Theme:
The Resurrection
“ I am with you always, to the very end of the
age............” Matt. 28.20
As we read
in Matthew 28 of men and women caught up in the great sweeping experience of
those hours and days when they met Jesus, risen from
the dead...... we read of their fear, and joy, doubt and worship. It is striking how fear and joy, doubt and
worship run into each other. Dorothy Sayers, the novelist and playwright once
wrote
What are we
to make of these words: "And the third day he rose again." One thing
is certain: when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, God has done a new thing, and
if God has done a new thing in Jesus Christ then our lives our bound up with it,
for he is a human being like ourselves. Now
we may call this exhilarating, or we may call it devastating; we may call it
revelation, or we may call it rubbish; but we cannot call it dull. The first days
after the resurrection of Jesus are certainly not dull. We read of the vast
range of the experience of the disciples: fear, and joy, doubt and worship
For example, the
gospel of John tells us : Both Peter and John ran to
the tomb….. and John arrived there first and looked inside .. in
that moment of awestruck silence…….. we are told, John saw and believed - the truth of what had
happened grasped hold of him. Jesus was risen. Or Mark 16, for example, we read that the
women Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the garden.
They find the stone rolled back, we read that they shook with fear, they were bewildered, and overwhelmed. What had
happened was at that moment beyond their grasp.
And small wonder. This is too great to grasp. For three years
now, the disciples have seen the Lord conversing, eating, healing, sailing in
the fishing boats, seen him crucified, dead, laid in a tomb, and now this.........
after the empty grave, Jesus, risen, and speaking with them. What has happened
is too great a thing for these men and women to at first grasp for this is an
infinitely great thing - a new era. In the resurrection of Jesus, a single
event, has taken place, which even now
is on the very edge of our understanding, almost beyond comprehension. For
God’s power, that same power that created the universe – has raised Jesus from
the dead. So, no wonder we see a range
of responses and reactions to what has happened.
And then these simple, quiet moments when he
meets with His disciples. In an Upper Room, in the garden, on
the shore, on a road in the twilight. The risen Lord meets with His
disciples.These are moments of such significance, a new era for the world, yet
they take place in such quietness, and ordinariness
But these are moments of deep significance, a new era .
Why ? Well, because Jesus, who meets the disciples here in
This morning we pause to
listen for a moment to the very last verse of Matthew’s gospel, these words of
the risen Lord Jesus: Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the world. These words were spoken at the end of the days in which the
risen Jesus met, and spoke with His disciples, and so they are enormously precious, and very significant for us. You see, Matthew has
described for us how Jesus was crucified, how the tomb was found empty, and the
facts of the resurrection, how over the space of the following days, Jesus met
the disciples.
Here is the risen Jesus, who speaks in
the last verse of Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew’s gospel, we have the last words
of the risen Jesus, as
He speaks to the disciples, here we have what He says. These words are
especially precious - because they are the last recorded words, in Matthew’s
gospel, of Jesus who is risen, who has been raised by God’s wonderful power
from the dead !
The words are these: “ Lo, I am with you always, even unto the very
end of the world............” Jesus
Christ, risen from the dead declares that He is with us. With each one of us,
with the Church, with all those who put their trust in Him. Jesus Christ, risen
declares that He is with us. Let us
reflect on this for a moment.
This is is Easter Sunday, Easter
Sunday morning: and as believers this morning it is that we declare this: Jesus
Christ is risen, and
He is with us. In an indissoluble tie, He has bound Himself to us. His
words are these: “ Lo, I am with you always, even unto the very
end of the world............” Jesus
Christ, risen from the dead declares that He is with us. With each one of us,
with the Church, with all those who put their trust in Him. Jesus Christ, risen
declares that He is with us.
When we consider these words of
Jesus we find that they are both fact and promise. Someone reading the New
Testament, say, comes to the end of the Gospel. Perhaps they haven’t understood
an awful lot of what they have read. The teaching of Jesus seems fascinating,
about earthly power, love for enemies, trust in God.
The account of the Cross seesm rather gory and strange - but then, the person
reading continues, right to the very last words of the Gospel. To be met with
this astonishing word. “Lo, I am........” the word of Jesus........ and here is the fact. Though put to death, crucified, Jesus
still is. How ? In what way ?
not because He survived somehow. but
because something has happened here, a marvel, a miracle, a mystery. The gospel
tells us what it is .. it is
this: that God has raised His servant Jesus from the dead. “Lo, I am” says
Jesus. That is the fact.
But He continues........”Lo I am... with you” Here is the promise. Here
Jesus, risen from the dead promises His presence,
promises that He will not leave the disciples as they set out into the world.
Just as they knew Him and spoke with Him on the highways and byways, in the
towns and villages, the quiet places in
And what would happen, do you think,
if we really heard this word of Jesus “ Lo I am with
you.......” Wouldn’t it at once change us ? When He
says: “Lo I am with you........” this is not a piece of writing on a page - it
is a mighty promise, a true thing. Here
is Jesus Christ, saying to us......... “ Lo, I am” because
God has raised Him up from the dead. “Lo, I am with you.........” Hear that,
take it to yourself........ Lo, I am with you. It is His Word to you....... Lo
I am with you....... and taking it, let it sink deep down into the foundation
of your soul and rest there. When we hear the risen Jesus Christ say He is with
us, our wounds are healed, deep confidence takes the place of fear. For we know
this: that Christ is risen, and His word to us is
this: “Lo I am with you, even unto the end of the world!”
And then, through all the seasons
and changes of life, through the time when doubt shakes us, through the time
when loss drains us, we will look and we will find the word still there “Lo, I
am with you...........” we will listen and you will hear His Word still saying
“Lo I am with you........”. And this, right to the very end
of life itself........... for the word of Jesus
is “Lo, I am with you always”.
“Lo,
I am with you always”, this is not a
Bible verse that we learn by heart, but this is a promise from beyond us, that
comes to us, the promise of Jesus Christ who is risen, who is seated at the
right hand side of God. And it is not the strength of our faith that matters -
it is a promise which does not depend on us at all........ it
is Christ’s unshakeable promise to us. And He is Lord of all. And so, when the
tides run fast, the waters of life deepen, the current
runs strong, too strong. This word is
rock like. It is His personal word to you........ laid
deep in your soul.......
Lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world..............
AMEN.