Morning friends glad you're here you guys clearly got the memo it's under 80 degrees which means it's sweater weather today you all looking great I got my best mr. Rogers look going today so hopefully yeah you can you can keep that sweater on most of the day I know it's going to warm up a little bit later but yeah guys glad you're here thanks for joining us once upon a time there was a lion a witch and a wardrobe yep Caitlin knew Caitlin knew as soon as I started it and a half goat half man creature named mr. Tumnus who everyone really believes is their favorite right those characters along with many more make up the amazing world of Narnia anybody raised on Narnia growing up yeah yeah lots of fans of Narnia in the room if you weren't raised on Narnia I'm not saying your childhood was incomplete but you might need to do some researching

I've got a background here for you just in case this wasn't something you were as familiar with growing up in the most famous book in the series we are introduced to the Pevensie children they're four siblings who are playing one day when they stumble upon a magical wardrobe and in playing some hide -and -seek they make their way to the back and discover this magical world of Narnia it's full of beauty and wonder and joy but there's a catch when they get there Narnia lives in perpetual winter at least right now it does there's an evil white witch who really only cares about getting power and control over the world of Narnia but she has control for the sake of her own self -preservation even if that means tarnishing the whole of the world of Narnia to do it can you imagine someone in power treating others that way

and then she has wrestled that sort of control through a combination of magic and brute force and cunning and so she rules with an iron fist she makes all of the citizens of Narnia permanently live in perpetual winter and all the beauty of this place is buried under heaps of snow people in Narnia actually have a phrase to describe what life in Narnia is like right now they say it's always winter but never Christmas always winter never Christmas and I don't know about you but those words can feel pretty familiar to me does it ever feel like in recent months or years like we're lost in winter and that Christmas is never coming

the winter of war and violence across multiple continents that cause entire nations to split and take sides and ultimately exposes when we're not as advanced in peace as we'd like to think we are a winter of grief and pain over a diagnosis or a crisis or a crisis or a crisis or a crisis or a crisis or a crisis or a death or divorce or a job loss that just hangs over our lives like the gray clouds of winter the winter of an American consumer culture constantly telling us to get more and more and more and our souls never being satisfied the winter of a world where avocado toast is the primary barrier to homeownership of us know the feeling of winter but no Christmas

and the Pevensie children they are navigating through Narnia and they start to see how this perpetual winter is affecting people so many folks have just given up hope their hearts have become icy as they've forgotten the warmth and life of spring and even the children themselves start to feel this there's something about living in a world of hopelessness where you kind of just start to take it into your own life but one day as if by a divine hand in some way they're introduced to a family of beavers which is a normal Tuesday in Narnia and during a meal with those beavers mr. and mrs. beaver tell the history of the place

as it turns out the white witch doesn't have all the power there's actually a representative of the true king of Narnia who has the authority to overthrow the white witch who can bring spring back and as it turns out that representative according to the beavers has already arrived on the scene his name is Aslan he's a lion at once strong and mighty and yet soft and compassionate which means the fact that he's in Narnia means at any time around any corner you might just find Aslan or better yet Aslan might find you this fills the children with excitement that they hadn't experienced since they arrived in perpetual winter they have a real hope that winter doesn't win it's all summed up in one sentence that mr. and mrs. beaver say to the children when they're having a meal they say Aslan is on the move Aslan is on the move

you guys here's the truth winter is all around us and it can often feel completely disorienting to live in a world that seems completely hopeless and like we're taking two steps forward and three steps back many of us feel lost unsure of how things are gonna go and we're lost in a world that doesn't seem like it's heading in any good direction we're fragmented we're torn from our neighbors there's no shared purpose or good or meaning that we can derive in our work it seems most of us live with this low -grade despair and we try to push it away through brunch and scrolling but friends you and I need to hear the words of mr. and mrs. beaver again Aslan is on the move winter and Christmas isn't the real story something someone is already on the move ahead of us and redemption and restoration even now are breaking in

continuing in a teaching series here at Midtown during the season of Advent we're calling it the weary world rejoices Advent is the season as Ken and Helen explained that Christians have observed for thousands of years it's all about looking right at the winter of our world staring right at the darkness and the pain and the loss and naming it for what it is but also remembering that that does not have the final word but there is a final word that belongs to a Christmas Day an arrival of someone far away than a magical lion and today we get to explore the remarkable truth upon which the whole of the Christian faith is built today the very reality upon which everything hinges today we remember that Jesus has arrived and Jesus is on the move

so friends if you have a Bible open it with me to the Gospel of Matthew we're gonna be in the final chapter of the book of Matthew Matthew 28 if you're flipping in your Bibles Matthew's the first book in your New Testament if you don't have a Bible by the way that's okay the words are gonna be behind me on the screen so you can follow along if you're not already following along there Matthew 28 starting in verse 1 after the Sabbath as the first day of the week was dawning Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb and suddenly there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled back the stone and sat on it appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow for fear of him the guard shook and became like dead men but the angel said to the women of the world else que sólo are of de la torre Madagascar been raised as he said come see the place where he lay and then go quickly and Junior looked towards the side careful with a zoom away says he had B raised from the dead and indeed he's going ahead of you to Galilee there you will see him this is my message for you they left to you quickly with and great joy and ran to tell his disciples and suddenly Jesus branches Andes in queda And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Right at the start of our passage, we're introduced to Mary and Mary. Not to be confused with Mary, Mary. Do you guys remember Mary, Mary? Yes, a couple. See, this is another one of those like, oh, I'm aged. I know Mary, Mary. Yeah, back in the day. The iconic pop duo, not Mary and Mary. Mary, Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and John. And these two Marys in Matthew 28 are in the midst of the hardest 48 hours of their lives. They're walking towards a tomb, and they feel utterly lost. Just a quick recap on how they got here. Prior to this morning, they'd been following this Jesus guy around for multiple years. And proximity to him had utterly transformed them. His teaching, his miracles, his presence changed their lives. We know, for instance, that Mary Magdalene had, seven demons cast out of her by Jesus. She went from being a complete social outcast and demeaned mental patient to being utterly beloved and cherished in the eyes of Jesus and his followers. It's not an exaggeration to say that Jesus changed her life. And it's that sort of love and power that has caused this Mary to say, look, I'm with him. Whatever has happened to me because of him, that's enough to change the world. That's enough to give my life to. And so she, alongside tons of other folks who had similar stories, have staked their lives to the notion that Jesus is the Messiah, the one bringing life and redemption and restoration to all things. They have a plan. Jesus is going to do it. And if we follow Jesus, it's going to happen. The plan is going to work out. And then it utterly crumbles before their eyes. One of their good friends, one of the people in their close -knit community, sold Jesus out for a small amount of money. As it turns out, not everyone can see the same truth and love and power, even when it's right in front of them. And so Jesus was dragged in the middle of the night to a sham trial full of contradictory and lying witnesses. It would be laughable. If it wasn't so tragic, he was proven innocent, but condemned guilty, a miscarriage of justice. And then without any due process of law, he was brutally beaten in the street by the cops in front of everyone. If there had been cell phones and the internet, it'd be all over the place. And he was forced to carry his own torture device up a hill, stumbling and bleeding and bruised, and then he was strung up naked. We often picture Jesus on the cross in a loincloth. That's not how crucifixion worked. Crucifixion was designed to be the most shameful punishment possible, to keep anyone from wanting to do any sort of crime, and so they hung him up naked. And then he died in a quiet and shameful end. His limp body was peeled from that cross, wrapped, and prepared for burial. And these Marys watched the whole thing happen. In fact, Mary Magdalene is the only person mentioned in the Gospels who was present for all of it. The trial, the crucifixion, the burial, and now, this morning, at the tomb. All the male disciples, all the dudes, they betrayed Jesus. They were too scared. They couldn't handle this, but not Mary. She looks it all in the face. What remarkable strength, what committed love from this woman. And then at the end of chapter 27, these Marys watched as Jesus' dead and wrapped body was placed in a tomb. And they stared. We hear about this in chapter 27. They stared silent as the grave into the dark abyss of that hopeless space. Their wordless grief was soundtracked only by the rolling of a massive stone over the entrance. And that was it. The one that they had given their lives to. The story that they had believed about God's work in the world, the direction their life was headed. It all fell apart. Their hopes and dreams were buried behind an insurmountable stone, sealed and shut up in the darkness and death that always seems to have the final word.

Have you ever had your plan or expectations utterly destroyed? Have you ever had a moment in your life where it felt like everything was crumbling? Have you ever felt hopelessly lost? That's where these women are in chapter 28. That's why they're walking towards the tomb. They know, just like every one of us, that dead people stay dead. That's one of the things about dead people. They're remarkably reliable. You always know where to find them. only reason they're walking to the grave on this morning is to grieve because they don't know where else to go. They're lost in winter.

Where are you feeling lost right now, friends? Where are you feeling like there's no way around this massive stone in front of my life? Are you lost in purpose or identity? Dissatisfied? Dissatisfied in work, wondering if there's any point to what you're doing? Lost in relationships, dealing with grief over something that went away? Lost in information overload, overwhelmed by the pain of the world that you can't ever really seem to make a difference in? Lost in disillusionment that life just hasn't gone the way you hoped? That you worked so hard and prayed so hard and hoped so hard and all that's left is disappointment? We all know the lostness of these women because we're all human with them. But then, suddenly, an earthquake.

They stop in their tracks. They strain their eyes and look through the hazy, dark morning and catch a glimpse of two Roman soldiers at the tomb. They were charged with guarding the tomb and they're looking around and freaking out. Like what is going on here? And then the sky opens up and with a crackling flash, an angel appears and descends into their midst. And the text does a really good job of describing what this experience was like. They say it's like brightness of lightning, but not just a flash. Lightning standing next to you. Permanent lightning. Lightning with clothes on. That's what the angel is in their midst here. And immediately, the Roman soldiers, these hardened warriors, representative of that Roman empire, they quake in fear. Whatever earthquake is going on around them is also going on inside of them. The empire is being shaken by this change and then they faint and appear dead. Matthew wants us to see a deep irony in that detail. The man who is inside the grave and supposedly dead is alive and the men guarding the tomb and supposedly alive fall like they're dead. As it turns out, not everyone who seems alive really is. And not everyone you think is dead really is. There's a great story from the old days at Princeton University that illustrates this cleverly. The story goes that after a lecture in a philosophy class, one student snuck his way to the board, grabbed some chalk and wrote, God is dead, signed Nietzsche. And then the next day there was text on the board. We don't know who put it there, another student or a professor, and the text below that read, Nietzsche is dead, signed God. God. And just to hammer home the overwhelming power of God that has triumphed over the grave in this story, the angel is super casual when he shows up. Do you notice that? He said, oh, that gigantic stone, the one that took like 10, 15 dudes to move it. Easy. Light work. Adorable. He rolls it to the side and then he plops down on it like it's a lazy boy. You can imagine him kicking his feet, kind of cleverly looking around. He sees the guards. He's like, oh, sorry guys. Didn't mean, you'll be fine. Just sleep it off. You'll be all right. And then he looks at the women and they're stunned, silent. And he's like, oh, I should probably do some clarifying here. I should probably make sure that they're on the same page. And he says these words, don't be afraid. You're looking for Jesus. Don't be afraid. You're looking for Jesus. That's something every one of us needs to hear in our wintry world, friends. See, so often we can only see what the Mary saw as they approached the tomb. We can only see what the Mary saw as they approached the tomb. We can only see that massive, immovable stone of pain or death or loss or grief. We can only see the way of the world where those things have the final word. We can only see really no way forward. But the actions and the words of the angel here are intentionally pointing us to a life -changing truth. The stone never has the final word. You guys, there is no situation, no experience, no loss, no grief, no pain, no sin, no shame, no disillusionment, no death, no thing that can stop God from bringing redemption and restoration into the world and into your lives. It might appear utterly immovable for you now. It might appear today like there is no hope, but in ways you can't even see or understand in the moment, God is already at work something entirely new. I like how author Frederick Buechner puts it in his book, The Final Beast. He says, the worst thing isn't the last thing about the world. It's the next to last thing. The last thing is the best. It's the power from on high that comes into the world that wells up from the rock bottom worst of the world like a hidden spring. Can you believe it? The last best thing is laughing deep in the hearts of the saints, sometimes our hearts even. Yes, you are terribly loved and forgiven. Yes, you are healed. All is well. Friends, that truth enables us to live differently. We have nothing to fear because we know the stone never gets the last word. We know Jesus does. And Jesus says to you and to me, I know what lostness, feels like. I know the pain and disillusionment. I know the grave. And here's the truth. I went into it came out on the other side of it. So now you can know you're never lost. You're never without hope. Come with me. I'm taking care of everything. Look to me. Follow me. I'll show you. You guys, you have nothing to fear when you look to Jesus. And the next words of the angel tell us exactly why. Jesus is not here for he has been raised as he said. I like that he throws in the as he said. I like that he throws in the as he said. I like that he throws in the as he said. there. I don't know if you caught that. It's as if the angel's like, yeah, he talked about like, you guys, did you not get the emails? Like, he was very clear. No one reads the email. Guy, read the emails. It's as if the angel doesn't realize how groundbreaking this news sounds to the ladies. Because to him, it's not groundbreaking. It's what God does. Of course, he raises from the dead. Of course, he moves the stone. Of course, he's alive. Why would you think anything different about the God of the universe who loves you? It was only 48 hours. You gave up in that time? And this angel's proclamation, it's the foundation of all of Christianity, friends. This is what it means to be a Christian, to believe that the fully God and fully man Jesus rose from the dead. And that because of that truth, your life and the life of the world takes on radically different shape. Because the pattern of power once prominent in the world is upended and usurped and dethroned. So Christ's arrival and Christ's resurrection means for us. This is why people in power didn't love it. Because it meant that there was something beyond them, that there was a control and a power bringing life that was beyond them. One of the early church fathers, Peter Chrysologus, puts it this way. He says, the order of things has changed. The tomb devours death and not the dead. The house of death becomes the mansion of life. Jesus has risen. And I know that is a wild thing to claim. It is crazy. Some of us in this room have staked our lives to that. Some of us in this room are like, I've got a question. I've got thoughts. I've got rebuttals. I've got angry diatribes. Those are my favorite things, by the way. But what's interesting is that the angel actually invites those sorts of questions. The angel understands that this is really hard for us mere mortals to believe. That's why he says, come, see the place where he lay. The angel doesn't say, blindly believe this wild and crazy claim. The angel says, come on in, explore. Ask questions, poke and prod and process this proclamation. And so wherever you're at in your spiritual journey, friends, following Jesus is not an easy thing. It's not an easy thing. It's not an easy thing. It's not an easy thing. It's not an easy thing. And it has never been about blind faith. A life of faith always lives in tension with doubt and always invites asking and wondering and questioning. And Christians and skeptics have explored this text and these claims for centuries. People have written entire books on them. I have books that I can recommend to you on exploring how in the world people actually started to believe this. And friends, the resurrection of Jesus makes complete rational sense when you look at the data. There are lots of reasons. I could give you all these reasons. I could tell you that no Jew in the first century believed that a man would rise from the dead in the middle of history. I could tell you that there were lots of other people who claimed to be Messiah before Jesus and after Jesus. And no one in that century said that any of those people rose from the dead. They said, oops, we missed it. There is no other reason to believe that a huge swath, hundreds and thousands of Jews in the first century chose to utterly change their theological paradigm in ways that would get them killed and persecuted unless they really believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They saw a risen Jesus. I could tell you that. I could tell you that if you were making this story up, it would make no sense to make women the primary witnesses. Because according to historian Josephus, no evidence could be accepted from a woman in court. No one listened to women. As the Greek critic of Christianity, Celsus, put it, he said, how can anyone expect rational men to listen to the testimony of a hysterical female? Yeah. No one listened to women. The only reason to include women as the first witnesses in every gospel account we have of the resurrection is to report truth. That's really how it happened. It'd be a bad marketing move in any other circumstance. I can tell you that. I can tell you that the Jewish leaders and the Romans had every vested interest and desire to shut down this new movement that was claiming Jesus rose from the dead. And all they had to do was present a body in the grave that they had control over, and no body ever showed up. Nobody came and said, here he is, the resurrection thing, not real. There's no body in the tomb. So I could tell you all that if I wanted to. I could point you to all the books, but the truth is that believing in the resurrection in your head has never been the point. Believing ideas in your head has never been the point to following this Jesus. If you want proof of the resurrection, if you want to really know it's true, you have to look for the risen Jesus. What matters is not that the resurrection happened alone. What matters is what the resurrection means about Jesus and us and the world. And that's what the angel makes clear in this message. The angel says, he's not here. He's already ahead of you. He's gone. You might catch him, but he's already out there. Jesus is on the loose. He's already at work bringing life and healing and redemption and restoration all over the place. You came to the tomb. You thought that loss and death and pain had already won, and that it was always winter and never Christmas. But the whole time you were thinking that, the whole time you were bought into that paradigm, the living and healing Jesus was already out there. So go. If you turn away from the grave, if you turn away from that lie, that lostness and brokenness and despair, there is all there is. You will see him on the road. He's out there transforming everything. And you can only know that the resurrection has happened when you look for him, when you see him at work. He is already ahead of you. There's a great story, I think, that illustrates this well. It's the story of a woman named Joni. She was the daughter of an Olympic wrestler whose name was John Erickson. And so she grew up quite athletic. She was an equestrian, a hiker, a tennis player, and particularly strong in diving and swimming. And she had this hopeful, future in front of her as a teenager. And then at the age of 17, in 1967, she took a dive into the Chesapeake Bay, but misjudged the shallowness of the water. Her head hit the bottom, and the result was a fracture between two neck vertebrae that paralyzed her from the waist down. At age 17, winter set in upon Joni. She could only see the immovable stone of depression, suicidal ideation, outrage at God and the world for letting something like this happen. She felt completely lost, utterly alone. But as she started occupational therapy, her therapist introduced her to some new possibilities. And she realized that since she could still move her head and mouth, that she could actually learn to paint by holding the brush between her teeth. She got really talented at this, eventually selling her work. I've got a couple of her paintings. These were painted by a brush in a woman's teeth. You can go ahead and click the next one, Chris. I think there's an Advent -themed one here too I included in there. Remarkable. And this wasn't the end of Joni's story. She learned to write in the same way. Write with her teeth. And so she wrote book after book about her experiences, especially about the pain and grief that she endured. And those books resonated powerfully in the lives of people with disabilities. And soon Joni's life blossomed into advocacy and activism. She now runs a nonprofit called Joni and Friends that provides resources and training that help improve the rights and lives of people with disabilities. Friends, on the day of Joni's dive, it seemed winter had won. It seemed like all that was left was the grave. But Jesus was already out in front of her, already out, redeeming and restoring in ways that she couldn't see. He was already on the loose in the occupational therapy office, in the paint and in the brushes, in the support of her church community and in the lives of people she had no way of knowing but would be powerfully changed by her story and work.

That is the proof of resurrection, friends. That is the true story of the universe that Jesus is on the loose. He is on the move. move. And so wherever you're at in your story, friends, it's never ever defined by winter or the grave. Jesus is already ahead of you. You are not lost, and you are caught up in a story far greater than what you could ever dare believe and what is staring you in the face right now. As the great Dallas Willard described it, you are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe. Will you believe that about yourself? If you want evidence of the resurrection, you don't investigate the empty tomb alone. You look for the risen Jesus. If you want to do more looking around this community, I can point you to some folks who have seen resurrection, who have seen their lives utterly transformed. You just got to look. That's why see and look are repeated over and over in this passage. You may have noticed that as we read it. The Marys go to see the tomb, and six times they are given the invocation to look in the passage. They're commanded to see the place where Jesus lay, and then in verse 10, it's in Galilee that the brothers will see the tomb. See Jesus. The point is really clear that for the Marys and for us, we can know the power of Jesus' resurrection here and now when we turn from the tomb and look. When we turn from our dying ways, when we turn from the ways in which we are defined only by the stone that's in front of us, and we look with eyes of wonder for Jesus every day. Friends, where in this Advent season are you looking for Jesus? He's out there. Where are you looking? Where do you need to turn away from hopelessness or cynicism or despair? Where can you look for Jesus' life? In yours and in the world? Because the promise is clear. When you look, you will see him. That's what the angel says. It's not you might see him. It's not if you go to church, you will see him. It's not if you're good people, you will see him. If you look, you will see him on the road. This is a promise of Jesus that when we set out on a path, searching for him, longing for him, loving him, and loving our neighbors, he promises that we will find him. Or better yet, he will find us. That's resurrection life. A whole and new and better life is before us. We just need to keep looking. And it's important to note, when the ladies do this, Jesus shows up in a shocking way. He shows up in the ordinary. That's never what we would expect. We always expect that Jesus will do some massive thing. If Jesus writes something in the clouds, if Jesus performs some miracle, then I'll believe, right? That's not how it works here. The word that we translate greetings, that's what Jesus says to them. That's way too formal of a word. The word here, Greek scholars will point out, it's just the street word for hi. They're walking along and Jesus is like, hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Good to see you guys. I've been out here. I've been healing. I've been resurrected for a little while now. Keep going. Tell my brothers. I'll be there in a bit. I'm on the loose. I'm on the move. In the ordinary. Hey, you never know walking your road in life when Jesus will suddenly be there and say, hey, I'm right here. I've been here. I've always been here.

It's not just in the magnificent, in the extraordinary that Jesus shows up. It's often in the ordinary. He's simply waiting for us in our days on the street side next to our neighbor, the one experiencing homelessness. Maybe he's in the cubicle next to us or in a chance conversation with a stranger. And he's simply saying, I'm right here. Will you come with me? Will you come into this resurrection reality with me? The smallest moments, friends, are packed with potential for new life. He's saying, there's a ton of winter that we got to take care of. Will you come with me? Will you go with me? Where in your ordinary weeks, under these ordinary days, is Jesus inviting you to join him in new life? What relationships, what work, what encounters, what prayers or thoughts might he be prompting in you in the middle of your average day? He's inviting you. That's actually where the story ends here. These women find him, or better yet, found by him. And they grab his feet and worship him. You may have noticed that. He has feet. It's an important thing. He's not just a spiritual being here. He is a physical resurrected body, and yet they worship him. He's God, and he's man. He's God with feet. That's what's happening. And as they worship, Jesus looks to both of them and says, don't be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. The resurrection, when we really allow it to change us, always leads to proclamation. And not in the weird, like, street corner soapbox style we often stereotype. No, this sort of proclamation is in the whole of our lives every day embedded in relationships. Notice that Jesus says, go and tell my brothers. Go and tell the people you already know. Go and tell the people I know. Go and tell whoever you're in proximity with. Friends, we speak about what we have experienced, our encounter with the risen Jesus, because it has changed us. We were people who were headed for the tomb, like the Marys. People who were lost. People who were hopeless. And something has changed us. Someone has changed us. And now, we can look and we see the world radically differently. And we can't help but talk about it. We can't help but invite others into that sort of life. We can't help but forgive, because God has forgiven us. We can't help but seek peace, because in Christ, we know all of the oppression shall cease. We can't help but be generous, because God has been generous with us. We can't help but invite, because God has invited us. We know, as they knew, the Marys knew, that Jesus is risen. Jesus is on the loose. Winter is ending in us and in the world. And proclamation is the only sort of response. Friends, you are not lost. God is already ahead of you. Would you change direction? Would you turn away from whatever stone that you're headed towards? Would you look? Would you embrace it? Would you look at it? Would you look at it? Would you look at it? Would you embrace him when you see him, even in the ordinary? And would you go from this place and proclaim what your eyes and ears and heart have known? The Marys did, and ever since, the resurrection has been changing things left and right. Let it change you anew in this season, for the first time or for the thousandth time. Let's pray.