Rev. David Holwick Easter Sunrise
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 12, 2009
Mark 16:1-8
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I. Fear of good news.
A. Some people are never happy.
1) When the surge in Iraq worked, anti-war activists did not
rejoice that violence had diminished.
2) When Barak Obama was elected President, many black activists
still grumbled that America was racist.
3) When the economy shows signs of climbing out of the pit,
prophets of doom still have nothing good to say.
B. Good news can expose the fallacies that frame our lives.
1) We only want news that confirms our preconceived ideas.
2) Even extraordinary news - like encountering God in his
glory - can be impossible for us to accept.
II. Episodes of hiding.
A. God meets Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
1) Apparently it was soon after they ate the forbidden fruit.
2) When they discovered God was in the neighborhood, they
hid themselves.
B. Peter thought he was a great fisherman. Luke 5:8
1) But this particular day he had caught nothing.
a) For an amateur this might be a typical day.
b) For a professional like Peter, it was an embarrassment.
2) Jesus told Peter to throw his net on the other side.
a) Peter humored him, and did it.
b) So many fish were caught, the nets began to break.
3) Peter's response? "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful
man!"
C. Easter may be the best example. Mark 16:8
1) Women realized Jesus had been raised from the dead.
2) They ran in terror.
III. The great news of encountering God's glory can terrify us.
A. Our spirituality goes right out the window.
1) We usually have God right where we want him.
2) And then we meet him, and find we are clueless.
3) Time to run!
B. Perhaps we are right to be afraid.
1) God's light exposes something in us that we do not like
to look at.
a) Paint a room in normal light. You'll be proud of it.
b) Then bring in a high-intensity light.
1> All the mistakes will be exposed.
2> That's why dim restaurants are the most romantic.
2) On most days, we probably wouldn't want to meet the
resurrected, glorious Jesus.
a) He knows too much about us.
b) People complain that God isn't as obvious as he was in
Bible times, but we should really be glad.
IV. Light that exposes can also heal.
A. Paul was excited by Christ's light. He says in 2 Cor 3:18 -
"With unveiled faces we all reflect the Lord's glory, and are
being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory...."
1) Catherine's story.
Catherine of Genoa lived 500 years ago.
Like most young girls then, her marriage was arranged by
her parents.
She was only 16 and the young nobleman wasn't a good match.
He wasn't spiritual, and he was lousy with money.
Soon they were bankrupt.
To take her mind off her unhappy circumstances, Catherine
drifted into church.
She wasn't very religious, but she was so desperate she
cried out to God for relief.
Her sister, a nun, urged her to go to confession at her
convent.
Catherine agreed, although she didn't really want to go.
So, on one March day in 1473, a miserable, 26-year-old
Catherine knelt in the confessional.
Then something remarkable happened: a ray of light burst
in from who knows where.
A medieval biographer described what happened.
Touched by the ray, she saw and felt a certain flame of love
proceeding from the divine source.
She was left speechless and numb.
In that pure and simple love, as God showed it to her, she
was transfixed.
But that ray of light also revealed something ugly in her.
She became so aware of her sins that she wanted to run
through the town and confess her sins publicly.
Her prayer to God became, "O Lord! No more world, no more
sin!"
2) Not only the Cross, but also the Resurrection comes with
two beams.
B. Are you ready for the light?
1) The air this morning is still, quiet and cool.
2) Let Jesus give light to your soul.
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Adapted from the article "Christ Is Risen — Run Away!" by Mark Galli,
www.christianitytoday.com, April 9, 2009.
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