Assumptions
and Accusations
Keith
M. McFarren
Easter
Sunday
April
20, 2025
John
20:1-18
    “He is risen!”  “He is risen indeed!” These
are the words that have been repeated over and over again throughout the ages
and will continue to be repeated because these are the words that affirm our Christian
belief.  This is our good news!  This is what makes us happy this morning.  This is what puts joy in our hearts.
    But I have to wonder.  Does everyone know what we know?  Should we assume that everyone knows the Easter
story?  Should we assume that everyone
has read the bible and knows exactly what we know?  Are we to assume that everyone out there is
feeling the same joy and happiness that we feel this morning?
    Maybe we assume too much.  Maybe we’re like Mary and we assume things
just like she did.  The 15th
Chapter of Mark tells us that Mary was there on Friday as Jesus hung on the
cross.  She was there when he took his
last breath.  She watched Joseph of
Arimathea take Jesus’ body and place it in the tomb.  And she was there when they rolled the huge
stone in front of the tomb to seal it.
    She left home that morning while it was
still dark.  It was Sunday and like many
people she probably should have been sleeping in a little bit to catch with all
the sleep she’d missed in the last few days.
But she had trouble sleeping.  She
was restless.  
    But she had always been restless – that is
until she met Jesus.  He was the only
person who had ever made her feel healthy and whole.    She had been with him a long time.  She had followed him and she had listened to
him and she had watched him as he spread his Good News of God’s love throughout
the land.  When she was with Jesus it was
like all the demons in her life disappeared and vanished into thin air and she
was walking on Cloud 9.
    She’d been through a lot with him and
these last few days had sent her life into a tailspin.  She had wanted to spend some time by herself today
as she grieved for her friend Jesus, so she Mary went to the tomb early that
morning expecting to find it just as it was when she left it on Friday.  But to her surprise she found that the huge
stone had been moved away and she ran to tell the disciples what had happened.
    “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,
and we do not know where they have laid him.” (John 20:2)
Now what the scripture tells
us is that she “saw the stone had been
moved” and she said that “they have taken the Lord.”  She didn’t go in and check for herself to see
if Jesus was gone.  She saw that the
stone had been moved so “she assumed” or “she figured” that “they” took
Jesus.  Mary “assumed” she knew everything
that had happened based on her first impressions.
    Which make us a lot like Mary. We’re
guilty of assuming things too, aren’t we?
Raquel Mull tells the story of living in the downtown area of
Albuquerque, New Mexico and of a homeless man who lived in a refrigerator box
near her apartment.  He was dirty, and
raggedy looking with a scroungy beard and very secretive.  She said that she was afraid of him and did
her best to stay away from him just because of the way he looked.  
    Raquel’s next door neighbor was a cat
lover and she gradually got to know the “Man in the box” as she called him
because he had a little kitten.  Because
of their love for cats, her neighbor got to know the “Man in the box” and went
so far as to help him find a job.  “Life is so strange” her neighbor said one day.  “I
am surprised that he would take the job of dishwasher and be grateful – a job
completely below his education and ability.”
    Imagine my shock, Mull writes, when I
learned that the “Man in the box” had a PhD in Physics.  He had been through a messy divorce which led
to a serious bout with depression and he ended up losing everything and that
was how he ended up in his current situation.
She saw him two years later and he was still washing dishes, but he had
his own apartment and was happy with the way his life turned out.
    We base our assumptions on appearance,
don’t we?  And ironically, we don’t only
do it with people like the “Man in the box” but we do it with movie stars and
popular singers.  
    We see these people on award shows and
doing interviews and they look so happy, so sure of themselves.  Our children and our grandchildren idolize
these people and say “Boy, if I could be just like them.  If I could live their lifestyle.”  
    To look at these people we would think
they have the world by the tail.  Life is
grand.  Plenty of money, lots of
friends.  But in reality…for many of
them, their lives are a shambles.  They
are unhappy, they drink too much, they take drugs, their families are
dysfunctional. What we see on the outside isn’t always what is going on, on the
inside.
    What you see is not always the truth.  We see things and we assume things without
knowing the whole story and then what we find out is that what we are assuming
or what we think is true is totally wrong.
    Mary saw that the stone was gone that
morning and accused “them” of taking Jesus.
These past three years had been nothing but troubles and problems and
harassment from the authorities so she just naturally assumed it was the Roman
authorities or the Jewish authorities trying to get rid of the troublemaker’s
body once and for all…you know, “out of sight out of mind” or, then again,
possibly it could have even been grave robbers.

    “Peter and the other disciple ran to the
tomb to see.  The other disciple outran
Peter and got there first.  He stooped
and looked in...then Peter arrived and went inside.  Then the other disciple also went in, and he
saw and believed.”
They went inside to see for
themselves. They didn’t assume anything.
The clothing was neatly folded and Jesus was gone.  They
saw and they believed.
    It sounds so simple.  But not everyone believes.  There are people outside the four walls of
this church that have never heard of Jesus.
There are people outside the walls of this church who have never heard
of the Easter story.  There are people
outside the four walls of this church and maybe some right here today that
don’t believe or maybe have their doubts that a person could be dead and is now
alive.  
    In his book, There I Go Again, Steven Moseley tells about Anna Pavlova, a Russian
ballet superstar of the early 1900s.  Pavlova
had been described as the greatest ballerina ever. But her most memorable performance,
took place after she died.

    Anna was to play the role she made
famous, the Dying Swan, at the Apollo Theatre in London but she contracted
pneumonia and she died two days before the event.

    But, as they say, “the show must go
on” and despite her death, on the appointed night, the Apollo Theatre was jam
packed with people.  The orchestra began
playing, the curtain rose, and a spotlight flashed through the darkness that
filled the stage, and the entire audience rose to its feet. As the music played
everyone stood gazing at the light wandering around on the dark stage, as they
remembered Anna Pavlova.  
    In their hearts they could see Anna on stage,
dressed in white with flashing dark eyes. And when the music stopped, they gave
Anna a thunderous ovation that echoed on for fifteen minutes.

     An empty stage with only a
spotlight.  Anna Pavlova had died two
days earlier but in the hearts of the people who were there that night Anna
Pavlova was still alive.

    This is the experience of Easter.  Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb and
on the third day, on Easter morning, the tomb was empty.  But it was empty because he had been resurrected
and he was alive.  And in the hearts and
minds of his disciples, and in the hearts and minds of all who believe today, Jesus
continues to be alive and Jesus will continue to live forever.
    In the 10th Chapter of Romans
Paul tells the Christians in Rome “if you
confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
    But then he goes on to ask this question, “How can they call on him to save them
unless they believe in him?  And how can
they believe in him if they have never heard about him?And how
can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and
tell them without being sent?
    How can people know about Jesus? How can
they believe in Jesus?  How can people
believe this Easter story if they have never heard about it?  And who will tell them?  Who will be sent out to tell these people the
Good News of what has happened this morning?
    Let me give you a hint.  The Prophet Isaiah said “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News” (52:7).So, let’s take a minute and bend over and take a good look at those beautiful
feet that Isaiah is talking about.  Those
beautiful feet…are your feet!
    As a Christian who believes in the life
and in the death and in the resurrection of Jesus, you have been appointed by
God to bring the Good News to others.  This
becomes our job as Christians.  This
becomes our job as believers.  
    Our job is to move the stone away from the
tomb so that others can have the opportunity to look in and believe also.  Our job is to let others see that he is
alive.  Our job is to let others see that
there is life after death.  Our job is to
let others see that they too can have that eternal life that we’re talking
about this morning.
    But before we can go out and move the
stone, we need to make sure there is nothing blocking our view or our path to
Jesus.  Before we can go out and move
stones for other people, we need to make sure that we don’t have any stones in
our lives that need to be moved.
    You see there are so many different types
of stones in our lives that need to be moved so that we can get a better
glimpse of Jesus.  Stones of hatred, of
self-pride, of prejudice, of selfishness, of anger and of greed and so many
others.  Anything that stands in the way
of keeping us from making disciples for Jesus or sharing God’s love with others
or anything that prevents us from living the resurrection life the way God
wants us to live is a stone that needs to be moved.  
    A stone that needs to be rolled away so
that we can be better Christians.  A
stone that needs to be moved so that the accusations and the assumptions of
others who don’t know Jesus can be brought to light and overcome…all so we can
better tell the Easter story to others.
    Three important words can make a difference
in your life.  Three powerful words –He is Risen!  This is our Good News.  This is our source of joy this morning.  It’s the knowledge that the steadfast love of
the Lord endures forever.
    This morning, we have a promise of new
life.  We have a promise that we can
receive and then live in the power of the resurrection….to rely not on our own
strength, but on the endless grace, love, light and hope of Jesus Christ.
    That’s because God is always at work for
good, always bringing light to our darkness, always bringing hope to our
despair, and always turning tragedy into triumph.
    He is Risen!  He is alive!
That alone assures us that nothing, not hardship, or failure, or even
death can separate us from the love of God that comes to us through Jesus
Christ.
    He is Risen!  He is alive!
May you believe.  Now go, and let
the world know.