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- Did Jesus rise from the dead and what does his resurrection mean?
- That's the question I want to
quickly answer this morning, but first I want to share a little story by Cathy
Norman.
- She writes: "After 12 years as
a church organist, I did the unforgivable: I overslept on Easter morning.
- "The church service was
scheduled for 6:30 a.m.. At 6:31 a.m. The Minister called to see if I was on my
way, but I was still in bed.
- "Happily, I live near the
church, and in 10 minutes, I was seated at the organ.
- "The following Easter, my
phone rang at 5:45 a.m. When I answered, the minister told me gently, 'Christ
is risen, and you'd better too.'"
- Did Jesus rise from the dead and what does his resurrection mean?
- For almost 2000 years, those who do
not believe in the resurrection of Jesus have tried to ignore, deny, and
explain away the message of the New Testament.
- But there are problems with trying
to ignore, deny and explain away the message of the four Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, the message of Paul's letters and the other New Testament
writers.
- The main problem is simply this:
you have to do a whole lot of mental gymnastics to ignore, deny and explain
away the plain facts as the Bible presents them.
-What happens when the plain facts
are ignored, denied, or explained away?
- When we throw out the facts what
happens is: we guess, and when we throw out the facts, your guess is as good as
anyone else's guess as to what the truth really is.
- So let's take a few moments to
consider the facts.
- First, who were the first witnesses to arrive at the tomb?
- That's simple! The first
eyewitnesses at the tomb were women.
- It's important that the first
eyewitnesses were women (A) because the women followed Joseph of Arimathea to
the tomb, so they saw where Jesus body
was laid.
- They didn't get lost on Sunday
morning on their way to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with perfumes and
spices. They knew where they were going.
- B. It's also important because
Jesus treated women with the equality and respect they deserve unlike the rest
of the society around Jesus.
- Women were second-class citizens,
and so were children, but not to Jesus.
- According to the law, a woman was
not permitted to testify as a witness in court; women were thought of as unreliable and untrustworthy witnesses.
- If the church had been allowed to
choose who the first to witness Jesus resurrection were, it would have been men
and not women.
- The gospel writers, all four of
them, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
would not have written the women as witnesses, if it were not true.
- Second, as the first eyewitnesses, what did the women discover?
- A. Going to the tomb, they were
wondering who was going to roll the stone way, but when they arrived, the stone, a 12 inch thick, 8 foot round, 4
ton slab of granite, was already rolled away from the tomb.
- B. Entering the tomb, they did not find the body of Jesus.
- C. Exiting the tomb, they were told by two angels that Jesus is
risen, just as he said, and they remembered his words.
- D. While Luke's resurrection story agrees with much of Mark's gospel, Matthew adds that the women have a personal encounter with Jesus
himself, while John makes the encounter
with Jesus even more personal with
just one of the women, Mary
Magdalene.
- These differences should not be understood as contradictions, conflicting
or disagreeing stories, but as normal
variations to be expected from eyewitness testimony.
- If we were to hear the testimony of
eyewitnesses and their testimony was all exactly the same, then we would be
wise to expect that the testimony is made up, not true.
- E. Remembering what Jesus said,
that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful man, be
crucified and on the third day rise, the
women would not have gone to tell the disciples unless they believed.
- Why be made fun of and laughed at,
unless, of course, you are telling the truth?
- Third, how did the disciples
react to the women's testimony?
- So the women as the first to
witness the resurrection of Jesus, saw the empty tomb, heard the Angels speak,
remembered what Jesus told them, and became the first to go and tell the
disciples that Jesus is risen, but...
- Because women were seen as unreliable witnesses the disciples at first
did not believe the women.
- They thought the women were talking
nonsense; that their grief made them loopy
- Somehow Jesus' predictions of his
suffering, death and resurrection had gone right over the heads of his
disciples; in one ear and out the other.
- How embarrassing! And no one would include an embarrassing story
in a historical account, unless it was true.
- Peter heard the eyewitness testimony of the women and his curiosity got the better of him.
- He ran off to investigate, and John's gospel tells us that John also went
with Peter, and while Peter went home filled with wonder and astonishment
about what happened, still trying to put together the puzzle in his head, John
saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes just lying there like Jesus had passed
right through them, and John believed!
- Not until they saw the empty tomb
and grave clothes did Peter and John put it together.
- For the disciples, Jesus death
didn't add up to new life. Only by seeing the proof with their own eyes did
they begin to believe.
- The embarrassing lack of faith of the disciples and their refusal to
believe the women points to the truth that Jesus is risen.
- What about us? What do we believe?
In a world that tends to ignore, deny, or explain away the Bible, do the plain facts tell you that Jesus is
risen?
- If you do believe, then what does his resurrection mean?
- Jesus resurrection, his rising from the dead, is not just another story.
- Eyewitnesses saw him alive. In
fact, before Jesus returned to heaven over
500 people saw the risen Christ.
- The Angels, the grave clothes just
lying there, the empty tomb, the encounters with Jesus written in Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John are not fairytales but eyewitness events.
- He really is alive.
- Jesus is risen, therefore, death is
defeated.
- Because Jesus lives, we win!
- CS Lewis, you know the guy who
wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, pointed out that if God exists, then miracles like the resurrection are more
than possible. In fact, we should
expect them.
- God, however, often does not do
what we want, but he will show up in ways that surprise us, just like the women
and the 11 disciples were surprised by Jesus resurrection.
- The women went to the tomb,
expecting to find the body of Jesus, forgetting Jesus told them that he would
rise again.
- The disciples didn't believe the
testimony of the women because they forgot that Jesus told them he would rise
again.
- Jesus' resurrection was a complete
surprise and God loves surprises. He loves to surprise his children.
- The Bible is the great story about
God working out his plan to save the world from sin, death, and the curse, and
the resurrection of Jesus is the climax of this great story.
- Because Jesus lives, we win!
- I said near the beginning that
unbelievers have spent a lot of time and energy trying to ignore, deny and
explain away the empty tomb and the eyewitness testimony of the first disciples
of Jesus, but it is easier to accept the plain truth that the God who created all
things by the power of his spoken word miraculously raised Jesus back from
death forever, just as Jesus promised.
- Because Jesus lives, we win!
- Because Jesus was raised, God's mighty power is at work to save!
- Because Jesus was raised, death is defeated!
- Because Jesus was raised, we can have hope for the future!
- Because Jesus was raised, the Christian faith is no joke, but brings
real joy!
- Because Jesus was raised, God's power is available for you today!
- Because Jesus lives, we win!
- All we have to do is hand over our
lives to Jesus, learning to submit to Jesus; moment by moment, day by day,
letting Jesus take the lead in our lives.
- Romans 10:9
states, "if you confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved."
- Acts 2:38, also says,
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit."
- Because Jesus lives, you can have the guarantee right now, whether you
live or you die, you win, but you need to hand over control of your entire life
to the Lord Jesus.
- Are you willing to hand over your
whole life to Jesus Christ?
- Because Jesus lives, we win!
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