Easter Sunrise Service

When the women arrived at the tomb the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just as he said”. While there are many messages that are proclaimed in the resurrection story from the forgiveness of sin to the victory of life over death, perhaps one of the simplest messages is this: Jesus keeps his promises. I’m not sure I have ever really thought about the resurrection in those terms before, but isn’t that what the angel is saying when he says, Jesus has risen, just as he said. While that line, just as he said, is often just glossed over when we read the story, the message we are being told is that Jesus keeps his word. If we look back in Matthew’s gospel we will see that Jesus did say that he would die and then rise again. Look at Matthew 20:17.

And this wasn’t the only time Jesus said it. He said it on at least 2 other occasions, in Matthew 16 and in Matthew 17. So when Jesus is not in the tomb and the angel says, he has risen just as he said, what we are learning is that Jesus is indeed a man of his words. Jesus keeps his promises.

But it’s not just his promise to rise from the dead that Jesus keeps, Jesus keeps all his promises, and that is something to celebrate this morning because Jesus made a lot of promises. In Jesus’ sermon on the mount he says: Matthew 7:7-9. Jesus promises that when we turn to God in faith and ask – it will be given to us, and when we seek God we will find him and when we knock – when we ask God to enter into our lives – God will enter in. What Jesus is promising here is a relationship with God our Father where we can come to God openly and honestly and share who we are and what we need and even what we want, and when we do God will not reject us. That’s a promise that Jesus makes and so we ask and seek and knock & God will be there.
Jesus also promises us strength in times of weakness. Look at Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus promises that when we come to him in weakness, burdened down by the weight of our sin or simply weary from all the pain and sorrow we see and experience in life, when we come to him, we will find rest. This is an important promise for us to claim today because in so many ways we are weary. We are weary from the financial stress and uncertainty we see around us. We are weary seeing friends struggle to find jobs. We are weary when we hear about another person who has to fight cancer, or another family that’s in need. And we are weary when we hear about all the violence around us, and it’s not just the pirates half a world away, it’s shootings in Pittsburgh and Altoona. The condition and the darkness of the world around us makes us weary and so we need to come to Jesus and trust his promise that when we come to him we will find rest for our souls because his yoke is easy and when we walk with Jesus, his burden is light.

Some of the most powerful promises Jesus makes are found in John 14 because it’s in these words that Jesus promises to prepare a place for us in heaven (14:1-2). Jesus also promises to come back for us and take us to that heavenly home (14:3) And Jesus promises that he will not abandon us or leave us as orphans in this world because he will send to us the Holy Spirit (14:25-27).

In that last promise there is not only the promise of God’s Holy Spirit to lead us when Jesus is no longer physically present with us, but there is the promise of peace – peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, and then I love how Jesus says, and I don’t give to you as the world gives – in other words, Jesus doesn’t give to us and then take it away like the world often does. Jesus doesn’t say one thing and do another, he doesn’t change his mind – he is a man of principle, and a man of his word and his peace endures through all the difficult times we go through. The peace that Jesus gives us is strong, it holds up when we need it and it lasts from one problem to the next. Jesus promises us his peace and so we can count on it being with us today.

Also found in John 14 is what I consider the single most powerful promise that Jesus makes – it’s the promise that often makes me feel the most uncomfortable because it is so daringly bold. Look at John 14:12-14. Jesus promises that if we have faith, we will do even great things than Jesus did, and if we ask God for help – we will receive it. Can we trust that promise this morning? As the people of God, as the Faith Church community can we claim this promise today and begin to allow the power of God to build us up and flow through us into a dark world that needs the love and light of God. You have probably heard or seen the Newsweek article that says the % of people who identify themselves as atheists or agnostics has doubled in the last few years, and that church membership has declined – at a time when many churches are feeling more and more powerless it’s important for us to not give in but to remember that Jesus keeps his promises and so we can do more than Jesus did if we will place our faith and trust in him.

One of the reasons I wanted us to begin this day the song Risen to Reign is because of the line, something is ready to start. Easter brings us new life and new opportunities. The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t just mean that we are forgiven and it doesn’t just mean that the door to heaven is opened, it also means that the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to the people of God and so just as he said, we can do more in this world than Jesus ever did. We can change our families, our community and our world if we will have faith in the one who rose from the dead just as he said.

As I have been thinking about Jesus being a man of his word and have thought about some of the promises that Jesus is just waiting and wanting to keep, I began to ask myself why we don’t trust God to keep those promises. Why don’t we step out in faith and trust Jesus to follow through on his word. Why didn’t Mary, Peter, James, John and the rest of the disciples camp out at the tomb and wait for Jesus to rise from the dead – after all – he said he would. Why didn’t they trust and believe Jesus would keep his promise? For the disciples I think part of it was fear. Literally they were afraid for their own lives. I think we forget how dangerous Jerusalem was for the followers of Jesus at that point in time. They had just crucified Jesus so the religious leaders and Roman authority would not hesitate to crucify or at least flog, beat and imprison the followers of Jesus. So maybe it was their fear that blinded them to the promise Jesus made.

Maybe it was their failure. Each of the disciples knew how they had failed Jesus when he needed them the most. Remember, it wasn’t just Judas who had betrayed Jesus, Peter disowned him 3 times and all the rest of the disciples ran away. In fact even before things got dangerous, they couldn’t even stay awake and pray with Jesus. So instead of focusing on the promise of Jesus to rise from the dead, maybe all they could only focus on was their own failure.

Or maybe it was just the depth of sorrow and pain they were going through. They had just seen Jesus betrayed, arrested, beaten and crucified. They watched as he was taken down from the cross and laid into the tomb and they knew the tomb was sealed. Maybe it was the reality of such a cruel and painful death that robbed their hearts of even thinking that Jesus could keep his promise and overcome all of this and rise again.

While we don’t know what it was that kept the disciples from trusting in the promises Jesus made, I think for us today we don’t step out in faith to claim the promises of God because of fear and failure and the reality of the sorrow and pain we see in the world today. Just like the disciples, we are afraid of what others might think if we started living our lives as if the word of God was true. People might think we have really lost it if we start claiming God’s promises, and so we shrink back in fear. We also don’t claim God’s promises because of our own sin and failure. We think, God might keep his promises to someone who is faithful, but I’m a failure, so God won’t help me. But doesn’t the story of Easter tell us the exact opposite? The disciples weren’t faithful, they weren’t there waiting for Jesus to rise from the grave and yet Jesus kept his promise. If we wait until we are perfect until we trust in the promises of God, then we never will trust in them because we will never be perfect. We need to trust in God’s forgiveness and grace today and then ask God to fulfill his word in our hearts and lives, to help us be more faithful and obedient.

It’s also hard for us to claim God’s promises when we see the reality of darkness and evil in the world around us. When so many things are beyond our control, and when the world seems like it is moving quickly away from God – it’s hard to claim the promise of Jesus that says we will be able to do more than he did. But maybe it is for just such a time as this that Jesus made that promise. Maybe it was for today, Easter 2009 that Jesus made the promise, you will do even greater things because I am going to the Father. We need to look at the empty tomb and the risen savior and affirm in our own hearts and live that yes indeed, something is about to start because Jesus keeps his word.

Whatever promise we need fulfilled today, Jesus will do it because he is a man of his word. If we ask – we will receive. If we seek – we will find. If we knock the door will be opened. If we need forgiveness – it is offered. If we need the love of a Father in heaven – it flows to us from Jesus. If we are weary – we are given rest, and if we need strength it is provided. And if we as a church need power to shine forth the light and love of God, a light and love that will make a difference in this world, then we have that power because Jesus has promised us the power of God. So whatever promise we need fulfilled today, Jesus will do it, because he is a man of his word and we know he is a man of his word because he has risen, just as he said.