Do We Really Believe In The Resurrection Of Jesus?

The Question I have for you today is, do we really Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus?

• Put yourselves in the shoes of the disciples for a moment.

• You had just witnessed the brutal death of your personal companion and friend, you literally saw him draw His last agonising breath, then saw Him being carried off to be placed in His rocky tomb, there He then spent three days in a guarded and sealed off grave, and then comes the incredulous news from Mary Magdalene that Jesus’ body was no longer in the grave, would you have believed her?

• This was the dilemma the early disciples faced when Mary Magdalene suddenly rushed in and told them Jesus’ body was no longer in the grave.

• Such was the scepticism, that only two of them, Peter and John were motivated to go down and check the facts for themselves

• John 20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,

• One of the things you notice in this account is there is a certain amount of confusion as to some of the details, well this is the reason, it was “still dark”.

• Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

• Mary Magdalene was the woman Jesus had earlier cleansed of seven demons but remarkably she also became one of Jesus’ travelling companions (Luke 8:1-3).

• Sometimes we might have reservations about the type of people we want to associate with or even invite to church.

• Jesus apparently didn’t have this type of reservation. Mary Magdalene could well have been another women about whom the Pharisees would have asked the question, “Does He know what kind of a women she is?”

• Jesus’ response to the pharisees is revealing, Luke 7:37 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

• So we begin to see the deep connection between this forgiven sinner and Jesus despite the obvious baggage she carried.

• The message fortunately for us is, regardless of our past sins and the baggage we carry, Jesus is more than willing to accept us and to have an intimate relationship with us.

• 2 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!”

• Despite Jesus telling those who travelled with him a number of times that He would be crucified but would rise again on the third day, the message still did not register with them.

• It is not only atheists who ridicule Jesus’ resurrection, but there are even liberal theologians in the Christian community who don’t believe Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead and even question His miracles.

• They have been so programmed by a society that bases everything on fact and reason but fail to accept there may be forces and powers at work beyond the physical realm.

• 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

• Notice what John’s focus was. What caused John to pause at the entrance was the state of the grave-clothes.

• The grave-clothes did not look as if they had been unwound or slipped off Jesus’ body.

• They were arranged just as if the resurrected body of Jesus had simply passed through them without rearranging or disturbing them.

• 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.

• 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

• The state of the graveclothes confirmed for John that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead and death no longer held any power over him.

• Jesus’ word was not good enough for John, he wanted empirical evidence Jesus had risen from the dead.

• The condition of the graveclothes also indicated that the body of Jesus had not been stolen by His disciples or thieves.

• 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Now we see demonstrated the deep affection Mary had for Jesus