I want to describe something sweet today,
something like the lifesavers you’re holding. The Lifesaver Dancers helped get us in the mood. What is it that everyone wants most?
I’m going to give some clues. I’ve already said that it is so good that it feels like eating something sweet. And I call it a lifesaver because it’s so big that it will save your life. What is it? We’re going to think living forever. The Bible says that you can live forever.
We all want to live forever. There’s nothing more gloomy than death – especially your own. Harry Potter has taken the world by storm. I even have to confess that I have pre-ordered the next book. Harry’s next book is not even out yet and it has topped the best seller list at Amazon for weeks. Why is Harry so popular? It’s a story about the boy who didn’t die. In the first video, people fall back in amazement when the famous Harry Potter walks by. Harry can’t understand why people know him. He says, I’m Harry. I’m just Harry. He is famous because he didn’t die.
If a story grabs your heart like this and grand the hearts of people across America, its because the story speaks to life’s biggest question. If we could erase death, there might be more friends and loved ones sitting with us this morning, There would be fewer flowers with no one to mourn. And our own future would be sweet.
So today’s service is about joy that is sweet to the tongue and puts a smile on the face. We’re going to hear about Jesus’ resurrection and why it means that we are the people who didn’t die.
We have been looking these last two months at God’s seven lifesaving stories. We started with the story of self respect because God made us and respects us. We looked at the story of hope and how heaven is our happy ending. We looked at the story of family and how God provides the church so we can all have close friends. We looked at the story of vocation and how God has a special career for each of us. We looked at the story of justice based on God’s character and how God guarantees us that good will finally win. We looked at the story of solidarity and how Jesus came to earth so that God would know our frailties and challenges.
But the greatest story of all is the story of the joy of living forever. Mary went to the cemetery before daybreak. Is there anything that would make you go to a cemetery by yourself without lights in the middle of the night? If you put a thousand dollars in the cemetery, I wouldn’t go. I’m not sure about 10,000. And I’m famous for my courage.
Mary went. Mary Magdalene went because she had seen the other stories of Jesus and believed them. Against all hope and common sense, she returned with small faith but great desire that God could still work a miracle and make it all come true. What was she hoping for? We don’t really know.
But she met a man she assumed was an early gardener as light broke in the East. She couldn’t see well and didn’t recognize him until he said, Mary. Suddenly the familiar accents were back and she knew the one who was God come to earth to know the good and the evil and deal with both.
The power of this story is that if Jesus can be raised from the dead and the disciples knew that Jesus had human form, then God could raise the people of faith from the dead too. Living forever, for the first time, is more than wonderful magical story. Its true.
The disciples were hard to convince. Jesus had Thomas feel the nailprints in his hand. He asked for food and ate fish with them. They watched to see if it dropped through his body to fall on the table. It didn’t. Jesus was not raised as some kind of Christmas ghost. Jesus was as real as you and me.
If you’re 10 years old and you ask God to let you live forever, you’re going to treat your life seriously because you can make a big impact over the next 1,000 years. And that’s just to get started. If you’re mid career and you ask God to let you live forever, you can start over if you’re unhappy. You’ve got the time. If you’re 95 and busy staying alive, dream what can be and try for it. You’ve counted your life in years and it should have been in centuries.
There is a sweet taste this Easter Day. Don’t let it be just the sugar of a moment. Speak to the Lord this morning. Say to God in prayer, Lord, I want the death and resurrection of Jesus to change my life, turn me around, let me be one who didn’t die. Amen.
If you’ve prayed that in the last few moments, your name has been added to the lists of heaven. Get started in church. Come back next Sunday. Get ready to live forever.
