The Savior for Sinners Suffering
Sadness
Mark 16:1-8
The Resurrection of our Lord 2020 anno Domini
How many of your gods died this past week? How many gods did you bury in the last year?
What are you talking about pastor? Have you been locked in your office too long that you’re imagining gods all over the place? Every one of you has buried multiple gods, even in the last few weeks. Maybe your god was sending your children off to school every day and having a teacher educate them and care for them. Raising children is tough. Parents are relieved to have their kids in school or day care. Well, that god is dead for a while. Maybe you lost your job and that job was your life and your living. In the last month a lot of people buried that god – their job is dead. Maybe your god was living independently in your own home and now you have to bury your independence. I don’t know anyone with Covid-19, but in parts of our country there have been thousands of deaths, and in death, unless you really hate the person, you always lose one of your gods. Wives lost husbands, brothers lost sisters, best friends lost a best friend. Their common refrain is, “I don’t know how I’ll live without them.”
That’s one simple test to determine your gods. Can I live without this? Another test to see if any of your gods have died is “Have you ever been sad?” Sadness comes only because we lose something we love and trust and depend upon.
Anything you fear losing, anything you love with all your heart or trust with your life is your god. Your house and heart and garages and sheds are full of gods. Here’s the tough news. You’re going to bury every one of them or they’ll bury you. Spouses are gods. Children are gods. Work is a god. Health is a god. Money is a god. Video games, alcohol, and pornography are all gods.
Every religion ever invented has the same goal. Some thing, some person, some plan for not dying, some way for you to be delivered from sadness, because sadness, loss, and death are universal. No one escapes. All gods die and stay dead.
Well, except for One. A couple thousand years ago, on a Sunday morning just like today, Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome were going to finish burying their god. Jesus of Nazareth had died on Friday on a cross outside Jerusalem. Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. The women saw it. Their god was dead and buried. Another one bites the dust.
In some ways Jesus of Nazareth was like other gods. He made a lot of promises. He claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life. He said He had been sent from heaven. But in many ways He was different. He talked about Adam and Eve like He had been in the Garden of Eden. He spoke of Moses as if He had shared many meals at his table. You got the idea that He shut the door on Noah’s ark and was with Jonah in the belly of the big fish, yet He was only 30 years old. He performed miracles that only God could do. He healed the sick, made the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. He raised three people from the dead and one of them had been dead four days. His sister told Jesus before the grave was opened, “But Lord, by this time he stinketh.”
Mary, Mary, and Salome were sad because they were going to bury their God. There was only one problem. He wasn’t dead anymore.
They found the tomb open and the body gone. Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, but a preacher was. An angel from heaven preached the sermon that changed the world and the women, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” Now that’s all it should take for you to believe. Jesus said three times He would rise on the third day. There was no body, no guard, an open tomb, and a preacher saying, “Jesus lives.” No one has found Jesus’ body to this day. If you need a God who doesn’t stay dead, the evidence says Jesus is your guy.
But Jesus gives us even more evidence, because that is the way of the true God. He always gives more than you need. He appeared alive to Mary Magdalene, to Peter and the other disciples, to Thomas, to Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, and to over 500 people at one time. 2000 years after He rose again from the dead the whole world still remembers the day He rose. Oh, they might be confused about bunnies, eggs, and chocolate, but Easter is observed for this one reason – Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.
This is how you know Jesus is true God. He didn’t stay dead. He won’t leave you sad and He won’t leave you dead. Most false gods promise you what you want. Jesus came to forgive your sins. False gods say someone else is the problem. Jesus says, “You’re the problem.” His Word says that sin is the reason you lose every good thing God gives you and your sin is the reason you die. That might be offensive to you, but you should consider the source – this is the Guy who rose from the dead. False gods promise happiness. Jesus doesn’t care if you’re happy. He wants you to have joy; the joy of being forgiven your sins so you can live forever, the joy of the resurrection when you will rise never to die again. The joy of having a God who actually does what He says and does it for you. The joy of no more sadness, no more tears, no more sickness, no more death. That’s His promise to all who believe that He died for your sins and rose again on the third day, today, on Sunday. A lot of gods die every week, but only One rose from the dead. His name is Jesus and He is the only true and living God. Amen.