HE HAS RISEN

1. Read Mark 16:1-8
   1. Debate over the longer ending.
   2. Mark and the Story – He is intentionally leaving it hanging. Why does Mark do this?
      1. Resurrection is not the end of the story – Jesus is raised and his life and story continue to this very moment.
      2. What will these women do? What about those sad and disappointed disciples who are going back to fishing?
      3. The story does not end – it has just begun!
2. Going ahead of us to meet us in Galilee
   1. Galilee – (Jesus is already there)
      1. For the disciples, Galilee is worse than death. They are returning to their old life with broken dreams and dashed hopes. They are going back to mark time until the final ends comes.
      2. They are ending it, Jesus is just beginning it
      3. They’ve gone back to the past, Jesus meets them with a new future
   2. What about these disciples who suddenly find that the end is just a new beginning? (Luke continues their story in Acts and the message of the resurrected Jesus fills every sermon and mighty act).
   3. What about us?

Death is certain, but Not Final ...

1. The question is not "will we die?", the question is "will death be the end?" (Not just for eternity, but even the metaphorical "deaths" and losses we experience even now)
   1. When death (loss) is the end then it will lock us into the past with no hope for the future
      1. That may lead to bitterness,
      2. That may lead to a 3-D view of reality: depression, despair, and denial.
      3. That may lead to nostalgia (a very subtle trap of the past).
   2. When the disciples lost hope, they returned to their past (Galilee). They are in survival mode. They return to the life they know – even if that life is just the end awaiting death ...
2. We see a very picture in Paul’s words in Galatians. For Paul death is not the end, but a door to a new beginning. He let’s go of self and the world he thought secure to gain a new life. Dying to self is living with Christ (Galatians 2:20) –
   1. Paul realizes that he has already died – to self. His life is now a new life in Christ that is filled with a hopeful future.
   2. Paul is expressing a theme that becomes real when we know Jesus – that resurrection follows death, and before resurrection there must be a death.

Before there is a resurrection there is first a death ...

• The caterpillars, the gray husks, the cecropia moths. This is a theme God has woven into the fabric of the universe.
  

  Thursday’s Resurrection by Chris Benjamin Thursday, April 13, 2000 Ten days before Easter Sunday This morning I witnessed a miracle. I stepped out into the gray morning to see how my plants and bushes were doing and I noticed the faintest, quietest motion inside one of the bushes. Two large fiery colored Cecropia moths were stretching their wings. Their wings had a velvety cat’s eye pattern and their scarlet, feathery antennae were stroked back on their heads majestically. Their bodies were colored with beautiful, white and fire-red furry stripes. My first thought was not, "Where did these come from?"; rather it was "They’re here! They’re finally here!" I rushed back into the house to tell Karen and the boys that the caterpillars had hatched. Last spring, we were visited by two unusual guests. They didn’t ask if they could stay. They just showed up one day - two funny-looking little fat green caterpillars. The red and blue knobs gave them the appearance of having a face – a clown face. They showed up on our red-tip bushes and just began eating. I wasn’t very fond of those bushes and had thought about pulling them up, so I gave the caterpillars permission to eat all they wanted. They took me up on my offer and they swelled to four times their original size. They did contribute to the entertainment of my family. Wyatt, my son, thought they looked just like Heimlich the caterpillar in the movie A Bug’s Life – and I must admit they did! So almost everyday we came to see what they were doing, how they were growing, and just wondering if the bushes were still there and if any of their friends had moved in. Then came the day they made their cocoons. We really didn’t know what to suspect, but we noticed that they were getting less active. Then they started spinning their silk for the cocoon and pulled the leaves up around them. It was fascinating to watch them form the cocoon until they were finally encased in a brownish grayish shell that perfectly matched the color of the tree bark. From that time on, we began to wonder how long they would remain in the cocoon. As the months rolled on, we were certain it be through the winter. We slowly began to forget about the caterpillars. Every once in awhile when I was trimming a bush or mowing, I would look to see if perhaps the cocoon was split or if something was moving. No change. Never. We just got used to the two cocoons being in the bushes. Then yesterday, Wyatt brought home a reading book about Gus. Gus is a caterpillar and he becomes a butterfly. Of course this made us think about the Heimlich’s. Wyatt asked about them and Karen glanced at me. I told her in parental semaphore that they were likely "d-e-a-d." After all, those gray husks had gotten weathered and who knows how much pesticide they had been exposed to as I was killing chinch bugs, fire-ants, mosquitoes and every other pest. I would expect that if they were alive there would be some sort of sign, at least maintenance of good color. Karen said, "Let’s give them a while longer and then we can cut down the branches." I really didn’t care one way or another. After all, I had gotten used to the gray husks. This morning [April 13, 2000] was a symbol of God’s power to make life. The gray dead-looking husks that we had almost given up on were now the center of vibrant beautiful life. We had waited and grew impatient rather quickly. We just expect things so soon. The lovely creature stretching its wings was a reminder of God’s power and promises. Some may think it only coincidence or romanticism on our part to believe that the metamorphosis of a caterpillar has any sort of connection with the Resurrection. The cynic may say that the Resurrection of Christ is just a myth inspired by the scientific processes of nature. It seems more likely to me that God, the cosmic Artist, has inserted an important theme, a motif, into all of His creation.

• In Jesus we see that theme in a person ... and by knowing him we can display that theme in our life and church ...
• Some ministries end, only to begin new ones – that’s resurrection hope and power at work
  • LJCC – I had to leave so that a new ministry can begin there and so a new ministry can begin here. In Christ, endings are never just the end, they are the beginning.
  • Lions For Christ – they leave behind the youth group but this isn’t the end, it is just a new beginning
  • Tired, worn out servants can be filled with new life and power (Ezekiel 37)
• Marriage – broken, dead marriages can be revived. [So the classes we teach are an extension of this principle that God can bring life and hope where we only see death and hopelessness.] Don’t pronounce the time of death until you pray! But even then, there can still be a resurrection.
• Knowing Jesus we can experience resurrection in Personal Life – Career, finance, purpose ...
• But we have to submit to death (dying to self) so that there can be new life (baptism) – Romans 6. We need to let go of that which we are going to lose anyway (our mortal life) to receive the life that God gives as an eternal gift – now and forever

New Creation even Now – Eternal Life begins now! 2 Corinthians 5:17 - I Corinthians 15:57-58 (the connection between the resurrection and discipleship) – Jesus after his resurrection did not just float up to heaven like a ghost. In fact he had a hefty agenda and was quite busy for over a month ...

Invitation: Before there is a resurrection there is first a death.

Philippians 3:10 – I want to Know Christ and the power of his RISING share in his suffering and conform to his DEATH

Will your death be the final end, or will dying to self be a new beginning? Would you like to know the power of resurrection that can change the gray husk of suffering, pain, and loss into new creation even now (not just in that great getting up morning)? Then meet Jesus. Know him!

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Morning Sermon, 25 January 2004

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