Pastor Jonah preached Mark 1:14-15. He said that the empty tomb means that we can come home and embrace new life in God’s kingdom. Lector: Erin Warmbier
Pastor Jonah preached Mark 1:14-15. He said that the empty tomb means that we can come home and embrace new life in God’s kingdom.
Lector: Erin Warmbier
Happy Easter! He is Risen! Thank you for making us part of your Easter tradition this year.
Easter is always a fun/exciting time. Lots of new faces, old faces come back, familiar faces beaming with the joy of this day. It’s a wonderful day.
I love meeting new people here for lots of reasons.
One of my favorites, though, is to see what they notice.
Helps me learn about our church, and how people experience us here.
One of the themes that comes up often with visitors is…the coffee. Funny.
“My, that’s great coffee! Never had church coffee like that.”
If you like coffee, this is a good church for you. Now, I’ll talk to other pastors. And coffee will come up. Why do you have a sign about coffee?
Why do you buy locally roasted coffee? Why do you talk about coffee so much?
You never get a second chance to make a first impression…amen?
First impressions communicate a lot, and often, it’s difficult to overcome a bad first impression.
Going to a new church is hard. Waking up with a bunch of kids and getting here is hard. Making a nice cup of coffee is easy and helps people feel more at home.
Never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Almost a decade ago, I was working at one of our sister churches in Louisville
The finances were a mess. We were all young and poor, the church was growing…it was bad
We hired an actual adult who knew what he was doing to help with finances.
On his first day, he sent an e-mail to the entire staff saying all of our budgets were just cut by 30%. Have a good week. YIKES.
He would later tell me he did it to let people know he was in charge and things were changing. That was a rough first impression, and it was hard to shake.
The first thing someone says, the first thing someone experiences with you…these have lasting effects.
The first words that come out of your mouth say something about who you are, what you’re up to, what you’re after…and you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
So…I want you to take a second now and think about what comes to mind when you think of Jesus.
Especially if you’re a visitor…what comes to mind? Take a moment…
I want you to consider if that first impression was from Jesus, or from someone talking about Jesus, or acting in the name of Jesus…what comes to mind when you think of Jesus?
Thanks be to God, all of us have the opportunity for a first impression with Jesus.
It’s preserved in the Scriptures for us! You can read it for yourself anytime you’d like
2 verses for us this morning. The first words of Jesus’ public ministry. The first impression he has for the world, which means the first impression he has for you and me. We’ll do one at a time:
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God
-Mark 1:14
Fascinating. Jesus’ cousin is arrested…and what does Jesus do?
He ANNOUNCES good news. That’s what gospel means.
Even though a family member is unjustly arrested, Jesus announces God’s good news
What does that say about Jesus? What kind of first impression might that give?
When you think of Jesus, do you think of someone proclaiming good news?
If you imagined God had an announcement for you…what would you guess it might be?
After all we’ve been through and endured…the things done to us and the things WE’VE DONE to others! What might you guess his first words to us would be?
What would his first impression be?
Hear the word of the Lord:
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.
-Mark 1:15
He has two announcements and two invitations. All of it is good news.
Ann. 1: the time is fulfilled. Now, what does this mean? It means the cake is done.
I know some of you have something good cooking for Easter.
Some of you just go to church so you can have Easter brunch, amen.
Planning, preparing, waiting.
Pacing the kitchen with mouth-watering expectation, and then DING! It’s ready.
That’s the announcement. The waiting is over. The stories are true.
The promises are completed. The time is fulfilled. The cake is ready.
Well..what’s the cake?
Ann. 2: the kingdom of God is at hand. What does this mean?
It means life with God is available again.
Life in fellowship with God and God’s people.
If you’ve been with us the last few weeks, it means what’s wrong with the world has been overcome and is being undone.
Alienated at the Fall, we are reconciled to God.
Oppressed by the invasion, we are set free.
Separated at the tower, we are made a family again.
And I want you to notice these are announcements.
These are not promises or potentials. Announcements. This is true.
This has happened. It’s an announcement!
When you think of Jesus, do you think of him coming with the good news that the promises are true? That the cake is ready? That what’s wrong with the world and with you has been and will be made right?
Two invitations follow this:
And Jesus would spend the rest of his life showing us what that means.
He would love and serve the most marginalized, voiceless, oppressed, and forgotten.
He’s showing you if he can love them, he can love you.
If he would serve them, he would serve you.
He would spend his ministry performing miracles to prove he is who he said
He did this to show you he’s trustworthy, and that this is God’s work.
He mixed the ingredients, preheated the oven…he did it all.
You can trust him. Come home. Believe.
He would spend his death to show you the earning game is over.
He would suffer in our place, be mocked in our place, be betrayed and abandoned…just like all of his have experienced at some point.
He would suffer with us and he would suffer for us.
Ultimately, he would die so that our sins might be forgiven and the only thing keeping us from the kingdom of God would be taken care of.
His death shows us that we don’t have to bring anything to God but ourselves.
And finally, he was raised from the dead to once and for all prove he is God.
He promised he would die, which he did.
He promised he would be raised, which he did.
So listen! If a man claiming to be God says, “you can have life. A life of freedom, forgiveness, fellowship, power, peace love joy faithfulness gentleness self-control…you can have it!” Perhaps we would be skeptical. Understandably.
But then when he performs miracles…who is this man? Maybe he’s telling the truth…
When he died…perhaps disappointment or sadness? It was too good to be true…
But the resurrection leaves no doubt. There is only an empty tomb! Because Jesus is the son of the living God, the Messiah, the chosen one, the anointed one, the ruler of heaven and earth.
And with all the cosmic power, with all he has done for us, all his holiness demands of us…what is his first impression?
Come home. Believe me. Come. Home.
I came across a story recently. A teenage boy was struggling with his father.
He didn’t like his dad’s rules, wanted to do what he wanted, tired of his dad.
So one day, without a word, he just left. His dad wrote to him, but the son never responded. Occasionally, he would write to his mother, but it was mostly silence.
As the years went by, the boy became a man, and his life grew harder, filled with pain and disappointment. Especially on holidays, he missed the warmth of the family fire, the laughter of his siblings, the embrace of his mother, and most of all the smile of his father.
But, as the years went by, he became more and more convinced his father hated him
How could his father ever forgive him for the years of silence??
How could he look him in the eye again after all he had done since leaving home.
One December, his mother wrote him a letter that simply said, “We love you, please come home for Christmas.”
The boy couldn’t bear the pain, the shame, or the fear. But he didn’t want to live this way anymore.
He wrote back and said he was taking a train home, but couldn’t bear to even ask his father for forgiveness.
So, he said if dad forgives me, have him tie a white handkerchief on the tall oak tree near the tracks. If he saw the handkerchief, he would get off and come home.
If there was no handkerchief, he would keep riding.
As he drew near the station, he told a friend he couldn’t bear to look out the window
“Please, tell me if you see a handkerchief on the tree,” he said.
“I don’t see one…” his friend whispered. “I see hundreds. Every limb of the tree has a handkerchief”
And there, at the stop, was his father, tears streaming down his face, and all he said was, “welcome home, son.”
The empty tomb of Jesus is your handkerchiefs in the tree. Come home. Believe.
Communion