Dr. Julian M. Aldridge, Jr.

Texts: John 20:1-18 1: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2: So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3: Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4: The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5: He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6: Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7: and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8: Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9: for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10: Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12: and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13: They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14: When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15: Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16: Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). 17: Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' " 18: Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

I know not how that Bethlehem's Babe
Could in the Godhead be;
I only know the Manger Child
Has brought God's life to me.

I know not how that Calvary's cross
A world from sin could free;
I only know its matchless love
Has brought God's love to me.

I know not how that Joseph's tomb
Could solve death's mystery;
I only know a living Christ,
Our immortality.
- Christini Rosetti

Today, we Christians come home. Home is the place where we begin. Home is the place where we have been nurtured. Home, for a great many, is where life is put in perspective. "Remember who you are!"

Why is it the family comes together, if not at other times, when someone is married or someone dies? It is because home calls us back to the basics of who we are and whose we are.

THIS IS A "COME HOME" SUNDAY. Home for all of us who believe is an Empty Tomb where we meet a Risen Christ.

This Sunday is no different from any other except for calling us back to celebrate the reality of Faith that makes every Sunday special.

Sundays are days of Resurrection. They are days we remember: On the third day the tomb was empty. The dead Jesus was raised for all time by the love and power of our Mighty God. To our eyes of Faith, life will never be the same. Our vistas are broadened. Our minds are challenged. Our spirits are quickened.

I know not how that Calvary's cross
A world from sin could free;
I only know its matchless love
Has brought God's love to me.

I know not how that Joseph's tomb
Could solve death's mystery;
I only know a living Christ,
Our immortality.

Someone has well said that SEEING is NOT BELIEVING, but that it works the other way around; BELIEVING IS SEEING. As we stand at the Empty Tomb and meet the Risen Christ, in faith, believing, we recover and see two things:

The first is COMFORT FOR THE GRIEVING; the second, MEANING AND PURPOSE FOR THE LIVING.

Separation from those we love is one of life's painful realities.

Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:1

Preparation is one of love's great expressions. If we have any virtue, we spend a lifetime PREPARING for those we love: preparing the basics of food, clothing, shelter; preparing for education and training; preparing opportunities and, as life moves on, preparing in our wills for those we love once we are gone.

Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. I go to prepare." John 14:1

I have always found great comfort in Leslie Weatherhead's words in the midst of death. God, he said, prepared for a mother's arms to greet me when born; God prepares to greet me when I die.

Whether for ourselves or those we love who have died, there is great comfort in the assurance of heart that Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Author of Life, Conqueror of Death has prepared for us who with eyes of faith, trust and believe.

"In the sure and certain hope of Resurrection, into your gracious keeping, Lord, we commit ourselves and those we love." God is love.

What do we say to the pain of separation? Will we meet again? Will I look again into the eye of my father and see his great spirit? Will I look again into the eye of my mother and see her abiding love?

I remember well an evening in Edinburgh, Scotland. Becky and I were young at the time. I was a student in the University. We had just returned from Christmas vacation and were gathered with other American students in the home of Dr. James Stewart, saintly professor of New Testament. When he taught, one felt closer to heaven.

We were all stunned that night. Our hearts were heavy with grief. One of our fellow American students with his wife had traveled to Italy for Christmas. He was standing on a precipice on the Italian coast, preparing to take a picture of his wife and others traveling with them. He became so focused on his subject, he forgot where he was standing. He stepped back to get a better focus and fell below to his death.

In the silence of our stunned grief, Dr. Stewart came to each of us individually, took us by the hand, looked us in the eye and said, "You will see him again."

They were comforting words, but I was young at the time, and, I wondered. How could that be?

I am older now, and I do believe. I am old enough to recognize the more I know, the less I know. Can you understand? Life is mystery, and only through the eyes of faith can we ever make sense of it!

Flannery O'Connor, that perceptive and wise Southern writer, put it like this: "Whatever you do anyway, remember that these things are mysteries and that if they were such that we could fully understand them, they wouldn't be worth understanding. A God you can fully understand would be less than yourself."

Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:1

As we stand together at the Empty Tomb, there is, in those words, COMFORT FOR THE GRIEVING.

Equally helpful, in coming home "to the Empty Tomb," we recover MEANING AND PURPOSE FOR THE LIVING.

The threat of separation is one of life's strong motivations. We are driven to make the most of the day at hand for we are guaranteed no certainty as to our time here on earth together.

Several of us were conversing in the church office this week following the sudden death of a man of relative young age. He had worked a full day, had no indications of health infirmities, went to bed, died in his sleep. I said to a colleague, "If this happens to me, be sure and tell my family I loved them!" My colleague answered, "I suggest you tell them ahead of time." I do!

The reality of death challenges us to live with depth and quality as if we would die tomorrow. In Clarksburg, West Virginia, there is a monument to a native son who became the first governor of West Virginia, Gassaway Davis. Inscribed at the base are these words: He worked as though he would live forever; he lived as if he would die tomorrow.

Life after death has meaning only if we discover through faith a quality of life worth living forever. God's Word makes it clear this quality is shaped by a love of God, a respect for ourselves, and positive consideration of others.

God has revealed in Jesus that God stands firm on the side of good rather than evil, of love rather than hate, of life rather than death, of respect rather than indignity FOR ALL PEOPLE.

Jesus' last command at the supper, Holy Communion, was "love one another."

This love takes shape in so many ways. It is here for all of us in our response through our Easter Offering as we affect positively UMCOR, prepare health kits for refugees from Kosovo, strengthen Andean Rural Health Care in Bolivia, our Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte, the Family Center, our St. Luke's Medical Fund, all ways we touch life with wholesomeness and healing. It gives to our lives meaning and purpose now, and reflects an attitude of life worth living forever.

God's Word makes it clear we have a choice. For those who choose NOT TO BELIEVE, and to live life with themselves always at the center, it may well be in God's mercy, life after death holds for them no promise; but for those WHO DO BELIEVE and seek to live in the light of eternal Truth NOW, there is the assurance that death is but a gateway to what God has promised those who believe.

I like the way Winston Churchill approached his death. He was, as you know, Prime Minister of Britain during the trying years of the Second World War. As he neared the end of this earthly life, he sat at his desk one day and wrote in minute detail plans he would like to see followed on the day of his funeral. He was mindful of his mortality, but within the framework of our Christian Faith.

He knew that, being a prominent international figure, leaders of the world would gather to pay homage. He assumed that his funeral would be in Westminster Abbey. His concern was to insure that the emphasis would be on life, not death.

His request was intriguing. Begin the service, he said, by having a trumpeter play TAPS.

Now TAPS, we know, is traditionally an evening signal that day is done. It is time to sleep. It is symbolic of death. It signifies an ending.

Churchill knew, as the service progressed, that there would be tributes to his contributions. He was not necessarily humble at that point, but was, to a great extent, simply being realistic. So he said, after all is said and done, the past recalled, and the service drawing to an end, I want a chorus of trumpeters to break forth and conclude the service with REVEILLE.

For REVEILLE, we know, signifies a new day, a new beginning. It is time to get up and get on with living!

Churchill knew that England must get up and get on with living, and so must he, beyond the shadows of what we experience as death.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life, "Jesus said, "those who believe, though they die, yet shall they live!"

THIS IS FOR US A DAY WHEN, COMING HOME TO STAND AT THE EMPTY TOMB, we first hear TAPS and then break forth with REVEILLE!

There is comfort for grieving hearts and purpose and meaning for living life now in the assurance of God's abiding love, world without end. Amen.