I.N.I
Matthew 28:8 “Fear and Great Joy”
“So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and
great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
When Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary reached the tomb, it doesn’t take a lot of assumptions to
determine that they were emotionally frayed.
If you consider the roller coaster that Holy Week is for us, nearly two
thousand years removed, it was even more traumatic for those who went from the
cries of Hosanna to the cries of Crucify Him to the cry “It is finished!” They had followed him from Galilee and care
for him and had been forced to standby and helplessly watch him writhe in pain
as he struggled for each breath, until he cried out and breathed his last. So they set out for the tomb in many ways
overcome by the emotions of the previous days.
But then when they arrive, an angel of the Lord announces that Jesus has
risen just as He said He would. The
angel sends them to announce this Good News to the disciples and that they will
see him in Galilee. As they departed,
these emotional women are filled with two new and seemingly contradictory
emotions – fear and joy.
John
McLoughlin and Will Jimeno were just two guys on the job. They were Port Authority police officers in
New York city which mean that there were responsible for bridges, tunnels,
airports, seaports and other locales, including the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, they were just like thousands
of other people in New York City, two guys on the job. But as the first plane crashed into Tower One
of the World Trade Center, McLoughlin and Jimeno and hundreds of other Port
Authority police officers and other emergency personnel responded. They were in Tower One, preparing to head
upward to assist in the evacuation when the tower collapsed. The men ran toward the elevator shaft as the
building came down all around them.
McLoughlin and Jimeno found themselves trapped within a mountain of steel
and cement. For hours they lied there in
the rubble – injured and pinned by debris.
No one came to their rescue.
There they were trapped and waiting to die. After the search for survivors had been called
off because of the darkness of night, two former Marines continued searching on
their own. Eventually, they heard
McLaughlin and Jimeno and a desperate rescue effort began. When the two men were found, they were overjoyed. They had almost given up hope. It is captured in the movie World Trade Center
when Jimeno says to the Marines, “Don’t leave us” and one responds, “We’re not
going anywhere. You are our mission.” But just because the men had been found, just
because they were filled with joy did not mean that all of the fears were
gone. When their wives were notified
that they had been located, there was great rejoicing, but there were still
things for which they were afraid. The
men were still trapped. Rescue efforts
were risky. It was slow and pain-staking
work. They had fear and great joy. It took thirteen hours to rescue Jimeno and
twenty-two hours to free McLoughlin, but they both survived.
Dear
friends, Mary and Mary leave them tomb on that first Easter with fear and
joy. In many ways that is how we
function in this fallen world. We know
that Christ has risen again from the grave.
We know that He will come again in glory on the Last Day. But we still find ourselves laboring here in
the Valley of Tears. We still live in a
fearful world where men shoot at people in cars for reasons beyond
imagination. We live in a fearful world
where more than 200 Christians in Nigeria by militant Muslims. We live in world of hunger and homelessness,
sickness and poverty. We know what
Christ has risen, but like McLoughlin and Jimeno, we still find ourselves stuck
in the rubble.
But
the rubble is often of our own making.
As a pastor, I once found myself with my hands joined with another man’s
as I prayed. But he was trapped,
enclosed in a cage at the city jail on attempted murder charges. After we prayed, we sang. It was Christmas Eve and there was still much
for which He could rejoice. He was a
sinner, who had become enslaved by anger.
But from his pastor’s lips, he had heard the gracious Word of
Absolution, that He was forgiven of this sin.
So there the two of us sang, Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing,
and Joy to the World. There were still
fears about his punishment. There were
fears about his relationship with his wife and children. There were fears about the future. But on account of Christ’s resurrection,
there was joy, even while he was stuck in the rubble.
Dear
friends, there are still things for which you find yourselves afraid. We are sinners and how often our lives have
been reduced to rubble because of our selfishness, because of our anger,
because of unfaithfulness, because of our sin.
But Christ’s resurrection sets us free from the sin that so easily
entangles us. Christ releases us from
the bonds of that held us. We were once
trapped, but through Christ Jesus, we are now freed by His grace. That is what gives us joy!
The
men trapped in the rubble – they were exactly why those two marines came. They were their mission. Dear friends, you were Christ’s mission. You were trapped in the rubble of your
sins. You were exactly why He came to
earth. You were exactly why He suffered
on the cross. And you were exactly why
He rose again from the grave. No matter
what fears you face, Christ Jesus has risen again to give you joy. Yes, we live in a fear-filled world. But the one who is in you is greater than the
one who is in the world. Christ has
conquered His enemies of sin, death and the devil, by rising again from the
grave. This is the source of our
joy! This is the source of our
singing. For joy is not based upon our
circumstances, but upon our relationship with Christ. The grieving widow sings the hymns with great
joy. The young couple that is just
barely scraping by sits together in the pew, rich in God’s grace and filled
with joy. The forgiven sinner may have
made a mess of his life, but before God he knows that all things are made right
and therefore he has great joy. No
matter what problems you left at home and will still be waiting for you when
you get back – O beloved in the Lord – Jesus has risen from the grave. Sin and death have been conquered for
us. We have all that we need in
Christ. Even in the rubble of our lives,
we still have joy because CHRIST IS RISEN!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
S.D.G.
Rev. Dr. Lee Hagan
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
Concordia, Missouri
April 20, 2014
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