Resurrecting Hope Part 1 - A Deeper Dive
Message Recap
We kicked off a new sermon series with this week’s Easter message. In the four-part series Resurrecting Hope, we will look at how celebrating the hope we find in the resurrection of Christ does not have to be limited to just a single Sunday each year. Easter is a reminder that because Jesus lives, we have hope.
The story of that first morning following the Sabbath is framed by profound sorrow. Those who followed Jesus in his triumphant entry into Jerusalem were certain he was the long-awaited Messiah. Surely Jesus was the one who would deliver them from the brutal oppression of Roman rule. And yet those hopes were dashed in an instant as Jesus was crucified and laid in the tomb. Unrealized hope may be the most difficult among all the challenges we face in life. The disappointments we experience can span the extremes of small and inconsequential to life-altering.
In her grief and disappointment, Mary initially fails to see the hope of the resurrection, even when she comes face-to-face with it. First, seeing two angels sitting in the tomb where Jesus had been laid doesn’t even phase her. In the account of the empty tomb found in the Gospel of Matthew, the guards outside the tomb were so overwhelmed by the sight of an angel of the Lord that they passed out from fear (see Matthew 11:28). Mary, on the other hand, could only see that Jesus was missing. When circumstances cause us to lose hope, we often fixate on what is not happening, what we don’t have, or what someone else was supposed to do.
Then, when Mary comes face-to-face with the risen Christ, she doesn’t even recognize him. Resurrected hope is standing before her, but she can’t see it. Because Mary wasn’t expecting something good in the midst of her pain, she was blind to it. Yet, when Jesus speaks to her, Mary immediately realizes she is standing in the presence of the one she seeks.
Reawakening hope doesn’t only have to come from some miraculous event, as Mary experienced. Sometimes it can come from what might seem insignificant. A kind act from a stranger. A simple answered prayer. The smile of a child. The key is looking for the subtle things we might otherwise miss. It is equally important to realize that our renewed hope often results from God’s work through others. Perhaps today, you are the one God is working through to restore hope in someone else’s life.
In our most difficult times, when our hope is at its lowest, we might believe God has abandoned us. Like Mary, we may fixate on what is missing rather than opening our eyes to God’s presence. What happens when we miss God’s presence in our lives? That’s the subject of this week’s Deeper Dive.
When We Miss God’s Presence
It’s difficult to believe that in the blindness of her grief, Mary failed to see Jesus until he called to her by name. But even the disciples - Jesus’ closest friends who were with him daily - often didn’t see the lessons of hope Jesus was teaching even when they were in his physical presence. Think of the number of times we read in the Gospels how Jesus teaches an important lesson, only to have the disciples miss the point entirely.
For instance, in the Gospel of Mark, we read that Jesus warns the disciples about false teaching. He uses the metaphor of yeast and its ability to easily permeate a loaf of dough as an example of how false teaching can quickly spread. Unfortunately, the disciples misunderstand the message and believe Jesus is talking about not having enough to eat. An exasperated Jesus responds to their confusion:
“17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?’”
Some two thousand years later, we do not have the benefit of standing in Jesus’ presence. Instead, we must rely on faith that God is with us and is in control of every situation. We must trust the Holy Spirit to help us interpret and understand Jesus’ teachings. Yet, all too often, we’re blind to God’s presence. We fail to see the blessings that surround us. We focus more on our wants than on what God has already provided. Other times we miss the answer to a prayer. We tend to ask a lot from God, and when we don’t get what we want, we assume God isn’t listening. But “no” can be an answer to a prayer. Just as grief and the loss of hope prevented Mary from initially seeing Jesus, we cannot overlook God’s constant presence in our lives.
We have heard some Christians refer to themselves as Easter people or resurrection people. What does it mean to be Easter people? For some, it is comfort knowing that life continues in some transfigured form after death and that death is not the end of our stories. But that is only part of it. Jesus’ resurrection is a mission statement. It’s a reminder to continue living in communion with God, even in the face of suffering, death, and despair. The world might crush and disillusion us, but the presence of God will carry us forward into every dark corner. The resurrection of Christ is not just a guarantee of life after death. It guarantees life before death, a full and abundant life in union with an ever-present God. The resurrection hope of Easter is with us every day. Let that hope inspire us to continue the mission of Jesus by loving God and loving people.