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In Mark's account of that first Easter day Mary
Magdalene goes to the Tomb with Mary the mother of James
and Salome and on the way they ask each other, "Who
will roll the stone away from the entrance of the
tomb?" But when they look up, they see that the
stone, which was very large, has been rolled away. I
think this is great picture of the significance of the
resurrection. With Jesus' death and resurrection, it's as
though a great stone has been rolled away from our lives.
John Bunyan in his famous story, "The Pilgrim's
Progress" tells how Pilgrim comes to the cross
carrying a great burden of sin on his back and as he
kneels at the foot of the Cross his burden rolls away,
and he's left free. |
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I want to
think today about the way Jesus' resurrection frees us
from the burdens of this life. |
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As we
think about Jesus' death and resurrection, we discover
that a whole series of burdens are lifted. Today we're
going to focus on just a few of these. I want us to think
about how the resurrection frees us from death, from
guilt, from futility, from ignorance and from
selfishness. |
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Death |
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The most
obvious result of Jesus' resurrection is that death is
overcome. We read in 1 Cor 15, that "Death has been
swallowed up in victory." Jesus has conquered death.
vs20-22 tell us: (1 Cor 15:20-22 NRSV) "But in fact
Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of
those who have died. 21For since death came
through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has
also come through a human being; 22for as all
die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ." |
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I think
it would be fair to say that the fear of death is one of
the great phobias of our age. That's why no-one ever
talks about it. But the resurrection means that we no
longer need to fear it. All who are in Christ, all who
have asked him to come into their lives and fill them
with his Spirit, will be made alive again. Jesus is the
first fruits. That is Jesus' resurrection body is the
living sign that others will also be given a new body. |
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But
notice why death has lost its power, its sting. In v56
we're told that "The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to
God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ." (1 Cor 15:56-57 NRSV) This brings us to the
second thing that the resurrection frees us from. |
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Guilt |
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The whole
import of the story of Pilgrim kneeling at the foot of
the Cross and feeling the burden falling from his
shoulders, is that the burden he's been carrying is the
burden of sin, the burden of guilt. Pilgrim is a
representative figure for the whole human race. Every one
of us carries that burden of sin to some extent or
another. But the great message of Easter is that that
burden of sin has been removed. Paul says in 2 Cor 5:21
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God." Peter tells us in 1 Pet 2:24 that "He
himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that,
free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his
wounds you have been healed." Jesus has changed
places with us. He's exchanged his righteousness for our
sinfulness. There's no longer any need for us to feel
guilt because, if we're followers of Christ, he's clothed
us with his righteousness. As far as God is concerned,
we're righteous. |
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So next
time you feel that sense of guilt for those things you've
done wrong, rather than being weighed down by it, turn
back to God, and ask him for the forgiveness he promises
to all who are followers of Jesus Christ. Ask him to
remove the burden of guilt from your shoulders and to
start afresh. |
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Futility |
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The next
thing the resurrection frees us from is futility. Paul
talks a bit about this here in 1 Cor 15. He begins from
the negative. He says if there's no resurrection then our
preaching is a waste of time, our faith is futile, and
we're still in our sins. But then he goes on to say that
in fact that's not the case. Christ has indeed been
raised from the dead, and as a result of that fact our
lives now have great purpose. |
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I think
futility is one of those things that most people are
worried about. People are searching for meaning for their
lives, particularly for spiritual significance. This is
evidenced by the countless ways there are that people go
about trying to find meaning and significance. I was
sitting in the dentist's waiting room the other day and
picked up a copy of Woman's Day. I couldn't believe how
much stuff there was in it about astrology and new age
spirituality. I remember when these sorts of magazines
just had the dear Dorothy Dix type column where people
wrote in to ask Dorothy about problems with their love
life, but this one had a Dear Fiona column where Fiona,
who is supposedly a clairvoyant, not only helps you with
your love life, but also gives you extra information
she's gleaned from her spiritual sources. There was a
Dear Selena column giving advice about Feng Shui, where
people asked such important questions as which house
block on a cul de sac should I buy or where should I
place my ceiling fan to maximise the positive energy
flows? And of course there were the obligatory pages of
astrology, along with pages and pages of ads for psychic
and pseudo-religious services. |
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What I
think this sort of thing reveals is the emptiness of
people's lives, the longing in people's hearts for more
to life than just existence. People want to know that
they matter. They want to know that working 9 to 5 or 8
to 6 isn't all there is to life. A recent survey in
America showed that 90% of people believed in a god and
80% of people believed in an afterlife. |
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Ultimately
most people want to know that when this life is over,
there's going to be more to come and hopefully that it'll
be something better than this life has been. |
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Well,
that's the message of Easter. Jesus has freed us from the
fear of death. He's freed us from guilt, and he's freed
us to serve him with all our energy. We're freed from
futility because now we know that beyond this life is
something far greater and more wonderful than we can even
imagine. And in this life, we're freed from futility
because we know that God has good works for us to do that
are there waiting for us. We've been freed from slavery
to sin, to serve the living God, whose service is perfect
freedom. |
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Ignorance |
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If we've
been freed from futility, we've also been freed from
ignorance. I don't mean the ignorance you might have if
you've led a too-sheltered life, or if you've never read
a book, or been to school. No, the ignorance we're freed
from through Jesus' death and resurrection is the
ignorance of what pleases God. Paul says of the
unbelievers of his day: (Eph 4:18 NRSV) "They are
darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life
of God because of their ignorance and hardness of
heart." When Peter wants to encourage the Christians
of his day to be obedient to Christ he writes this: (1
Pet 1:14 NRSV) "Like obedient children, do not be
conformed to the desires that you formerly had in
ignorance." Previously they were ignorant of God's
laws but now they have them written on their hearts. Do
you remember that that was what God promised through the
prophet Jeremiah: (Jer 31:33 NRSV) "This is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them,
and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people." The result of
Jesus resurrection is that he has now sent his Spirit to
live within us, to write his law on our hearts. So we
know how God wants us to live. |
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Secondly
we now know the way to salvation. Jesus said I am the way
the truth and the life. He's opened the way to life and
gone before us to show us that way. But this isn't just a
head knowledge. This a knowledge in the personal sense.
We know the way to life, because we know Christ. Through
knowing Christ, through faith in Christ, we come to know
God; to know life; to know the truth; to know the riches
of God's glory; to know the riches of his grace. |
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Finally
through the resurrection of Christ we now know something
of what we will be like in the resurrection. He says the
body we'll have in the resurrection won't be an earthly
body like this. It'll be a heavenly body. - There's
something to look forward to! John tells us that even
though we don't know what we'll be in the resurrection,
we do know that we'll be like Christ. Christ's
resurrection body is the first fruits. That is, it shows
us what our body will be like. It'll be a spiritual body,
in that physical barriers like doors won't hold it back,
but it will still be a body. Jesus' body could be felt,
he could eat he could talk. While it wasn't bound by the
constraints of our earthly bodies, it was still a body
with substance. He wasn't just a disembodied spirit. And
so we can know that in the resurrection we too will have
real bodies. Finally, |
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Selfishness |
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There's
no doubt that one of the major motivating factors in our
world today is selfishness. Advertising maximises on it.
Political fortunes depend on it. But what does Jesus'
death and resurrection say to selfishness? Paul Tillich,
the German Theologian once wrote that "whenever the
believing Christian prays that God may forgive his sins
because of the innocent suffering and death of Christ, he
accepts both the demand that he himself suffer infinite
punishment and the message that he is released from guilt
and punishment by the substitutional suffering of
Christ." So when we look to the cross for
forgiveness we're drawn away from a focus on ourselves,
and on our own importance, to an awareness that all we
have, we have by the gift of Jesus Christ. This moving of
our focus from ourselves to Christ, is then extended as
we look beyond ourselves to those around us who are in
the same need of Christ's forgiveness that we were in. So
Paul says in 2 Cor 5 (2 Cor 5:14-20 NRSV) "For the
love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that
one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15And
he died for all, so that those who live might live no
longer for themselves, but for him who died and was
raised for them. ... 20So we are ambassadors
for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we
entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to
God." John says "We love because he first loved
us" (1 John 4:19 NRSV). So the result of our
experience of the resurrection of Christ is that we begin
to love others the way God in Christ has loved us, which
of course is the opposite of selfishness. |
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So today
as we think again about the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
may I invite you to bring him your burdens. Bring your
fear of sickness and death, your guilt, your sense of
futility and frustration with a life that feels like it's
going nowhere, your ignorance of what will please him,
your selfish desires. Lay them at his feet. Ask him to
take them away. Ask him to put in their place a renewed
confidence in his saving power, ask him to give you his
Holy Spirit to fill you, to write his law in your heart.
Ask him to fill you with the same love he showed in dying
on the cross; ask him to use you in his service, to give
you a real sense of mission, of purpose. Ask him to help
you stand firm in your confidence in the saving power of
his death and resurrection. |
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"Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. 30For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Mat 11:28-30
NIV) |
