Unlikely EventsJohn 20:1-20

Easter is a time to celebrate the incredible

The unbelievableThe incomprehensible

The inexplicable

Let’s not start with Easter

Let’s talk about some contemporary events

Unlikely events

“Between a Rock and a Hard Place”May 2003, Aron Ralston

Would you amputated your own arm with a pocket knife to save

your life?

The thought is almost inconceivable.

An 800-pound boulder fell and trapped his arm to a canyon wall

After five days with the little food, little water and no hope of rescue

Aron amputated his own arm with no more than a pocket knife

Cancer Sniffing Cat Saves Man’s LifeFebruary 2009

Apparently cats can sniff out cancer.

Calgary, Alberta

One kitty warned owner Lionel Adams that he had a cancerous

tumor in his lung.

How?

Tiger, would point to it every night with his paw.

"He would climb into bed and take his paw and drag it down my left side - he was adamant there

was something there,"

“And it was right where the cancer was."

Adams went to the hospital

surgeons later removed a tumor the size of a soda can.

Man Fell off Mountain

January 2011

Climber fell 1,000ft down the face of a Scottish mountain

Found by a rescue helicopter, standing up and studying a map and

suffering only cuts and bruises.

Adam Potter, from Glasgow

Reached the 3,589ft summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor,

He lost his footing and fell.

Police described him as "the very fortunate climber".

When they spotted somebody standing far below

“They assumed it must be the wrong man and flew back to the summit”

"We honestly thought it couldn't have been him as he was on his feet,

reading a map,"

He was in shock from “…sheer relief of still being alive".

“We did expect to arrive on scene to find the worst-case scenario."

Tsunami RescueMarch 2011

Four-month-old reunited with her father after incredible rescue

A baby’s cry amid the rubble seemed so impossible that soldiers

searching a tsunami-smashed village dismissed it as a mistake.

But it came again. And they realized they had not been hearing things.

The four-month-old girl had been swept from her parents’ arms

For three days, the child’s frantic family had believed she was lost to

them for ever.

She was found safe and sound

Innocent Man Pleads Guilty

Is crucified

Dies

Comes back to life

Even his closest friends are in shockWhen the body disappears…

They are sure they will be blamed and arrested

They don’t know what to do next

John 201Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there…10Then the disciples went back to their homes…

11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

We live in a world of incredible eventsWhen we can’t make sense of these things

we call them coincidences We might say, we were at the right place

at the right timeWe might call ourselves lucky

After all, we live in a scientific worldWe want things to make sense

But we also live in a world of hope, miracles and God’s grace

Where we survive terrible eventsWhere cats can smell cancer

Where there is hopeWhere God loves us so much he gave us Jesus to pay the price for

death, sin and punishmentHe lives