In the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, dear
friends:
Maybe you have had enough by now. Maybe this theme is getting a little
old. For six consecutive weeks you have
been hearing sermons based on the theme “We See Jesus.” We see Jesus in the Old Testament. We see Jesus in the Upper Room. We see Jesus on the cross.
Perhaps you are hoping for something different this
morning. Perhaps you are looking for
something original. If you don’t want to
see Jesus in the theme for this message, I have some good news for you.
The Easter story is told through the eyes of people, people
with different backgrounds, people with different
agendas. But as different as these people were, they had at least one thing in
common.
They didn’t share the exact same feelings. They didn’t use the exact same words. But they did share a common response, and
this response is the basis for our hope on this Easter morning…
WE DON’T SEE JESUS
“We don’t see Jesus.” That’s what the women said to each other as
they approached the tomb early that morning.
They expected to see a large stone blocking the entrance. They expected to see armed guards stationed
outside. But nothing could have prepared
them for what they didn’t see.
“We don’t see Jesus.”
That’s what the angels said to the women. But they didn’t stop there. They were quick to explain: “He is
not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:6). And then they sent the women to share
this unbelievable news with the disciples.
“We don’t see Jesus.”
That’s what Peter and John were muttering to themselves as they left the
grave that morning. They had heard the resurrection
reports, but they wanted to check things out for themselves. And as soon as the disciples looked into the
tomb, they realized that the women were right.
The strips of linen were there.
The burial cloth was there. But
the body was missing.
“We don’t see Jesus.”
That’s what the soldiers reported with a look of panic on their
faces. They thought they had signed up
for light duty the night before. How
hard could it be to watch a dead body?
How hard would it be to convince their superiors that this dead body had
disappeared?
“We don’t see Jesus.”
That’s what Mary Magdalene sobbed to the man she thought was the gardener. She was still looking for Jesus. She was still searching for answers. At the very least, she wanted to give her
Lord a proper burial. But with a single
word, “Mary,” everything changed.
“We don’t see Jesus.”
That’s what we say as we look into the empty tomb today. We don’t see Jesus. And isn’t that wonderful? We don’t see Jesus. Those words are music to
our ears because we know the rest of the story.
We know that Jesus has risen from the dead, and we know what the
resurrection means.
Jesus rose from the dead to prove that he is the Son of
God. Jesus rose from the dead to declare
his final victory over sin, death and the devil. Jesus rose from the dead to give every one of
us hope for life beyond the grave.
We don’t see Jesus with our eyes, but that doesn’t mean he
is absent from our lives. He is with us
always. He will never leave us or
forsake us. He is an ever present help
in trouble. He is our Redeemer, our
Defender, our Brother, our Friend.
We don’t see Jesus right now, but we will. We will see him on the Last Day. We will see him descending with the
clouds. We will see him with our own
eyes. We will see him face to face. We will see him in glory. We will see him in heaven.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.
Alleluia. Amen.