Who Will Roll the Stone Away? | Mark 16:1-8 | David Sorn

1. INTRODUCTION
1. (Renovation Church Logo
2. Happy Easter! My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor of Renovation Church.
1. This past Fall I was at a leadership conference in Arizona, and one of the days we had a free afternoon.
1. And we were only about 90 minutes away from the Grand Canyon, and I had never been there.
1. So I thought, “Why not make the drive? I don’t know when I’d be here again…and I’m probably not going to make an entire vacation out of seeing the Grand Canyon someday”
1. No offense to the hikers & sight seers, but to me, it’s kind of like Mount Rushmore.
2. Like, what do you do there for more than 5 minutes?
1. “Oh wow. That’s cool! Now what?”
1. But I still wanted to see it
1. And it was pretty, “grand”
2. But while I was driving up there, and along the way, I fell for this tourist trap (which was awesome in my defense) called “The Grand Canyon Imax Movie.”
1. (Grand Canyon IMAX)
1. You ever been to an Imax Theater? Incredible!
1. They’re 3 to 4 times larger than a movie theater screen.
2. So I stop and watch this 30-minute movie about the Grand Canyon
1. And it was mostly about John Wesley Powell, who was the first Westerner to explore the entire Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
1. He and his crew bravely navigated their simple boats down the perilous rapids
2. After 99 days and 930 miles, 3 of Powell’s group of 10 decided that the obstacles were just too great & the rapids too dangerous…
1. …so they decided to quit the expedition and take their chances on foot in the desert.
1. But what’s crazy, is that the rest of the group got out rapids and to the end of the canyon just 2 days later.
2. The other 3 men had given up at 99 days, not knowing of course there were only 2 left.
1. And tragically the 3 men died in the desert.
3. And sometimes life is like that.
1. It looks like all hope is gone.
1. But listen…you never know what will happen even 2 or 3 days from now
2. THE PASSAGE
1. And speaking of a story that absolutely turned around in 3 days, I want to show you perhaps the greatest story of “tragedy into triumph” from human history, so go ahead and grab a Bible at your chair.
1. Mark 16:1-8
2. Page 696
2. You are at what is called a Bible-Teaching Church.
1. So every week we pick up an actual Bible, and we study it together…and learn about what God’s Word says to us.
1. So here’s where we are in this part of the Bible.
1. For the last 3 years of his life, Jesus had taught people, healed diseases, done miracles, and more.
1. But because the people in charge were opposed to him, they arrested him on a Thursday night and killed him on a cross on a Friday
2. His closest friends (the disciples) all then went into hiding out of fear for their own lives.
1. Also most of his followers were Jewish and thus they couldn’t do anything on for Him on Saturday because that was the sabbath, a day in which they couldn’t work…and basically had to stay put.
3. But now we’re going to join the Bible on that Sunday morning.
3. (Mark 16:1-8) – NIV
4. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
   4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
   6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
   8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
1. (Who Will Roll the Stone Away?)
2. And eventually, we know that they get over their initial shock and do go and tell the disciples, who tell more people, and as a result, a good chunk of the world knows that Jesus has risen from the dead.
5. But just so we’re on the same page here, let me tell you a bit on how Jesus’ tomb looked.
1. (Show 1st Century Tomb)
1. Matthew 27 and Mark 15 tell us that a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body off the cross and actually put Jesus’ body in his own expensive tomb that had been reserved for himself
2. And wealthy 1st Century Tombs in the Ancient Near East looked like what you see on the screen
1. They were typically hollowed out of a hillside
1. Then there would be a great stone in front to secure the tomb.
1. And that disc-shaped stone would have sat on a slanted groove or track where you would roll it slightly down into place in front of the door.
1. However, to roll it back up the groove was nearly impossible (on purpose) and would require a lot of strong people to do it.
3. PRINCIPLE #1
1. And I think there is much we can learn from this stone in the Bible.
1. In fact, I want to you 3 principles of the stone.
2. PRINCIPLES OF THE STONE
3. #1: Sometimes you need to keep going even when you don’t know how the stone will be rolled away
1. So think about this…it’s early on Sunday morning, and 3 of Jesus’ followers are grieving mightily that Jesus has been killed.
1. And so they decide that they’re going to walk to the tomb and anoint his body with spices and perfume…a Jewish burial practice of remembering and honoring the deceased.
2. But as they’re walking, one of them says, “Wait a second, who will roll the stone away?”
1. And before you go, “Why didn’t they think of that before they left??”, know that we do this.
1. It reminds me of something that happened to me in December of 2020.
2. It had been a long hard year, as it was for most of us.
1. I was leading our church through what was an incredibly polarized time in the culture, and not to mention that was the year we were in construction for this building…and we didn’t know if we were even going to be able to open it
1. …and by the end of 2020, to be real with you, I was fried.
3. And so I decided to take a few days off, and go see one of my best friends who lives in Madison Wisconsin.
1. And I got about 2.5 hours into the trip, and I saw a text from my wife pop up on my phone.
1. And it was just a picture of my suitcase sitting by the door.
1. I was so fried that I just got in the car and just started driving, and didn’t even remember my suitcase.
2. And I saw that picture come in, and I thought, “Well, I’m not turning around and taking an extra 5 hours to just get my stuff”
1. So, uh, I’ll figure it out. And I just kept driving.
4. And what I was feeling in that time was just fraction of what these women were feeling.
1. They had just watched the man, whom they believed to be the Savior of the World, be crucified. They thought all was lost.
1. So you’ll forgive them if halfway to the tomb, one of them says, “Wait a second, how will we even get to see him because the stone is in the way! Who will roll the stone away?”
3. And yet, here’s the crazy part…they keep walking.
1. Most of us would be like, “Well, so much for that idea. Let’s go home!”
1. But they don’t do that.
2. I mean think about:
1. They just keep walking.
1. This is what the great philosopher Dory once said, “Just keep swimming”
3. And this is where principle #1 is really important: Sometimes you need to keep going in the right direction even when you don’t yet know how the stone will be rolled away.
1. Too many of us have these stones, these obstacles in our lives, and we just want to give up as soon as we see them.
1. Maybe your marriage is in a really rough spot
2. Maybe you’re out of work
3. Maybe your bank account is in rough shape
4. Sometimes the principle we need is to just keep walking where God is calling us even if you don’t yet know how God is going to figure it out
1. And that leads us to the second principle of the stone
4. PRINCIPLE #2:
1. PRINCIPLES OF THE STONE
2. #1: Sometimes you need to keep going even when you don’t know how the stone will be rolled away
3. #2: No stone is too big for God
1. I mean think about it. Rolling the stone away is not an easy task.
1. For one, the stone is massive and would require the help of an entire group of strong people.
2. And two, grab your Bible again, I want to show you something else
1. Matthew 27:62-66
2. Page 681
3. Turn back just a few pages to page 681
2. By the way, while you’re getting there, if you need a Bible, or want to start reading one for the first time, just take that one you’re holding with you.
1. There’s even a QR code on the inside cover that will show you the easiest places to start reading first!
1. So, the men who killed Jesus had heard him claiming earlier that he would rise from the dead…
1. So look at what they do right after they kill him
2. (Matthew 27:62-66) – NIV
3. 62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
   65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
2. PRINCIPLES OF THE STONE
3. #1: Sometimes you need to keep going even when you don’t know how the stone will be rolled away
4. #2: No obstacle is too big for God
5. Keep this open to this spot for a minute
1. So now, not only is there a massive stone rolled down and blocking the entrance…there are also guards…and there is a seal, which if broken, any guards watching the tomb are going to lose their life…so they’re not going to let anyone in
1. And yet, is this a problem for God?
1. NO!
1. No obstacle is too big for God!
2. No stone is too heavy!
3. No situation too crazy.
6. In fact, let me show you something else in the Bible.
1. Do you see that large 28 on the same page (681)?
1. This is Matthew’s account also of the women going to the tomb. Look at the extra detail he shares.
1. Look at the small 2, verse 2
2. (Matthew 28:2) – NIV
3. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
1. So here we find out HOW the stone got rolled away.
2. But I love the detail here!
1. This is all so easy for God and his messengers.
1. The angel rolls the stone away, and then just sort of nonchalantly sits on it
1. Like, “No big deal”
1. That’s how God sees stones.
2. No obstacle is too big for our God.
3. Moving a stone for God…is like moving a pebble for us
2. Now, that doesn’t mean that God just moves every stone, or that God is some kind of genie that answers every wish
1. But it does mean that God is a God that can do the impossible…and often, He does!
2. Maybe you’re even thinking, my life is too messy for God to come into…or for God to fix.
1. But I’m telling you, if you give your life to Him, He can.
1. Have you done that?
7. PRINCIPLE #3
1. Let’s take a look at a 3rd principle
2. PRINCIPLES OF THE STONE
3. #1: Sometimes you need to keep going even when you don’t know how the stone will be rolled away
4. #2: No stone is too big for God
5. #3: The rolled-away stone declares that death can be beaten
1. This is perhaps the most important principle.
6. Think about what this stone symbolizes for most people of that time.
1. After a typical death, the rolling of the stone to cover the opening of the tomb was the symbol of finality. Separation.
1. As a kid, probably the hardest thing I went through was the fact that I went to so many funerals.
1. All 4 of my grandparents died in a 5-year span.
1. In that same period, my cousin died in his 20’s
2. It seriously felt like every 5 months, the phone would ring early in the morning, and someone else had died, and there was another funeral to go to
2. But I especially remember the pain of the first funeral I ever went to…for my grandfather.
1. It was seriously like out of a movie.
1. It was raining, and He was a WWII vet, and so there was the 3-volley salute with rifles…all in the rain, as we all held umbrellas.
1. And I just remember thinking as they lowered the casket down, much like the stone being rolled in front of the door… “I can’t talk to him anymore”
1. It feels like death has won.
7. But see, Jesus changes all of that. Easter changes all of that.
1. Mark 16 tells us, as did Matthew 28, that Jesus has resurrected.
1. That He is alive.
1. That the angel rolled back the stone.
2. But here’s the thing, the angel didn’t roll back the stone to let Jesus out.
1. No, we read later in the Bible that with his newly resurrected body that Jesus could just appear in a room. No walls or tomb could hold him.
1. So the angel didn’t roll the stone away to let Jesus out.
2. The angel rolled the stone away to let his followers in!
1. So they could see.
1. And be persuaded that Jesus was indeed ALIVE!
1. And that you can know Him! Personally, by accepting Him as your Savior.
8. And let me tell you how to know Him because this is what changed my life and hundreds of people’s lives in this church over the past couple of years.
1. See, I didn’t grow up a Christian and didn’t become a follower of Jesus until I understood what I’m about to tell you.
1. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth not just to teach and show us a good example on how to love our neighbor (that’s what I used to think)…
1. …but ultimately He came to die on the cross.
1. And in dying on the cross, Jesus was dying for our sins.
1. Because we all sin…that is we do the wrong thing.
1. We sin against each other, and against God.
1. We break His holy laws for how to live.
2. And because God is a just and Holy God, when we break his laws, there must be justice.
1. And that is separation from God, the Bible calls it hell.
2. BUT, God is not only just, He is SO loving.
1. And so He sent Jesus on a rescue mission for YOU.
1. And Jesus died on the cross taking the punishment that was meant for you.
1. And the Bible says that if you believe in that,
1. You can have your sins forgiven (because Jesus will have paid for them)
2. You can know Jesus personally (he is alive!), and so he will come in and start to change you from the inside out…it’s pretty amazing
3. You can then have eternal life, not in hell, but in heaven
1. And that is, my friends, the real meaning of Easter.
2. Let me show this to you in the Bible
1. (John 3:16) – NIV
2. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
9. Have you done this?
1. Truly accepted Him in as your Savior and Leader?
1. I urge you to…because this is such GOOD NEWS!
2. Because some of you have been feeling this question lately of “Who will roll the stone away?”
1. Maybe you’re feeling the emptiness of life, the heaviness of the world, or down & depressed, or the weight of your past mistakes.
1. And your heart is saying, “Who will roll this stone away from my life?”
1. The answer…is God!
2. It’s not you…
1. You can’t roll away a stone that big!
2. You can’t conquer death.
1. But God can!
2. He’s the only one who can truly save us, forgive us, and offer us eternal life in heaven when you die…a way to conquer death.
1. And maybe like the women walking to the tomb that day, you weren’t expecting to find the tomb empty when you got here today.
1. But I’m telling you right now: Jesus died for you, the tomb is empty, and He is alive and wants to save you and come into your life right now.
1. Will you invite Him in?
10. I want to give you that opportunity right now
8. Let’s just have everyone, just for a minute, close your eyes and bow your head.
9. If you need to make this decision for the first time today…to tell Jesus that you need His forgiveness for your sins…to make Him the Leader of your life…to accept His gift of Eternal life…
1. In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to stand up
1. No one’s going to be looking at you at all, that’s why we had everyone close their eyes.
2. But sometimes in life, we just need that moment…that moment where we cross the line
1. And say, “God roll that stone of death away from my life. Save me!”
10. If you need to tell God for the first time today that you do believe, and you want to follow Him and be forgiven.
1. I invite you to raise your hand where you are right now
11. The Bible tells us that in this moment we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths.
12. Dear God
1. I confess to you, that I have sinned against you.
2. But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place
1. And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins.
3. And now I commit, to following you, with my life.

(NEXT STEPS ON NEXT PAGE)

1. As everyone still has their eyes closed, for those of you standing up, you just made the most important decision of your life, and I believe that requires some more information…
1. And I want to get you some more resources and next steps so you know what to do next (this is so important)…
2. …so I want the ___ of you, to walk over to that door TOGETHER on your left where my friends are waving.
1. You won’t walk there alone.
1. There are many others standing with you, and our follow-up team is going to walk out at the same time with you
3. And then, for just a couple of minutes, I am going to give you some extremely important resources & next steps to get you started on the most important journey of your life (and then you can come back in the service).
1. You can start walking.
4. Okay, as they walk, let me pray.
1. (RESET TO PAGE 1)