Pastor's Message, May 10 2015 - The Voice That Changes Everything

May 10, 2015

Through all our weaknesses

You remain strong.

We cannot repay you

But we love, you Mom

 

The Voice That Changes Everything!

 

An Excerpt from a book called: “A Woman that Jesus Can Teach” by Alice Mathews 

We seldom move from one comfortable level of learning and knowing to another unless we are forced in some way to move.

• We don’t do ourselves a favor if we insist on staying at one learning level when we need to move to another one. 

• We often don’t like the circumstances that push us to change.

• We’d prefer to be left alone in our comfortable tranquility.  But that is not the path to growth.  Nor is it the path to true discipleship.

If we are to grow as Christian women in our understanding of God, we have to expect the tough circumstances that confront and disappoint us.  It takes grim life experiences to build muscle into our souls.

The process of following Jesus as His disciples is the process of making room for new ways of looking at life and at ourselves.

Jesus was a master teacher.  We might have expected Him to use only one method for getting His message across, but He taught different people in different ways.  Now we might think that Jesus would choose only the most promising pupils for His class.  Instead, He included men and women other teachers would have ignored. 

One choice pupil of the Master Teacher Jesus that I would like to highlight on this Mothers Day 2015 is Mary Magdalene.  She possible spent more time with Jesus than any other woman in the gospels.

I think Mary Magdalene found that her discipleship as a follower of Jesus Christ was a constant learning process. 

We all have to realize that (men, women, teenagers, children): As Christians – we will always be in a constant learning process.

Mary Magdalene had learned much as one who traveled with Jesus.  But in one of the final scenes in the Gospels, she was once again back in school, learning something new about being a disciple.

Mary Magdalene was mentioned fourteen times in the gospels, we actually know four things about her.  The first two we see in Luke 8:1-3

Luke 8:1-3 (NIV)

 (1) After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.  The Twelve were with him, (2) and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; (3) Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Four Facts about Mary Magdalene:

1)   Jesus cast seven demons out of her.

The Bible doesn’t say where or when.  Both Mark and Luke share this information but neither gives us the story about it.  Now what it meant for Mary to be possessed by seven demons we cannot guess.  But for her, deliverance must have been a life-changing liberation.  Her bound spirit was set free.  Her cramped limbs relaxed.  Her contorted face because serene.

2)    The second thing we know about Mary Magdalene is that she traveled all over Galilee and down into Judea with Jesus and the twelve.  She had a terrible affliction and she met the one who healed her and she probably wanted to stay with those who followed Jesus.

There might be someone here today a mom, a wife, a father, a husband, a teenager who has been going through a tough time, a trial, a misfortune, a suffering, an ordeal, a difficulty, or some trouble.  Maybe you have been distressed by something… Jesus is a miracle maker!!!!

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NASB)

Jesus, the Example

(1) Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) fixing our eyes on Jesus, (why?) the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(3) For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus had healed Mary (called Magdalene) from seven demons!  Then she traveled with Him and the twelve as well as some women who have been cured from evil spirits and diseases! I hope everyone seated here today chooses to follow Jesus!

3)    The third thing we the Bible tells us about Mary Magdalene is that on a bad Friday called Good Friday she stayed at the cross long after the disciples had fled. 

From Mark we learn that

Mark 15:40-41 (NASB)

(40) There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.  (41) When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

All four gospel writers take pains to tell us that Mary and the other women not only stayed through the awful hours of crucifixion but made sure they knew where Jesus had been buried so they could come after the Sabbath and finish anointing the body.

When we look at Mary Magdalene and the others, we see women who were completely committed to Jesus Christ even in the midst of their bitter grief.

It comes as no surprise that we find these same women, with Mary Magdalene apparently leading them, up before dawn on Sunday morning, hurrying to the garden tomb.

As they went, I am sure they where fretting about a very real problem they were going to face: who would roll away the large stone at the entrance to the tomb so that they could prepare a dead body for a proper burial?

§  They knew the size of the stone

§  They had watch as Joseph and Nicodemus hastily laid Jesus’ body in the tomb and rolled the heavy cartwheel across the opening

§  They knew the stone was sealed by the Roman government and that seal could not be broken.

§  They had cared for His needs for three years as He traveled around Galilee and back and forth from Judea.

When they arrived, what did they find?  Mark tells us:

Mark 16:4

Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. 

In that moment began Mary’s next lesson in discipleship.  She had set out that morning with one set of expectations and quickly found them turned upside down. 

As a mom – ever have a day like that?

John reports the incident this way:

John 20:1-11 (NASB)

The Empty Tomb

(1) Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene *came early to the tomb, while it *was still dark, and *saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. (2) So she *ran and *came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and *said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

(3) So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. (4) The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; (5) and stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. (6) And so Simon Peter also *came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he *saw the linen wrappings lying there, (7) and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. (8) So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. (9) For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. (10) So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

(11) But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;

The highs and the lows of that week probably all flowed together for Mary.  She probably felt the sting of contradiction as she remembered hearing the crowds chant “hosanna” one day and “Away with Him!  Crucify Him!” only a few days later.

As a mom – how many times have you experience – “one day you’re the greatest and the next day you might here the words, I hate you!”

Mary Magdalene who had experienced that emotional rollercoaster now stood at the tomb, wrung out, devastated by the thought that, even in death, Jesus was dishonored (violated).  His body had been taken.  Her wrenching sobs expressed all the dash hopes and desperation she felt.

Do you know any moms today who hopes have been dashed and desperation is setting in?

Check out the verses 11-14 in John 20…

John 20:11-14 (NASB)

(11) But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; (12) and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 

(13) And they *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She *said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” (14) When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 

As a mom – have you ever wonder – where is my Lord?  I’m hurting, I’m suffering, I am distress – where is my Lord?

Blinded by her grief Mary Magdalene turned away from them.  As she turned, she saw a man standing nearby.    He spoke the same words she had just heard from the angels…

John 20:15-18

(15) Jesus *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”  Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 

(16) Jesus *said to her, “Mary!” She turned and *said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). (17) Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” (18) Mary Magdalene *came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.

So the question for us today is – What did it take to move Mary from desolation to exultation, and to galvanize her for witness?   Only one thing.  Jesus spoke her name in a voice she knew and it was enough.

Suddenly everything that had been all wrong was now all right.

The one who had been dead was now alive.  The one who had delivered her from seven demons was once again with her.  In her ecstatic joy she flung her arms around Him.  Jesus gently disengaged her clinging hold on His body and gave her a task: Go and tell My brethren.

In a split second this disciple, Mary Magdalene, move from abject sorrow to euphoria:  The Teacher is alive!  Now she had work to do.

Which brings us to the forth thing we know about Mary Magdalene:

4)   She was sent by Jesus as the first witness to the resurrection!

He commissioned her to tell His brethren (His brothers), the good news.  Augustine (Latin philosopher & theologian 354 – 430) called her, “an apostle to the apostles.”

Mary knew Jesus’ voice when He spoke her name.  To her - Jesus gave a commission: go and tell.

Although this is the last mention of her in the Bible (John 20:11-18), she was probably among the women who gathered with the apostles to await the promised coming of the Holy Spirit.

When you open God’s word you can read what Jesus said over 2,000 ago and He is still calling people today just like he did Mary Magdalene so many years ago – His voice told us:

Matthew 11:28-29 (NASB)

(28) “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

John 14:23 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

John 14:16-17 (NASB)

Role of the Spirit

(16) I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; (17) that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Is there any woman, any mom, who would like to receive Jesus today?