Easter | Fr. Aaron Damiani

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to

Matthew. Now after the Sabbath, towards

the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the

other Mary went to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great

earthquake. For an anger of the Lord

descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone and

sat on it. His appearance was like

lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead

men. But the Angel said to the woman,

Do not be afraid, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He's not here, for he has risen as he said.

Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his

disciples that he has risen from the dead.

And behold, he's going before you to guardian.

There you will see him. See, I have told you.

So they departed quickly from the tomb, with fear and great

joy, and reign to tell his disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and said greetings, and they came up

and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

Then Jesus say to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my

brothers to go to Garin, and there they will see me the

gospel of the Lord. Would you pray with me?

Lord? We do thank you for the Holy

Spirit which gives us the power to say Alleluia and gave Jesus

the power to be risen from the grave.

And we pray now Lord, that your Holy Spirit would open up the

word of God to us. Lord, take us to that first

Easter Sunday and also show us the Easter to come.

We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

Well, please be seated, and I do invite you to turn in your

bulletins or your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28, our Gospel

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

reading this morning. Well, the resurrection of Jesus,

friends, is for people who wish they could do more but can't.

It's the power of God breaking into the world for people at the

end of their powers. Easter is for people who have

done everything they can, but they can't fix the problem.

They can't stop the good from slipping through their fingers

like sand. They can't change the past.

They can't save the people they love.

The first eyewitnesses of Jesus rising from the dead, they were

given prominence in all four gospels are women.

And the the most preeminent woman among them is a woman who

did everything that she could. She gave everything she had, but

it wasn't enough to stop the nightmare.

Her name was Mary Magdalene, and she's actually pictured in this

window over here. If you can see this window,

she's dressed in purple. And can you see the look of

devotion on her face, the expression of absolute devotion

to Jesus? You can see the cross in the

background of this, of this stained glass window.

You know, the reason that she had all this devotion towards

Jesus is because Jesus met her in a time of great spiritual

crisis. She's described as having been

afflicted by 7 demons at once, and we can't even begin to

imagine the the amount of torment and confusion and

breakdown that she was experiencing.

But Jesus didn't judge her. Jesus healed her.

He brought her into not only to healing, but he gave her a

community and he gave her hope and a calling.

And in response, Mary Magdalene gave him that.

She gave him her everything. When all the disciples fled

Jesus at his hour of great need, at his hour of death, she didn't

bail, she didn't leave. She was right there.

But you know what? Even though she gave everything

she had, it wasn't enough. Wasn't enough to stop the

mockery. It wasn't enough to stop the

injustice, the rank injustice. It wasn't enough to stop the

whips. It wasn't enough to stop the

crown of thorns getting lodged into his skull.

It wasn't enough to stop Jesus from stumbling, to stop the

nails, to stop the mockery. She gave everything she had.

She gave everything she could, but she couldn't stop the

anguish. But the you know what?

The one thing that she could do, Matthew records in verse one of

his chapter 28. The one thing that she could do

now after the Sabbath, Matthew says toward the dawn of the

first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

went to see the tomb. The dawn is breaking, but these

women don't know it's Easter. So what are they doing?

They're showing up with heavy hearts.

They're showing up with, with burial spices, you know, and how

are they going to get past the guards?

Who knows who, how are they going to get past the the stone,

the 1000 plus pound square shaped stone that's guarding the

tomb? Who knows?

They're just showing up with what they have.

They're just getting up. They're just doing the next

right thing. It's all they can do.

They're giving everything they can do, they can do and

everything that they have. But what can God do?

Behold, Matthew says in verse 2. And behold, they're about to

behold what God can do, and so are we.

There was a great earthquake, for an Angel of the Lord

descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and

sat on it. His appearance was like

lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

Right as the two Marys are approaching the tomb, there's

this great earthquake. And you know, the ground

underneath them is shifting. They have no idea what's

happening. And maybe we can hear the the

trees crashing as an earthquake out of nowhere comes.

These women probably like took cover and maybe their spices

fell on the ground as they're waiting to see like what's

happening right now. And as they're perhaps kneeling

up, they look and there is a lightning flash, but it's not

lightning. It's a it's an Angel.

It's the power of heaven come down to earth, blinding them

with light, pulsating with with heavenly power.

Now all angels have a message. That's what they are.

Angelus Messenger and this Angel has come to display and declare

a message display visually and declare verbally the mighty

power of God. And he begins with the visual

display by rolling back the stone.

This, this boulder, it's not round shaped.

First of all, you know, if you can't just roll it, he moved it,

he manhandled it. He Angel handled it.

He haven't handled it. This is the power of God.

And then he plants himself on top of it, like a white flag

declaring victory, his robes flapping in the early morning

breeze. Death, what are you going to do

now? This is the power of God.

Mary. Mary Magdalene did all she could

do, but she couldn't stop what death could do.

And now she's bearing witness to what God can do.

See, we have to come to the end of our powers, as the guards

found out verse 4 for fear of him, the guards trembled and

became like dead men. These, these tough guys, these

purveyors of death become like dead men themselves.

These guards that enforced the fear of man, the fear of empire,

now taste the fear of God. And their world of of violence

and inane control is sort of like coming apart at the seams

because a greater power was being born, a new reality from

heaven into earth. A power greater than death is

breaking in like light from another world, like power from

another world, and it's melting them like wax.

Their powers we're indeed limited.

When was the moment we realized that our powers were limited?

Can you remember? Maybe it was the first time we

got second place, or the 100th time our kids told us no.

Or maybe it wasn't a kid who told us no.

Maybe it was an employer or a love interest or an admissions

team. When the biopsy came back with

some really scary news, when the relationship ended.

When someone we cared about was suffering and we couldn't, we

couldn't fix it. Things were going so well.

We were moving from strength to strength to stop the tragedy, to

change the past, to heal the world, to grasp the good, keep

it from slipping away. Remember, Easter is for people

who wish they could do more, like everything earnestly in

their heart wants to. But they couldn't.

It's people like Mary Magdalene, people like you, people like me.

And when heaven broke in that first Easter morning, it didn't

come to melt us. It didn't come to frighten us.

It came to mobilize us as Mary Magdalene is about to

experience, because the Angel, having displayed God's power

visually, is now going to impart God's power verbally and, and

give these women and give all of us a way forward, a way forward

in this world in which we inhabit.

First, the Angel is going to invite these women to observe

God's new reality. He's going to invite them to

observe God's new reality. Verse 5 But the Angel said to

the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who

is crucified. He is not here, for he is risen

as he said, Come see the place where he lay.

Let's notice a couple things. First of all, let's notice that

the stone was not moved to let Jesus out.

He was already gone. The stone was moved to let the

women in so that they could see that he was already gone, that

he was risen to see the evidence of God's power.

Let's notice something else. There are two commandments.

One's a negative commandment, one's a positive commandment,

but they pair together so well. The negative commandment, do not

be afraid. The positive commandment, come

and see the place where he lay. Now this is what's called

grounding. If you want to be done with fear

and you want to move into reality, you begin to notice

what's right in front of you. The mind is spinning, the head

is spinning. Your, your body's responding to

sort of the, the false evidence appearing real in your head.

The fear. We got to get out of that.

We've got to not fear. How do we do that?

Let's observe what we can, what we can see and what we can smell

and what we can touch and what we can taste.

And the Angel says, come and see, Duck your head under, you

know the sepulchre here and look inside and see the grave clothes

are folded as other gospel writers show us that Jesus is

not here. Look with your very eyes.

Fear was spinning. Fear was saying all hope is

lost. Mary, your Savior is dead.

Mary, you have no hope. Mary, all of that trauma you

endured and all that trauma that Jesus that killed Jesus is

permanent. Mary, fear, fear.

Fear tries to prophecy. The Angel says don't let it come

and see, come and observe. The observable reality is that

Jesus rose from the dead. The reality is that God could

heal what Mary couldn't stop, but she needed to stoop her head

under the entrance and see it, that there's no corpse to speak

of. She needed to see God's power

and let that ground her and melt the fear.

Now how about us? How about all those situations

we can't fix? How about all the situations

that we couldn't fix, that we couldn't stop?

Like Mary, we are invited to step out of our fear and

observe. God has entered our world with

His saving power. He has actually fixed bigger

situations than the one that we face.

He has done impossible things already, and He loves us and

he's for us, and He's very, very good.

Do you know that there's evidence in history there are

eyewitness accounts of God's goodness?

First of all, for the resurrection, there's eyewitness

accounts, diverse witnesses to the fact that Jesus is alive.

That's the linchpin of all of the Christian faith, and it is

The Fountainhead of God's goodness for many, many other

ways that He has intervened in history.

Do you know that there's many times, do you know that whatever

situation that you and I couldn't fix or are facing,

wherever you and I are coming to the end of our powers, Do you

know that there are people walking this earth that have

faced a similar situation where God intervened and His power was

made known to them and His goodness was made known to them?

And do you know that we too can ground ourselves in this

eyewitness testimony in church history, in Scripture, and in

the testimony of His Saints? Friends, we, like Mary

Magdalene, can enter into God's new reality and let it melt our

fear. It's very empowering.

But it doesn't stop there. Once the women had first hand

evidence of God's new reality, the Angel invited to do

something else. He invited them to act with

humble confidence. He invited them to act with

humble confidence. Verse 7 of Matthew 28 The Angel

continues. Then go quickly and tell his

disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is

going before you to Galilee. There you will see him.

See, I have told you so. Verse 8 So they departed quickly

from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his

disciples. So here's a a very scary task

for the women. Go and tell, go tell Jesus

disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead and they must go

to Galilee to see him. Now the gospel writers tell us

that the women went with fear. At the very least there was joy,

but there was also fear. They were very intimidated and

we put ourselves in this situation.

You know, women were not believed in this time in in this

culture. They were not admitted.

They were not considered admissible testimony in any

court of law. And so they have to move forward

with weakness knowing that they would likely not be believed.

And also you're saying that something impossible is true,

something that the disciples will not by virtue of like

observable reality for them, be true that Jesus is alive.

But notice the Angel did not say make everyone believe you.

He didn't say that. He didn't say make them see you

as credible. He just said go and tell you

have a role to play and it's not all on you.

Have you ever heard of the scientific theory called the

butterfly effect? The butterfly, flecked with a

butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, and then

there's this massive weather event in another part of the

world. As a result, the women fly from

the tomb with fear and great joy.

And when the time came, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,

they would flap their delicate wings before a skeptical group

of disciples and say Jesus is risen.

He has appeared, and we must go to see Him in Galilee.

And the disciples, you know what they would do?

They would huff and they would puff and they would scoff and

they would not believe the women's testimony.

Surprise, surprise. But you know what?

Making them believe wasn't their job.

Mary Magdalene just had to flap those wings, and in time, it was

the winds of the Spirit that would bring good news upon a

parched and dry land and bring the storm of conversion and

bring the storm of Pentecost, and the Lord would do the rest.

Now here's what Jesus's resurrection shows us, friends.

We're not called to be the weather.

We're just called to flap our wings.

We're not called to control all the conditions if the Lord

knows. We've tried to control all the

conditions, but that doesn't work.

The Lord only calls us to flap our wings with humble confidence

and let him take care of the weather, let him take care of

the outcomes, let him take care of the problems.

Let him take care of the people we care about.

And ultimately, we let him take care of the ending of the story.

And that's where this leads to because as we act with humble

confidence, as we step out with fear and great joy, Jesus

brought the surprise. Jesus brings the surprise.

The women were on their way, right?

They're on their way. OK.

The job is to tell the disciples, you know, the

blinders are on. This is my job.

And verse 9. And behold, Jesus met them and

said greetings, you know, greetings.

It's in Greek. This is somewhat of a casual

term, like good morning or what's up.

You know, it's kind of a flex, like, hey, I'm here.

And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

And what a what a relief this must have been.

What a healing moment this must have been.

I thought you were dead. Look.

And she's watching him die. And all she can clasp there are

her own hands, but now she can clasp him in the flesh.

This is my Savior and he. And she worships him.

She pours out her praise to him, and so does the other Mary.

They thought that duck was the end of the story, but there's

this like maybe it's starting to sink in for them, like as

they're grasping his feet or his ankles, like this is just the

beginning. They're worshiping him as Lord.

So he's Lord. He's.

He's reigning. He's he's won victory over

death. This is only the beginning like

this. I never thought this could ever

happen and here it is. You know, verse 10, there's more

surprises to come. Jesus said to them, do not be

afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to

Galilee and there they will see me not Go and tell my disciples

they were his disciples. Go and tell my brothers to go to

Galilee. The last time we heard from

Jesus disciples, they were deserting him and running away

in his hour of need. They fell short as Matt preached

about on Good Friday. In the worst way they fell

short. In the worst moment they fell

short and they were hiding. They were, they were afraid of,

they were looking out for themselves at this point.

And not only did he not believe Jesus's resurrection, it would

be hard for them, especially Peter, to accept Jesus's

forgiveness. But Jesus has already forgiven

them. He is already calling them

brothers. Brothers means reconciliation.

Brothers means partnership. Brothers means I love you.

Brothers mean I'm ready to trust you again.

Brothers mean you can't change the past, but Jesus can redeem

it. He can heal it.

Surprise, Jesus is more than enough.

You fell short. We fell short, didn't we?

Jesus is more than enough and he's ready to call us sisters.

He's ready to call us brothers. And the best is yet to come for

them and for us. That is what Easter is all

about. Would we dare let Jesus bring a

surprise ending to our stories? I don't know what your story is,

but what if we could trust Jesus with those unfinished stories

and say, here it is, Lord, bring your surprise ending.

Bring your conclusion to our unfinished stories.

Bring the surprise to our imperfection, to our past, to

our world. Because you know what his

surprise endings look like? Empty tombs and joyful reunions

and Nets filled with fish. It looks like heaven handling

boulders that we can't move. This is the power of God

breaking into the world for people at the end of their

powers. It starts with Jesus tomb.

But it doesn't end there friends.

He has gone on ahead and he has invited us to join him, sisters

and brothers, to see Him so that he can wipe away every tear, so

that he can forgive every sin. He's invited us to come worship

him as the Lord, to receive a new Commission from him, one

that we didn't expect, one that we probably don't feel ready

for. A new calling filled with hope,

a new purpose, a new life. The stone is rolled away,

friends, not just for him, but for us.

So let us trust Him. Let us follow him.

And happy Easter, the Lord is risen.