The Temple of the Tomb
All In • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 13 viewsConclusion of Mark; Looking at the things we look for "in the tomb." We seek the Jesus who died, but will only find the Christ who lives.
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
The Temple of the Tomb
The Temple of the Tomb
Intro
Mark 16:
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
You ever have one those days? You know the days. Those days when absolutely nothing seems to go right. Its like the whole regular order of the world is all out of whack! Like we are out of sync with reality maybe.
You drive to work. You just barely miss hitting someone running out into the road. While you were recovering from that little scare you get shocked awake by the honks of the person behind you, waiting for you to notice the light turned green at least a second or two ago.
Then you get to work, ready for another long week. You turn off the car and get out, being sure to lock the door with the little switch on the arm rest. And then, as you turn to head inside, a panic strikes you. “Where are my keys?” You locked the keys in the car. You pat your pockets, and look through your purse, ladies, and sure enough, they aren’t there.
Just one of those days, right? You can feel that frustration boil up in your chest, and you put your hands to your mouth to scream, and what do you know?
There are your keys. In your hand. Right where you left them.
That’s a good way to turn a bad start into a good day!
That happens all the time, doesn’t it? We think we lose something, and then we turn the house upside down, we dig holes, we do everything except set fire to our homes to find that thing we lost, only to realize they were right where we last remembered leaving them. Or for glasses, right on top of our heads.
There can be frustration when things aren’t where we put them, right? We want things to be orderly, just like we left them. At the very least, we want to control our surrounding, even our faith, so that we know what is what, and where everything is.
[picture of women at tomb]
It is no different for the women in our text today. You see, when they last saw Jesus, the one in whom they had placed their complete trust, their entire confidence, every portion of their souls and lives - when they last saw Him, they were taking His lifeless body from the cross to this tomb.
This was to be His final resting place. The marker of all that He was on this earth.
That isn’t different from us, really. We still commemorate the lives of those we love with markers of their final resting places. For those very important figures in history, we may even erect a monument, or perhaps a plague. And those markers, or memorials, they become sacred don’t they?
If you have ever been to Washington DC you know this is true. The reverence at the Vietnam memorial wall, or Lincoln’s monument, or the overwhelming solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery can be tangible.
[picture of tomb of the unknown soldier]
I remember going to Washington while I was in the military. We went to visit all those places, but the one I remember the most vividly is Arlington. As far as the eye could see, church, stood these perfectly white symbols of those who died for our freedom, for our lives. There they stand almost as if they are still in formation, still standing watch over this land we love so dearly.
As I stood there, in the midst of the overwhelming cost of my life, I was overcome by a feeling of gratitude, and awe, and reverence. It was a deep emotion, unlike any I had really felt before. It was primal. It hurt. It inspired.
It was sacred.
You see, there in that place, I found peace in pain. I found reverence in the blades of green grass set against the pure white stones that dotted the hillsides. It became to me, in that moment, a temple of sorts.
[picture of temples?]
You see, temples aren’t just temples. If you have been following Jesus’ path in this text since January, you can say with certainty that wherever Jesus found Himself, a temple was maid! The people following became the first church of the lake, or of Olivet; wherever they found Jesus, there church was held and a makeshift temple was made!
This culminates for us in the bread and the cup that we have taken this very day. Even here in this wonderful house of worship, how much more reverent and meaningful is this one event that Christ Himself set aside for us all!
We make a temple out of it. We make it into a worshipful moment, a commemoration of the one who died for our freedom.
[blank]
That was this tomb for these women. That is the feeling they must have had when they approached this sacred spot; the final resting place of the Messiah.
[picture of church of the sepulcher]
Even today, people come there, to what they think was the tomb. A church was even build on one of those sites, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And people go there, every single day, in the hopes of experiencing Jesus in some tangible way. They even strain themselves for just a moment, just the small chance of even touching what MIGHT be some stone that COULD have touched the flesh of Christ.
They have come to the tomb in the hopes of finding something Holy.
And make no mistake, that is where these women are too. Here you have [short write up about the women…make sure to end with “a mother torn with grief, who has come to care for her child one final time, hoping beyond hope, I am sure, that her faith is proved right in some moment of miraculous power!
That is why they have come.
Why have we come, though? Why do we come to this place, or other temple’s in our lives? What do we give weight to in our lives that becomes holy; a temple of sorts. Some of those might be good, other’s maybe not. But whether good or bad, right or wrong, why do we go to those temples?
I think we go to places like this, and to whatever temples we might have in our lives to feel something, something we are missing. Some piece of us that is gone, or we might never have if we just didn’t go there to see it.
And to be honest, that is why these women go there. These women, all connected by either family, in the case of Mary and Salome (Mary mother of James the lesser and Salome the mother of Zebedee aka sons of thunder), or devotion to Christ, in the case of Mary Magdalene. They had a dog in this fight. They were invested.
Understand, anything we hold as reverent or holy or special can be for us a temple of sorts. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Why do we go to those temples in our lives?
They were grieving that life would never be the same.
[pic of temple]
That’s why we go to ours too, if we are being honest. We lack something, or at least we think we lack something, so we ascribe some extra reverence, some extra weight, to some things that don’t really need it!
Is God more present in that rock at the Church of the Sepulcher, whether it is real or not? Is God only in the National cemetery and not every other? Of course not. But we, like these women, give this weight to these places because we are desperate to find Jesus, to find God, any way we can.
But the truth of the matter is this - these temples will always fall short. Our temples are just markers for the real temple that Christ tried to prepare for us all; the temple of faith.
[move toward the reality of our temples…they fall short…our temples are just markers for the real temple of faith. When we go to those temples if we could just open the door, if we could pull back the curtain to see what lies behind those things that we give so much reverence and power to, we would find them empty! Just like this temple for these women, and to be sure, for every single one of us today, there is nothing there! It is barren!
You see, that is the real temple of this life. Not those other things we make into temples. I mean, at the end of the day, when we go to those temples that we make up in our hearts, and even some in the physical world, if we could just open the doors to them, if we could pull back the curtain of this reality to see what lies behind those things that we give so much reverence and power to, we would find them empty! And church, that is just what these women find in that tomb! There is nothing there! It is barren!
The temple that is this tomb, and whatever tombs we have in our lives, is empty.
[transition pic]
You know what one of the most striking ideas of this scripture is for me? These women, going to this tomb to annoint Christ’s remains, were in such a daze about what they were going to do, and what they were looking for, that it wasn’t until they were almost there, well on their way, that they remembered that there was a stone there. There was going to be an obstacle that got in the way of finding what they were looking for.
Now take that little message to heart, church. Sometimes when you think you are on the way to being what God wants you to be and doing what God wants you to do there will be an obstacle that you think stands in your way, but that really serves to guide you to His truth.
Listen, they can’t move that stone. They can’t. They are going to do what they feel God needs them to do, but have no way of actually doing it! And that little moment, church, reminds us that sometimes we can’t move that stone that sits outside of our temples, whether they are good temples or not.
[talk about what we do when our temples are empty....talk about women going there to that temple with no way to open the door! They can’t move the stone…Don’t be alarmed if you don’t get what you are looking for! (stone moved!) God has more in store for us than just what we think we need or are looking for! Whatever we hold as most holy and most sacred in our lives, whatever that might look like for you, when you truly go to the tomb to find Jesus, don’t be surprised to find it empty! Don’t be shocked that Jesus isn’t there in the temples we create and the tombs of our lives! You see, Jesus needed those women, and EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT FOLLOWS THEM TO THE TOMB, TO FIND THAT EMPTINESS AND IN THAT MOMENT, TO IN TURN, EMPTY THEIR HEARTS! WE HAVE TO EMPTY THOSE THINGS FROM OUR LIVES! YOU SEE, WHEN WE COME TO THAT TOMB, AND THE TOMBS WE CREATE IN OUR LIVES, WE WILL NOT FIND LIFE! THERE IS JUST BLACKNESS AND DEATH! AND WHEN WE MAKE THOSE TOMBS INTO TEMPLES, WE BEGIN TO WORSHIP, OR GIVE HONOR AND PREFERENCE TO THOSE THINGS INSTEAD OF CHRIST! AND WHAT IS WORSE, IF WE AREN’T CAREFUL WE WILL BEGIN TO SEE THOSE THINGS, THOSE THINGS WE CONSIDER TO BE WORTHY OF BECOMING A TEMPLE IN OUR LIVES, THEY WILL BECOME A TOMB FOR OUR FAITH! THEY BECOME THAT TOMB, BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ANYTHING LEFT THERE WORTH FINDING!
So don’t be alarmed if you can’t move it. Don’t be concerned if you don’t get what you are looking for! He might not move that stone, or that stone might be gone! The more important point for us on this day is that God has more in store for us than just what we think we need or are looking for! Whatever we hold as most holy and most sacred in our lives, whatever that might look like for you, when you truly go to the tomb to find Jesus, don’t be surprised to find it empty! Don’t be shocked that Jesus isn’t there in the temples we create and the tombs of our lives! You see, Jesus needed those women, and EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT FOLLOWS THEM TO THE TOMB, TO FIND IN THAT TOMB EMPTINESS AND IN THAT MOMENT, TO IN TURN, EMPTY THEIR HEARTS AND EXPECTATIONS! WE HAVE TO EMPTY THOSE THINGS FROM OUR LIVES! YOU SEE, WHEN WE COME TO THAT TOMB, AND THE TOMBS WE CREATE IN OUR LIVES, JUST LIKE THESE WOMEN, WE WILL NOT FIND LIFE! THERE IS JUST BLACKNESS AND DEATH AND EMPTINESS THERE! AND WHEN WE MAKE THOSE TOMBS INTO TEMPLES, WE BEGIN TO WORSHIP, OR GIVE HONOR AND REVERENCE TO THOSE THINGS INSTEAD OF CHRIST! AND WHAT IS WORSE, IF WE AREN’T CAREFUL WE WILL BEGIN TO SEE THOSE THINGS, THOSE THINGS WE CONSIDER TO BE WORTHY OF BECOMING A TEMPLE IN OUR LIVES, THEY WILL BECOME A TOMB FOR OUR FAITH! THEY BECOME THAT TOMB, BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ANYTHING LEFT THERE WORTH FINDING!
AND THAT IS WHAT THESE WOMEN FOUND OUT! THEY CAME THERE TO FIND A DEAD MESSIAH AND INSTEAD FOUND AN EMPTY TOMB!
BUT CHURCH, THAT ISN’T ALL THEY FIND! NO THEY, JUST LIKE US, FOUND THAT IN THOSE MOMENTS, WE FIND A MESSENGER! WE SEE A CIRCUMSTANCE, OR MAYBE A FRIEND, OR A MOMENT, OR PIECE OF SCRIPTURE, AND THERE IN THE PRESENCE OF THAT ANGEL WE HEAR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS OF TRUTH WE WILL EVER HEAR IN OUR LIVES!
HE IS RISEN! [MAYBE A PIC HERE]
And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Mark 16:
[[[[[things to talk about....Women went there to do a job with no way to move stone!!! they were trusting that somehow the impossible would happen!…What do we seek in that tomb? Don’t be alarmed if you don’t get what you are looking for! (stone moved!) God has more in store for us than just what we think we need or are looking for! He is risen section....close with them being scared???? Fleeing from the tomb like we flee from God’s presence, forget all that He told us to do, being so scared that we don’t say anything to anyone....This day reminds us that we have the privilege to tell the world Christ is Risen! More importantly…because of Easter we say “I’m with Him” or “I know Him!”....tie in with Peter’s 3 fold rejection of Christ. “I know that man!” “He’s my friend, Savior, and Lord”. “He saved me”.....Limit time because of communion. Keep it lighter and easy/simple.]]]]]
HE IS RISEN! HE ISN’T HERE!
HE IS RISEN!
THAT TOMB IS EMPTY! IT HAS BEEN ROBBED OF ITS POWER! THERE IS NOTHING THERE WORTH SEEING! IN SPITE OF ALL THAT WE KNOW, AND THEY KNEW, TO BE TRUE, CHRIST WASN’T THERE! NO BODY, NO DECAY, NO DEATH, ONLY A MESSENGER TO POINT US TOWARD THE RISEN SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!
In spite of all the odds, and all that logic tells us, He isn’t there. He rises, and conquers all the power of this world.
In spite of all the lashes, still He rises. The crown of thorns may have mocked Him and blurred His vision with blood, but still He rises! Step by step His beaten and battered body gives way to death, but still He rises! He hangs on that tree, surrounded by people who mock Him, and gives us forgiveness as He breaths His last breath, but still He rises!
In spite of the sin, in spite of the hurt, in spite of the impossibility of it all - still He rises! Through all the sins we have ever committed and all that we will ever commit, through the death that humans bring into this world, through all the pain, through all the lostness and the broken lives, still He rises!
HE RISES, NOT TO PROVE THAT HE IS GOD, NO HE RISES TO PROVE TO YOU THAT FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT LIFE BEYOND DEATH IS REAL! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT NO MATTER WHAT YOU CAN BRING TO THAT TOMB, IT WILL ALWAYS BE EMPTY! TO PROVE TO YOU THAT LOVE CAN BRING LIFE, EVEN LIFE AFTER DEATH! AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, CHURCH, TO PROVE TO YOU, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON EVER CREATED, THAT YOU ARE WORTH IT!
YOU ARE WORTH HIS LOVE, AND WORTH HIS SACRIFICE! YOU WERE WORTH EVERY SINGLE MOMENT!
Why else would He give His life for you?
[newpic]
What a day! What a gift! What a privilege to be so loved. He is risen! He is risen for you!
At the same time, this moment is one that comes with a call to action. You see, Christ is risen for us, and IN us today. There is no more denying we are with Him church. If you look back in , verses 66-72, you will find Peter denying Christ three times. And you know, I say this all the time, that we are to see ourselves in the Bible, and especially in Peter! But that is us. We deny the risen Christ in our lives. We deny the miraculous nature, not wanting to seem foolish, we deny Christ’s power, not wanting to be wrong when things don’t go our way! We all do it!
But today reminds us that He is risen, so there is no more need to deny His power or His love! You see, because of this day, because of Easter, we no longer have to say “I don’t know the man!” like Peter. No! Today we can say “I’m with Him!” “I know Him!” That is the man who died for me! And what is more, that is the man who conquered death for me! I know Him! He is my friend, my Savior, and my Lord!
He saved me.
He saved me from the temples I make in my life. He saved me from the tomb.
He is risen!
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:
And if He is risen, then we too have risen. We have died to our old selves and walk now in “newness of life!” You, me, everyone, has been given another chance! We have a new life waiting for us here on earth and eternally with God.
Nothing can take that away. When He arose, Jesus sealed the destiny of all those who would claim Him, and join with Him in this life - a covenant made with His blood and guaranteed by the empty tomb. Nothing will ever strip that from us.
Not troubles, or hardships, or hunger, or homelessness. Not wars or misunderstandings. Nothing! Nothing in all of creation, physical or spiritual, can ever separate us from the love of God shown in and through Christ Jesus our Lord.
The temple of the Tomb is empty, because Jesus is alive. He is risen in our hearts, in our lives, and in our world! And with Him, we can now walk in newness of life, even life eternal.
Invitation.
When we come to those tombs in our lives, and we really look inside we will find them empty!!! There is no death in the tomb! There is no death in our tombs, or our lives! Those tombs are empty! He is risen, just as HE said!