Skip to main content

He's On The Loose

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen

As many you know, I have two grandchildren, and my youngest, is Parker who is only 10 months old, but unlike his older sister, Addi, who is for the most part calm and gentle, Parker is like a bull in a china cabinet. If you are holding him you better make sure nothing is in arms reach, or it will go flying. If you set him down, he is on the move, crawling and pulling himself up, trying to grab and throw anything that is in his reach. You can’t just set Parker down and expect him to stay still. He is always on the move!

Part of me wonders if Jesus was like that as a kid. We don’t know much about his childhood, except for the time his folks took him to Jerusalem when he was 13 and they lost him because he ran off to stay in the Temple. But if you look at his adult life, he was always on the move. When he would walk into a town with the disciples, if there was a sinner within his reach, he would grab them, go sit them, or begin eating with them. If there was someone who was unclean or ill, he would healing them. It didn’t matter what others wanted him to do, he did what he wanted, which was always to follow is Father’s will. Once he started his ministry after his 40 days in the wilderness, he was on the loose and he was getting things done.

Often times, he, too, was like a bull in a china cabinet, literally. All four Gospel writers tell the story of how he went in the temple one time and was so angry at how they had turned the temple into what he called “a den of robbers,” that he flipped over all the tables of the money changers. Or, what about the time the Pharisees challenged the lack of religious practices of he and his disciples and instead of calmly answering them, he said to them, “You hypocrites…” (Matthew 15:7). Once again, Jesus was on the loose and getting things done.

Or what about the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead? Remember, Lazarus was very sick and so, his sisters sent word to his good friend that he should come before Lazarus died. But Jesus was on the loos and he had things to do. So, instead of heading directly to Bethany, Jesus he stayed tow more days where he was because he had things to do there. Lazarus’ sisters and his other friends thought Jesus should drop everything and head to Bethany, but Jesus was on the loose and he was not about to have others tell him how to do his ministry.

Jesus did not conform to the ways of this world and as we have heard during this past week, the leaders of the religious community and the secular leaders of Rome, did not like it. As hard as they tried to confine Jesus and make him conform to their ways, they just couldn’t do it, so, they devised a plan to have him killed. And for one brief day that plan appeared to have worked. They crucified Jesus. They put his body in a tomb and the closed the tomb forever. Finally, Jesus was no longer on the loose. All was as it should be again. All was right in the world! Well, maybe not.

As the new day dawned, on that third day after his death, Mary Magdalene and Mary went to the tomb where he had been permanently confined to see his body. But, when they arrived, the earth shook and an angel came like a bolt of lightening and rolled away the stone that closed that tomb. Can you imagine the fear of all those present? The guards were so scared, they could not move. Scripture said it was like they were dead. But the women, although afraid, heard the angel say to them, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:5-6).

Then after they looked and saw that Jesus was gone, the angel said to them, “7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him… " (28:7).

The two women did go, but we are told they left with both “fear and great joy…” (28:8). Fear and joy! I know that feeling of having both fear and joy and the same time. A couple of weeks ago my son called me one Thursday evening. Friday’s are my day off and he was wondering if I could watch the kids for a little while the next morning. I remember saying to him, you mean watch Addi, and Parker! Joy and fear!

Jesus, the one they loved, the one they wanted to see was apparently alive again and they were filled with joy, but we are told they also left with fear. What were they afraid of? I believe they were afraid because Jesus was alive. The one who had caused so much turmoil, so much angst for the religious and world leaders, was on the loose again. The one they loved, and all turned from just three days earlier, was on the loose again. The calmness and quiet that they experienced for that brief time between Jesus’ death and this moment was over. Jesus was back and once again loose in the world. The world would never be the same again. The world tried to put Jesus in a box, but they couldn’t do it.

Not much has changed in 2014 years. The world still wants to put Jesus in a box. So often we try to use Scripture, Jesus’ own words, to decide who is welcome and who is not, but Jesus didn’t do that. So often, we don’t like what other people or groups do, so we try to shut them out, but Jesus didn’t do that. As hard as we try to confine Jesus to our boxes, he doesn’t let us. The good news this morning is that Jesus is alive in this world and he is still turning the world upside down. Jesus is on the loose!

People like Frazier Cross, can try to put a box around Jesus. They can try to make Jesus fit into their box of hatred, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, but guess what, they can’t do that. Jesus is not about to let him, or anyone chain him up, nail him to a cross, or lock him in a tomb. As hard as the world has tried to kill Jesus, to put his teachings aside, or to proclaim God is dead, Jesus will not let it happen. Jesus is on the loose. Jesus is alive and in the world and no one, no government, no faith community, nothing can contain Jesus and his love for us.

Jesus is on the loose and he is everywhere and he has gone ahead of us into this broken world. I challenge you today to go and look for the Resurrected Christ in the world. Jesus no longer lies in a tomb. He is not in some box, or in some book for us to just read about. He is in the world and he wants to be in relationship with us.

Next Sunday we will hear from a woman who a few years ago left her successful career to go do missionary work in Tanzania and she shared with me this week how Christ is at work in Tanzania. I strongly encourage you to be here next week to hear her story in both worship and Sunday School. Christ has gone ahead of us and he is waiting for us to join him.

In fact, for those of you who are members or regular worshippers here, we are going to challenge this Easter Season and beyond this season, to look to see Jesus wherever you go. You will hear more about this over the next several weeks because Jesus is loose in this world. He has gone ahead of us to places we have never thought he’d go and he is waiting for us to join him.

Many of us who came here today, are just like the two Mary’s who went to the tomb that first Easter morning. We came, believing Jesus is our Messiah, but actually living our lives as though he is dead. But, as the angel said, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised… (28:5-6). Jesus is on the loose! Thank be to God! Amen.

Tags: Sermons