Living Outside the Tomb

 Nine dots in a 3×3 grid. The task is to connect the nine dots with four straight lines without lifting your pen or pencil from the page until you have drawn all four lines. Go ahead and try it right now. Did you figure it out? Unless you have seen this before, most people struggle with this task because they limit themselves. They are reluctant to take the lines outside the perceived boundaries formed by the outside dots. Anyone can easily connect all but one dot with four lines. The secret to connecting all the dots is to draw outside the box, outside the nine dots. (Click here to see puzzle and solution). By drawing outside the box, outside of your preconceived limitations, it is actually quite easy.

 

I wonder how often the problems in our lives are a result of self-imposed limitations or boundaries. Too often we limit our perspective. We think about what in this world has worked for others, what we grew up learning will work for us and the experiences we have had in this hard and cruel world. We accept the limits of medicine and physical science and restrict ourselves to the things of this world. In doing so, we so often fail to see the solutions to our problems that are in greatness of God! We need to get and maintain an Easter perspective on things. We need to understand that we are “Living Outside the Tomb.” We are here today celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord. He is living outside the tomb, and we need to do the same. We need to share in the experience of Mary Magdalene and Peter and John.

John 20:1-9   1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Everything that has happened in your life, your education, your upbringing, your life experiences, all those help you live inside your world. And your world is limited by space and time. You have certain truths, certain realities that are limits. Mary and Peter and John were the same way. On that first Easter, they were limited by what they knew:

• They knew that Jesus was dead.
• They knew where He was buried.
• They knew they must wait until the Sabbath was over to tend to the dead body of their friend.
• They knew He would be in the tomb when they went there on Sunday morning.

Their world was limited by cause and effect. Mary and Peter and John understood death as the end of life. The loss of death was followed by grief, not joy, not hope. So it was a grieving Mary who made her way to the tomb so early on that first day of the week. Her Lord, her friend was gone. He was dead. She would never see Him again. All she could do was see His cold corpse one last time. That is what her world, her experiences had taught her.

But Jesus was not there. Even the hope of one last glimpse of His dead body was taken away. Thinking from her perspective with all its limits, she despaired. Not only was her friend dead, but now His body was gone, no doubt stolen by His enemies, and she would not be allowed to bring closure to her grieving. She was thinking inside the limitations of what she knew was true, what she had imposed on herself because of her life experiences.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

They didn’t understand. We should not fault them for that. They were going by what they knew to be true. They were operating within the limits of death and the tomb. They didn’t know to think outside the tomb, outside of their limits. This became necessary because God stepped in. God intervened and changed everything. Life is opened up beyond earthly limits. God is above space and time. God is beyond all laws of cause and effect. God raised Jesus from death to life. That was not possible to their way of thinking, because they did not understand that with God all things are possible. Jesus did rise. He is alive. He is now present everywhere. We get to be with Jesus. Death has been transformed from an end to a beginning. Life is freed from its limits. Mary and Peter and John were forced to think beyond what they knew to be true. They were forced to live outside the tomb. The Spirit was starting to make this known to them.

 The first thing they were made to understand is that death need not be the end. Sin brings death, and sin brought the death of their Master and friend, Jesus. It was not His sin, but ours that led to His death. But that was not the end. Jesus provided His death to pay for sin, then triumphed over death by rising again on the Third Day. And He promises that all who believe in Him will conquer death with Him. We get to be with Jesus, and that has already started! Faith lays claim to the life and victory and salvation that Jesus earned.

If that is true, and it is, what other wonderful things will you discover when you think beyond the limits of this world, when you live outside the tomb? We are just like Mary and Peter and John. We limit ourselves by what we know in the here and now, in this world. So we need to be reminded that Christ is risen, and that changes everything.

• Prayer is a powerful weapon that we have that we too often leave out of our everyday situations. Living outside the tomb you will not hesitate to talk every situation over with God in prayer.
• When you live outside the tomb, just because someone disagrees with you or hurts your feelings does not mean you should treat her like an enemy. Those who live outside the tomb, who know Jesus is with them and are willing to understand and take seriously what Jesus said: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you Matthew 5:44
• (Couples who live outside the tomb will recognize that seemingly irreconcilable differences need not end in divorce. A living Jesus gives you a different perspective on things.)
• Living outside the tomb you recognize that mistakes need not end in failure, and that failure does not mean giving up! Isn’t it sad when people say, “Oh, we tried that once and it didn’t work!” and use that as an excuse not to ever try anything again? Those who live outside the tomb know the freeing power God gives to try and try and try again, covered with His grace and mercy, and knowing that whatever you do for Him will be blessed.
• Those who live outside the tomb don’t have to worry about being in the tomb. That has been taken care of by Christ. After dying to pay the price for the sins of all men, He rose to proclaim His triumph, and makes it available to all people. You know that death no longer has any mastery over Him nor those who are followers of and believers in Jesus. We are with Jesus. We get to be with Him all the time, which changes the way we live.

Do we understand that Jesus is Risen? Does that influence what you say and do and how you make decisions and the perspective you take? You know that Christ is with you through His Word and Baptism and Communion. You receive His grace in your lives through these things, which makes you certain of His forgiveness and His presence. You live free from death and the devil. You live with new life every day as you recall what Jesus did for us by His death and rising again to life. You live outside the tomb!

So the question is, “Can you really see beyond the tomb?”  Many cannot. They desperately want to, but lack the perspective of faith in Jesus, they don’t live with Jesus, so they cannot see beyond death and the grave. They are grieving as those who have no hope and in desperation grasping at straws. They are trying to see beyond the tomb in the wrong places. Think of how badly people want to see beyond the tomb. They turn to mysticism or “New Age” or channeling or horoscopes. Popular movies and television shows offer hope in Ghost whisperers and mediums and time travelers. People are looking for hope, looking for answers, but they are looking in the wrong places. We know the answer that they seek. It depicted by a light shining from the empty tomb, the light of Jesus Christ. He defeated death. He shattered the bonds that tried to hold Him in the tomb. He rose from death to live forever outside the tomb! And being with Jesus, we are living with Him outside the tomb!

1 Corinthians 15:20-23  20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

Jesus lives as the resurrected Lord. The Good News here is that He is the first fruits of those who will live outside the tomb. Others will follow. Through faith in Him, you are able to join Him in living outside the preconceived boundaries that sin has imposed. You can live with Christ outside the tomb, out there on the edge. Jesus is the beginning of your new life in Christ. You can live in new ways with him who made you alive in the first resurrection. Baptized into Christ Jesus you have the new perspective of the resurrection. You live outside the tomb now. And you will live outside the tomb for eternity.

A woman named Carol was the organist at her church. She was an outstanding musician, but she did something no organist should ever do. She overslept one Easter morning and missed the sunrise service. And she was so embarrassed. Of course, the minister and the church forgave her. They teased her about it a little, but it was done lovingly and in good fun. However, the next Easter, her phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Jolted awake by the loud ringing, she scrambled to answer it. It was the minister, and he said, “Carol, it’s Easter morning! The Lord is risen! … And I suggest you do the same!”

Jesus is risen and living outside the tomb … and I suggest you do the same. 

• I know that my Redeemer lives…outside the tomb.
• I know that I should live my life … outside the tomb.
• I know that I will live forever … outside the tomb.

I know all this because He is Risen! He is risen Indeed. Amen.