that ours will be too. I’ll tell you, that’s what Jesus did, and these things we can also remember. And that’s two.

And then third, we can remember what we’ve been called to do. And although often it’s made really complicated by minister-types like me, it’s really not rocket science. In fact, everything we’ve been called to do can be reduced to one word, and you know what it is: love. “The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.’” [Luke 10:27b, CEV] Man, that’s it; I told you it was simple. But just imagine how that simple command can change our lives. I mean, what do you think would happen if every morning we woke up and said to ourselves, “Today I’m going to show love to God, and I’m going to show it in what I say and in what I do.” What kind of day do you think we’ll have? And then I want you to imagine what would happen if we walked into our office or our classroom and we said to ourselves, “I’m going to show as much love to my neighbor as I’d like to be shown myself.” Man, if we said that and meant it, are we going to spread gossip about our boss or are we going to join in and make fun of that person nobody in school likes? Man, are we going to do that kind of thing if we’ve decided to love our neighbor as ourselves? I don’t think so. Instead, I think it’s a better than even chance that not only will we step away from gossip, we may actually give the other guy the benefit of the doubt. And we may even befriend or at the very least treat that person who’s on the fringe with as much respect and kindness as we’d like to be treated. My gosh, if we did that kind of thing, I think God could use us to change our whole community, maybe even the world. But then, that’s just what God has called us to do, something else we can remember.

You know, Easter is a time for memories. I mean, it’s tailor-made for us to remember when we were younger. And I sincerely hope that when she’s thirty-nine like me, Maggie remembers what we did as a family. Of course, Easter was a work day for me; therefore, I probably wasn’t around like dad was when I was growing up. But be-that-as-it may, she’ll still remember. And I’ll tell you, as this passage reminds us, we can do the same thing as move on from Easter. You see, just like the men in the tomb commanded the women, right here and now, I think we can remember: we can remember what Jesus taught and we can remember what Jesus did and we can remember what we’ve been called to do. And I’ll tell you, if we do, man, if we do what those women did, who knows, we just might be changed too.