April 5th, 2026 - Easter Sunday - "Double Vision: Lead Courageously" - Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris

Matt Nelson: Welcome to the sermon podcast from First United Methodist

Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you have questions related to what you hear today or just want to find

out more about the ministries at First United Methodist Church, please visit us

online at fumcbentonville.org, or check us out on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris: Whatever the title of that was, it was beautiful.

And I'm so grateful to you all to offer your gifts in this way.

I will also say, guaranteed seat on Easter if you join the choir.

I'm just saying, I'm just saying.

We are in a new series today in which we're going to be looking at some

challenges that are put forward to us by our United Methodist bishops.

And today we're going to look at what it means to lead courageously.

And I'm gonna read to you from the Gospel of Mark, which is our earliest

gospel, and I'm gonna read you the original ending of the Gospel of Mark.

For hundreds of years, this is how the Gospel of Mark ended.

And I can think of no better passage to read that addresses

leading courageously than this one.

So hear now the word of the Lord.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James,

and Salome brought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus's dead body.

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb.

They were saying to each other, "Who's going to roll the stone

away from the entrance for us?"

When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away,

and it was a very large stone.

Going into the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the

right side, and they were startled.

But he said to them, "Don't be alarmed.

You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He has been raised.

He isn't here.

Look, here's the place where they laid him.

Go, tell his disciples, especially Peter, that he is

going ahead of you into Galilee.

You will see him there just as he told you." Overcome with terror

and dread, they fled from the tomb.

They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.

I mean, they didn't say anything, so there's nothing to talk about

Except they had to say something, right?

They had to have.

Because

They were the only people that were there, and we know this story.

So they had to have told someone the story.

And we also know they had to have told someone the story because we're all here

If they didn't tell anybody, we wouldn't be here

So they had to have told

So why end the Gospel of Mark like this?

Seems like a really weird way to end this story

Well, there's a few reasons that have been given.

One is it may have been to try to bury the women's witness

'Cause it made some people uncomfortable that it was women who were carrying

the gospel message out, and they thought, "Surely that's a mistake.

I mean, you can't put this witness in the hands of the wrong people."

Except all four Gospels agree that it was women that carried the

good news of Christ being raised.

And when all four Gospels agree on something, that's a good witness.

You can't bury that.

You can't hide it.

So maybe they ended this way because it kind of fits the Gospel of Mark.

The Gospel of Mark sort of builds this mystery, right?

So in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is all the time saying, "Don't say

anything to anyone," or, "Hey, be sure and tell people about this.

Don't say anything to anyone.

Be sure and tell people about this.

Don't say anything to anyone.

Be sure and tell people like this." So maybe the ending just catches

that ambiguous moment, right?

Are we supposed to say anything?

I don't know

Or maybe the Gospel of Mark is just being honest.

Maybe it's just being real, 'cause this is a scary story to tell.

In fact, it's terrifying

In the first century, the terrifying thing would not have

been to proclaim the resurrection.

Little over half the Jews believed in the resurrection at the time, and in the

Greco-Roman world, in their mythology, they have resurrections all throughout.

Resurrection, not a problem.

The problem is proclaiming that a crucified criminal is God

Because as soon as you do that, you draw the attention of the authorities

because you have effectively said you made a huge mistake,

and that's gonna bring you some trouble

That's terrifying.

In the 21st century, it's actually not unbelievable that

a good man would be persecuted.

We have a lot of stories of that in our history.

Some of you may have experienced that in your lifetime

That's not shocking for us

Resurrection?

Iffy

But the real challenge today is in proclaiming a savior

who loves all, not some.

And to proclaim a savior who would set aside power to show that kind of love.

That is contrary to the dominant message around us, to say that all

are loved and beloved children of God

That's the terrifying story

And then there are Methodist fears about telling this story.

We are not pushy

I love to share this statistic.

I've shared it before, but the average United Methodist invites

someone to church once every 38 years

Which means if you invite three people to church in your

lifetime, you beat the average

And we're so hesitant about witnessing that if you look in the hymnals that

are in front of you right now and you read the vows of membership,

it will say that you, if you vow to become a member of this church, you

will support it by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service.

But actually, in 2008, we added, "And your witness," but we didn't do it until 2008.

Took us 2,000 years to get on board with witness.

And even then, we haven't really corrected our hymnal yet.

We're fine with welcoming people when they come in our church.

We, we love to show love.

We're fine with that.

And we love to live like Jesus challenges us to live.

But do we have to talk about it?

Kind of feels a little bit like maybe God put this message in

the hands of the wrong people

And I get it.

It can be scary to put yourself out there like that.

And even as a pastor, I don't always do it right.

I sometimes get caught up in the fear too.

When I was serving as a pastor in West Memphis, I was in line at Walgreens

one day, and there was a woman in front of me, and she was talking to the man

as they were picking up prescriptions.

She's talking to the, to the pharmacist, and she s- explains that she's picking

up her prescriptions and her neighbor's prescriptions, and her neighbor has given

her $20 to pick up her, his prescriptions.

But then when they total it up, between her prescriptions and

his prescriptions, it's over $100, and she does not have that.

She has about $75.

And she's having to stand there, make the agonizing decision of is she

gonna go without medicine or is her neighbor gonna go without medicine?

And I just stepped forward and paid the balance

And she said, "Why?

Why would you do this?" And I said, "Well, because you're my

neighbor, and I love my neighbor."

What I didn't say was, "Well, because I follow Jesus, and Jesus

tells me to love my neighbor, and you're my neighbor." Instead, I

sounded like a State Farm commercial

Like a good neighbor

I had gotten caught up in the fear

So I, it happens.

It happens.

But more than ever, we need to lead courageously.

We need to share this witness.

The world desperately needs this witness

Now, if we're going to lead courageously, does that mean we

need to overcome our fear first?

No

There is no courage without fear

There is no courage without fear.

Fear is a prerequisite to courage.

So you don't have to overcome your fear.

All you have to do is push through it and love anyway

Now let's also be honest about another very typical United Methodist fear.

It's the fear as I'm sharing with people, "You have a great story.

You should share that with others.

You should witness to people." And this is the objection, "Oh, but Pastor,

I don't know the Bible well enough."

Actually, what you can't do, I know, is quote scriptures.

And you encounter other Christians out there who can, who are coming

at you with scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture, right?

And you don't know what to do 'cause you don't have those scriptures memorized.

But here's the thing.

That's proof texting.

That's pulling a scripture out and making it say what you want it to say, not

in the context of where it is actually located, and that, my friends, is a bluff.

It's a bluff they know you won't call.

It's a bluff.

You do not have to memorize a certain number of scriptures to

be able to share God's good news.

In fact, I don't care if you ever memorize scriptural verses.

I don't care.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter because you know the story.

And if you think about when the man sent the women forward, he didn't say, "Go

forth and quote X amount of scripture."

He said, "Go tell this good news. Share this with others. Go and tell the story."

And my friends, you do know the story.

You know to welcome the prodigal son.

You know to include the Samaritan outsider.

You know to stand with the oppressed, the outcast, and the possessed.

You know to feed the hungry.

You know to resist evil and death and proclaim resurrection.

You know to invite all to the table.

And you know that God empowers the unexpected, like women, and believe

it or not, like United Methodists.

You know the story and can share the story.

That is what is asked of you.

Why does Mark end like this?

Well, I think it's because it's a fantastic choose

your own adventure ending.

You know the story.

What are you gonna do with it?

And let me say it's okay if you're sometimes afraid, and it's okay

if sometimes that fear gets you because you'll get lots of chances.

You'll get to keep trying, and you'll get better at sharing the story

About a year and a half after my experience at Walgreens, I was

in line at Walmart, and there was a couple ahead of me, and they

realized they didn't have enough money to pay for all their groceries.

And so they're leaned over their cart trying to figure out

what they're gonna put back.

And while they're leaned over the cart, I step forward and scan

my credit card, paid the bill.

And they turned around and said, "Why?"

Why did you do that?

And this time I said, "Because I follow Jesus, and Jesus tells me to love

my neighbor, and you are my neighbor

And you know what didn't happen?

They didn't throw groceries at me

What did happen was that they threw their arms around me, and

we all stood there and cried

You don't have to overcome your fear.

You just have to love anyway.

That, my friends, is what it means to love and to lead courageously.

Thanks be to God.

Matt Nelson: Thanks for listening to the Sermon Podcast from First United

Methodist Church in downtown Bentonville.

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Grace and peace.