Tony Campolo tells a story of preaching on Easter at his church in Philadelphia. He got up to preach to his predominantly black congregation – and he was “ON”! The folks were encouraging and hepping him along, and he got excited. He could hear some saying, “Help him Jesus!” And then he heard a woman say “Well!” He said, “When you a WELL, it makes your HARMONES bubble!” He finally finished, sat down, looked at Sr. Pastor and said, “Top that!” The Sr. smiles and says “pay attention son, cause the old man is gonna do you in!” And Tony says that’s just what he did – with one sentence – five words – “IT’S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY’S COMIN’!” “IT’S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY’S COMIN’!” So what?
QUESTION? What difference does it make whether it’s Good Friday or Easter Sunday? The difference is that Good Friday represents everything AWEFUL in life and Easter Sunday represents everything AWESOME in life.
We’re going to consider two elements of the Easter story – THE LAMB AND THE CROSS.
1. ON GOOD FRIDAY – JESUS – THE LAMB OF GOD – DIES! FRIDAY REPRESENTS EVERYTHING AWFUL IN OUR LIVES!
In Exodus 12, God enacted the original Passover. As you recall Passover was the night the Israelites were freed from their 430-year bondage to Egypt. The Passover sacrifice allowed God’s death angel to “pass over” the homes marked by the blood of a lamb, while killing the firstborn sons in all unmarked homes. The Passover sacrifice was a lamb – a one yr. Male – w/o blemish or defect. This perfect lamb was to be slaughtered, and its blood wiped on the doorposts and lentils of each home. QUESTION? What is the SIGNIFICANCE of the LAMB? By killing the LAMB, the Israelites were shedding INNOCENT BLOOD! The LAMB was the INNOCENT SACRIFICE for the sins of the people. The lamb was a SUBSTITUTE for the person who would have died in the plague! The LAMB had to be KILLED in order to get the BLOOD that would protect them. From that point on – the Hebrew people very clearly understood that for them to be spared from death, an INNOCENT life had to be sacrificed in their place. And I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that EVEN BEFORE that first Passover sacrifice – God was PREPARING the hearts of men for JESUS - the ULTIMATE PASSOVER LAMB! And Jesus knew His role -as Lamb of God. As early as Mt. 16:21 Jesus told the disciples what lie ahead – and He set his face on Jerusalem –– to be the final blood sacrifice for sin. By His SACRIFICE, JESUS BECAME THE LAMB OF GOD! SONG – WATCH THE LAMB.
We don’t know how many disciples were at the cross when Christ was crucified. We know there was one, I believe more watched helplessly from a distance.
In his book “Evidence that demands a Verdict,” Josh McDowell describes what Jesus went through on our behalf. It started with “a sleepless night with no food. Then Jesus endured the mockery of 2 trials; He was slapped, mocked, spat upon, and ridiculed with a robe, a scepter, and a crown of thorns. He had his back lacerated with the cruel Roman “cat-o-nine tails” whip which caused excessive tearing of the flesh, bleeding, cramps and dizziness; followed by tetanus (many prisoners did not even live through this lashing!) When He arrived at Golgotha’s Hill, Jesus suffered the shame of the cross (a weapon of punishment reserved only for the cruelest of criminals). Messiah Jesus was publicly humiliated and shamed. He was stripped naked; He suffered the long horror of anticipated death; the mortification of untended wounds; the unnatural position of His body on the cross; lacerated veins and arteries; crushed tendons throbbing with incessant anguish and torment; gradual gangrene; arteries around the head and stomach becoming swollen and oppressed with surcharge blood; and with all that - add a burning and raging thirst!”
My Soul! WHY did Jesus DO that? Why did He allow Himself to SUFFER so? WHY DID HE DIE? Because He loves you so much, that’s why? Because He loves me so much, that’s why! Every time I think of His sacrifice on my behalf, I’m AMAZED! I stand in AWE of His GREAT REDEEMING LOVE! I’m reminded of a poster that reads “I asked Jesus - How much do You love me? And He stretched out His arms - and died!” WOW! Isn’t that POWERFUL, isn’t that AWESOME?!
THE CROSS – the DARKEST HOUR in HISTORY!
Jesus died on the cross that DARK FRIDAY – and it had a profound effect upon the disciples. By piecing together what information we have about them at the time of the crucifixion, we can gain something of a glimmer of the TRAUMA of the CROSS!
The CROSS GRIEVED the disciples. They were GRIEVED because of Christ’s death. Had He died by accident or from robbers they could have accepted it. But to voluntarily SURRENDER to His enemies just didn’t make sense. His death seemed so senseless, so futile, so wasteful. It could have been avoided, but He chose, to die.
The disciples had seen Jesus perform many miracles. They had seen him raise people from the dead. They knew He could have saved Himself if He wanted to. But He didn’t. He actually let them kill Him.
No more would they walk the Galilean hillside, sail that little sea, or walk with Him down the streets of Jerusalem. No more would they share with Him this bread of life. All that was over now, ended --- by the BLOWS of a ROMAN SOLDIER driving SPIKES through Jesus’ hands and feet into a cross of wood. Their relationship with Jesus of Nazareth was over.
The CROSS SHAMED the disciples because of their COWARDICE. They knew Jesus had not received justice from the Sanhedrin or Pilate. They SHOULD have done SOMETHING. But when JESUS needed them, they lacked the courage to help Him. No doubt that was running through their minds as they stood at a distance and watched JESUS DIE on Calvary. They longed - even wept - for something they didn’t have -COURAGE. They wanted to do something, but they were afraid. When His dead body hung on that cross, they didn’t even try to take it down. COWARDS!
The disciples were cowards and they knew it! They huddled together behind locked doors – AFRAID!
The CROSS - DISAPPOINTED the disciples. They had left home, family, jobs - everything - in the belief that Christ was the MESSIAH. And it turned out that He WASN’T the MESSIAH. They had been following a false dream. They had believed in Him - this Man of Galilee. But no MESSIAH would die on a cross between two criminals. He couldn’t be the Messiah. They had been misled.
The CROSS – DUPED the disciples. It convinced them Christ was not who they thought He was. He had done so much, performed so many miracles, they were so sure that He was the Messiah. He had even said so Himself. BUT - If He were the Messiah, he would not have let Himself be crucified. If He were the Messiah, God would have intervened to stop such a thing from happening. But God didn’t intervene. He WAS crucified! Therefore, He COULD NOT be the Son of God.
The CROSS – CONFUSED the disciples. They had witnessed a glaring example of injustice. And God just let it happen. No JUST God would let such a perfect Man die at the hands of the Romans. Lies, hatred, and prejudice - a just God would have destroyed them - therefore simple logic said there was no just God.
Now the disciples must face the embarrassing humiliation, the ridicule, and the scorn from their countrymen and their enemies. Before - when JESUS was with them, He had always managed to turn their scorn into some eternal truth. Before - when JESUS was with them, they had been PROUD to be HIS FOLLOWERS. But now He was DEAD, and the Scribes and Pharisees were correct. Wherever they went for the rest of their lives, people would laugh and sneer at them. They would carry this humiliation with them as long as they lived. These disciples had taken a great gamble to follow this NAZARENE. They had staked everything on Him - and God had let them down. Nothing they could ever do would remove this blemish on their life. They were doomed, as long as they lived, to be known as the followers of this CRUCIFIED ONE.
So you see, when the disciples went home from the hillside on that FRIDAY afternoon, their world had ended. A curtain had been drawn over their lives, and it was pitch black. There was no hope, no promise that tomorrow would be any better, and no belief that anything would ever be right again.
2. EASTER SUNDAY –HE’S ALIVE – HE IS RISEN – INDEED! EASTER SUNDAY REPRESENTS EVERYTHING AWESOME IN OUR LIVES!
But then, on SUNDAY morning, something happened! God opened a whole New World! Their eyes saw His wonders. The lights went on again in the Father’s house and it made all the difference in the world. It was in the early morning hours, and someone had discovered that the TOMB WAS EMPTY. It didn’t take long for it to dawn on these men that while they had given up, God had continued to work. They had been defeated, but God had BEEN VICTORIOUS!. Instead of SHAME and BITTERNESS, HOPE and THANKFULNESS and JOY BURST over the horizon with the morning sun. Slowly, the truth was sinking in - GOD was using the FOOLISHNESS of man in His PLAN OF SALVATION. There was TRUTH in GOD’S WORD! And never again would that TRUTH be hidden.
God had turned DEFEAT into VICTORY and TRAGEDY into TRIUMPH. When these men were finally able to comprehend what had happened through all this, something MYSTERIOUS and MIRACULOUS happened. They were no longer AFRAID, no longer DEFEATED. They swung open those locked doors, walked into the streets of the whole world, and proclaimed the GOOD NEWS of GOD’S LOVE. COWARDS? No more. Never again. They were men now, brave men, bold men, God’s men! And ALL the mighty forces of the Roman army and ALL the lies of the Scribes and Pharisees could never silence these men of COURAGE. One by one they went to the grave. But they never looked back, they never compromised, they never lost faith, they never gave up, never bowed under. And the MESSAGE they preached – the GOOD NEWS OF JESUS THE MESSIAH – has LITERALLY changed the course of human history!
Can you see what happened to these men? On FRIDAY they were cowards. The Bible doesn’t try to hide it. They ran and hid. They were afraid.
But on SUNDAY they heard the Angel’s words –Why do you look for the living among the dead? “HE IS NOT HERE – HE IS RISEN!” Then they SAW THE LIVING CHRIST and they MIRACULOUSLY became MEN OF FAITH AND MEN OF COURAGE – and nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - could stop them. Because now they knew – HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE! (SONG-HE’S ALIVE)
The most AMAZING thing about the Easter Story is not the RESURRECTION OF CHRIST! As truly astounding and miraculous as that was, Jesus promised it would happen! I believe the MOST AMAZING thing about the Easter story is the men Jesus entrusted with His Kingdom and His Kingdom’s work! Do you see it? Fishermen like Andrew, Peter, James, and John. Matthew the tax collector and Simon the zealot! COMMON MEN. ORDINARY MEN. That is the AWESOMENESS of God, that His belief and trust in common men could not be daunted or shaken! He believes in us. Jesus believes in US! COMMON MEN! ORDINARY MEN! Teachers, businessmen, construction workers, secretaries, homemakers, salesmen, mechanics, white collar workers, blue collar workers, even preachers! Jesus believes that you and I CAN make a DIFFERENCE in the world in which we live!
QUESTION? What do you think? Do you think it could happen again? Do you think the Spirit of Christ could touch us like it touched those disciples? Do you think it might be possible that God would once again entrust His Kingdom work to people like you and me? Do you think God could use common people like us - to make a POSITIVE DIFFERENCE in our little corner of the world?
Somehow I believe - that God believes - that He can!
JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! HE LIVES! HOW DO I KNOW? BECAUSE HE LIVES WITHIN ME AND I SPOKE TO HIM THIS MORNING! HALLELUJAH!
REMEMBER – WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER JESUS – YOU – ARE – FOREVER – CHANGED!
QUESTION? DOES JESUS LIVE IN YOU? IF NOT, WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS TODAY?
QUESTION? DOES JESUS LIVE IN YOU? IF SO – WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS TODAY?
INVITATION
