Surprise!

Easter Sunday Sermon
3/31/13
Luke 24:1-12


Amazed at what had happened! Have you ever been amazed at what happened? Maybe something that has happened to you, or perhaps amazed at something that you witnessed. I wonder what makes these moments amazing? For me amazement isn’t usually an expected emotion, it just seems to happen or transpire.

The women, the one’s first to discover the empty tomb and the first preachers of the good news – He is risen! The women did not expect to come to this good news message and amazing moment, they came expecting to find Jesus in the tomb. Surprise! Why do you look for the living among the dead?

Here we are gathered together this morning not to discover the empty tomb as the women did that morning, we know Jesus isn’t in there. We know how this story ends but we, like the women and Peter all too often are in need of remembering because we too tend to look for the living among the dead.

The women run right to the eleven to tell them that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, but had been raised. Surprise! No one believed them.

Have you ever had an experience that when you retold it no one believed you? You almost had to be there to believe it.

Come with me back about 12 years. It is a beautiful July morning on Kodiak Island on the beach of Larsen Bay. You have just completed your morning duties at the lodge, which included making breakfast for the clients, packing lunches for the boats, and cleaning the guest rooms and cabins. The pilot has returned from the last trip to the river and surprise! We get to jump on the plane and head to the river for a few hours of fishing ourselves!

Splash, the yellow lab is also anxious to get on the plane and head to the river, but not today. Splash gets shooed back to shore, we get in the plane, the pilot pushes us off and we taxi out of the bay into the big water so we can take flight. The weather is perfect, the wind is almost non-existent and we sit back and enjoy the pleasant 13 minutes flight over to the river.

The pilot lands us in the river we taxi to shore and Surprise! We open the plane door and there she is – Splash shaking while sitting on the float of the plane.

Amazing! The dog rode the float on the plane and didn’t fall off. How did this happen? We thought we left her on the shore? How could this be? No one is going to believe this…

The women’s expectation of that morning had been turned upside down. They became scared and perplexed – How could this be? How could have this happened? We saw them lay Jesus’ body here in this tomb.

Then the angels appeared and the women heard “he is not here, but has risen.” And in that moment something amazing happened.
They remembered!
They remembered what was said while Jesus was still in Galilee
They remembered that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.

They remembered…
And now with amazing joy they returned from the tomb and told the eleven! Christ is risen!

I am not sure, but I think that the women left the tomb with yet another expectation. I think that they expected the apostles to be overjoyed with this great news. To jump around and celebrate! Christ Is Risen!

Surprise!

We prepared for a few hours of fishing expecting to leave Splash behind.

In our disbelief we hugged and loved the dog for quite a while. Happy she was alive and not dead. It was in these amazing moments of joy and celebration that our pilot remembered.

He remembered a good friend whom he took fishing similar to our earlier take off shooing back his buddies dog from the plane. When the guys got back from their day of fishing there was no sign of his friend’s dog. Though they expected the dog to be waiting for them on shore – it wasn’t. Their expectation that day was turned upside down. What happened? How could this be? .

The apostles did not respond with joy or celebration – no big Surprise right! Why would the disciples start getting it now? Why would the disciples believe such an unbelievable story? A story whose ending had been predicted many times over by Jesus himself.

They had not remembered.

Expect Peter, Peter must have wanted to believe; perhaps he had some small memory of Jesus’ words to them. Whatever it was inside Peter, he was moved to go to see for himself. And when he had the experience of the empty tomb for himself

Surprise!

He was amazed and set out wandering.

It is in the amazing moments of our expectations and experiences being turned upside down that something happens. That life inside us is transformed is made different, new life emerges.

Our expectations are not always turned upside down with good news and we don’t always respond with joy and celebration. Life is tough, we face all kinds of sorrow, brokenness, loss and pain. These experiences sometimes trump any kind of joy filled expectations. We plan for the worse think of the worst possible outcome. We live our lives in those Good Friday moments. We forget.

What just happened? I thought Jesus was dead! Doesn’t dead mean dead?
Surprise!

It was God’s amazing Divine power that transformed Jesus the Man they knew, the man they followed, ate with, cried with, shared a relationship with,

God’s amazing Divine power transformed the humanness of Jesus into a resurrected Divine Jesus that would depart this land and be one with God.

A Risen Christ that we now have the opportunity to know, follow, eat, laugh, cry and be in a relationship with. We have the opportunity to find new life in Christ. We have been given the chance like the women and Peter to remember.

We can have eternal life if we choose. We don’t have to live in the Good Friday moments anymore. Christ is risen! Christ is here!

Surprise!

We have been called into Eternal life with a God that shows NO partiality!

A God that invites us into relationship with him no matter what our expectations are, no matter where we are in our lives, no matter what we think we need or should be or whether or not we’re good enough.

How and when does the Risen Christ reveal himself to you? Where is it in your daily life that you see the Risen Christ?

Who do you share this good news with? Who has shared this good news with you? You do tell others don’t you?

Have you got the Risen Christ tucked away in a little box that you take a peek in from time to time? Say hello just to make sure he is still there? Do you have her on your night stand only to be talked to if you aren’t too sleepy? Maybe the Risen Christ is being held captive in a tomb somewhere. The tomb of money, the tomb of selfishness, of old habits, of self-centered ness, the tomb of gossip, the tomb of greed. It is kind of hard to share the good news of the Risen Christ if you have him confined.

Maybe you haven’t heard the Risen Christ call your name for a while or at all or maybe you’ve just been too busy to listen?

Did you hear that?

There it was…

Listen now because he is calling you by name.

Empty those tombs in which you have the Risen Christ. A full tomb is hard to fill, but an empty tomb is ready to receive new life where you don’t have to search for the living among the dead.

Allow yourself to be transformed from a disciple to an apostle. It is a lot easier to stay in discipleship mode – just following along. God will call you.
Surprise! God calls all of us and sends us out to share this marvelous news. Jesus is alive!

Listen and hear your name… Release Christ from the little box in which you keep him and allow yourself to be surprised and amazed at what He has for you. Let yourself look to the parts in your life that are dead, that feel dead and know that God is at work redeeming them because he is longer dead, but very much alive, here and now.

Today is a new day. Today is the day we get to remember that He is risen! He is risen indeed for you and for me!

But today isn’t the only day to remember. We need to give ourselves the opportunity to remember every day.

Jesus paid the price for each one of us. We do not have to pay for Christ’s love in our lives. We do not have to pay for eternal life
We do not have to do good deeds to earn salvation

Surprise!
All we have to do is remember so we can accept it.

Let yourself be surprised and re amazed at all the ways God chooses to work in your life, in this church, this community, in this world! And then let go so Christ can be free to continue to transform you and then you can be freed in Christ to go and share the good news – He is risen! With others.


Easter Blessings to each of you this morning and throughout the year! May you remember God has called you by name and is working on the transformation of your life. May you continue to be surprised and amazed at how awesome our God is each and every day!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Amen!