Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Will Malambri - "Tell My Brothers"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: I invite you to stand for the reading of the Easter story. from the Gospel according to Matthew. After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him, the guards shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has been raised from the dead and indeed is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him. This is my message for you. So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, Greetings. and they came to him, took his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. That is not what we should expect. If we had not heard that story before, only knew about what transpired right before what I just read, everything except the Mary's going to the tomb would shock us. Earthquakes, an angel, guards scared stiff, women running to deliver the message. that not only was Jesus not in the tomb, He had been raised from the dead. That same Jesus appearing to the women as they made their way, it is shocking. Some might call it seismic. The world did rupture that day. It was electrifying. But for all the supernatural testaments to it, one of the greatest indications that the world shifted is suddenly laid before us. I wonder if you missed it. I have before, but I assure you the Mary's and the disciples did not. To them, it must have been as obvious as the angels' quaking appearance. While the ground beneath them shifted so did the relationship before them. And the only reason we know is because Jesus met the Mary's on their way to give the disciples a message and he clarified it. I've asked Jesus to clarify my messages. I ask him to help whatever comes out of my mouth to be what you need to hear. But even if it is not, to translate it between my mouth and your ears so it becomes what it needs to be. And those prayers have been answered because people have told me things I've said from the pulpit that I am certain I never said. I've had people come up to me at other churches, of course, in the receiving line after the service, the best time for a theological debate, and say, preacher, you were spot on when you said, and I listened as they reported something that had there not been 30 people waiting behind them, I would have been quick to say, I assure you that is not what I said. But sometimes the phenomenon happens in the opposite way. I've been thinking, ⁓ that was way too general. I hoped it might apply to someone, but it felt so nonspecific, it probably applied to no one. And then one of you will come up to me and say, I don't know how you knew. But you said exactly what I needed to hear today. And that's when I know my prayer has been answered. Can you imagine what the Mary's thought the disciples would hear when they heard the angels message? How the women may have wanted it translated between their lips and the disciples ears. The last time the disciples had a conversation with Jesus, he told them that they would abandon him and they emphatically denied it. He told Peter, and he would deny him three times before the next morning and Peter pushed back, even though I must die with you, I will not deny you. the other disciples said the same. Judas gave Jesus over to the authorities with a kiss, leading to Jesus' arrest and certain death. when the authorities came to arrest Jesus, within hours of their pledging to never abandon him. His closest disciples fled. save themselves. And you know what really hit me this past Friday night? Our Good Friday service. was thinking about Jesus' mother. Thinking about Jesus, thinking about Jesus' mother. how she had to listen as lies were said about him. Unjust accusations, fierce attacks, all the good that he had done being undone by cruel mischaracterizations and character assassinations. I thought about Jesus' mother and the other women watching Jesus be whipped and spat upon, suffocating to death on a cross while the men, his closest friends, ran. thought about how if not for himself, at least for his mother, Jesus had every right to be angry, not just at the Romans, not just at the Jewish authorities, furious with Peter, Andrew, James, John, all the disciples who pledged their loyalty even unto death, then protected themselves while he suffered. while his mother suffered. while the other women suffered while they watched. to two of those women the angel appeared. Angels, you may know, when they appear almost always begin by saying, not be afraid, which is an indication of how fearsome they are. So fearsome was this angel's appearance that the tough guards at the tomb trembled with fear until they fell into a stupor. The women stayed awake. heard the message, went running to the disciples, Jesus has been raised from the dead, He's going ahead of you to Galilee, you will see Him there, and ooh, you're gonna get it. Matthew didn't write that down, but I have sisters. I know they added that. Truthfully, the women would not have had to say it. Had the angel's message been delivered just as the angel told the women to say it, the disciples would have shook with fear. It would have come across, the angel said, get to Galilee and Jesus is waiting for you. Imagine the walk from Jerusalem to Galilee. The dread. I had dread once just driving 20 miles, 20 minutes. I was one month into my first ministry appointment, right out of seminary, beginning my work as an associate pastor when the senior pastor invited me to play golf with him. Meet me at the club at 10 in the morning, he told me. I was there early, make a good impression. He was late. I was dutifully patient. Finally, my first ever cell phone rang. Where are you? I'm on the putting green, I said. I'm on the putting green. I looked around. There was no one. Are there two putting greens? He paused. Which club are you at? And that's when I knew we had a communication issue. He told me where to go, I went, and it was very long 20-minute drive. When I ran up to him, clubs rattling around on my back, and started my apologies, he said, UT all first. And that was it. The miscommunication did not come up. And he quickly was distracted by how bad I am at golf. So the bonding began. That taught me two things that day. Out of respect for him, I did not want that to happen again. And our relationship could grow despite the mishap. But until I learned that, it was a dreadful 20 minutes. And that was over a minor miscommunication. Imagine how long that walk would have been from Jerusalem to Galilee for those disciples had they only heard the angels message. But they never had the chance because Jesus intervened and changed it ever so slightly, but ever so significantly. In one chapter within the 20 verses, the mere 20 verses that Matthew dedicates to the resurrection story, he takes the time to give us a slightly different version of a statement the angel had already delivered. Only this time he puts it in Jesus' mouth. The angel told the women, tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee. But Jesus said to them, tell my brothers to meet me there. But the angel and Jesus said, not be afraid. They both said, go and tell. They both said, go to Galilee. They both said, there you will see him, there you will see me. The only difference in what the message of the angel was and what the message was Jesus was is it went from disciples to brothers. But that is an enormous difference when you have abandoned someone. denied him. when you're living in dread about what abandoning Him might mean for you. when you're wondering, does he feel about me now? and you're torn apart. because how you feel about Him and how you treated Him were worlds apart. When you need reconciliation that only God can give, it is an enormous difference. Dr. Stinson read to us that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. In other words, whatever it is you have done. However it is you have denied, betrayed, or abandoned Jesus, he is still willing to call you brother. He is still willing to call you sister. For all the supernatural elements of this story, that is the most gracious element, the one that makes me want to follow Jesus even more closely, to have fewer missteps out of respect for him. but to serve without fear of failure because regardless, he will still call me brother. Which is good. Because 2 Corinthians also said God is entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. We. are ambassadors for Christ. The good news does not end with Christ being willing to call you and me, brothers and sisters, despite our disobedience and failures to love him well. Having known the relief of him calling us brothers and sisters, Jesus sends us out to tell others so that they may have their dread relieved too. Tell them. Jesus doesn't want to count our sins against us. He wants to count us as family. which makes for a happy Easter and a very joyful life. Thanks be to God. Amen.