(Notes from a talk I gave some years back at Ivy)

THE IMPOSSIBLE THING ABOUT EASTER

I love Easter Sunday! I’m looking forward to celebrating this morning the GREATEST day in history at Ivy Church. 

A few years ago at an Easter service we had all kinds of UNEXPECTED things happen in the service. I was talking about how just because something’s UNUSUAL that doesn’t make it IMPOSSIBLE. That was the point of it. 

We gave away some unexpected gifts.. I got a custard pie in my face. And I said ‘Some people think the idea of the resurrection, that Jesus Christ died on Good Friday but then came back fully alive on Easter Sunday, is impossible. But just because it’s unexpected doesn’t make it impossible. Nothing is impossible with God.’

Then I said ‘It’s as unlikely as a ten foot tall woman walking in here and saying hello to us…’ And my son Joel said at that point he thought ‘Oh no, it was going pretty well – but now Dad just blew it. He’s gone a step too far. But the door opens and in walks this lady on huge stilts, up the aisle and out the other door. 

Just because it’s unexpected doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Another time at Ivy we had the world’s greatest escapologist turn up all the way from Russia on Easter Sunday!

You want to know something IMPOSSIBLE about that first Easter? 

Weeks after it happened, the apostle Peter stood up before a huge crowd, many of whom were actually involved in crucifying Jesus, people, priests and Pharisees, and now – bold as a lion he says ‘YOU nailed him to a cross… but we’ve all seen him alive again! He’s alive because it was impossible for death to hold him!’ 

That’s the only impossible thing about Easter! 

Jesus is the eternal Son of God so even though he died in his humanity, it was impossible for him NOT to come back to life! The Father raised him back to life to prove He is who He said he was and could do what he claimed he can do.

Before the cross He said, ‘Nobody TAKES my life from me, I am going to LAY IT DOWN… (as a sacrifice for your sins), because I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again!”

Jesus predicted the exact time, place and manner of his death. When, why, where and how it would all happen – to fulfill detailed predictions and prophecies written hundreds of years beforehand, saying, ‘I’ve come to GIVE my life, as a ransom for many” 

…I will be betrayed, they’ll put me on a cross. But on the third day, I will rise again.’ Why? How? Because it was IMPOSSIBLE for death to hold him! 

Even though he’d told them all, the disciples thought it was some parable or story. They didn’t expect it would happen! They were SHOCKED when he died and on the first Easter morning, the first people to go to that graveyard experienced something they were not expecting at all. 

They had seen Jesus arrested, beaten, flogged and nailed to a Roman cross. Nobody ever survived that. As he was being crucified, most of His followers fled, denied knowing him, cowering in fear for their own lives.

The Gospel of John, in chapter 20 tells us that on that first Easter Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene—one of Jesus’ close friends—went to the tomb where Jesus had been laid. It was actually in a private burial cave in a garden. I’ve been there and prayed at the place many believe it happened, just outside the city wall. The Garden Tomb.

But Mary saw the huge stone was rolled away. She had no clue what was going on so she ran off to ask some men, Peter and John – who were even more clueless! Then she came back, thinking grave robbers are desecrating the body she came to honour. 

She’s weeping in front of the cave. Then she bent down, peered in, and saw two figures dressed in white that she later figured out must b angels: one where Jesus’ head had been, one where his feet had been. 

They said, “Woman, why are you crying?” And Mary said, “They have taken my Lord away … and I don’t know where they have put him.” 

Then she straightened up, turned, and saw someone she assumed was the gardener. It was actually Jesus, she didn’t recognize him. Why? Well have you ever seen someone beaten up? When I was in the police I saw lots of assault victims – it’s terrible. 

I was beaten up badly myself once outside a night club by a group of five blokes as I was pointed out as an off duty police officer, and next day it was literally true when they say your own mother wouldn’t recognize you. 

My nose was broken my face was a swollen mess everywhere. I was covered in bruises and blood and next morning I couldn’t hardly make out my own features. 

Jesus took a far worse beating – from a platoon of soldiers. Imagine doing that to Jesus? A crown of thorns rammed on his head and knocked in place with a stick. But God knew it would all happen that way. The OT predicted it! 

Isaiah 52 says people looking at him would be “…appalled at him –(because) his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness… 

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” The last time Mary saw him, he was unrecognizably beaten. Why? Why did it happen? 

For us! Isaiah predicted all that pain Jesus would go through, that he would take the curses so we could get the blessings today… “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed…”

It may be unexpected. You might be new to all this, it may come as a surprise –so I don’t know whether you came today expecting to meet with Jesus Christ; but I’m here to tell you – JESUS is ALIVE and He wants to meet with you here today. 

Early that first Easter Sunday, Mary was not expecting to meet with Jesus! She was notanticipating that her friend Jesus would rise from the dead. 

Whether you believe yet that Christ actually rose from the dead or not, at least we have the ideaof someone rising from the dead because we know something about the Easter story. We know it’s not really just about chocolate bunnies and sales on sofas, even though that’s what the shops want to tell you. 

That FIRST Easter, Mary had no idea. You don’t go to a graveyard expecting to meet the person you buried! She’d just to the tomb because grief took here there. That was all. 

The Romans set a guard at the tomb, not because they believed he’d come back to life but because they’d heard that Jesus CLAIMED he would! They didn’t want anyone trying to steal the body and start any trouble. Nobody anticipated Jesus would physically rise from the dead! There was nothing like that in anyone’s mind. 

The Jews believed that at the end of time, there’d be a general resurrection of the dead, when all people will rise from their graves and God will judge everyone. But no one in Mary’s world was thinking a single individual would rise, in the middle of history!

So she TURNS and asks this man she assumes is the gardener. He looks at her and—perhaps with a twinkle in his eye—he says one word, “Mary.”

And then… (I love this!).. You know when it’s someone you love on the phone and you don’t have to say ‘Who is this?’ The familiar voice speaks her name and, PING! She KNOWS it’s Jesus! 

BEST – DAY – EVER!

She’s overcome with joy, and she’s a hugger – so she TURNS to Him and HUGS him! 

Mary Turned To Jesus 

How long do you think it would have taken for Mary to have turned from looking in the cave to looking at Jesus and realizing it was really him? Maybe a second? Two? 

But do you know what happened in that moment? What changed? History changed. The whole world changed! Everything changed! 

It really did! I don’t know if you’ve ever realised this but as Mary turned and saw Jesus and the penny dropped that he had did what he said he would do so he could NOT just be an ordinary man – Jesus really is the Son of God and he just PROVED it by that GREAT Escape from Death… it was as if the world was also turning on its axis! 

The second she turned into her turn, the world shifted – from B.C. to A.D. – because of JC. 

Time went from “before Christ” to anno Domini: “in the year of the Lord.” And every year since – until he comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead – will be ‘The year of the Lord.’ 

You can make it the Year of The Lord right now when we pray together if you say to Jesus, ‘This year, this Easter, I want to follow you and make today the day of the Lord!’ Then today becomes the Day of Salvation for you – and everything changes, everything turns, when you turn and see who Jesus really is. 

Mary’s tears turned to JOY. One second before, Mary’s lonely, depressed, hopeless, desperate – agonized in the depths of grief, staring in the cruel face of death. 

A second later, Mary experiences the highest possible human joy – in the presence of the one who has conquered death! 

Mary was the first person in history to see Christ risen from the dead! Imagine the joy she must have felt! But you know what? Come along to the Baptism service tonight at Ivy Didsbury and you’ll discover – people are still meeting the SAME risen Lord Jesus Christ today, as they come here or do the Alpha course and they meet him and experience that same turning in their life, and they get that same new joy.

Everyone’s looking for joy in life. At the time I got beaten up by that gang in East Manchester, I was rapidly becoming this hard drinking, dark, cynical, sullen, hard fighting, womanizing, young copper who thought he was indestructible and whose goal in life—at least, at the time—was to be cool. 

I’d believed in the existence of God when I was a boy, but ditched it when I thought following God just meant missing out on fun and my idea of good times. 

But just after that scary experience, for the first time I realised actually I was mortal not superhuman and it shook me and then I met some Christians and they had joy like nobody I knew! I looked into it and read the Bible for myself and began to realize I’d never figure out life without connecting to the God who made me, but it was telling me that I could know God personally! It’s a long story but one of the reasons I know the resurrection is true is that Jesus showed up in my life too! And I turned my life to God. Turned my life to Jesus, like you can today, and he took it and turned it around. BEST… DAY …EVER!!

And one of the big surprises for me, was the massive joy I felt. More joy than I ever got in those clubs or from all that chaos. 

I found myself walking down the same tough streets on the same beat in Cheetham Hill but the songs I heard in church were just IN me and now I’m like this singing Policeman! It was amazing! 

I don’t mean my singing was amazing – it was amazing that I was singing. I’d met with Jesus, and a Revolution happened! 

Do you know that’s what Jesus came to do?! Does anyone agree the world needs a revolution of hearts and minds being changed? That’s what Jesus came for, that’s what the church is here to do now!  Jesus didn’t come so people might change what they do on a Sunday morning. He came to change your whole life! 

Resurrection brings a Revolution! 

Revolution is a form of the word Revolve, and it means to turn things around. Revolution happens when you TURN. The word the Bible uses for that same word is Repent. People hear the word ‘repent’ and think of nutters with billboards saying ‘Repent – the end is nigh’ but actually it should be ‘REPENT because life’s just getting started!’ BC gives way to AD because of JC! And when that happens – everything changes! 

In those days when the army were marching if the lead centurion shouted RE-PENT what do you think happened? 

ABOUT TURN! 

I want to give you the challenge and the chance so you can do that here. There’s no better time to do it than Easter Day.

Pray with me and you start to talk to Jesus and he’s listening because he’s alive as you tell him ‘I turn to you, Jesus please turn my life the right way round so I will follow you..”

Mary’s hugging Jesus, overwhelmed with Joy. Jesus says, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). 

Did you know God is the BEST Dad you could ever imagine? Whatever your earthly Dad was like, whether he was amazing or awful or absent; Jesus says HIS Dad wants to be YOUR Dad today, and adopt you into his family! 

So Mary runs and finds Jesus’ boys are still petrified, locked in a room. She says, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18), but they knew people didn’t rise from the dead; so they didn’t believe her.

But later that day, John the eye witness who’s writing these things for us says Jesus suddenly appears to him and the rest of the disciples as they’re locked in the room! Not because he was a ghost but now he’s even more real than the walls! Jesus steps in says, “Peace be with you”(John 20:19), and even shows them the nail marks in his hands and in his feet. 

There are all kinds of proofs the resurrection happened but for me one of the greatest proofs is how those ordinary people turned to Courage From wimps to world changers. From fearful to fearless!  And Jesus is still doing that today!

When Jesus was on the cross, his disciples ran away. But after he appeared to them over and over in small groups and big crowds – they changed into the most courageous people the world ever saw! Most of them ended up being tortured and martyred themselves, because now NOTHING would stop them saying what they saw with their own eyes – He’s Alive! JESUS is the Son of God! Jesus is ALIVE! 

Knowing Jesus died and rose again changes everything about life- and everything about death too! I’ve left people crying and terrified at hospital beds because they have NO idea what’s going to happen or where they’re going. I’ve done hundreds of funerals, and guess what –you can tell the difference in how someone faces death, once they’ve met Jesus!  

I’ve still walked away from those with tears in my eyes because it was sad, painful. But I knew, and THEY KNEW – ‘the Lord is my shepherd… there’s nothing to fear from the shadow of death.’ Because Easter means death is just a shadow and we don’t have to be scared of shadows! 

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25)! And I believe that! He proved it! When you turn and meet the risen Christ, he gives you new joy and new courage – in life, and in death! Where else are you going to get that but from HIM?! 

And finally – when you turn and meet Jesus, we get a new vision, to make the world a better place.

Remember Mary turned and saw the man and assumes he’s the gardener? Well a writer called NT Wright says in one way she was kind of right, because Jesus Christ is a gardener, bringing in a new creation in our world.

If you open the Bible right at the beginning, in Genesis, Adam was the world’s first gardener, meant to extend God’s good paradise of Eden and spread it all over the world. But when he chose to turn AWAY instead, Earth becomes a jungle, a desert, a wasteland of thorns, thistles and hard ground. 

But the New Testament writers say Jesus is the Second Adam… God’s new gardener, who comes into the world. Wearing that crown of thorns he’s removing that curse! The cross breaks up the hard ground, transforming the landscape of our lives, so the world can flourish again with an abundant harvest! 

Jesus death and resurrection broke the power of sin and death and unleashed a new hope and new vision for this planet! 

And when people really meet him, do you know how you can tell? Really tell? It’s not because they know some words from the Bible or what we sing in church. You can tell they met Jesus, because they want to become part of his revolution! They get resurrection power inside them with a new vision! To push back poverty, light up the darkness and fight injustice – to make our world a place of greater beauty – making all things new! 

If you were a person living in the first-century Roman Empire, if you walked to the outskirts of any city you’d have found a stinking rubbish dump. Jesus was crucified on the rubbish dump outside Jerusalem’s walls. And among the stink and the scavenging dogs you’d find discarded babies. You could just leave an unwanted child out there to die of exposure, it wasn’t against the law – it was common practice across the Empire.

People who owned slave houses would go to those rubbish dumps to retrieve babies to raise them as slaves. Brothel owners went to the dumps to get them and raise those little children as sex slaves. 

But history records something massive started to happen in the first century that changed the Empire and then changed the world. Because followers of a man called Jesus, who said God adopts us into his family and that children were MOST important in the Kingdom of heaven, started to go to the dumps, to retrieve boys and girls and adopt them – raising them as their own. 

When hungry people in the first centuries knocked on the doors of Christians, and they didn’t have enough food to feed everyone, they’d fast until they could all share a meal together. In the year A.D. 250, 10,000 Christians fasting 100 days a year gave one million meals to the poor and hungry. 

When all the pagans ran away from plague cities, Christians would go in, at risk of catching the same disease, to nurse people whether they lived or died, saying, ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Because of the resurrection! 

That’s how the Jesus revolution spread and it’s still growing wherever people REALLY meet Jesus like that. Jesus is still giving people who turn to Him new joy, new courage and new vision! 

When people meet Jesus and know him, just like Mary did that Easter day – they get a new joy nothing can take away! 

They get new courage because they put their faith in Him. 

But they also get a new vision of what matters most in life. They get a new vision as they see the world differently now so they make decisions with their time, money and energies to make a difference and to make it different! 

Jesus is alive! Ivy is full of people who have met him! 

When we TURN and meet the risen Jesus, we get new joy, new courage, and a new vision to transform the world into a more beautiful place!