Good News from the graveyard
Text: “But said the angel: “Don’t be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” Mark 16:6”
Scripture: Mark 16: 1-6
Introduction
The Book of Genesis presents the origin of man and the eternal plan that God has made for us. In God’s heart was the eternal bliss for his most beautiful creation. Man was created to live eternally, with all his needs met by the Creator. We were created in the likeness of God and possessed the ability of eternal youth in our body. We were born to live and enjoy life to its fullness, forever and ever. However, Adam and Eve disobeyed God; they succumbed to temptation and ate the forbidden fruit. The Covenant of eternal life was terminated, resulting in spiritual and physical death. The sentence was pronounced by God on Adam and all his descendants. “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3:19)
- Man’s appetite for life
The fact that we were born to live eternally in that earthly body makes it hard to accept death as part of our existence. The desire to live and prolong life becomes the obsession of our present world. In the midst of that pandemic, the Coronavirus, everyone is trying to protect himself from that deadly disease. The social media is bombarding people with cures of all kind. New medicines and natural products are promoting as ways of conquering or tamed that beast called death. The instinct for survival makes the fear and prevention of death a daily preoccupation in our present time. Man tries different ways to defend himself psychologically by not including death as part of his life. However, mankind cannot remove from his existence that curse brought to us by Adam and Eve. Solomon said it well: “No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no discharge in that war…” (Eccl. 8:8)
- A visit to the graveyard (Mark 16:1-3)
Visiting a graveyard is not a pleasant trip. It is always a place of mourning, pain, sorrow and deep emotion. Pressing by love, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James had a mission. Early, Sunday morning, they went to fulfill a duty that the law did not give them time to do, because the death of Jesus, their Lord, occurred at the preparation of Sabbath. The women came early that Easter morning to anoint the body of Jesus Christ. It was humanly speaking an impossible mission. The tomb was guarded by soldiers, and the opening was covered by a big stone. The last thing they were expected was to hear some good news. No one would expect good news from a graveyard. However, Jesus Christ kept his promise: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”(John 2:19) While the disciples were in a state of fear, the ladies went on a journey of a lifetime. They had the most beautiful experience of talking to angel, seeing the empty tomb and meeting their resurrected Savior.
- Good news from the graveyard (Mark 16: 4-6)
From Adam to that Saturday prior to the first Easter Sunday, the news from the graveyard was all bad. Death was the master and ruler of all; no one ever escaped from its grip. Jesus, the Son of God, won the battle over death. He came to put the stamp of immortality on humanity. By so doing, Christ declares:
- The grave was not the end of life. The angel said to them: “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.” (Mark 16:6) The good news of Easter destroys the terror of death.
- Believers in Jesus Christ can face death with confidence, because Christ gives us victory over that dreadful enemy. The ladies went and told the disciples who had been with Jesus the good news of the resurrected Savior from the grave.
- Believers can have joy in the midst of despair; Jesus had walked back into their lives. Christ was not a memory; He was a real and living presence. The good news from the graveyard is that Christ has conquered death and hell on our behalf.
Conclusion
The good news from the graveyard is the fact that Jesus took a tragedy and turned it into a triumph. The message of the resurrection from the graveyard gave boldness to the disciples to preach the Gospel. The good news should be shared by us with everyone, in order to give a desperate world a reason for living in a stressful time. The good news is that the grave is not the end and death has been defeated. Christ declares: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26. We can all sing in the midst of that pandemic: “Because Christ lives, we can face tomorrow.”