STORY POWER: #1 Running With The Story

By Dr. Gilbert W. Stafford
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10

RUNNING WITH THE STORY IN THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF LIFE 

Dr. Sidney DeWaal, president of the Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem, says that for years he had the feeling that Easter happened on a restful Sunday morning “in a quiet corner just outside one of Jerusalem’s gates.” But last Easter as he attended a sunrise service in noisy Jerusalem he “suddenly saw it all in a different way.” As he sat “mesmerized by the rising sun” he was jolted by horns honking and gears grinding. The noise of people going to work filled the air at 6:20 in the morning. It would be a day of people hollering and arguing. It was just another day of typical rough and tumble life in office and shop. People would be worn out by day’s end. “Then,” DeWaal writes, “it hit me. It was the beginning of just such a hectic day...that Jesus arose.” He conclude by observing; however, that “this transforming resurrection power gives new shape and meaning to...’the hustle and bustle of life’.”1

DeWaal is right, it was in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life that those first followers of Jesus were transformed by the resurrection. It was on a very usual work day that the followers of Jesus found themselves running to and fro in and around Jerusalem telling very unusual stories about the empty tomb, and about being encountered by the risen Christ.

Matthew 28:1-10: “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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then 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.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greeting!’ 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.”2

The day had been reordered for there were stories to be told. In verse 7 the angel instructs the two women to go quickly and tell what had happened to the twelve disciples. Verse 8 says that they proceeded with “fear and great joy.” On their way, they were met by none other than Jesus himself who also instructed them to go and tell his brothers that he would meet them in Galilee.

Luke 24 is an additional window: it tells about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were encountered by the resurrected Lord whom they did not recognize until he broke bread with them in the village. It became clear to them that this was the same Lord who had broken bread with them so many times before. Notice verses 33-35, “That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

Another window is found in John 20:1-10 which recalls Mary Magdalene running to Simon Peter and another disciple, probably John, to tell them about the empty tomb, after which the two men ran to the tomb to see for themselves.



EASTER AS STORY SUNDAY 

The Sunday on which Jesus was raised from the dead was story Sunday. His followers ran to and fro with multiple accounts about what had happened: the story of the empty tomb, the story about seeing the risen Lord, the story about angels giving instructions, the story about Jesus walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus and later breaking bread with them.

That day, Jesus’ people in and around Jerusalem were full of stories. Wouldn’t you like to know more about that day? I would. Surely these storytellers had children in their lives. Can’t you imagine the questions they were asking and the way they talked to each other about it. I’m quite sure that echoing up and down the narrow, crooked streets of the grand old city were the sounds of the spirited conversation among the little flock of Jesus’ people. For them, the noisy workday had a new significance. Something out of the ordinary had taken place. In houses here and there across the city, Jesus’ followers were gathering together to tell their several versions of the story again and again and again.

As they told it, no doubt they told it one way and then another. That’s the way stories are told, isn’t it? We see this reflected even in the Bible. For instance, Matthew tells about two women being at the tomb, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (28:1). Mark refers to three: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (16:1). Luke refers to several women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women (24:10). John mentions only Mary Magdalene (20:1). And there are other variations in the accounts, which have come down to us. But that is in the nature of story telling. As we tell our stories, we select certain features one time and different features at other times.

And so, on that Sunday when Jesus was raised from the dead, in and around busy, noisy, working-day Jerusalem, the empty tomb stories and the encounter stories were making the rounds.

THE CHURCH AS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE STORY AND OF STORIES 
The church of Jesus Christ continues being the fellowship of Easter stories. Without them we are disconnected spiritually from the church of resurrection morning.

“But,” you may say, “Stafford, don’t you know that this is not the actual day on which Jesus was raised from the dead? That happened only once. Since we were not around 2000 years ago, we have no stories to tell.” Well, if that is what you say, you are quite right about one thing and quite wrong about another. You are quite right about our not being there 2000 years ago. We have nothing to add to the once for all character of what happened when Jesus was raised from the dead. However, you are quite wrong about our not having any stories to tell.

The remarkable thing about the Christian gospel is that for some 2000 years people have continued being transformed by Jesus. For 2000 years people have talked to him, have been blessed by him and have worshipped him daily. For two millennia people have been so convinced of his living presence that they have been willing to sacrifice everything for him, even to the point of death. People in all walks of life, of all ages, from all kinds of places and in all sorts of circumstances have found Jesus to be the living Lord of history, of the church, and of their personal lives. We have been running with the resurrection story for over 2000 years.

Thank God, someone ran to me, if I may put it that way, with the story. In my case it was a loving church and faithful parents who brought the story to me. For example, at Wednesday night testimony meetings, I heard all sorts of people telling about Jesus in their lives. I still remember hearing Curly Beavers, then in his twenties, telling the story about his young life being turned around by the risen Lord. He had heard the living Lord’s word of forgiveness and had received his resurrection power to quit bad habits. He was a changed man because he had met the living Christ.

I could see with my own eyes the change in peoples’ lives. The resurrection of Jesus was not some cold Bible story we talked about in Sunday School. It was a life- transforming story we heard at church, and, even more importantly, in casual conversations. I am talking about such things as being at a restaurant with others, and as a natural part of the table conversation, hearing people share about their relationship with the alive Lord Jesus Christ.

The difference between churches which are made up of people who are alive in Christ, and churches which consist of the dead is this. While the latter may talk about Jesus’ resurrection, and sing about it, and perhaps even go through a carefully crafted liturgy about it, they have been immunized against experiencing the reality of the resurrected Lord in their own lives. They are dead people talking in detached terms about the resurrection.

The other kind of church, however, not only celebrates the resurrection of Jesus in word and song; they also share about their personal walk with the risen Christ. They speak about the resurrection not simply as an objective event which took place a long time ago. In addition, they share their own personal stories about the life transforming presence of the risen Christ in their lives. They, themselves, are resurrected people talking about a risen Lord.

On this Easter Sunday, I urge you not to be inoculated against the risen Christ who can change you inside and out. Don’t run away from the Alive Lord. He will, if you won’t run off, transform your life and give you a story to tell. It won’t contradict the New Testament stories but will be a continuation of them. You, too, can join in the joy of telling the stories of the resurrected Lord. That is what it truly means to be a Christian. That is what it truly means to be the Church of the resurrected Lord.

PRAYER 
Let us pray:

Gracious Lord of resurrection glory, forgive us for talking religiously about Jesus being raised from the dead, without allowing ourselves to come face to face with the risen and living and reigning Lord. Come, risen Lord, and convert our lives. Come, living Christ, and transform us into storytellers with good news in the hustle and bustle of our world. In the name of Christ, our Lord we pray. Amen.

1 From Mount Zion Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring 1995), p. 2.
2 New Revised Standard Version used here and throughout.

Script 2571 (GWS)
April 7, 1996
SERIES: STORY POWER
1. Running With the Story
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10