Have you ever been invited to a special event, but you didn’t really know what to wear?  Some of you are like yes, that’s exactly what happened when my friend invited me to attend this Easter service. Well, know that you look amazing and we are thrilled that you’re here today. And we want to be a church that can serve as a spiritual home for you all year long.

I remember the first time I was asked to officiate a destination wedding. A couple asked me to do their wedding in May of 2014. I told them I needed to look at my calendar and talk to Shauna, my wife. They told me their wedding was going to take place in Maui. I told them I actually don’t need to look at my calendar or talk to Shauna. I mean, I hope she can make it but I am available. They let me know they would fly Shauna and I both to Maui, as well as pay for our lodging. I asked them what attire was needed and they requested that I wear a khaki suit. I didn’t own one at the time, but you better believe I was more than happy to wear what they wanted me to so I could be part of their special day…in Maui. I was more than willing to cover myself with what they had requested. And that made sense for my friends’ wedding.

But we all go through life trying to cover ourselves or even letting others cover us in some way…just to be acceptable. We cover ourselves by focusing on our appearance. We cover ourselves with our achievements and accomplishments. We cover ourselves by how we choose to present ourselves on social media. We cover ourselves with who we know or by what we own. And if we present something less than perfect, then we’re covered with shame and regret. Some of us have been covered by labels that others have put on us. Here’s the question I have for each of us this Easter:

What is covering you today?

The human race has been trying to cover itself from the very beginning. On the initial pages of the Bible, we read about a God who creates the world and calls it “good”. Then comes his crowing achievement. He makes humans male and female, in his own image. They live in God’s presence with access to an abundance of resources. This was the divine design, that they would live forever with God in this kind of paradise. They were covered by the God who made them.

But they wanted to go beyond his covering. An enemy of the God who made them enters their story and convinces them there’s something better that’s beyond the covering their Maker provided for them. And though I don’t know the specifics of your story, I do know that somewhere along the way you also became convinced that there’s something better than God’s covering or that you aren’t good enough for his covering. Adam and Eve we’re convinced of both. On the front-end they believed their life was better outside of God’s covering and after they sinned, they thought they weren’t good enough to be covered again by God.

Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Before this moment, they had never thought about covering themselves. And from this moment, we humans have never stopped trying to cover ourselves. We invest so much time and energy trying to sew our own fig leaves, because we too feel exposed. It feels like we have to cover ourselves to become acceptable and presentable. But what if there’s another option?

Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

For God to clothe them, a sacrifice had to take place. Hold onto this thought. Fast forward to Jesus coming to earth. He shows up as God in the flesh and He’s on a mission to cover humanity. But at so many points along the way, it appears the mission isn’t going to be accomplished. To be honest, it appears like a powerful group of people have been the ones to cover Him and it’s not a pretty sight.

Mark 15:16-20 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

They clothed him with purple to mock him as “king”. They covered his head with a crown of thorns. They said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” They struck him over and over. They spit on him. They crucified him.

If you have been mocked, Jesus too. If you have been a victim in any way, Jesus too. If you have been beat up by the world, Jesus too. If people have sought to destroy you, Jesus too.

So much for His grand mission. Others, so it appeared, got to dictate who he was and what he would never get to accomplish. He is there dying on a cross, completely uncovered. It looks like they have completely dominated Jesus.

John 20:1-10 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Early on the first day, when it was still dark. John is telling us what time of day it was, but this is also the reality of the past few days – it was STILL dark. If life is STILL DARK for you, Easter will invite you into a light that pushes back darkness and whose flame never goes out. The stone had been removed.

And then you get a bit of humor from John on this Easter morning. Though he’s writing about the resurrection of Jesus, there are a couple of hard flexes he makes. He notes that it was Simon Peter and the other disciple – the one whom Jesus loved. Who is he talking about? Himself. That’s right; John is talking about John. He’s like, “It was Peter and Jesus’s favorite disciple (me).” Then his competitive juices get the best of him. “Both were running, but the other disciple (me) outran Peter.” He’s like, yes, Jesus has risen from the dead but I am still faster than Peter.

What got their attention in that tomb? They looked at the strips of linen. Peter saw the strips lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. The other disciple, John, saw and believed. They would soon encounter the risen Jesus, but in this moment they understand something profound:

Jesus is no longer wearing His grave clothes.

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Jesus wasn’t the first person to rise from the dead. There was a man named Lazarus, who along with his sisters Mary and Martha, was a very close friend to Jesus. He dies and his sisters believe that Jesus showed up too late. When Jesus sees Mary weeping, he’s deeply moved and begins to weep as well.

John 11:38-44 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Because Jesus took off His grave clothes, He is able to take yours off too.

I want you to see how Peter articulates this in what we consider to be the first sermon in church history.

Acts 2:23-24 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

God raised Jesus, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was IMPOSSIBLE for death to keep its hold on him.

I don’t know what has a grip on you, but I know that Jesus has more power than what has you.

What grave clothes are you wearing? What’s covering you that Jesus wants to remove? Sin. Shame. Accomplishments. Achievements. Fear. Insecurity. Regret. Anxiety. Your Past. Addictions. All the things you have done. All the things you haven’t done. What someone else did to you. What you did to someone else. Anything you and I allow to define us that isn’t Jesus. By the way, we begin a brand new teaching series next Sunday called Naming Rights: Jesus on Identity.

You can’t remove your grave clothes by yourself. Jesus doesn’t just remove our grave clothes, though; He actually covers us with something else. Remember how Adam and Eve tried to covered themselves, but God sacrificed an animal to cover them.

Hebrews 9:11-14 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Jesus entered ONCE FOR ALL by his own blood – obtaining eternal redemption and cleansing us…by covering us.

Jesus has done everything necessary to cover you forever.

Response: Jesus, I put my faith in you as my covering. I ask that you take my grave clothes off and cover me with your blood so that I might be covered forever.

Start your faith journey.

Come back to your faith.

Baptism.