Celebrate: What A Difference Easter Makes

Celebrate: What A Difference Easter Makes

3/27/2016 Luke 24:1-12 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Our video reminds us that the heart of Christianity is not on Good Friday, but on the Sunday that is coming. We all need Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross, but the resurrection of Jesus was the proof we needed that God had approved the payment in full.

You see you can make an offer to buy a house, but it’s not until you get word back that your offer has been accepted that you know the house is going to be yours. We celebrate Easter because its God the Father’s way of saying to the Son, your offer has been fully accepted. The resurrection of Jesus caught everybody who knew him by surprise.

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to have someone you love very much go on a trip to Los Angelos for a few days to have a good time. They were going to catch the United Airlines Flight 570 to Cleveland at 6pm on Friday. You got a call on your cell phone Friday at 4:30pm, but before you could find your phone, the person hung up.

Caller id let you know, it was the person who was coming back to Cleveland. The person had tried calling you 4 times earlier that day. They could not leave you a voice message because your box was full. You missed the other calls because your phone was on vibrate. When you tried to return the call, there was no answer. You didn’t think that much of it. You would be seeing the person in the morning anyways.

As you are watching your television show at 9:15pm, the program comes on and says we interrupt this program to bring you a special report news. There has a been a terrorist bombing a Los Angelos airport. There were two explosions. One was in the hanger exit at gate 42. The other was a bomb planted on United Flight 570 to Cleveland. The plane blew up as it was taxing down the runway. There were no survivors. You then see the plane heading down the run way and exploding into a huge fireball.

All of your hopes, your plans, and your dreams for this other person are gone. You are hoping against hope, that somehow, your loved one was not on the plane. You frantically try to reach the person by cell phone. It goes straight to voice mail.

After 24 hours, you start to accept the other person is dead. Family members have come to see you. You even start thinking about the memorial service. Your whole world has been turned upside down. Life is not going to quite be the same again. Your sorrow seems more than you can bare. You look at the window and see channel 5 pulling up to your house wanting an interview.

You leave the family members inside and go out on the back porch to avoid the reporters.. Your cell phone rings. At first you don’t want to answer it, because you don’t feel like talking to another person. But then when you see the number on the screen, you grab the phone. And say “, hello, is this you”. And the voice on the other side, “yes its me.” You recognize the voice and you run into the house shouting. She’s alive, she’s alive.

The family asks what are you talking about. They think you have lost your mind under the stress and strain. But then they also hear the voice on the phone. It turns out your loved one never got on the plane. The person had been trying to call you the day of the accident to let you know she was going hiking for a few days in the deep wilderness and would be out of contact for a few days because there would be no phone service. When they came back and heard about the plane, the first thing she did was to call.

Although the family had gathered together to mourn and to comfort each other, that phone call changed everything, and now they had a reason to celebrate. Tears of sadness became tears of joy. Someone they thought was dead, was actually alive and would soon be on their way to see them. Channel 5 has a whole different story for the news that night.

The difference between the story in your mind, and the experience of the disciples, is that they didn’t just see a plane explode and have to figure out, their loved one was on it. They actually saw Jesus put to death on the cross. They actually saw, him breathed heavily until that final breath came out and it was his last. They actually saw a spear go into his side releasing a flow of blood and water. They actually saw his lifeless body be put into a tomb. They didn’t have to wonder about anything. There was no doubt, that Jesus had been crucified and placed in a tomb.