Easter Sunday | Donovan Drake preaching | 04.05.26

Easter Sunday | Donovan Drake preaching | 04.05.26

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Easter comes as a surprise, and so here's a surprise for you bulletin followers. I'm not reading from Luke, I'm reading from John. And the sermon title is When is Easter? So from John 20, hear the word of God. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away my Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. And Peter and the other disciples set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. And the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their home. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking? And supposing him to be the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said to her, Mary! And she turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabunai, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not hold on to me because I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I'm ascending to my Father and your Father to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And she told them that he had said these things to her. And this is the word of the Lord. So when is Easter? I know that's a silly question to ask on Easter, but I suppose Easter is the moment when Jesus is raised from the dead. Death has been defeated, the ages have shifted, love wins. There in the tomb, the resurrection happens, I suppose, when the first heartbeat and Jesus opens his eyes, breathes his first breath. It's Easter. But nobody knows it's Easter. Except for Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit. I suppose they're celebrating. Yeah, they're celebrating. It was Easter. But it's not Easter because it takes a while for Easter to dawn on people. Early morning, Mary's in the dark, and she sees the stone rolled away. She doesn't think it's Easter. She thinks, they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. No trumpets of joy. The sound is a bad day, sad day, in a string of bad days. They have arrested my Lord, they have crucified my Lord, they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. They you have to have someone to blame. They just the other day, my colleague Ashley, right here, who ministers to young families, wrote an email to her male colleagues here at the church about teaching dates for the Young Bibles, young men's Bible study. It's every other Sunday night. She had a listing of dates for the spring. She was making sure that we all were available for when we said we would be available. Well, Guy was the first to reply. He emailed back and said, Hey, May 24th is Memorial Day weekend. Do you think anybody's going to be there? I then joined in. I said, I'll be around. I wrote, I'll be around for Memorial Day weekend, but you have me teaching on Mother's Day. Do you think young dads get to go out on Mother's Day for Bible study? A few minutes later, Ashley responded to us all with two words. I quit. Now I like Ashley, and uh I don't want her to quit. So I decided to go to her office and speak very pastorally to her. And when I say pastorally, I don't mean pastorally. I mean I spoke to her like a pastor who has now a jaundiced view of the realities of the church. Look, I said, when you get as old as I am, you realize not to expect too much from people. You don't expect much from the church. Here's what you can expect. You get the church, you get two weeks in August for the church. And then it's Labor Day. And then you get a few more weeks for the church. You can do some stuff there, but then it's fall break. And in Green Hills, fall break lasts, you know, West Nashville three weeks. Three weeks tops, fall break. Well, after fall break, you get the you get a few few weeks in there, and then it's Thanksgiving. And then after Thanksgiving, you might as well just write that off. They're here in the church, but they're so busy. There's a it's a busy season. They're just so busy. They they come to worship, but it's busy. You can't do anything special. And then it's it's January, and you get a few few weeks in January, but you gotta you gotta lot for a snowstorm or an ice storm that takes out maybe a week or two weeks or three weeks. And then it's spring break. And here in West Nashville, spring break lasts for about three weeks, okay? And then you're up against Palm Sunday, and then it's Easter, and then it's a Sunday after Easter, and nobody shows up for the Sunday after Easter because they've all been here the Sunday before. And after that, it's May, and you just write off May, because May is May is the busiest season of the year. They're all here in church, but it's senior Sunday, it's Mother's Day. You know, it's uh there's just stuff. And then it's Memorial Day, and then they're out of here, and you don't see him again. You don't ever see him again until the first few end of the week uh August. Look, I'm sorry. He's gone, they've taken away my lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. They, the the school system, the sports, the trips, the the golf beach, the the lake, he's gone. I probably shouldn't have let you in on that pastoral conversation. And if you have a heart, you probably feel guilty now. Good. It's about time you feel guilty. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm letting my retirement get ahead of me. I'm sorry. But I blame and we blame. That's what we do. You turn on the TV, you watch some feed, and there's someone all sad and mad that they've taken away the Lord, and I do not know where they laid him. We gotta take back this country for the Lord. Because they've taken them out of the schools. We have a war on Christmas, we have to fight. But that's not Easter. Easter isn't a day where you blame others for stealing your Savior. Easter isn't a day of a small Jesus that you have to protect and prop up. That's not Easter. That's just small. They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When Peter and the unnamed disciple heard Mary's cry, I I know when you hear unnamed disciple. Scholars think that the unnamed disciple is John, but I always think it's a it's a it's a clue by the writer to say, put your name in here. We are at a race with Peter to the tomb, to the scene of the crime, the place where Jesus had been stolen. Peter goes to the tomb. He looks in the tomb, he sees lots of evidence and artifacts, linen cloths, lying here and there, and then the unnamed disciple goes in and believes. Believes what believes Easter? I don't know. Because the Gospel of John says it this way. Now listen to this. Then the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in and saw and believed. Now listen to this. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. That that just doesn't sound like Easter to me. What are you believing if you don't understand that he must rise from the dead? Do you believe that they've taken away the Lord? Maybe. Do you believe in the darkness of the world? Maybe. Or could it be that you believe that you believe that when you love someone, just as I have loved you, you also must love someone. In John's Gospel, you have to believe in a tomb. And Lazarus' sister said, Lord, if you would have been here, he never would have died. And Jesus said, Where did you lay him? And she says, Come and see, which is a great call to discipleship in John's gospel. And Jesus wept. Why did Jesus weep? Because he knows that he must call Lazarus out of the tomb. Lazarus come out, and now the tomb is empty for him to go into. Easter arrives as a sacrifice of love. And maybe you believe that when you love one another just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. You give your whole life. When is Easter? When you give your life so that God can resurrect. When is Easter? Well, maybe you're like Mary. And you're absolutely inconsolable. Maybe everything has gone wrong for you. Maybe God can't be found. They've taken him away. And if that's you, I pray that you hear your name. Called out by the risen Lord. I pray that. Maybe you're like Peter. All in. All in to Jesus until you weren't into Jesus. Up in an upper room, Jesus said, I'm you're Peter, you're gonna deny me. And Peter said, No, I'm not gonna deny you. And then he denied him. I don't know who you're talking about. I've never met him. I don't know who you're talking about. Three times denied him. When is Easter for Peter? I suppose when it dawns on him at some early morning lake. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Well, feed my sheep. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Well, Lord, you know that I love you. Well, tend my sheep. And he said to him a third time, son of John, do you love me? And Peter felt hurt. Lord, you know everything. You know everything. You know that I love you. Feed my sheep. I need you to live my life. I need you to love one another just as I have loved you. You also must love one another, and it will take you places you don't want to go, a cross and a tomb. But wow, that's life. When is Easter? No doubt it's when the ages have shifted, when Jesus breathes that first breath, when grace abounds, love conquers all. The trouble is there are characters in this world who don't know it's Easter, and I'm speaking pastorally now. You've got to show up. You have to go forth and love. Love. It's the one commandment. You love one another just as I have loved you. You also must love one another. It is what being a Christian is all about, despite what you hear out there. That's what it's all about. One commandment. And you give it all. And when you do, God will do the rest. The unnamed disciple has the last words in John's gospel. He writes, Hey, if I told you everything that the Lord did, the risen Lord did, I suppose the world could not contain all the books that would be written about it. What that means is the unnamed disciple, you have a story to tell. And I'm speaking pastorally now. But the greatest gift of my ministry, the greatest gift of my ministry has been seeing people who love. Just as the Lord loves. And it has raised me up. And it's Easter. It's Easter. Hallelujah. It's Easter.