Lessons Learned From The Easter Story Part 3
Scriptures: Matthew 28; Luke 24; John 20
Introduction
This message concludes this series on lessons I’ve learned from Christ’s last week on earth and His resurrection. This morning we will look at the resurrection. Last week we ended with two of Christ’s “secret” followers taking and burying His body. We’ll start today with the women visiting the tomb where Christ was buried.
I. Visiting The Tomb
“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it….The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead……”
Matthew 28:1-2, 4-7a
After the Sabbath, several of the women who followed Christ came to the tomb. They came so that they could anoint Christ body for burial. Remember because the celebration of the Passover was at hand, Christ did not receive the “normal burial”. These women came to the tomb to complete the task. Notice that there were not any of the remaining 11 disciples present at this time. To them, Jesus was dead and that was the end of their ministry. These women came to the tomb to complete the burial process for Jesus. But before we go into what they found once they got there, we must look at something the chief priests did “after” Christ was buried. Matthew 27:62-66 records how after Jesus was buried, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate and told him that Jesus had promised that He would rise in three days. They requested that Pilate would seal the grave so that the disciples could not come and steal the body and claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. This was done on the Sabbath – a day that they should not have been doing anything. Pilate gave the order and the tomb was sealed with a Roman seal and four guards. When the tomb was sealed, it could not legally be opened. The women who approached the grave were totally unaware of the fact it had been sealed. They were actually wondering who would open it for them. When they arrived the grave was already opened.
When you look at the response of the chief priests and Pharisees, you’d have to wonder how they knew Christ would rise on the 3rd day and His disciples did not. Remember the chief priests and Pharisees were learned men of the Scriptures. They would have known all of the prophecies relating to Christ which tells me that they probably knew that He really was the Messiah and chose not to accept Him. This would be different if they had not known, but they knew. This is why they went to Pilate on the Sabbath day to get him to seal the grave. In their minds, in my opinion, “when” Christ rose from the grave, because it was sealed and a big stone had been placed in front of the tomb, He would not be able to get out and therefore no one would know He had risen. Remember when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead – they had actually planned to kill Lazarus again because he was living proof of who Christ was? Well in their mind, Christ would rise from the dead like Lazarus. They did not understand that when Christ rose from the dead, He’d rise to live forever. Based on what we have recorded in Scripture, I truly believe they knew Jesus was the Messiah; they knew He would rise on the 3rd day; and they planned to make sure if He did rise, He would not be coming out of that grave. Their plan, He would stay there until He died “again”. Lesson One: There will be times when the truth is known but ignored so that our own agendas can advance. Again, I believe the chief priests and Pharisees came to the understanding of who Christ truly was and that is what motivated them to act the way that they did.
Now back to the women. When they arrived at the tomb, expecting to need help to roll away the stone, they were surprised to find the tomb already opened. When they got close to the tomb, they saw an angel who told them that Christ was alive and that they should go and tell the disciples. Here is what Mark 16:7 records as the direction the angel gave to the women “But go and tell His disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.” I want you to focus on the fact that the angel mentioned Peter by name. Peter must have been feeling pretty bad that he had the chance to stand with Christ but chose to deny him to save his own life. Knowing how he must have felt, Christ wanted Peter to know that he was still in good standing with Him. (Again, as I mentioned in my previous message, Christ forgave Peter before Peter ever denied Him.) The scripture records that the women immediately left to tell the disciples.
You must recognize how important this was for the women to be a part of these events. Christ “officially” elevated the position of women when it came to ministry when He allowed them to learn from Him side by side with the men. These women were now entering into a new walk. They immediately went to disciples. Luke 24:11 records that when they arrived and told the disciples what the angel had said; “But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.” Can you imagine the frustration the women were feeling at this moment? They had just had an interaction with an angel giving them wonderful news and the ones who should have been the most happy to hear the news did not believe them. It took additional witnesses (Peter included) to confirm that it had really happened. Lesson Two: When you have a supernatural encounter with the Lord, it isn’t always easy to put that experience into words or to have others believe you. This encounter changed the lives of these women. We know this because they were present with the disciples in the upper room when all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Remember the soldiers who were guarding the tomb? At the same time that the women were running to tell the disciples what had happened, these soldiers were running to tell the chief priests. Matthew 28:11 records “Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.” The guards, just like the women, had to tell somebody. When they told the chief priests what had happened, the chief priests “bribed” the guards with a large sum of money to have them say that the disciples came and stole the body of Christ while they slept. The chief priests also promised to protect them if word ever got to the governor. This was a big deal. How would you like to the known as the soldier who was asleep on the job and allowed a body to be stolen from a tomb? How would you like for your children to be teased about their father sleeping when they should have been working. Remember in the Roman Empire, reputation was everything. These soldiers knew the truth, but for money, allowed their reputations (and that of their family) to be ruined. If those soldiers had sons, it was likely that their sons would follow them into military service. Now with the reputation of their fathers, that would be a hard task. Also consider this, the soldiers knew the truth. Just like the women, the soldiers had a supernatural encounter with our risen Lord. They saw the angel roll back the stone; they saw Jesus come out walking, talking with the angels and giving them instructions as to what they should tell those who would come seeking Him; they saw everything. No matter what they did with the rest of their lives, they knew they had witnessed something special. Lesson Three: For the right amount of money, people will walk away from their reputation and their faith.
II. Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus
As you read the accounts in the gospel, there are several instances where Christ appeared to individuals, starting with two men walking on the road to Emmaus. I want to look at two appearances for the final lessons. The two appearances are His appearance to Mary Magdalene and His appearance the disciples and Thomas.
“But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying…..When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know it was Jesus……Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God, and your God.” John 20:11-12, 14, 16-17
Apparently Mary Magdalene either stayed behind once the women had left to go and tell the disciples or she came back. Regardless she was standing there weeping when she had an encounter with Jesus. It appears that she reached out to cling to Jesus with her hands, but He stopped her and told her he had not jet ascended. He told her to go and tell His disciples that He was ascending to “His Father, their Father, His God and their God”. With this one statement, Jesus let it be known that everything had changed because of the cross. Now a new relationship with God was available to the apostles and to all who would call upon the name of Jesus Christ. This was a rejoicing moment. But here is what I want you to consider, until He spoke her name, she did not recognize Him. Jesus had His glorified body, like we will have one day. When Mary looked at Him, she did not recognize Him although she had spent a lot of time with Him before His death. He looked new and He did not need a plastic surgeon to do the work. Until He spoke her name, Mary did not recognize Jesus. Lesson One: This body that I have right now with all of its imperfections will one day be perfect. Yes folks, that right, we will one day have the perfect body. It will be perfect in every sense of the word and according to God’s standards, not man. Whether I have a six pack or a donut will not matter – my body will be perfect. So if you do not like your bodies now, keeping working at it with the understanding that one day you will have the perfect body. Lesson Two: Jesus said His sheep knows His voice. Regardless of what He looks like, His sheep knows His voice. We are His sheep and we should know the voice of our Savior. That voice may come through a man, child, TV or radio, but if it is the voice of our Savior as revealed in His teaching, you will recognize it.
After Jesus had ascended (after His conversation with Mary) He made an appearance to the disciples and Thomas. Jesus had appeared to the disciples before when Thomas was not with them. The disciples had told Thomas about the appearance and Thomas refused to believe them until he saw it for himself. John 20:24-29 records the following; “But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’ After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed.”
We’re going love our new bodies. The disciples were shut up in a room because of the turmoil in the city. The room was locked. Jesus did not knock on the door; He just walked through the wall right into the room. Before He did anything else, He spoke to Thomas. Remember what Thomas had said? “Unless I see he could see the nail imprints in His hands…..he would not believe.” He took a very hard stance. He would not accept that the disciples had truly seen Jesus. He said he would not believe unless he saw it with his own eyes. Once he saw everything he was looking for, he believed. Jesus said that we are blessed because we believed without having seen Him face to face. Lesson Learned: My life in Christ is a faith walk. I do not have to see in order to believe – I believe therefore I see. The scriptures tell us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Everything we do is based on our faith in God. Without faith, we cannot please Him. When Thomas made his statement, many of us have made similar statement. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” “Seeing is believing.” Statements like these are common in our daily walk, but should never be a part of our Christian walk.
Faith is defined as believing in something even though you do not yet see, have or possess it. Faith says I have it, even though I do not see it – yet. When we accept Christ, we do so by faith. When we pray, we do so in faith. When we give financially to support the ministry, we do so in faith. When we speak words of encouragement to one another, we do so in faith. Faith is our lives. Thomas had to see in order to believe, do you? Because you believe and have faith, you can now see what you could not see in your past.
May God bless and keep you.
