Easter Message 2015: The Emptiness That Does Not Disappoint

Something empty often brings a sense of disappointment.

• Bite off the head of the chocolate bunny and find it’s hollow, not solid. Bummer.
• Play Monopoly at the Jewel Food Stores and get a game code to check online. Log in. Enter your password. Carefully enter the code number. Sorry this is not a winning code. Bummer.
• Get a package in the mail with no return address of note. Get excited! Open it up. Nothing but a fake key and a piece of paper telling you that some company will give you top dollar for your car. You like your car. You’re not going to sell your car.
• Publisher’s Clearinghouse. You could be a winner! Or not.
• Go to the garden center and buy a flat of impatiens only to find out that 1 out of every 4 pods is just dirt. Bummer!

The empty tomb that Easter morning didn’t bring a sense of disappointment. It was far too confusing and alarming to be disappointing. That sense of alarm and confusion would persist as each disciple dealt with his or her feelings about what was going on.

If you were to read the parallel account to our Scripture reading this morning, the one found in John 20:1-18, you’d find Mary Magdalene, Peter and John. They’d all have different reactions to the empty tomb.

John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes,11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Reactions?

• Mary Magdalene wept and told “the gardener” that she’ll go and carry Jesus’ body back herself and put it back in the empty tomb if he’d only tell her where he’d put Jesus. But Jesus shows her that He’s very much alive. No need to put Him back in the place of the dead.
• Peter looks in, goes in, and concludes the tomb was empty. No body. Grave clothes folded up. No need to investigate further. He didn’t understand.
• John, the beloved disciple, looks in. Then after Peter goes in, John enters in and believes that it’s empty. He still didn’t understand what Jesus had been talking about. Rise from the dead? What’s that?
• The guards knew that it was empty and they were afraid for their lives.
• The Jewish leaders heard that it was empty…and they were angry…

…which brings us to our preaching passage this morning from Acts 7:54-56 which for those of us who make Plymouth our home church, we know that we’ve been slogging our way through the Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles for quite a while. Some of you may be thinking,

Aren’t you going to give it a rest, even on Easter? Come’on!

To those of you wondering that, I would assert No, I’m not going to give it a rest because it tells the rest of the Easter story. I’m kind of like Paul Harvey today. Telling you the rest of the story.

Because the Easter story doesn’t end with simple emptiness and a total mystery.

When we last left off with Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, he was defending himself against false accusations by religious leaders who hated Jesus and hate those who follow Jesus. One of those hated people who took Jesus at His Word was Stephen and Stephen’s outcome parallels in human ways that of Jesus who was the Son of God in addition to the Son of Man.

For those of you who know that the Easter story began with Jesus’ birth, His 3 year ministry, continued with the persecution and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, He was buried in a tomb which was sealed with a great big stone, and then suddenly he’s vanished. (Just as He said, if only they’d understood back then).

According to KosherTorah.com the writer Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok describes the power of the spoken word,

Do not underestimate your own power of speech. I do not have to challenge you to remember the last time you said something to someone that either elevated him or her or put them down. Indeed, our speech creates many things. It can create joy or it can create anger. What we say can start a war or avoid one. Speech and words, whether in spoken or written form are the most powerful weapons in the world. Indeed, even the magical word “Abracadabra” reveals this lesson. Unknown to most the word “Abracadabra” is actually a Hebrew phrase, which means “I create (A’bra) what (ca) I speak (dab’ra).” In light of all this mysticism, we understand now very well why the words we speak have tremendous power. Therefore, when we say that we will do something, our words are creating that reality. When, we therefore, do not keep our word; we are in essence destroying a part of creation. This is a horrible spiritual crime.

Reasons enough to be careful with our speech. But when you think of the power of the spoken word as a created reality and moreover, the spoken Word of God as a CREATING reality, there is the power of God that was well beyond anything magical or mystical. Jesus said He’d rise and He did. Of course, Jesus said a lot of other great things too, and we’d be wise to listen to and follow them all! Stephen did.

So when Stephen crowns his defense with the truth from Scripture: Acts 7:52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him– 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.” 54 When [the religious leaders- they] heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

That is, Stephen died.

He was stoned to death… the first martyr of the Church and a powerful apologist for the Christian faith. His words echoed the created reality of Jesus’ powerful final words. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).  Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing (Luke 23:34).  Stephen’s last words  “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” are a human echo of those divine last words from the lips of our Savior, our Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ. And after speaking this reality of the Son of Man standing in heaven, Stephen died.

So here’s the rest of the story! How did Jesus get up there?

How could Stephen look up and see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God?

Because Jesus wasn’t still in the tomb! The tomb was empty. He had to be somewhere. And far from being a disappointment, this was the glory of God on display. There was nothing to see in the tomb but some grave clothes. The physical reality was empty tomb. The spiritual reality was complete and full. Jesus is the Christ. He is Risen. He is Risen indeed!

• In a day and age in which Christians shrink from speaking publicly about their faith in Jesus Christ out of very real fear…
• In a day and age in which Christians are persecuted in ways from economic and legislative bullying to being executed by stoning, gunfire, being burned alive and physical beheadings, even as recently as at the university in Kenya where Christians were murdered because they are Christians…
• In a day and age known for its empty lifestyle bereft, devoid, emptied of all morality…
• In a day and age of hopeless co-pilots crashing planes into mountainsides taking innocent passengers to their deaths because misery loves company and a secular world is shocked at the emptiness of conscience…
• In a day and age in which words have NO meaning, truth has NO home, we’re told everything is relative and what’s true for me and what’s true for you is a matter of personal choice…
• In a day and age known for a rotting, cancerous, core of dishonesty, falsehood, tons of clutter to disguise the lies being told, and we have a bunch of willing accomplice media cheerleaders for the devil who says God doesn’t exist and no one should point a finger of judgment or some Bible at you and ruin your good time…

In a day and age of all that, what do Christians have?

We have an empty tomb and a spoken reality. He is Risen.

We have the emptiness that does not disappoint!

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

We have the Word of God proven true. We have an empty tomb and a full heaven. Full because He is alive! We have the true Word of God spoken from the lips of Christ and all the prophets before Him to tell us that God Himself created a way for us to return to Him. So that we could be born again, not in the pattern of this world with its physical imperfections and lies of self-salvation, earning our way to heaven by being good people in our own eyes with our lie of relative truth and flimsy self-standards of morality. No!

We could be born again in the pattern of holiness, in the spiritual realm where truth lives on. Truth lives on! He rose from the dead! Truth. Lives. On. The tomb may be empty but heaven is full. Jesus is alive and Stephen saw it as sure as anything. The Son of Man was standing there at the right hand of the Father in heaven! We have the emptiness that does not disappoint and the fact we can count on is this: because God spoke the Resurrection and brought it about by His power, it gives us confidence to speak up about Jesus, to live by His pattern of love and grace, to live in light of the Last Day of Judgment, and to know eternal life in Him.

This emptiness does not disappoint because if Jesus rose from the dead (and He did) as believers upon His Name, we will someday rise too! His created reality works on our behalf. So, like Stephen, we can be bold witnesses, filled with the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised and whom God faithfully sent to be His ongoing presence with all genuine and true believers in Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross and His powerful resurrection. And now I would like to close in prayer.

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

…First, that if anyone does not know Jesus as both Lord and Savior, today would be the day they see beyond the empty tomb to the fullness of heaven because Jesus rose from the dead and offers eternal life to all who believe in His death for their sakes as payment for their sins. Lord God, please hear our prayer.

…that You, O God, would make us bold to tell people we know about Jesus. The days are fewer in number and time is of the essence! Lord God, please hear our prayer.

…that You, O God, would remind us that Truth matters because Truth is a person: Jesus is the Way the Truh and the Life and no one comes to the Father apart from Him

…that You, O God, would convince us that words have power and words have meaning. That You created this world out of nothing by simply speaking everything into being. That You have power to create and kill and destroy and to throw in hell. That’s what Your Word says. And Your Word is true. But that You also made a way by Your grace because You love us and are patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but for all people to come to repentance and a saving knowledge of the true words of Christ. Lord God, please hear our prayer.

…that You, O God, would help us to speak up and speak out to a culture that worships empty things…things of man, things of government, things of politics…and to show them by the graceful words we speak that we desire for them to know the fullness of joy in Christ in place of the empty things of this world. They would know the emptiness that does not disappoint—the empty tomb and a full heaven—in place of the empty things that cannot save! …that You, O God would give us words to speak, creating that reality of hope to a world desperately in need of it and trying to find it in empty places.

…that You, O God would continually show us the empty tomb and the Son of Man at the right hand of the Father in heaven and to know as Stephen did, Jesus Christ, the glory of His Resurrection, the meaning of salvation in Him, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the hope eternal—a hope that does not disappoint—because He is Risen. He is Risen indeed. Amen!

The Easter message “The Emptiness That Does Not Disappoint” was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on April 5, 2015 by Barbara Shafer.  Listen on YouTube by clicking this link.

Sermon text versions of messages are also available on SeminaryGal.com in the chapel sermon archives.

Palm Sunday Message, Acts 7:37-53

I’m always kind of conflicted about Palm Sunday.  I know it’s a critical event on the church calendar, but for the Sunday to Sunday crowd who attends church in America, Palm Sunday is an instance of party-hopping.  We go from the party on Palm Sunday with branches waving and shouting “Hosanna” to the party on Easter with trumpets trumpeting as we shout “He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!”  Party hopping, not with a Messiah like Him, but especially on Palm Sunday…with a messiah like us.  One who looks—not like God—but looks remarkably like you and me.  He looks like just a regular Joe or Jesus.

This same concern is the one Stephen—the first martyr of the Church—will address in today’s preaching passage from Acts that is eerily parallel to our Scripture reading this morning about the Triumphal Entry.  These events beginning with the mountaintop of Palm Sunday’s party will descend into the valley of death that stands in the gap between Sunday party and Sunday party.  It’s in the valley, it’s in the death that the real work of God got done.  There would be no party on Easter if it weren’t for the persecution, the valley of death, the hill called Golgotha, the place of the Skull, the Cross, and the cold of a tomb.

Stephen even says as much.  Let me read the entire preaching passage in bulk and then we’ll explore the similarities between Palm Sunday and the text that crowns Stephen’s artful defense before the Sanhedrin.  Remember, they’ve accused Stephen of blaspheming against this holy place (the temple) and against the customs of Moses (the Law).  He’s been recounting the great stuff Moses did and how the Israelites really didn’t appreciate it at the time.

Acts 7:37 “This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. 39 “But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt– we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 43 You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon. 44 “Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him. 48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: 49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?’ 51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him– 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Essentially, Stephen is saying to the Sanhedrin who care so much about the temple and the Law, “You religious narrow-minded Torah thumpers, you rejected all the prophets who predicted a Messiah of God’s sending.  Those prophets never predicted a manmade messiah like the one you wanted.  One who looks like you and me.  You care about Moses?  You rejected Moses yourselves!  The golden calf, the wilderness wandering…all that was because you didn’t wait for God and you decided to worship gods that were made with human hands.  Look! You’ve made gods now out of the temple and the customs of Moses.  You rejected Jesus, the Messiah of God’s sending, in favor of a messiah who looks a lot like you and me.  A manmade messiah!  You killed Jesus because you liked your gods better.”

On Palm Sunday, Jesus was hailed in His Triumphal Entry as the King of Israel and was expected to be a political warrior king who would restore Israel by conquering their enemies.  Instead, He rode in as the peacemaker riding on a gentle donkey—a picture of Solomon riding in to Jerusalem.  Jesus was hailed as Messiah in the line of David, the King of Israel.  Jesus became a messiah, they thought, of their own making, they were crowning Him king—not realizing that He was the “Sent One.”  Jesus was already Messiah, already God, long before He was ever sent.  They’d be disappointed.  The Messiah of God’s plan, the One sent from God was for the purpose of salvation not war.

But in fine tradition of Jewish leaders, “Acts 7:52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.”  The Righteous One, the Messiah, Jesus Christ came and was persecuted and killed.  The religious leaders would kill the real Messiah and yet, God’s work would be done in the valley of death, in the shadow of the Cross, and in the cold of the tomb which stood dark between the Sunday parties.

Why did they reject Jesus?  Jesus rides in as a hero, but then didn’t act like a messiah-of-their-making.   He didn’t bow to them, their knowledge, or their gods of temple and teachings.

Jesus was a remarkably unpopular guy even before mankind’s hangover immediately following the Palm Sunday party.  And not just unpopular with the religious leaders.  He was offering strange teachings about self-denial and cross-picking-upping.  He clears the temple because “Matthew 21:13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”  That den of robbers is the temple that Stephen’s accusers, the Sanhedrin, still cared so much about only a short while after Jesus’ death!  Jesus is healing people in the temple area, something the Pharisees couldn’t do and therefore disapproved of.  He withers a fig tree as a symbolic rejection of hypocrisy of the religious leaders.  He displays authority they don’t have.  He hints that He knows they’re planning on killing Him out of envy.  He tells them that they don’t believe in God.  He tells them that they’re outside the Kingdom and won’t be at the banquet and has stated that they are not Abraham’s descendants!  They are sons of the devil.  In response to their intellectual trap, He tells them Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”  To those learned religious types, being told they don’t know the Scriptures was profoundly insulting and Jesus exposes them like the emperor with no clothes.  He tells them that they haven’t got the slightest clue how to love God or love mankind.  He proves His superior understanding and His flawless teaching and then proceeds to pronounce 7 woes upon these religious leaders.  Four woes about hypocrisy in their teachings, but then goes on to say these:

Matthew 23:25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation. 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

Palm Sunday’s version of “Blessed is He” was already sung at His Triumphal Entry. Jesus is talking about the “Blessed is He” to be sung on the Last Day.  On Judgment Day when all these hypocrites–with their manmade temple and their manmade customs and their manmade gods—will bow down and acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah.  The One they’re about to kill during what we call Holy Week (on account of Jesus’ teachings and those 7 woes) is in fact, the Messiah of God’s plan and far more powerful than any manmade messiahs…which are a dime a dozen.

Only Jesus is God and He will be exalted as our story unfolds after the parties on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.  He is exalted at His Ascension which was before Stephen’s speech.  Only Jesus is the Messiah and able to save.  Only Jesus will be there when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

Think of all the messiahs we create for ourselves—gods of money, family, friends, traditions, political leaders, musicians, actors, sports figures who can dance with the stars. 

None of these can save us.

Jesus isn’t that kind of Messiah. 

Seven woes come “Boom!” from nice guy Jesus.  But Jesus was better than nice.  He was honest.  He gave them the brutal truth of what was to come.  That’s what formed the basis for the accusations against Jesus that we also see against Stephen.

• Jesus said about the temple:  Matthew 24:2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
• And so they accused:  Mark 14:58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.'”
• Jesus said John 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
• They wanted a man-made messiah and a man-made temple.  John 2:20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.

And that’s because He came from God.  He was God’s kind of Messiah, not a manmade one.

So as Jesus works His way from Sunday to Sunday, it’s no party.

• In a mere 5 days, He will go from being revered as the King of Israel to being rejected as a blasphemer and crucified as a criminal.
• He will go from being Rabbi, Lord, and Teacher to being abandoned by His disciples.
• He will go from being everyone’s curiosity and a celebrity to being scorned by everyone.  People will turn their faces from Him, scoff at Him, beat Him, and give Him anything but the red carpet celebrity treatment.  Nailed to a cross.  That’s what they’ll do to Him.
• He will go from riding in, peace-loving riding on a donkey, to being killed, nailed to a Cross in a jealous act of hate.
• Jesus Christ, God with us—Emmanuel—would be rejected in a mere 5 days…as not God at all.

Sunday to Sunday, Jesus would be the last prophet, God’s Son, the Messiah, the Savior.  A Messiah who looks just like God.  He would establish that God’s temple is in the hearts of men who believe that Jesus was the Sent One.  He would achieve that destruction and rebuilding process in the valley by His Crucifixion, burial and yes, by His Resurrection.  The manmade temple of 46 year building project would be empty.  Lights on.  Nobody home.  Empty.  And to prove it in 70 AD (within the lifetime of some of these Pharisees) that manmade temple will be a pile of rubble, just as Jesus said.  Jesus had already transferred the temple to the hearts of those who believe.

But for the religious leaders, those who were motivated by manmade temples and a manmade Moses, Sunday to Sunday would be described as Stephen did:  Acts 7:52 “Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him– 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Just like Jesus would be crucified for asserting the truth about a Messiah like Him versus a manmade messiah like me or you, Stephen would be stoned for saying that very thing.  Telling the truth.  But Stephen with his angel face and flawless argument will have driven the truth home: The Righteous One is a Messiah like Jesus and we needed His death in order to experience His Resurrection and Holy Spirit power.

What I’d like to see you that take home from all of this is to enjoy the Palm Sunday party.  And enjoy the Easter party. 

But more than that, to remember also that the real work of this season wasn’t done on Sundays.  The real work was done in the valley of death, on the Cross, at the place of the Skull, Golgotha and the cold of a tomb.  Christianity would be nothing without Good Friday.  There would be no Easter Sunday after-party if Friday hadn’t happened.

Death was overcome not party-hopping on Sundays, but rather on a Friday that was Good indeed.  A Friday that was Good for Stephen and Good for all those who are at the present being persecuted, beheaded, burned alive, enslaved and impaled for their faith…and a Friday that is Good for you and me today.  Because Death was overcome not by party-hopping on Sundays, but rather on a dark Friday of the Cross that was very Good indeed.

The message “Palm Sunday, Party-Hopping, and the Real Work of God” was first preached at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on March 29, 2015 by Barbara Shafer.  You can listen on YouTube at http://youtu.be/X9IOD1GcFQg