Matthew 28 verses 1 to 10 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of each heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer. There are all kinds of seals in our lives. Every envelope that we mail is sealed. All of our medications that we buy over the counter are sealed – triple sealed, then labeled on each pill. When you hire a moving company to move your household goods, they seal the trailer in your presence to insure you that your toaster will make the journey. But seals are not locks. They are proof of contents. The idea of a seal is not to prevent something from being opened, but to prove that it has not been opened. So, on the morning after Jesus had been killed and buried, the leaders of the Sanhedrin knew that what they needed was a seal. They needed a seal on Joseph’s new tomb that had become the hasty grave of Jesus. It seems that these leaders had a better memory of Jesus’ words and promises than his own disciples did. The leaders remembered Jesus’ declaration, that after three days he would rise again. Schemers that they were, it occurred to them that some of Jesus’ followers might try to steal the corpse and then declare a resurrection. Of course, their concerns were ill founded. Any thought that the disciples had of Jesus, was only to lament the failure of every dream and plan. Their future was gone, shattered, lying in ruins. Thoughts of resurrection did not even occur to them. They refused steadfastly to believe the news when the women announced the resurrection to them. But the leaders wanted to be sure, so they got Pilate to give the green light, added the insurance of a contingent of soldiers, and sealed the tomb of Joseph. No one could move the stone without their knowledge. How ironic that their effort to secure the tomb, would in fact, help to secure the truth of the resurrection. The seal was certainly broken of course, and the stone was rolled back to open the grave wide. God sent an angel to break it. Human eyes needed to see the evidence. A half dozen people needed to see the empty tomb. A detachment of petrified soldiers needed to witness the stone being rolled back from the tomb. And the proof was apparent for all to see: there was no body. When the seal was destroyed and the guards driven away, the miracle of Easter had taken place. God broke the seal to make the news known: Jesus was alive, and no stone tomb could hold him. God was breaking many seals that Easter morning. The seal on the tomb was only the beginning. There were also all those seals on the hearts and minds of Jesus’ disciples that needed to be broken. The heartache was seared into them. Their conviction of sorrow and hopelessness was sealed. Jesus was dead. The thrill of following him was over. The dreams had all evaporated so suddenly and so horribly. Their hope and joy had died with Jesus. The women - they only wanted to give Jesus a “decent burial.” So, they bought spices and ointments for the beaten, broken body, and set off to do their duty. Their minds were set and sealed: Jesus was dead. It was over. The men were worse off. Their despair and fear had crippled them. They cowered out of sight and grieved all that was lost. The sudden tragedy of Friday had knocked them senseless. Their minds were sealed with certainty: Jesus was gone. It was all over. On Easter morning, God dealt with all of these seals as well. He broke them all. He broke them with the living reality of Jesus. The empty tomb and empty grave clothes were certainly evidence. But, the living presence of Jesus with physical body and blood broke the seals of unbelief forever. Jesus was alive. There was no doubt. The seals of disbelief, defeat and despair were destroyed. God is still breaking seals today. Every time that someone turns around and accepts the free gift of faith, another seal has been broken. The seal of sin and disobedience is shattered, and another person that had been closed and sealed to God’s grace is opened. The forgiveness and love of God floods in. Even in the lives of believers there are still seals that need breaking. We have neat, simple ideas that are set and sealed—even though they are very wrong. We have ideas about what God can’t or won’t do. We have trouble letting God be God, and remembering that we are not god. We think God can’t allow something terrible to happen, or God won’t allow us to suffer. Or maybe, we think if we are good enough, God will shower us with material blessings. Neat, and simple, tied in a bow, but very wrong. Sometimes the ideas we have sealed in our thinking are about what we think we can or can’t do. Maybe you’re convinced that no matter what, you can’t stop worrying. We say to ourselves, it’s impossible to let go and trust enough, to count on God to handle everything. Or you may be quite certain that you cannot speak out loud to another person about your faith in Christ. The idea of vocally witnessing to others strikes terror in your soul. You can’t do it … you won’t do it. You are not good enough. Your mind is closed and sealed. It can’t be done. Or perhaps it’s your neighbor that is the problem. “Love your neighbor as yourself? You’ve got to be kidding,” you think, “You obviously don’t know my neighbor. There’s no way that I can love him—even if I do work with him every day. Forget that!” Your mind is made up and sealed tight. Submit to your husband, love your wife sacrificially…no this view of marriage is too hard. It’s not realistic. You’ve already tried it countless times, and it’s not going to happen. You’re done. Your mind is closed and sealed. Personally, I promised myself that I would never preach. The thought terrified me. I had stage fright so bad that my knees shook, and my stomach knotted at the thought. Not going to do it - No way, no how, no time, no place. And you can’t make me. We think that way all the time, don’t we? We make up our minds about something and that’s it. We’ve decided. You’ve reached a firm conclusion and it’s not going to change. You’re positive that you’ve got a handle on the truth, and that’s it. Your mind is closed and sealed. No one’s going to mess with it. Like the disciples, we become sealed against faith in God’s promises. But, God wants to tamper with the neat, secure seals in your lives, the ones that we have made. God wants to open your hard, closed heart and your narrow, sealed thinking and give you a new way of experiencing all of life—God’s way. God wants to break the seals that limit your faith, and constrain your Christian living. The disciples had made up their minds about Jesus and his death. But God came and broke their silly seals of certainty. God still does that today, still coming to people and opening minds to saving faith, and breaking stony hearts. God takes even the closed, sealed lives of hurt and bitter people and forces them open, breaking the foolish seals and pouring in his love. If your mind is closed and sealed, if your heart is hard and tight about someone or something—watch out! God is determined to break that seal. Through the Word and through his truthful messengers God will challenge your neat, clean and incredibly wrong ideas and conclusions, and give you instead his amazing, liberating truth. God delights in breaking seals. Dozens of seals were broken on Easter morning, and hundreds more will be broken this morning. God wants to break yours. Don’t put limits on God. Don’t tell God what can’t be done in your life. Don’t tell God what you can’t do as you follow him. Don’t try to be God. Let God be God, and you can be God’s follower. All things are possible through Christ Jesus our Lord. For the disciples, an Easter resurrection was impossible. It could not be. But God had a different idea. If you’ve closed and sealed God out of some part of your life, you can be sure that God has another idea. You can be certain, that God will break that seal and open you up to his truth and his love. And then, broken and open, God will seal you with his seal—the seal of his perfect purpose for your life, the seal of his eternal promise of eternal life. Your old seals are broken. Now you’re now sealed with God’s seal: the seal of resurrection life, the sign of the cross, and that seal, he will never break. May the Grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Risen Christ, and the love of God keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 03:15:23 +0000
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