In Jesus Holy Name April 8, 2007
Text: Luke 24:1-12 Redeemer
“They Didn’t Get It! Do You?”
He is Risen! He is risen, indeed!
In February Oscar-winning director, James Cameron (The Titanic) along with Emmy award-winning documentary film maker Simcha Jacobovivbi held a press conference in New York to promote a film they had produced for the Discovery Channel entitled “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” .
Displaying some ossuaries (bone boxes) discovered in Jerusalem, they claimed that the boxes came from “the family tomb” of Jesus and that one of the boxes actually contained the bones of Jesus.
In reality the discovery was not new. The tomb and its contents were discovered in 1980 by construction workers who were digging a foundation for a new building in Jerusalem. The discovery was big news.
I remember Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America with excitement in her voice, asking: “Are these the bones of Jesus?” I remarked to myself… As a great and knowledge able reporter, why didn’t she ask…”where is the nail marks in his hands and feet?”
These skeletons proved only what we already knew. Lots of people died 2000 years ago. Six of the ten limestone ossuaries had the following names. Jesus the son of Joseph, Matthew, Jofa, Judah, the son of Jesus, and two with the name Mary.
The name of Jesus was so common in the first century it appears on 98 other tombs and 21 other ossuaries. There is no historical record of Jesus ever being referred to by His followers as, “Jesus, Son of Joseph.” To his disciples He was “Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.”
His family did not live in Jerusalem; but 70 miles north in the village of Nazareth, located in Galilee. As the time Jesus was killed, he was a pilgrim in Jerusalem.
“Skeletons and skeptics will abound, but the witness of the New Testament is not that a company of martyrs was forged out of frightened men because they saw the skeleton of Jesus.”
Easter is a season of joy. Christians around the world sing: “I know that my redeemer lives”, not because a grave cut from the limestone, contained a linen shroud with no body. No! Christians sing “I know that my redeemer lives” because this Jesus, who was crucified, secured in death by professional Roman soldiers, showed himself alive, with a resurrected, glorified body. The New Testament lists 13 times when the crucified Jesus showed Himself alive to the Apostles, to more than 500 at one time (I Cor. 15:6) and to the Apostle Paul.
As Christians, we know the story of God’s love for us. He created our world. He created each and everyone of us. He created human beings to be in a relationship of love and friendship with their creator. God’s love demanded that human beings, men, women and children be given a free will to chose or reject his love. Satan offered Adam and Eve an opportunity to be their own god. They chose to disobey God and Satan gained a momentary victory by bringing death into the world.
The Bible tells us that God himself came to rescue and restore Adam and Eve to a place of harmony, forgiveness and peace through the sacrifice of one of His beloved creatures.
“For without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness.” (Heb. 9:22) “for it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s sins.” (Lev. 17:11)
Dallas Willard in his book “The Divine Conspiracy” writes: This holy creator, “slipped into our world through the back roads and outlying districts of one of the least important places on earth… He lived for thirty years among socially insignificant” fishermen and ordinary citizens. “He grew up in the home of a carpenter from the little Middle Easter village of Nazareth. After his father, Joseph, died he became the “man of the house” and helped hi smother raise the rest of the family.
Jesus stepped into the public arena to proclaim, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He backed his words with a perfect life. He healed every kind of sickness and disease. He raised the dead to life. Enormous crowds followed Him. People trampled one another (Lk 12:1)
And ripped roofs off houses (Mk 2:4) to gain access to him.”
“His ministry team included the 12 apostles from the surrounding villages and towns; and a number of women whom he had healed. He offered forgiveness and proclaimed that He and the Creator God wore one in the same.” The invisible had become visible. (Col. 1:15) He was acting as God on earth, because He Was!
At the home and graveside of his friend Lazarus, who had been in the grave for 4 days, he said, “I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live even though he dies.” He then called Lazarus back to life. The bible tells us: “that many who had come to mourn the death of Lazarus, believed, but others did not. It was a choice they were free to make.
Sadly, this Easter day greets a world that is filled with hundreds of millions of people who just don’t get it. Some have never heard of Jesus. They can’t get it! Some know the name Jesus, but only as a curse word. They won’t get it! Some don’t get because they refuse to believe that a man who lived and died and rose from death 2000 years ago can have an impact on their lives. Whatever the reason millions don’t get it.
Our world is filled with souls who remain lost, retain their sins, reject salvation and refuse God’s offer of forgiveness. They could be free of the shackles of sin and the fear of death, and Satan. Because they don’t get it, on this Easter Day they will remain down cast, depressed and despondent.
If you don’t get it, if your Bible remains unread, gathering dust; if you scorn the prayers offered by family or friend on your behalf; harden your heart when people speak of Jesus, don’t let this Easter pass without hearing God’s offer of eternal life. Let me tell you about some other men and women who just didn’t get.
Their story begins almost 2,000 years ago on a Friday, the day Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to a cross an died. Don’t doubt Jesus died. He had been whipped with a weapon that ripped His back to ribbons. He had been beaten, stuck and nailed to a cross. He was stabbed through the heart, by men whose business it was to kill; whose own lives were forfeited if they let the condemned escape from the cross. Yes, Jesus died.
According to the Bible, one of Jesus’ secret followers, a man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea, was allowed to bury Jesus. Joseph used narrow strips of linen and a great mixture of aromatic spices to improve the smell of the decomposing body and, at least for a while, preserve the corpse. When he and another of Jesus’ friends finished their hurried job, you would have described the Lord as looking like an Egyptian mummy, as much as anything. Jesus was buried in a new grave, hewn out of rock. Pilate, the Roman Governor, had a seal placed upon the great stone which blocked the entrance to the tomb. A guard was placed on duty to make sure seal, stone and Savior stayed put.
That should have been the end of the story. But three days later, when other of Jesus’ followers came to pay their respects, they found that the guard was gone; they had run away in fear. The stone had been rolled away and the body of Jesus was gone.
“Maybe”, the women thought, “somebody has stolen the corpse. Maybe somebody has moved the body.” Maybe they thought a lot of things. One thing they did not think was that Jesus had risen from the dead. They didn’t get it. You can hardly blame them. I’ve buried lots of people over the years, and not a single one of them has risen yet. We all know that death is final. At least it’s supposed to be.
The women heard the words of the angel and believed. They ran to tell two of Jesus’ closest friends, Peter and John. Let me read from the Bible what happened next. Luke 12:9-11
Peter got up and ran to the tomb. He too, saw the linen shroud, but he went away wondering. He didn’t get it!
We know from the Gospel of John that he was also with Peter. He went inside and saw the linen, just as it had been put on Jesus the afternoon He had been buried. The only difference was Jesus’ body wasn’t there anymore. Throwing caution to the wind, Peter also went into the tomb. John believed. You might ask, “What’s the big deal about seeing some linen shroud?” Well it is a big deal. John saw and believed. Why? How could he come to that conclusion?
John got it. John did some detective work. When he entered the tomb, his first thoughts might have been similar to that of the women. “someone stole the body”. But when John saw the linen he rejected that idea. Think about it.
A thief had to get past the guard, move the very large stone, take time to unwrap Jesus’ Body, put the linen back in exactly the same place, in the same shape, in the same manner in which it had been found, and then carry out the naked corpse. John concluded, “couldn’t happen.” When John saw that linen, He got it! He knew that Jesus was alive.
John saw Jesus die on the cross. He was there. He saw it. Jesus was buried in this tomb, this very spot. The linen had fallen on itself. It’s almost as if it had once held a human shaped balloon and somebody let the air out of the balloon. Somehow, the body of Jesus passed through the linen shroud and it fell back on the stone shelf. John got it!
John did not understand all of scripture. Not yet. But John got it. His “getting it” would become more complete when a living, breathing, eating, talking and touchable Jesus appeared to him and the other disciples. Standing in the empty tomb looking at the collapsed linen, John knew for certain that Jesus Christ, the Son of God was alive.
The question, this Easter Sunday is, “do you get it?” I have tried to get through to you in what ever way I can. Your eternal residence, heaven or hell will be decided on whether you believe Christ is risen.
I know that many in our culture have been wooed by those who maintain that the Bible is a myth, to be believed only by children who are weak and wide-eyed. There are those who have for years, stumbled over the barriers built by their intellect; who have been lulled into listening to the voices which say: “sin has no meaning.”
If by chance this morning, you have not fully committed your heart, your life, your mind to following Jesus, look. The death and resurrection of Jesus is real. The linen we have talked about is only one, very small bit of evidence to the greatness of God’s grace. Do you really think these disciples would have been martyred, holding fast to the preaching of a prank? Do you think these ordinary citizens and fishermen could be turned into lions for the Lord if they had not seen the living Jesus?
Let me close with a story.
Philip was born with Down’s Syndrome. As a result, he never was part of the group. He was pleasant enough but he looked different and sometimes acted differently than his eight-year-old-classmates. Easter Sunday that year, Philip’s Sunday School teacher gave each of her students a plastic egg, the kind panty hose used to come in, and instructed them to bring them back with a symbol of the resurrection.
The following week the eggs were opened and each child explained the meaning of the symbol they had brought. One egg held a pretty flower; another held a butterfly. The children squirmed to see that one. In another, there was a rock. The last egg was empty. Nothing. If you had listened carefully, you would have heard things like, “That’s stupid” or “he didn’t do his homework.” Philip confessed, “That egg belongs to me. It’s empty, because Jesus’ grave was empty.” Philip got it!
That summer Philip got something else, an infection. Most children would have shaken off such a little thing. Philip’s body couldn’t. At his funeral, nine eight year old children, accompanied by their teacher, brought a gift and placed it in his casket. You know what it was? Elementary, isn’t it? Almost as elementary as knowing God has given His Son to save you. The linens, the empty tomb prove it. May this day find your heart saying with the rest of the Christian world….”Christ is risen! He is Risen, indeed. Amen.
