WAITING ON GOD  ~ MARK 16:1-8

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- July 23, 2006

1The next evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene and Salome and Mary the mother of James went out and purchased burial spices to put on Jesus’ body. 2Very early on Sunday morning,? just at sunrise, they came to the tomb. 3On the way they were discussing who would roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. 4But when they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone—a very large one—had already been rolled aside. 5So they entered the tomb, and there on the right sat a young man clothed in a white robe. The women were startled, 6but the angel said, “Do not be so surprised. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. 7Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died!” 8The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, saying nothing to anyone because they were too frightened to talk.

The women who cared so much about Jesus had been waiting for this moment. The Sabbath had ended at sundown on Saturday after Jesus was crucified and placed in the garden tomb by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They had followed them and saw where they had buried Jesus. And now they can go into the market place and make the purchases needed to give Jesus a proper burial.

The work they have in mind…this labor of love…will have to await the dawning of the next day, Sunday. It is too late for them to go to the tomb now. Tomorrow will have to be soon enough.

How often does God make us wait for something? It is Quite often, if we are really honest about it. There are times when God seems to have left us in whatever situation we are struggling with. There are reasons for what God does and how he does it, but those reasons don’t make the waiting any easier. Spiritual growth comes in the times of waiting on or for God.

These women had to wait and now our text describes their journey to the tomb. It is very early in the morning on Sunday. It is just after sunrise and they are on their way. One wonders how they slept through the night, as anxious as they were to get to the tomb and finish the work of preparing Jesus’ body for burial. Because of the swiftness of  decay, bodies were and still are buried the same day as death occurs in that part of the world. They are making haste because this is already the third day and Jesus has been in the tomb a day and a half already.

Their one concern is what to do about the stone that covers the entrance to the tomb. “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” is their question to each other. They just figured that it would work itself out in one way or another. And off they go on the mission before them.

We know the story, having heard it so many times. They look up and see that the stone has been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. And in they went, after all they have a mission to complete. Upon entering the tomb, they see two young men dressed in white robes sitting on the right side of the tomb.

The women are alarmed. The young men startle them. They certainly don’t expect to see anything but the body of Jesus there.
You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.
“See the place where they laid him.” the young men say. And of course, they saw that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb.

We know from the other Gospel accounts that there in the tomb were the grave clothes which had been wrapped around Jesus by Joseph and Nicodemus. They were lying there intact, outlining the form of Jesus’ body. Only the covering of the head was out of place off to the side.

The young man knew that they would want to see Jesus and Jesus would want to see them. So they tell them “…go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
There you will see him is the message. You will see him in Galilee, but you will not have to wait that long. That is what we are waiting on God for. And it will be worth the wait!

It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain, Christianity Today, p. 46.
Jesus appeared to Mary in the garden near the tomb and she did not recognize him. She thought that he was the gardener. Jesus appeared to two of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. They did not recognize him as he walked along with them. That is interesting. Jesus in his resurrection body was not recognized by them until he wanted them to see who he was.
 

He appeared to the disciples who had gathered in the upper room. We know the story of Thomas who was not there when Jesus appeared to them. He said he wouldn’t believe until he saw for himself. And then Jesus appeared to them again when he was there and he challenged Thomas to believe that it was him.

And then he left them. Off to Galilee go the disciples, back to fishing. Jesus met them there and as they were passing by Jesus called out to them: “Friends haven’t you caught any fish?” (John 21:5) The answer of course was “No!” And Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. They would find some there. They cast their net there and caught a large number of fish. Peter recognized that it was the Lord. And he jumped in the water and swam to shore.

Once ashore, they found that Jesus had breakfast ready for them…bread and fish.
This was the third time the disciples had seen Jesus after his resurrection. Once again they had to wait to see him again.

 It seems as if we, like the disciples, are always waiting to see Jesus, waiting to see God act, waiting to see what God is going to do or how he is going to provide what we need.
G. Campbell Morgan once said:  “Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort.  Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.”

It is Matthew who gives us the command of Jesus that is to occupy us as we wait for Jesus to return: “As you go into the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What are we waiting for? Well, we call it Heaven. It is a timeless place where everything you or I could ever imagine or desire will be part of our experience.
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, he made sure that the disciples understood something about his resurrection body. They did not recognize him immediately on several occasions. He was different and yet the same. They could touch him, could see him. He could eat and yet he could come an go instantly and appear inside locked rooms whenever he wanted. Jesus was demonstrating the reality of the resurrection to these friends.

We are waiting for that day. We don’t know everything about what we are waiting for but the Apostle Paul has given us important pieces of the puzzle in 1 Corinthians 15:35-41
     35But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a dry little seed of wheat or whatever it is you are planting. 38Then God gives it a new body—just the kind he wants it to have. A different kind of plant grows from each kind of seed. 39And just as there are different kinds of seeds and plants, so also there are different kinds of flesh—whether of humans, animals, birds, or fish.
     40There are bodies in the heavens, and there are bodies on earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the beauty of the earthly bodies. 41The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their beauty and brightness.
     42It is the same way for the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. 43Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. 44They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies.

He goes to nature and says, you put a seed in the ground. The seed dies, but it produces in that death something new. A plant rises up from the soil. It is quite different than the seed that was planted. It would never have come up without the planting and dying of the seed.
And then he tells us that there are bodies that are celestial  and those that are terrestrial. Each is different and each has its own glory.

And then Paul connects the thought with the resurrection:
     43Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. 44They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies.
After his resurrection, Jesus had a spiritual body. That body was no longer subject to or limited by the physical laws that govern the world in which we live. He was the same. He could eat, could be touched, but he was different.

Jesus was with them and then he vanished. He was with them and he vanished. He was there again and he vanished. He was getting his disciples ready for the time when he would leave them, but he wanted them to know that he was still able to be with them even if he was invisible to the human eye. “Í will never leave you nor forsake you.” he said.
That is the kind of body we will have. That is what we are waiting for.  Heaven is a reality that will bless us because we will no longer be limited by the physical limitations under which we live now. No more will we be troubled with physical limitations, illness or sorrow.

James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986. Packer gives us the following:
As I get older, I find that I appreciate God and people and good and lovely and noble things more and more intensely; so it is pure delight to think that this enjoyment will continue and increase in some form (what form, God knows, and I am content to wait and see), literally forever. In fact Christians inherit the destiny which fairy tales envisaged in fancy: we (yes, you and I the silly saved sinners) live and live happily, and by God's endless mercy will live happily ever after.

We cannot visualize heaven's life and the wise man will not try to do so. Instead he will dwell on the doctrine of heaven, where the redeemed will find all their heart's desire: joy with their Lord, joy with his people, and joy in the ending of all frustration and distress and in the supply of all wants. What was said to the child -- "If you want sweets and hamsters in heaven, they'll be there" -- was not an evasion but a witness to the truth that in heaven no felt needs or longings go unsatisfied. What our wants will actually be, however, we hardly know, except the first and foremost: we shall want to be "always...with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17).

What shall we do in heaven? Not lounge around but worship, work, think, and communicate, enjoying activity, beauty, people, and God. First and foremost, however, we shall see and love Jesus, our Savior, Master, and Friend.
Scripture tells us “We shall be like him, for we shall be with him.” What a glorious day that will be.

In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn't profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have influenced by Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here's what he wrote:

The Body of B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book
Its contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Guilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms,
But the Work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ'd,
Appear once more
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and amended by the Author.
 
Benjamin Franklin.

Amen!

What are you waiting on God for?
What spiritual growth will take place in your life while you wait?
How will you become a better disciple of Jesus because you are waiting?

The resurrection of Jesus is the heart of Christianity. The hope we share of our resurrection is also at the heart of Christianity. Is this what you are waiting for?
If  it is it will be worth the wait!

--Dennis Gleason