The Way Home

September 25, 2011 Homecoming Sunday 15th Sunday of Kingdomtide

Genesis 3: 1-15, Hebrews 2: 14-15; 3: 7-15, John 20:19-22

Once again I want to welcome you to Pisgah United Methodist Church here on this homecoming Sunday. Most churches I know of in the South, particularly if they are rural churches, set aside one Sunday a year to celebrate. Homecoming celebrations vary from place to place. There might be dinner on the grounds, old-fashioned all day singing's, testimonies and preaching by past preachers, remembering all those who have gone before as we have today.

Today as we gather for lunch, I'm sure we will be telling stories about the church, about people we have known and loved, and the ministries we have been involved in over the years. I join you today as we celebrate the saints of this church who came before and made a place for us to worship, to be in ministry and to continue to tell the great story of Jesus. That is our calling, and today we can all be thankful for Pisgah United Methodist Church and the life that God has given us.

Since this is a busy Sunday, and a time of celebration, I want to tell you a short story.

Early on a Sunday morning in the 1st century, some women were hurrying through the morning midst to a garden where their loved ones were buried. This particular day their hearts were heavy, because two days before, they had lost someone who was very special to them.

His name was Jesus, and he had come from the town of Nazareth. The women and all who had been with him over the last three years had come to believe that he was a great teacher, a great healer, and the one whom they and their people were expecting. They had come to believe that Jesus was the one whom God had sent and would be the one who would save their people. But, two days before, Jesus had been killed by the Romans.

Jesus, whom they had watched healed the lame, cure the blind, cast out demons, and even… raise a dead man, had been taken by the Romans at the request of the Jewish leaders, the women's own people, and Jesus had been beaten and hung on a cross. There he died.

Going on the way with the others that morning was a woman named Mary Magdalene Mary was one of the most devoted followers Jesus had. She had been with him for a long time, had traveled with him across the countryside from place to place. She had stayed with him as he hung for hours on the cross. Mary had watched everything that had happened. She had stayed until the very end, watching the one whom she called teacher and Lord say with his dying breath," it is finished."

See Mary knew firsthand the healing power that Jesus possessed; how he could speak and demons would depart; flee, as if they had just seen God. Mary knew the power of love that Jesus shared, because he had once cast out of her the demons that had tormented her. Being in Jesus' presence had changed her completely. He had taught her how to live out of a heart of love and generosity. Jesus had given her a new life that was free from the torments of the past. Mary was devoted to Jesus and devoted to all he had taught her.

That morning, Mary was going to the place where men had laid Jesus' body two days before. Her task, along with the other women, was to do to his body as was the custom. They would clean him, anoint his body with spice, wrap him and prepare him for his complete burial. That work could not be done on the evening he died, because it was late and the Jewish day of rest, the Sabbath was upon them. No one was allowed to do that kind of work on the Sabbath. So Jesus' body had been laid in the tomb just as it had come from the cross; beaten, bloody, bruised, dead.

According to the gospel writer John, when Mary reached the grave, which was a deep niche or room carved out of the rock, she saw that the grave was opened. The huge stone that had been used to close the entrance had been rolled away. Mary and the others wondered who could have moved it. Shocked at the sight and horrified when they found that Jesus' body was missing, Mary ran to tell what she had seen.

First Mary found two of the disciples who had been with Jesus, Peter and John. She quickly told them that the stone had been rolled away and Jesus' body was gone. Something very unusual was going on.

Later that day in the evening, the disciples gathered somewhere in Jerusalem. They had been to the grave and seen that it was just as the women had said. They were frightened and were holed up, hiding, because they were scared, not knowing what might happen next. They were especially afraid of the Jews. They had forgotten somehow that Jesus had told them that this was going to happen.

As they waited together that evening, they mourned and wept. All kinds of rumors, conjectures and speculations were being made. They wondered who had taken Jesus' body. Had it been the Jews? The very idea of someone making off with the Lord's body was horrible to them, but none of them doubted the Jewish leaders hated Jesus enough to do it. They were so afraid that they had locked themselves in.

And then, quite suddenly... Jesus stood among them. Here is how it is recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 20:

On the evening of that day, the 1st day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And then Jesus breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

This was quite a moment in history. It was the moment when Jesus Christ appeared alive again to his disciples, after he had been killed, after he was dead and buried. Jesus was standing before them physically alive again, able to walk, talk, and breathe.

It is an understatement to say that the disciples were awestruck. Probably, they were terrified. Imagine, suddenly someone whom you saw die is standing right in front of you, somehow having come through closed and locked doors. Yes, it was quite a moment... A moment that has changed the world.

Jesus said to the disciples, "Peace be with you." He said it to them twice, because Jesus understood that their joy and hope was mixed with astonishment and fear. Surely it was Jesus' way of reassuring the disciples....saying, "come on guys, chill out." And certainly they needed to chill out, because the world, as they had known it up to that moment had been radically and completely changed. It was quite a moment.

This is the gospel story. Men and women who believe this story and place their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ for their salvation, those men and women are on their way home, on their way to heaven. The question for us today is this: do you believe this story? Do you place your faith in this story as the way for you to be saved?

Christians believe this story. They believe that it happened just like it is recorded in the Bible. Christians when they place their faith in this story will have no trouble finding their way home, their way to heaven. The disciples saw the resurrected Jesus and their lives were radically changed, because from that moment on they told other story to tell, except the gospel story.

Whether you like this story or not, whether you believe this story or not, this story has changed the world. This story has changed your life and will continue to change lives in the future. The reason that is that God lives in this story. The very life of the creator of all things lives in this story. Think about that.

Today, in whatever way that God has brought you to this place, at this moment, you... Just like the disciples who were standing in that room on the first day of the week... You have heard the story. You may not have comprehended it completely, but you have heard the story of the son of God, Jesus, who lived, died, was buried and then...rose from the dead.

All of us must find our way home to God. I pray that if you are here today and you don't know the way, for whatever reason, that today is your day. This is the day of your salvation, reach out and grasp it and never let it go. Give yourself to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Let this gospel story, be your story, and just like the saints of this church who are here now, and those who have gone on the Church triumphant...you will know the way home. Praise be to God. Amen.