“THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS NO”

MATTHEW 28:1-10

28:1  After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

2  And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

4  For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

5  But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

6  He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

7  Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."

8  So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

9  Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

10  Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

No. No. No. That word was also a big part of Christ’s vocabulary on the morning of the resurrection.  He ended up saying no quite a bit.  The first big no of course was the empty tomb and the resurrection itself.  That in and of itself was a victorious and vociferous no to powers of death, despair and hateful destruction. It was a no that also stunned the two Mary’s that morning. 

Their reaction was probably a little like the reaction a family had when they received a letter in the mail one day. The letter was from the Indiana Department of Social Services, and it was so unusual, it made a few headlines around the country.  That’s because the letter said, “Your food stamps will be stopped in March because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in
your circumstances."

Somehow I don’t think there’s going to be a change in that person’s circumstances that will allow him or her to reapply. The women who went to the tomb that morning though discovered that Jesus had experienced an amazing change in his circumstances. Instead of a body that needed to be buried they found a tomb that was empty. They came face to face with a Jesus who was miraculously healthy, hale and hearty.

The miracle of the resurrection was a huge no to the powers of death, despair and hateful destruction.  Beyond that though, the gospels also show Jesus saying no in other ways.  For example, do you remember what when the women saw the risen Christ?  Matthew says they grabbed hold of his feet.  John on the other hand says that Jesus told them not to touch him because he still had not ascended to the Father.  (20:17)

There’s another one of those no’s. Then there was that curious no that Jesus told the women to pass along to the disciples. Now put yourself in their shoes.  What was the first thing you think the disciples wanted to do when they heard that Christ had risen from the dead?  Do you think they smiled at the women and said, “That’s nice. Now what’s for supper?”  Or do you think they wanted to run to the tomb and see for themselves?  Let’s see.  Act as if it wasn’t really a big deal or run to the tomb?  That question is really a no brainer, isn’t it? Of course, they wanted to run to the tomb and see the risen Jesus for themselves.

Before they could get a foot out the door though, the women had to tell them that they couldn’t do that.  Unfortunately for the disciples they were suddenly confronted with one of those frustrating no’s.  “No you can’t do that,” the women said.  “He doesn’t want you to go to the tomb.  He told you to go to Galilee instead.  That’s where he’s going to meet you.”  What must have made that even more frustrating for the disciples is the fact that Jesus didn’t say when he would meet them there.  He didn’t say if he’d meet them there in a couple of days or a couple of months or a couple of years.

That happens from time to time. You want something to happen.  You want things to go a certain way, but they don’t.  You come face to face with an inexplicable and inescapable NO. It’s frustrating. So, you beg the Lord to hearken to your petition, your plea, your prayer but the answer keeps coming back no. The answer is no and you’re left wondering why not?

That’s what happened to the Apostle Paul.  He ran into one of those no’s and it got to be so frustrating for him that he prayed about it.  In his second Letter to the Corinthians Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh.  That thorn in the flesh was a physical problem of some kind, but we don’t what that thorn was exactly.  In any event, Paul writes, “Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:8)

Sometimes the answer is no.  Sometimes God’s love has to say no.

That’s what happened back in the 1920’s during Prohibition. When alcohol was outlawed in this country, bootleggers didn’t let that stop them. They just found ways to get around the law that said no to all alcoholic beverages.  One of the ways they did was press grape concentrate into the form of bricks which wasn’t against the law.  Then they put labels on the bricks which said, “Do not let this brick sit in a gallon of water for 21 days.  It will ferment and become illegal wine.”

Now you can always do the same thing with the no’s that come from the Lord.  You just ignore them. You do what you want to do. The better thing to do of course is to sit back and trust that the Lord knows what’s best.  You trust that there’s a good reason for the no.  That what the disciples did. As far as we know they didn’t go to the tomb that morning. Instead they did as they were told and went to Galilee which is where they saw the risen Christ.

Sometimes the Lord’s love means the answer is going to be no.  No, you can’t do that.  No, your problem isn’t going to go away.  No, your way of handling this problem is wrong.  When you come face to face with one of those no’s though, you can be sure that if you trust and obey that the no will eventually lead you to an incredible yes.

Consider if you will what happened ten years ago to a woman by the name of Linda Down. Because she had cerebral palsy I’m sure that at least once in her life she asked the Lord to take the dreaded disease away. The answer to that prayer however was always no.  One day though that no turned into an incredible yes. Linda was depressed.  So, she turned to her Bible.  She read about the power of God at work in people’s lives.  In particular she read the well known verse in the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  (4:13) That led her to decide to run the New York City Marathon. She made that decision even though she was 25 lbs over weight and had to use those metal crutches with the hand grips on them.  When the race started she quickly found the beginning more difficult than she had anticipated. By the time she got to the mile-long Verrazano Bridge there wasn’t another runner in sight. Most of the spectators were gone too.  One little girl did come out though to tell her that she could do it. Ten hours later Linda was still hobbling in the dark through dangerous neighborhoods. By now though, some admiring spectators were walking with her for safety. Then a camera crew showed up to film the story of her incredible courage.  She pushed herself forward even though her hands were throbbing and her arms were all black and blue. She had a hole in one of the sneakers that she was continuously dragging across the pavement and she was so tired she couldn’t even speak. She kept praying though, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…I can do all things.”  Then when she got to Central Park two city trucks showed up and stayed with her to light he way.  Finally after 11 hours Linda crossed the finish line.  People were crying.  The cameramen were crying and Linda was crying because of the love and support she had received.  Later she thanked God for the power to do the marathon. She was invited to the White House and ended up on the front page of the New York Times.

Sometimes the Lord’s love says no. When you trust and obey though, you can be sure that the Lord will lead you through the problem or the pain or your own unhealthy pride to a wonderful yes.  The Lord will lead you from that no to a grace filled moment like the one the disciples had when they finally met Jesus not at the tomb but in Galilee.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

March 27, 2005 – Easter Sunday