Grey dawn had barely begun to brighten the eastern horizon as the women made their way to the tomb. It’s unlikely any, but the most essential communication passed between them as they shuffled along the path. It had only been three days since they stood together at the foot of His cross. The sight of His tortured body was still seared into their minds and the sound of His anguished cry still echoed in their ears. They had hoped He was their promised Messiah. Now, as they carried spices so that they might go and anoint His dead body, that hope seemed foolish.
However, upon arriving at the place where He had been laid, the women discovered the great stone, which had covered the entrance to the tomb, had been rolled away. Mary Magdalene, apparently fearing the worst, ran to tell Peter and John that someone had taken Him out of the tomb and had hidden him away. In her absence the remaining women gathered the courage to peer inside the tomb. What they saw startled them. They saw what appeared to be a young man, except his face was as bright as a flash of lightening and his clothes were as white as snow. “6“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.””[1] … “8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.”
It must have been shortly after the women left that Mary Magdalene returned with Peter and John. They too peered inside the tomb. Perhaps not wanting to be the cause of more trembling and bewilderment, the angel concealed himself from Peter and John. But what they saw when they looked inside the empty tomb assured them that their Master had not been taken and hidden away. The grave cloths that had wrapped their Master were not hastily stripped from a corpse and tossed aside as though the corpse had been abducted. Rather they were neatly folded by One who is in full command of His situation.
Peter and John returned home to consider the implications of what they hoped to be true. Mary, however, stood weeping outside the tomb. A man Mary assumed to be one of the gardeners approached her and asked, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” “Sir, (Mary desperately replied) if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” “Mary”[2], the Man said. And somehow in that moment with her name on His lips she knew this was no gardener. This man standing before her, speaking to her was her living Lord, her victorious Master, her loving Savior Jesus.
This is the Easter story you know so well. This is the story you have come to hear, though you have heard it told so many times before. I enjoy telling this story as much as you enjoy hearing it especially in this beautiful church which seems such a suitable setting for the telling of his story. Here the chancel is adorned with flowers, here the worshipers have come beautifully dressed, here the musicians masterfully play their instruments, here the praises of God’s people shake the rafters and quake the soul. I understand why you have come here today to listen yet again to the Easter story. I can’t think of a better setting in which this story should be told… well maybe there is one other setting even better suited for the telling of this story.
It occurs to me, the first time this story was told (and I mean one of the very first times it was told) the setting wasn’t as bright and cheery as this. The setting I am referring to is found in Job 19:23-27. You are most certainly familiar with Job. The man is almost synonymous with suffering. He mourned the death of those whom men would say “died too young”. In a moment a lifetime of careful planning and preparation were undone as his investment crashed and his career cratered. He became afflicted with an unexplainable illness that caused him a great deal of pain and left him permanently disfigured. And instead of being a source of comfort and support his wife and friends took turns kicking him while he was down; his wife told him to drop dead and his friends told him he deserved to suffer.
You likely have not suffered all that Job suffered, at least not all at the same time, but I suspect you have endured similar sufferings in your life. Though uninvited and unwelcomed, death is a recuring and intrusive guest in our homes. These days even the most conservative investor feels the volatility of the market and sometimes even a hard worker gets laid off. As far as illness is concerned, I could direct your attention to the prayer list in the front of our bulletin, notably the long list of people fighting cancer, but you also have your own aches and pains and diagnosis with which you must contend. Finally, who here hasn’t felt the boot of bitterness kicking when you are at your lowest of moments? It seems there are few things the world enjoys more than to see a good man or good woman fall. As I said, you likely have not suffered all that Job suffered, but you have, suffered. Some of you, I suspect, in some way, are suffering right now.
This suffering is the setting to which I was referring when I said there was a setting better suited to the telling of the Easter story than this beautiful church. Suffering is the setting in which Job tells the Easter story. In the verses preceding our text, Job speaks of being stripped of honor, he says his breath is offensive to his wife. He says he is nothing but skin and bones. He begs his friends to have pity on him and then as Job dangles dangerously on the edge of the pit of despair he says, “25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job tells the Easter story! Job peers through the ages and with eyes of faith kneels beside the bewildered women who heard the angel proclaim, “He has risen!”, Job beholds the neatly folded grave clothes and shares the assurance that filled Peter and John, Job stands beside Mary as she beholds her living Lord and risen Savior... and in the midst of his suffering Job sees his Redeemer.
Redeemer is an Old Testament word. It refers to someone who takes it upon themself to exercise both their power and position to rescue you from harm and danger, it is someone who pays the price for whatever debt you owe so that you might be set free from slavery, it is someone who both advocates and vindicates; someone who speaks in your defense and restores you to a place of honor in the family. With eyes of faith Job looks at Jesus, risen from the dead just as He said, and Job sees his Redeemer. Job has nothing and no one. Everything has been taken away from him, everything but the one thing that matters most. Job has his Redeemer. Not even death could take Job’s Redeemer from him. Job had Jesus Who exercised His power and position to recuse Job from death and devil. Job had Jesus Who, with His innocent suffering and death, paid the price for Job’s sin. Job had Jesus Who stands before the judgement seat of heaven and wraps a robe of righteousness around Job and declares him innocent.
Even in the midst of His suffering, especially in the midst of his suffering, Job had Jesus… and so do you. With eyes of faith, Job peered forward in time. With eyes of faith, you can peer backward. You too can kneel beside the bewildered women, you can behold the neatly folded grave clothes, you can see your living Lord and risen Savior. With eyes of faith, you can look at Jesus, risen form the dead just as He said, and see your Redeemer. You can see Jesus who has defeated death and devil, paid for all your sins, and proclaims your innocence before the judgement seat of heaven. When you are suffering; when it feels like you have nothing and no one, tell yourself the Easter story and be reassured you have the one thing that matters most. You have a living Redeemer.
In the midst of his suffering Job confessed his faith in his living Redeemer. But Job understood the living Redeemer had not come to take suffering away from Job. Rather, the living Redeemer had come to take Job away from suffering. Job applies the Easter story to his life of suffering and says, 26 … after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” It is Satan’s desire that suffering might cause believers such as Job, such as yourselves, to give up hope. That’s how the story of Job begins. Satan suggests that suffering will cause Job to curse God to his face.[3] Perhaps you know from personal experience how tempting it is to give up hope when you are in the midst of suffering.
Thankfully, the Easter story is about a living Redeemer and the redeemed who will live. Jesus promised His followers, the ones who lived in the thousands of years before His resurrection, like Job, and the ones who have lived in the thousands of years after His resurrection, like you and me, Jesus promised us, “Because I live, you also will live.”[4]. Job clung to the promise of his living Redeemer. Job was under no delusion that life as a believer was guaranteed to be full of egg bakes and chocolate bunnies. Job knew he lived in a fallen world full of sin and as a result he would suffer the consequences of sin. But Job knew that this life of suffering was not what his living Redeemer wanted for Job. Job knew his living Redeemer had a better life prepared for Job and Job yearned to live that life. Not a theoretical life, not a symbolic life, not an abstract life, but a flesh and blood life where skin and bones are glorified, hearts are cleansed, minds are enlightened, and eyes are opened.
Life real physical life where believers live with each other as God intended them to live that’s the life that awaits all who believe in the living Redeemer. That’s the life that Job now enjoys, that’s the life that you get to look forward too. A life full of suffering can easily cause a person to give up hope. Thankfully, according to the Easter story, because of the living Redeemer, you, the redeemed, have reason to be full of hope.
This beautiful church is such a suitable setting for the telling of the Easter story. However, there is a setting better suited for the telling of this story and that setting is the ugly backdrop of suffering in your life. Which is why today, after the last prayer is prayed, and the blessing is given, and the last note of praise is played, I urge you to take the Easter story with you. Take it into your lives that are often not as bright and cheery as this church. Take the Easter story with you so that when suffering comes and you find yourself dangling dangerously close to the edge of the pit of despair, you are able to cry out, “I know that my Redeemer lives!”. Let’s confess it together now. Please stand and join me in singing hymn 441 “I know that my redeemer lives!”. (sing). Amen
[1] Mark 16:6
[2] John 20:15-16
[3] Job 1:11
[4] John 14:19