Pastoral Letter 209
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Resurrected Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow, we gather to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. Being risen from dead, He has given us the possibility of eternal life with one condition of having faith in Him and believe that He is the Saviour who bring redemption to all who are lost and dead in sin. The Easter Prayer that you find on the first page of our Newsletter, utters the beautiful words about the great Love of God, which we see applied in full for us, the sinners, who have found redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord. We can pray this prayer today with confidence and assurance: “God of Resurrection, we believe in Your Love – Your Love created the world. We believe in Your Love – Your Love sent Jesus to live with us on earth. We believe in Your Love – Your Love sent the Holy Spirit to breathe life through us. Amen!”
Without the resurrection and the empty tomb, there is no salvation and eternal life. Because Jesus died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, but has risen from the dead, we have been reconciled with God and the broken relationship has been reestablished. Once again, we have the chance to become the true children of God and deserve to live with Him for ever and ever. Without Christ’s sacrifice and the glorious resurrection, we are doomed to perish forever. But thanks to God for His great and unconditional love we are safe.
Please join us tomorrow to worship with us and give thanks to God for His sacrificial love demonstrated through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour and celebrate His resurrection. If you are not able to join us, please light a candle and join us from home following the attached Order of Service.
The April – May Newsletter is ready. You will find hard copies on the table in the hall foyer, as well as you can access it from our website.
Mark, our organist, will be on leave from 2 April until 28 May and will be back on duty at the organ on 9 June. We wish Mark and Barb a safe and wonderful trip across Canada. Pray for their safe trip.
Continue to pray for Virginia and also remember in your prayers Max Thorpe, who is frail and has been moved into Longueville Hospital.
Please continue to pray for those who are going through difficult and tough times, seeking God’s presence, help and healing.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for peace, harmony and good to prevail the earth.
- Pray for the Middle East, and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
- Pray for the people Artsakh who are refugees in different parts of Armenia facing many challenges.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray especially for Virginia as she undergoes her treatment seeking God’s help and healing.
- Pray for those who are going through a difficult time with health and financial issues.
- Pray for our church and our future plans as we seek God’s guidance.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
I Have Seen the Lord!
Mark 16:1-8 and John 20:10-18 24:1-12
The faithful women who have followed Jesus during His earthly ministry hold a special honour of anointing Jesus’ body, learning of His resurrection and seeing the Risen Lord before men.
Mary Magdalene came from the village of Magdala on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. She was one of a group of women who became followers of Christ during His earthly ministry. She and the other women joined themselves to Jesus and His apostles and followed them from village to village, offering financial support and helping them in various ways. We are also told that Jesus cast seven demons, “seven devils“, out of Mary (Luke 8:2). Before she met Jesus, she was totally enslaved by demonic powers.
When Christ set her free, He liberated her from the evil impulses that had kept her chained figuratively and perhaps literally. She is living proof that those whom the Son sets free are free indeed. Having been liberated from demonic bondage, she said to herself and perhaps out loud: “I love Him for what He did for me. I will follow Him wherever He goes.” And so it came to pass that when our Lord hung on the cross, she stood nearby with Mary His mother. When they took His body down from the cross, she was there to see that awful, horrible sight. When they placed Him in the tomb, she was sitting on a rock ledge, watching it all happen (Matthew 27:61). On Saturday evening, after the Sabbath had concluded, she purchased spices because she hoped to anoint His dead body. He was hastily buried on Friday in order to finish before sundown, which is why they had not finished preparing His body.
Early on Sunday morning, before the sun came up, she and the other women ventured through the darkness to the Garden Tomb, expecting to finish the job of anointing the body of Jesus.
Before the vision of the resurrected Lord, Mary was sorrowful, confused, bewildered, in shock, frightened, and broken-hearted. It has not yet occurred to her that the empty tomb meant that Jesus had risen from the dead.
The sorrow and tears held her back from recognizing the angels and the risen Lord. Two disciples on the road to Emmaus had the same experience.
Mary’s encounter with the Risen Lord is very interesting and causes us to ask some questions.
Why didn’t she recognize the Lord?
The text doesn’t say but several answers come to mind. Certainly, she was not expecting to see Him. It is clear that Jesus was “out of context” for Mary that morning. And she had been weeping and was overcome with emotion. But the main reason seems to be that Jesus deliberately veiled His own identity much as He did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Jesus did not want Mary to recognize Him at first so that He could teach her an important truth. She had to learn that He is always present even when He is invisible to the naked eye. From this we learn that our Lord is often closest to us when we feel the most alone. Many times, while going through a dark valley, or face a painful, dreadful and devastating life-threatening illness, we think God has abandoned us. But if only our eyes could be opened, we would see the Lord walking with us every step of the way.
Just because we don’t see Him doesn’t mean He isn’t there.
Note the question Jesus asked:
“Who are you looking for?” Not “What are you looking for?” That’s a different question. Mary was looking for a what, a dead body. She was looking for something; Jesus pointed her to someone. The answer to our deepest needs is not something, but someone, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to her: ‘Mary.’ She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher). 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’”. 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” (John 20:16-18).
“Mary.” He still knows her name!
“Rabboni.” She calls Him: “My Master!”
When Jesus called her name, He was conveying many things to her. “I am here. I am back from the dead. I still know you and I still love you.”
She knew His voice. And He knew her name. This fact is of supreme, greatest, absolute importance.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd calls each of us by our name (John 10:3) and the child of God knows His voice (John 10:4).
Mary tried to get hold of Jesus. Then He said: “Do not touch me,” or better, “Stop clinging to me.” Perhaps she knelt down and wrapped her arms around His feet so that He would never leave: “I thought I had lost you, but now that I have you back again, I’m never going to let you go.” In Jesus, Mary had found a man she could love and trust. But she was clinging to that which she must give up. Her clinging meant: “I think everything is the same as it used to be.” The words of Jesus mean something like: “No, things are different now.” Very gently Jesus begins to unfold the future before her eyes. He will soon ascend to the Father where He will take His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. From there He will intercede for His followers and will commune with them through the Holy Spirit. He will be closer to them in the future than He has been in the past. If He stays on the earth, His ministry will be limited to the few who see Him face to face. He must ascend or we will not be saved. He must leave the few so He can save the many, which includes all of us who follow Him today. On that day Mary could touch Him. Once ascended, we can all “touch Him” through faith and prayer and worship.
Mary’s desire is understandable and her fear at losing Him again is very human indeed. But it cannot be that way. All of life is a letting go, a releasing of those things we hold dear, a giving up and letting go of loved ones that they might fulfill God’s mission. It is so painful to lose a dear one, someone we love. It is devastating experience to morn for someone we have lost. But we must say goodbye to the good in order that God’s best for us may come.
Mary was transformed after the encounter with the Risen Lord. Many things changed for her. She had a total transformation, simply because He died on the cross and He rose again from the dead and the tomb.
Her sadness changed to gladness.
Her confusion to conviction.
As David said: “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy”. (Psalm 30:11)
From mourner to missionary – “I have seen the Lord and He told me all these things.” So, Mary went and told the disciples what she had seen and heard. The Greek is very vivid. Literally, “Mary came telling!” She couldn’t stop talking about her encounter with the risen Lord. The mourner has become the missionary! So, it is with all who meet the risen Lord. We are called to do as Mary did—to run and tell all who will listen that we have seen Jesus! Mary has firsthand knowledge and so do we.
There is great power in the words of someone who can say: “I was there. I saw it. I heard it. I am giving you an eyewitness account.” A Baptist church in Bangladesh was showing the “Jesus” film to an audience filled with people who had never heard the gospel before. Little children sat in front and in the aisles. The adults stood in the back. As the story of Jesus’ crucifixion unfolded, there were tears and hearable weeping. As the Bengalis watched, one young boy suddenly spoke up: “Do not be afraid and sad. He gets up again! I saw it before.”
I saw it before. I have seen the Lord, as Mary proclaimed, and she became the first human being to encounter with the risen Jesus that Easter morning.
This is our message to a world overwhelmed with the reality of death. God has given us the answer. We can say to those who feel bewildered and heartbroken: “Fear not. Jesus Christ has come back from the dead. We have seen the Lord!”
That should be the message of the church, our message to the world today. He is well and alive. He has conquered death and we have seen Him. Praise the Lord. Amen!