Matthew 28:1-10 Hope (Easter Day Talk)

Introduction

It was described as a great miracle, when hope had all but gone, the wonderful, the amazing happened. I am of course describing the discovery last week of nine year old Shannon Matthews, who went missing from her home in Dewsbery in West Yorkshire in February and was discovered safe and well three weeks later.

The safe discovery of Shannon has been one of the few positive items reported in the news for quite some time. Over the last few weeks the headlines have been dominated by news of the financial crisis affecting American and British institutions, riots in Tibet over Chinese rule, new evidence about the damaging effects of global warming, and the ongoing problems in Iraq five years after the toppling of Saddam’s regime. You can be forgiven when watching or reading the news not to feel rather despondent about the state that the world is in, and wonder whether there is any hope for the future.

But as Christians we believe that there is real hope, hope for ourselves and hope for our world, and it is this message that I want to talk about today. But before I do, when we talk about hope what do we actually mean? What is hope?

Definition of Hope

Wiklipedia defines hope as “a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.” So for example we may say that we hope the weather might be good tomorrow, or we hope that our football team will do well in their next match. According to this definition hope is wishing for something, or expecting something to happen, but without any certainty of it being fulfilled. It is to desire something, without any real assurance of getting what you desire.
But the Christian understanding of hope is quite different to the definition I’ve just given. In Scripture, “Hope” means a strong and confident expectation. In other words the Christian understanding of hope is an indication of certainty. Christian hope is the confident expectation, the sure certainty that what God has promised through Scripture has occurred or will occur.
Hope in the Bible is never a static or passive thing. It is dynamic, active, directive and life sustaining. Christian hope is something that makes a difference, it has the power to change and transform.

We see this in the story of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It was on early on a Sunday morning that Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas, two of Jesus’ followers, went to the tomb of Jesus. They went to the tomb according to Luke’s Gospel, to anoint Jesus’ body with oils and spices, which they had not had an opportunity to do when he was first placed in the tomb. These two Mary’s went to the tomb where Jesus lay, with hearts heavy with grief and despair. They had followed Jesus for a long time, and like Jesus’ other followers, must have felt as though their lives had been shattered and their world turned up side down, when Jesus had been betrayed, arrested and crucified. On Good Friday when Jesus hung on the cross, it must have felt as though all their hopes and expectations had been completely Destroyed. Emptiness and despair must have filled their hearts and minds, as they watched Jesus die.

But what they discovered when they reached the tomb was to change them and change the world for ever. What they discovered when they got to the tomb was that the large stone that had sealed the grave had been rolled away, and where the body of Jesus had been laid, now stood an angel, telling the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”

We could ask ourselves the question, why did the angel role away the stone? Jesus was already gone, he didn’t need help getting out. The stone was rolled away, not so that Jesus could get out, but so that the two Mary’s could get in and see the empty tomb, and to give them a profound new sense of hope and joy.

Jesus’ resurrection gives us also a profound sense of hope. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead vindicates and validates all that he said and did. Jesus declared “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (John 11:25). Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead gives us hope that these words are indeed true. Hope, not just in the sense of wishful thinking, but a hope which is based on certainty.

Just as the stone was rolled away from the tomb of Jesus, so Jesus comes to roll away the stones of fear, dread, uncertainty, purposelessness that can mark our lives. (John 10:10) Jesus comes to breathe new life, new joy and new hope into our lives. His resurrection gives us real hope for the present and for the future. In Jesus we can discover reason to live, we discover God’s true purpose for our lives, we can discover a freedom, a joy and a peace that no one else can give us.

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ really is who he says he is. It shows us that we can trust his words. What’s more his resurrection tells us that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of His Son for you and for me. Paul said, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." But Christ has risen! "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." He did that in order to put us right with God, whom we can now call, Father. And as a result of being forgiven for the sake of Christ, He says, "Because I live, you also will live." He hands to us the sure gift and promise of eternal life! "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." Jesus Christ broke through death! He broke down death! There is now no death for those who are in Christ Jesus! Because of the empty tomb, you and I, by faith in Him, have life today and life forever, this is the Hope in Christ!The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, makes a huge difference to our lives if we allow it to. It turns night into day, despair into hope, and death into life. Jesus wants us to let him live at the centre of our lives so that we can experience purpose and meaning, hope and healing, peace, and joy that comes from God. He wants to be the risen Lord of your life!

The message of Jesus’ resurrection gives us a real hope.
- Because Jesus lives… We can have hope for today
- Because Jesus lives … We can have hope for tomorrow
- Because Jesus lives… We can have hope for eternity

So may “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)