“THE PROMISE KEEPER”

JOHN 20:1-20

20:1  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.

19  When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

20  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

A promise is a promise.  That’s what my parents always told me when I was growing up. If you said you were going to do something then you did it; no ifs ands or buts about it.

Jesus made his followers a promise. That’s why Mary’s reaction when she got to the tomb that morning is a little hard to understand. You see before Jesus got to Jerusalem he told his followers that he was going to be arrested and crucified and then on the third day be raised from the dead. Jesus said that not once, not twice, but three times. Despite that promise Mary panicked when she got to the tomb and found it empty. Despite that promise Mary was convinced that someone had stolen the body. She thought that Jesus was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

What happened that morning reminds me of a conversation that a husband and wife had one evening.  At the time they were sitting in front of the television watching a movie. At one point in the movie a man was recklessly driving his car down the side of a mountain. The tires were screeching and it was obvious that the man was driving much too fast.  Suddenly the wife turned to her husband and said, “I’ll bet you $20 he crashes that car over one of those cliffs.”  The husband laughed.  “You’re on,” he said.  Sure enough, a minute or so later the man crashed the car over one of the cliffs. The wife smiled. “I can’t take you’re money,” she said.  “I have a confession to make. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this movie.”  The husband insisted that she still take the money.  “That’s okay,” he said.  “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the movie myself.  I just didn’t think the guy would be stupid enough to do it again.”

Mary and the disciples should have seen the resurrection coming.  Why? Because Jesus told them exactly what was going to happen. He made them a promise and he kept that promise. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen these days. 

It would be great if everyone had the honesty and integrity that a man by the name of Robert Cunningham displayed a number of years ago. Cunningham was a New York City police sergeant and a husband with four children and three grandchildren. His story began on March 29, 1984 when he walked into Sal’s Pizzeria to eat. It was his favorite restaurant. After he finished his meal of linguine and clam sauce Cunningham told his waitress that she could either have a tip or split the money he was going to win later that week in the New York lottery. Phyllis Penza decided on the lottery and together they picked the numbers.  Well, the ticket Cunningham bought with those numbers won and the jackpot was $6 million.  Now Cunningham faced his moment of truth.  Would he keep his promise?  Would he give the waitress a $3 million tip? It didn’t take him very long to make his decision.  Cunningham told a newspaper reporter, “I won’t back out. Besides, friendship means more than money.”

How many people do you think would keep a promise like that today?  Unfortunately, these days you don’t know who to trust. You don’t know who to believe.  On the one hand you have the politicians who have become experts at twisting the truth.  On the other hand you have athletes who swear under oath that they never took any performance enhancing drugs.  Then you have the companies that promise you a pension when you retire and then pull the plug on you after years of faithful service.

That sad reality is what lies behind an email that I received a couple of weeks ago.  Maybe you received the email as well.  It seems that a Japanese company and an American company decided to have a rowing competition. Both teams practiced long and hard, but on the day of the race the Japanese team won by a mile.  The Americans were very discouraged and decided to investigate why they lost.  That troubled the American CEO and upper management people. So, they hired a consulting firm to find out what went wrong. After investing the consulting firm announced that the Americans lost because the Japanese team had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering while the America, team had 1 person rowing and 8 people steering.  So, the CEO and upper management people made some changes.  They reorganized the team so there were 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant steering supervisor.  They also implemented a new “Rowing Team Quality First” program with meetings and free pens for the rower. Well, the next year the Japanese won by two miles. Faced with that humiliation, the CEO and upper management people laid off the rower for poor performance, sold the canoe and oars and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment.  The money that was saved was then distributed to the CEO and upper management people as bonuses and the racing team for the follow year was outsourced to India.

People make promises and break them all the time. Important people do it. Everyday people do it. Friends do it.  Strangers and sometimes even relatives do it.  No wonder people today are cynical. No wonder people today are skeptical. No wonder people today are suspicious. You don’t know who to believe these days. You don’t know who to trust.  That’s the way the disciples felt after Jesus was crucified.  They were disillusioned, discouraged and distraught. Then Mary went to the tomb and everything changed.  Mary went with fear and trembling and after she saw Jesus she left cheering and chanting the good news to everyone who would listen. She went to the disciples and joyfully announced, “The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!

Jesus kept his promise. He told them that he would be arrested and crucified and then on the third day be raised from the dead and that’s exactly what happened!  Now, if he kept that promise then you can be sure that he’s going to keep all of the other promises that he made.

So, when life is difficult remember the promise he made just before he ascended into heaven.  “Lo I am with you always,” Jesus said, “even unto the close of the age.”  When you find yourself wrestling with self-doubt remember the promise that he made after he got to Jerusalem. “Truly, I tell you, he who believes in me will do the works that I do and even greater works than these will he do.”  (John 14:12)  When you’re feeling a little guilty remember the promise that Jesus made to the penitent thief on the Cross.  Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.”  And when you finally come face to face with death remember the promise that Jesus made when he sat down with the disciples in the Upper Room. “Because I live,” Jesus said, “you will live also.”

Jesus kept his promise.  So, what you have here then is an empty tomb that is full of hope.  What you have here is an empty tomb that is full of joy!  What you have here is an empty tomb that is full of a love that makes life worth living!

Now in a world full of broken promises that’s something you can build your life around. There is a catch though.  Yes, there’s always a catch. If you want all that hope and joy and love you have to go to the tomb.  You have to go to the tomb the way Mary did that morning. You have to go to the tomb when life is good so that you can lean on those promises when life is bad. 

Fred B. Craddock, was one of the greatest preachers of the last century.  He was a master when it came to weaving stories into his sermons.  One of his stories was about a boy he knew when he was growing up.  Craddock wrote, "We used to have a kid down home who’d believe anything you’d tell him.  You could say, ‘The schoolhouse burned down. We’re not having school tomorrow.’ ‘Oh boy!’ He’d believe it.

‘They’re giving away free watermelons down at the town hall.’

‘Really?  Free watermelons?’ He’d go running off.

‘Did you know the president of the United States is coming to our town tomorrow?’

‘He is? Really? Whoopee!’ He just believed everything.

I remember once there was an evangelist who came to our town, and he said to that kid, ‘God loves you and cares for you and comes to you in Jesus Christ.’ And do you know, that kid believed it? He actually believed it.” (Craddock Stories, Chalice Press, p. 52)

You can believe it too. Why? Because in a world full of broken promises the empty tomb shows you that Jesus did exactly what he said he was going to do.  So, he was and is a promise keeper.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

April 16, 2006 – Easter Sunday