When the Rumors Become True -- Easter
INTRODUCTION
I’d like you to take a quiz. Which of the following stories is true?
Woman Marries Eiffel Tower. Erika Eiffel said Her love of the Eiffel Tower is somewhat recent, and two years ago the San Francisco woman had a commitment ceremony and changed her name to reflect the bond.
A Florida man was naked and smoking crack cocaine when he was attacked by an 11 foot alligator. It took 4 deputies to free him from the animal who had his jaws locked around the stoned man. The victim suffered a broken arm, trauma to his leg, and a nearly severed left arm.
A big mouthed parrot in England spilled the beans about his owner’s love affair by repeating some incriminating phrases. The current boyfriend, named Chris, realized something was amiss when the bird kept saying, "Gary, I love you!"
Dr. James Burda of Ohio claimed he could treat anyone of any injury by traveling through time to the point where the injury occurred. He also claims to use his mind to manipulate the body, in the same way he commanded his foot to "heal" after hurting it while driving. Burda’s web site also offered long distance healing for $60 an hour. Dr. Burda has surrendered his license to practice at the request of state regulators.
3 year old Jack Neal purchased a pink convertible car on e-Bay for $17,000 surprising his mother who knew he was a computer whiz, but never imagined he knew how to bid at on-line auctions. Jack actually used the "buy it now" feature and since his mom had her password saved and credit card information on file, the sale went through. Luckily the seller had a good sense of humor and agreed not to force the sale.
Which was the true story? They all are.
Some stories are just so bizarre, so strange that they are hard to believe. That is true about the Resurrection story.
From the beginning people struggled to accept and believe the account--Jesus, the great rabbi teacher, the carpenters son, the condemned supposed blasphemer who hung on a cross between two thieves was alive again.
Look at how people responded to the story then.
Matt 28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
Mark 16:2-5 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
Mark 16:12-13 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
Luke 24:36-37 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
John 20:10-14 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don’t know where they have put him." 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
EASTER AND THE RUMOR OF THE RESURRECTION AND OUR RESPONSE TO IT IS THE PIVOTAL POINT IN EVERY PERSON’S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY.
1. Easter is the pivotal point because He did rise again.
A. The disciples could not have stolen the body.
The type of guard posted at Jesus’ grave was a Praetorian Guard, which consisted of four hardened soldiers. During each of the four watches of the night, one would keep watch while the other three slept. Their discipline was so strict that falling asleep on duty was punishable by death. The offending soldier was stripped, tied to a stake, and his clothes were used to start a fire to burn him alive. If it could not be determined who had fallen asleep (if for example, the guards tried to conceal the identity of the offender), one of the soldiers was chosen by lot and executed. So the guards were well motivated not to let anything happen to the body.
The disciples were Galileans, easily recognizable as such by their accents. The disciples were terrified of the authorities after the crucifixion; most likely they were afraid that they would be crucified as Jesus’ accomplices.
Even if the disciples had been brave enough to attempt stealing the body, the guards would have stopped them. Even if the guards had cooperated for some reason, the disciples’ efforts would have been very conspicuous, because the stretch of time between the crucifixion and the resurrection was occupied by the Sabbath. Just the effort of moving the stone would have been a violation of the Sabbath and would have made them subject to arrest--just the sort of thing they were most eager to avoid.
What is truly noteworthy about the guards is that they fled the tomb and immediately went to the Jewish authorities rather than their own commanders. The only explanation is that something extraordinary had happened, and they needed the Jewish authorities’ cooperation to avoid punishment.
B. Jesus could not have survived the crucifixion.
In crucifixion, the victim hangs by his arms against the cross, making it necessary for him to pull up the weight of his entire body by his outstretched arms in order to inhale. Gradually, the victim becomes exhausted by the effort. In addition, the chest muscles are pulled from the rib cage, making it increasingly more difficult to breathe. Finally, the tortured victim succumbs to exhaustion and passes out. Without conscious, strenuous effort, it is impossible to breathe, and the victim dies of suffocation.
There are records of people being taken down alive from crosses, but only the freshly crucified survived, and then only for a few hours.
The night before the crucifixion, Jesus did not sleep. He spent the first part of the night in prayer, and the rest of it being tried in various places, which required Him to walk from place to place. Finally, He was beaten and whipped and made to carry His own cross, which had to be quite heavy if it was large enough to hold Him. In fact, He was so exhausted that He couldn’t carry the cross the whole way. Then He was nailed to the cross. The cross was lifted with Him on it and dropped into a hole in the ground. The force of the impact would have been painful and injurious. He survived six hours on the cross.
The Romans determined that He was dead and permitted Him to be taken down for burial. He was wrapped tightly in grave clothes.
Finally Jesus was buried in a cold, dank tomb that was sealed with a boulder and guarded by soldiers who would suffer the death penalty for abandoning their post. He lay there from Friday evening until Sunday morning without food, water, heat, or assistance to untie his hands, or to unravel the bandages.
There is no way that Jesus could have survived. But even if He did manage to survive, He could not have left the tomb. Tombs were not designed to be exited from the inside. The rock that sealed it was too heavy for the women to move it even if they pooled their efforts; if Jesus had survived, He could scarcely have had the strength to move it unassisted, even if it were possible to move it from the inside.
C. The Sanhedrin did not steal the body.
The Sanhedrin knew of Jesus’ saying that He would be resurrected, so they went to a lot of trouble to have the tomb guarded to forestall any theft of the body that would give rise to resurrection rumors. If they had stolen the body, they would have exhibited it to end the Christian movement in its infancy; which was, after all, the whole point of engineering the crucifixion in the first place. After the resurrection, the Christian movement grew even faster than before the crucifixion, yet the Sanhedrin did not parade the body around publicly. The only explanation is that they didn’t know where it was.
D. The women could not have stolen it.
The women could not move the stone that sealed Jesus in. Since they had no access to the body, they could not have stolen it.
E. Joseph of Arimathea could not have moved it.
Joseph buried Jesus hastily in his own tomb to honor Jesus and to assure that His body was buried before the onset of the Sabbath at sundown. It is entirely possible that he would want to move the body to free the tomb for its originally intended occupant; however there was no time. The burial took place right at the start of the Sabbath. The work of moving the body was not possible until sunrise on Sunday. According to the gospel accounts, the women left while it was still dark and arrived at the tomb at dawn and found it empty. Joseph would have needed about a half-dozen assistants to move the stone and transfer the body and much more time than was available. In addition, he would have had to overcome the guard on the tomb.
Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin. When the resurrection rumors started flying, they could have taken legal action against him to get the true location of the body. There is no evidence of any conflict between Joseph and the rest of the Sanhedrin.
F. The disciples were surprised by the resurrection.
The disciples did not believe the resurrection until they had evidence for it. When the women returned from the grave site, the men thought they were hysterical. They investigated the tomb themselves. Thomas refused to believe the others until he saw Jesus. The disciples on the road to Emmaus heard of the resurrection reports and disbelieved them until they met Jesus. These reactions are entirely normal and believable.
The resurrection accounts are difficult to harmonize, something we should expect from a startling factual occurrence. If the whole thing was a fabrication, the disciples would have gotten their story straight before they went around accusing the authorities.
The disciples, who were demoralized, afraid for their lives, and ready to call it quits, suddenly became bold and unafraid of even the worst penalties, and the authorities could not refute what the disciples said.
G. The authorities were at a loss how to react.
The authorities did not produce a body. They seemed to be unable to answer even the most inflammatory public statements made by the disciples. The worst they did was to arrest some of Jesus’ followers, instruct them to stop preaching their message, and release them.
H. Christianity began in Jerusalem.
All of the events took place in public in Jerusalem. Jesus had been in public conflict with the authorities for a week. He was arrested at night, but in the presence of a large number of people. His trial before Pilate took place with a large, unsympathetic mob outside that demanded His execution. He was paraded through town under guard and bearing a large cross. He was executed in public with a large crowd in attendance. He died in front of witnesses and government authorities who certified His death. He was buried in a nearby tomb owned by a prominent and wealthy citizen; it must have been easily recognizable. Jesus remained in the tomb for a longer period of time than any person who had survived crucifixion under better circumstances.
The last place we should expect the story of His resurrection to be accepted would be in the very town where He had been executed. Under normal circumstances, we should expect His disciples to withdraw from Jerusalem, regroup, and proclaim His resurrection from some other place. Yet Christianity started with great success in a city where any curious person could walk over and examine Jesus’ tomb!
2. Easter is the pivotal point because of what was accomplished.
A. It dealt with the sin issue.
Romans 5:6-8
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
B. It wiped away a debt we could not pay.
Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Church audit. Books are justified and declared balanced.
C. It opens the door to a new again relationship.
10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Lucy Harris - Main attraction at "The Red Rat" in the Broadway play Jekyll and Hyde
A New Life,
What I wouldn’t give
To have a new life!
One thing I have learned
As I go through life:
Nothing is for free
Along the way!
A new start -
That’s the thing I need,
To give me new heart -
Half a chance in life
To find a new part,
Just a simple role
That I can play.
A new hope -
Something to convince me
To renew hope!
A new day,
Bright enough
To help me find my way!
A new chance -
One that maybe has
A touch of romance.
Where can it be,
The chance for me?
A new dream -
I have one I know
That very few dream!
I would like to see
That overdue dream -
Even though
It never may come true!
A new love -
Though I know there’s no
Such thing as true love -
Even so,
Although I never knew love,
Still I feel that
One dream is my due!
A new world -
This one thing I want
To ask of you, world -
Once! - Before it’s time
To say adieu, world!
One sweet chance to
Prove the cynics wrong!
What Jesus did is open the door for us to have that new relationship, that new life.
3. Easter is the pivotal point because of what it celebrates.
The true celebration of Easter is not about something that happened 2000 years ago. The true celebration of what Easter is all about is something different.
Paul hints at this in 2 Cor 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
What if the greatest rumor about Easter is that it is not about Celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus?
What if Easter is the Celebration of Our Passing form Death to Life?
The true celebration of Easter is all about the secret that those who are in Christ Jesus have discovered. Easter is the celebration of our transformation from death to life, from what we once were to what we are and all that we are becoming.
Today in the middle of worship, men and women who have discovered the secret shared some of their bizarre headlines with you. With cardboard testimonies they shared the truth of their passage from old to new, from death to life. They shared the rumors of new life and hope that are becoming true in their lives.
Celebrating Easter isn’t about what occurred 2000 years ago; it’s about celebrating the new things we are because of what occurred 2000 years ago.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
CHALLENGE:
If Easter is really about celebrating the new creation we become in Christ, if it’s really about our passing from death to life, from old to new, from what we once were to what we were always destined to be, , ,
Isn’t it about time for you to discover your cardboard testimony?
We’re going to stand and sing, "Your Name" once again. Ask yourself the question, "Isn’t it time?"
BENEDICTION
As I dismiss us, if you’d like to talk with me or one of our elders or elders’ wives, join us at the front. We’d love to talk with you about really celebrating Easter.
