I Have Seen the Lord - 1
April 20, 2003
John 20:18
Easter Sunrise 6:00 am
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
larry@larryjameson.com
back to our church home page
Mary Magdalene announced to her friends,
“I have seen the Lord.”
It was an incredible statement.
But later on, all the disciples saw him too.
They saw and believed.
But what about us?
When do we get to say
“I have seen the Lord.”
Is it possible for us to see Jesus?
The Bible tells us there were 40 days
of post-resurrection appearances.
At the end of 40 days, Jesus went back to heaven.
He promised he would return.
In the mean time,
how do we see Jesus?
Today I am preaching two sermons
to answer that question.
My sunrise sermon
will focus on
how the disciples saw Jesus,
the physical, real, resurrected Jesus.
This first sermon will emphasize
the facts of the historic reality of the resurrection.
My second sermon, 9:00 in Warwick, and 11:00 in Galena,
will focus on
how we see Jesus today,
how his character is reflected in unexpected places.
The sunrise sermon talks about the past
and why we can believe it.
The second sermon talks about the present
and how we experience the power of Jesus today.
How do we see Jesus?
Part of the answer is: through history.
The resurrection is a fact of history.
It isn’t a myth or a fable.
It isn’t a legend. It’s not a fairytale.
Jesus truly died.
Then God raised him from the dead.
That is the basis for the Christian faith.
J. Anderson wrote:
“If it is true,
then it is the supreme fact of history;
and to fail to adjust one’s life to its implications
means irreparable loss.
If it is not true,
if Christ is not risen,
then Christianity is all a fraud
foisted on the world by consummate liars –
or, at best, deluded simpletons.”
(The Evidence for the Resurrection,
by J.N.D. Anderson, Inter-Varsity Press 1966)
If you have ever studied history in high school or college,
you will remember that there are two basic
types of information available:
1) Primary source materials
2) Secondary source materials.
According to the University of California, Berkeley,
and I quote:
WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES?
Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what
actually happened during an historical event or time period.
A primary source reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.
Examples of primary source materials are:
Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts and other
papers in which individuals describe events in which they were participants or
observers.
I am still quoting:
WHAT ARE SECONDARY SOURCES?
A secondary source is a work that interprets or analyzes an historical event or
phenomenon. It is generally at least one step removed from the event. Textbooks
and encyclopedias are examples of secondary sources.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySources.html
End of quote.
Dear ones,
the Christian Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
and the writings of the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle Peter
are considered primary historical evidence
for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
These documents were written by witnesses
who saw the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul wrote:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised
on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and
then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the
brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have
fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Paul was an eyewitness of the resurrection.
So was Peter.
2 Peter 1:16 says:
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
The words of Paul and Peter
are older than the Gospels.
These are extremely early accounts.
How do we see Jesus?
We see him in history
using the tools of secular scholarship.
We examine primary source materials.
We study the words of eyewitnesses.
And when we do that,
an amazing picture emerges.
A few months ago
I went on an ambulance call
and we entered the home of a local family.
I noticed right away
this was an unusual place.
There were pictures of Jesus everywhere.
He was in the living room.
He was in the dining room.
He was on the walls. He was on the coffee table.
There were a lot of pictures of Jesus.
I asked myself, “I wonder why all these pictures are here?”
Then I figured it out.
There were children growing up here.
The parents wanted their children to see Jesus.
I smiled when I figured that out,
because I understood their motive.
I want my family to see Jesus too.
In two thousand years of church history,
no artist has been able to show us
exactly what Jesus looks like.
We have paintings, but those are guesses.
If you want to see Jesus,
you need to read the Bible.
In the pages of the Bible,
the resurrected Lord
is described in exquisite detail.
The other day
one of my parishioners
asked me a question.
They said,
“Larry, how do you come up with
a different sermon every week?”
I gave them an immediate answer about prayer.
Prayer is important.
But then I went home and thought about it some more.
I’d like to answer that question more completely.
We serve a great big God,
with tremendous, limitless resources.
I can preach every day for a lifetime
and not even scratch the surface
of the wisdom and truth contained in the Scripture.
The power that raised Jesus from the dead,
is the same power that has inspired God’s Word, the Bible.
The power that made it possible
for Mary Magdalene to see Jesus
is available to you and me, right now.
It is God who gives wisdom and insight,
and his generosity is without limit.
His goodness is much bigger than we can imagine!
How do we see Jesus?
Look to the evidence of history.
Look to the record of sacred Scripture.
Look to the living God who
makes the lame walk,
the dumb speak,
and restores sight to the blind.
Amen.