Date:   04/24/2011

Text:   Matthew 28:1-10

Title:   An Unexpected Encounter

Theme: Having met the risen Jesus, one's only options are to worship and tell others about Him.

Introduction:

  On March 11, Japan was hit with a 9.0 earthquake, immediately followed by a Tsunami. 14K bodies have been found with another 14K still missing. And now, Japan is in a crisis with her nuclear reactors. A year ago today, no one would have expected the highly disciplined and high tech society to experience the most tragic events since WW2. Today, there are still close to 80K people living away from their homes. It will cost the government at least $50 billion to rebuild the ruined cities. My Japanese friend jokingly wrote, “let's just all immigrate to Arizona or Montana.” Most of us like to have predictable lives, according to plan and some control. We experienced disappointments and frustrations when our health is out of control, or our flights are delayed or cancelled. We are frustrated when our grades are not what we expected. No one likes unexpected events in life.

  You may have come here this morning with some expectations. You expected the service to be not too long, for you need to be at a restaurant by 12p. You may expect to hear an inspiring message that will help you to get out of your present rut. Or you have come because this is the right thing to do, or it is nice to accompany your spouse or family members. Or, simply out of curiosity you are here. No matter what those expectations are, isn't it true that in life, it is in moments when we are least expectant that we'll encounter something unexpected? It is in those ordinary moments that we'll encounter the extra-ordinary.

  The passage we read earlier is about Jesus' resurrection. Before we unpack this passage, let's notice that none of the gospel writers made an effort to describe how Jesus rose from the dead. In a sense, we know more about how Lazarus was raised from the dead. The four gospel writers seemed to be more interested in recording how the resurrection was discovered.

  Let's take a look at the two groups of people gathered at the tomb Jesus was buried. First, there were the two Mary's. They saw how Jesus was crucified two days earlier. Now, the Sabbath was over, before daylight, they came to Jesus' tomb. Matthew did not tell us why they came. Mark told us that they have come to anoint Jesus. After Jesus was pronounced dead on Friday, there were only few hours before the Sabbath. So the disciples had to hurriedly buried him. Now that the Sabbath was over, the women came with spices to treat Jesus' body for a proper burial. So what was their expectation? Even though they had repeatedly heard about Jesus' resurrection, they came with full expectation that Jesus' body would be there. It's like when I go to visit my parents' burial place, I fully expect their ashes to be there.

  The second group of people were the soldiers. They were there since Friday evening. The religious leaders wanted to make sure no one would come and steal Jesus' body after he was buried. So they placed a large rock to seal the entrance to the tomb and had the soldiers guard it.

  What we see on this particular morning, was a perfect continuation of what happened two days earlier. Jesus was crucified and was buried in a hurry. Now, the two Mary's came to give him a proper burial, and the soldiers continued their duty to keep people away. It was a continuation of Friday's event. Everything was business as usual. Vs.1 was a picture of tranquility and normality.

  Now, beginning with vs.2, is a series of surprises. “ And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. ”

The first surprise was the earthquake. No one likes earthquakes. Last week, when my Japanese friend in Tokyo was just about to step into the elevator, he felt the building moving and a young man shouted: earthquake. Without a second thought, he got out, ran to the lobby and onto the street. If you have been in an earthquake, you won't forget the fear at that moment.

Besides the earthquake, the 2 nd surprise was the appearance of an angel. The angel also rolled the stone away and sat on it. Matthew wanted to make sure we didn't miss him and gave us just enough information to show it was not just another human being.

  The two Mary's came and expected to see Jesus' body in the tomb. The soldiers wanted to make sure no one would come to steal the body. What a surprise. None of the above happened and instead, it was an earthquake and an angel. What was their reaction? From the context, we knew the women were afraid. But Matthew seemed to focus more on the soldiers. They were afraid, trembled and became like dead men. Doesn't make much sense, right? When a woman is scared to death, it is understandable. But soldiers? They were not supposed to be scared. They were supposed to be brave and courageous, nothing can scare them. Yet here we are told they were scared like dead men; how ironic. The seemingly peaceful morning of vs.1 was utterly shattered by the unexpected turn of events.

  Now, there is another surprise. The angel talked to the women, but not the soldiers. There are two parts in the Angel's message to the women. The first part, 5-7,“ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ” There were the words of comfort: don't be afraid. You have come to look for the dead Jesus, his body, but he is not here. He was raised from the dead. Take a look at the tomb, it was empty. The angel rolled the stone away not for Jesus to come out, but for the women to go in and check it out. The angel also made it very clear that Jesus did not just get up and walk away. Instead, he was raised from the dead. You see, Matthew recorded these words to show that when Jesus was crucified on the cross, he was DEAD. A dead person cannot get up and walk away. If we say that Jesus as a man died, but as God, he rose from the dead, this would make his humanity less human and his death less real. A real person, when dead, just cannot get up. He had to be raised by someone. Who is this person? The readers then and now have to conclude that it was God who raised Jesus from the dead.

  The second part of the message was, “ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you .” Go tell the disciples that God has raised Jesus from the dead and he will meet them in Galilee. A very simple message: Go and tell the disciples.

  And their response? They quickly went and told the disciples. They were filled with fear and joy. Who would not be afraid after seeing an angel? They not only unexpectedly met the angel, but also unexpectedly discovered that the Jesus who died two days earlier is now alive. By now, they probably recalled all his teachings about his death and resurrection. Now, they knew for sure that this Jesus was indeed the son of God. They had come to close an era. An era in which Jesus lived and died. He was a good man, a good teacher. All that was left was a memory of his teachings and deeds of mercy. With his death, there was no more. But this unexpected encounter was actually the beginning of another era. An era which Jesus was truly recognized as the risen savior, the son of God, God himself. This brought joy to them. Furthermore, their surprise was not over yet.

  Vs.8-10, “ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "“Greetings!” "And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "“Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” The vs.11ff say that as the women went to tell the disciples, the soldiers also left and went to the religious leaders who had sent them in the first place. They told them all that had happened. But the leaders gave them money and told them to tell others that the disciples had come and took Jesus' body away. The chief priests were very consistent with their story as found in chapter 27. So, here we see, that the soldiers and the religious leaders continued to perpetuate a lie, while the women recognized the beginning of a new era.

Another surprise awaited the women. On the way to the disciples, Jesus appeared to them. He greeted them. It was more than just: hi, how are you? It was a saying to grant them comfort and peace. Meeting Jesus, what did they do? They held on to his feet and worshipped him. Once a person met Jesus, the only option was to worship him. To worship means to recognize that Jesus has full control of one's life, which is a total surrender. Facing this risen Jesus, worship is the only option.

  Moreover, Jesus spoke to them. Can you imagine, after listening to the angel, now listening to the risen Jesus speaking to them. Talk about surprises and an unexpected turn of events. Jesus said, “ "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Again, these were words of comfort: don't be afraid. We notice that it is no longer “my disciples” but “my brothers”. They were the ones that deserted him during his arrest. As he was hung on the cross, only John was there. They had all left him and one of them, Peter, even denied him 3 times. We definitely would not call them brothers, nor even disciples. We'd have some more colorful words reserved for them, right? But now, they were his brothers. This is a hint that they were forgiven. When Jesus was on the cross, he uttered these words; father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Yes, these words were directed to the soldiers and authorities that put him on the cross. But it is also reasonable to include the disciples that had deserted him. Yes, they too, were forgiven.

  The angel told the women to go and tell the disciples that Jesus had risen and will meet them in Galilee. Jesus told the Mary's to go and tell his brothers that he will meet them in Galilee. So, Matthew in describing this Easter morning; was hinting this is not the end, but the beginning of something coming up. However, for the two women, this was the Easter morning's story. They did not know what would happen when Jesus met the disciples. They had come to the tomb with their expectations. By the time they left the tomb, they had seen the angel, heard his words: go and tell. And as they obeyed the angel, they met the risen Jesus. Besides worshipping him, they were told to go and tell the disciples. This was certainly an unexpected encounter.

  So, what does this Easter story have to do with us? First, like the women who came to the tomb on the first Easter morning, we may not be expecting anything special. Today is just a continuation of yesterday, just another day. And after this morning, we'll continue what we left off yesterday.

  But do we know that by being here this morning, we are presented for the first time, or the second and third time, Jesus' resurrection? Or to be more exact, we hear the statement that God had raised Jesus from the dead. The women saw the angel, heard the statement and then believed. The soldiers saw and heard the same, yet they continued to live a lie because someone told them this could not have happened.

To some of us, we may have heard this statement more than once. We also know more than the women did. From the scriptures, we read about how Jesus appeared to the disciples and later to 500 people. They were eye witnesses of the risen Jesus. We also read how the lives of these witnesses were changed. Like the women, they had gone and told others about Jesus. Throughout the last 2K years, countless individuals' lives have been changed because of their encounter with this Jesus. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he certainly has the power to change us.

Lee Strobel was a journalist with the Chicago Tribune. At home, he was known for his profanity, angry, verbally harsh and often just his absence. Then he became a Christian and opened himself to Christ's resurrection power. A few months after he became a Christian, he wrote that his 5 year old daughter went up to his wife and said, “Mommy, I want God to do for me what he's done for Daddy.” I am certain that you also know someone whose lives were changed after their encounter with Jesus.

Seeing this, how should we respond? Some of us may say; being a true 21 st century person, especially studying science or having lived under the influence of materialism for so many years, resurrection just cannot happen. We refuse to face the facts and like the soldiers and the religious leaders, choose to deny this has ever happened.

  Then there are those of us who have met Jesus. Like the women of the first century, having met Jesus, the only option is to worship him. Worship is not just coming to church on Sunday mornings. Worship is about recognizing Jesus as God who has full control over my life. When I worship him, I am also opening myself to him and letting him continue to take me to places and encounters that I would never have expected.

However, there is more. Earlier I mentioned that on that first Easter morning, the two Mary's did not know what would occur, they only knew that they were told by the angel and later by Jesus about the meeting the disciples would have with him. They had no clue what it was about. All they knew was an important meeting.

However, for those of us who read the latter half of Matthew 28, we knew what happened. Again, Matthew did not tell us when did this happen. Is it right after the resurrection or 50 days later, just before Jesus returned to heaven? It appears that the when is not as important as what the gathering was about. In that gathering, Jesus spoke to the disciples: 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," 20 "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”" The angel told the women to go and tell the disciple that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Jesus told them to go and tell the disciples about a meeting. Now Jesus told the disciples, now that you have seen me, Go, and tell others all that I have taught you. You see, once you meet Jesus, you cannot keep it to yourself; you have to go and tell others.

As you leave here today, as you Go home, as you Go to school, Go to work tomorrow, tell others about Jesus.

Over 30 years ago, a group of Chinese students from HK and Taiwan came to Houston to study. Among them were some Christians. As more students came to know Christ through the bible study group, Houston Chinese Church was started, with a meeting at S. Main Baptist church. A few years later, in the late 70's, a church was started in Clear Lake. As more people came to faith in this risen Jesus, in 1992, a group of about 120, went out and started the WHCC. In 1997, a much larger number of church members went to Fort Bend and started FBCC. Beginning next Sunday, another group from this church will venture out and start worshipping in Pearland. We start the Pearland service not because we have plenty of resources, but simply because we have met this risen Lord and He simply tells us: go and tell. Anyone who has an encounter with this risen Jesus, cannot help but go and tell.