Who Is This Man? Jesus, The Savior
Mark 16:1-7; 1 Corinthians 15:17
An Illinois man left Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him the next day. When he reached his hotel he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife, whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor dead. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: Dearest Wife, Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Your Loving Husband. P.S: Sure is hot down here. What could be more powerful than news from the other side of death? Easter is that and more.
It is why we have gathered here today and it is the very foundation of our faith. What does matter supremely is whether or not Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus staked His entire reputation on the Resurrection. If it didn’t happen, everything that Jesus said and did is open to question. Easter is not about a crime against an innocent man, it is about a claim -- a claim so spectacular and so crucial that it is either the cornerstone of Christianity or its fatal flaw. The claim is that Jesus Christ bodily rose from the dead. If it never happened, Christianity collapses into mythology and billions of people have been deceived. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.” If it did happen, it authenticates everything Jesus did and said, believers have the guarantee of eternal life and forgiveness of sins and we now know the true identity of Jesus as Savior of the World. The Resurrection is either one of the most wicked, heartless, vicious hoaxes ever or it is the most fantastic fact of history.
So what is the evidence of the resurrection? Acts 1:3 states that “After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.” First is the Empty Tomb. After professional executioners crucified Jesus, His corpse was placed in a solid rock tomb, anointed for burial and extensively wrapped in strips of linen cloth. A very large stone, estimated to weigh about 2 tons, was then rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb. After this boulder was in place, a contingent of up to 16 Roman soldiers was assigned to secure the tomb. Matthew 27:66 tells us that in addition to the Roman guard, they put a tamper-proof official Roman seal on the stone. Anyone who happened to make it past the Roman soldiers would then have to break this seal, thus incurring the wrath of the Roman law, which was crucifixion upside down. In spite of all these precautions – the stone, the soldiers, and the seal – the tomb was empty that first Easter morning! When the first people arrived to peer in, they saw only one thing: the blood-stained burial clothes, as if Jesus had materialized right through them.
Critics down through the years have not been able to refute the empty tomb by offering other possibilities. Maybe the disciples stole the body? But this seems far-fetched when you consider that this group of cowards would have had to overpower armed soldiers, roll away a two-ton boulder, dispose of the body, and then manufacture a myth about His resurrection – and then be crucified as each was for a myth they made up. Another possibility would be that the religious leaders disposed of the body. But if they had removed the body, all they would have had to do is parade the remains through the streets of Jerusalem and they would have derailed the Gospel news of Jesus’ resurrection the disciples were proclaiming. But, they couldn’t produce the body because the body was no longer dead -- Jesus had been raised to life again. A third was that Jesus did not die but was in collusion with Pilate to fake his death so then he could go lead a normal life and Pilate could get rid of a political nuisance who was threatening his power. The problem is that when the Roman guard pierced Jesus’ side, blood and syrum poured out, physical evidence of Jesus’ death.
Christianity rises or falls on the empty tomb. It is a silent and yet infallible witness. Critics cannot explain it away. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then where is the body? Leaders of every other religions died and stayed dead -- their bones are decaying in the ground. That’s not the case with Jesus. He claimed that He would rise from the dead on the third day -- and that’s exactly what He did. The empty tomb validates His claim. While this alone provides substantial evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, it was not convincing in itself to the original followers of Jesus. Even though Jesus had predicted that He would rise from the dead, it’s obvious, from their behavior, that they were not expecting it. They needed more evidence -- something that would remove all doubt from their minds.
The second evidence is Multiple Witnesses. The early Christians did not believe Jesus had risen just because of the empty tomb -- they believed because they saw Him with their own eyes. When they talked to others about Jesus, they did not say, “We found an empty tomb,” instead, they said, “We saw Jesus alive!” Now some have tried to discount this with the theory that the disciples were hallucinating. But more than just the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus. In fact more than 500 eyewitnesses saw him on 12 different occasions. Acts 1:3 says that, “After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” After His resurrection, He made an appearance to a woman in the cemetery. Later that same day, He walked through a closed door and talked with his frightened followers who were huddled in Jerusalem. In the evening, he walked side by side with two men as they made their way down a road. He appeared to believers and doubters alike. Several people saw Him on more than one occasion, some alone, and some with large groups; sometimes at night and others during the day.
Eyewitness testimony is powerful evidence. Let me illustrate. I was in a 5 car accident several years ago in New Orleans. I was a passenger in a car on the right hand lane of St. Charles Avenue waiting for the car ahead of us to parallel park when suddenly we were rear ended. Another car struck it and then another and then another. There were no eyewitnesses. When the police officer arrived on the scene, the first thing he wanted to know was whether or not anyone had witnessed the accident. I gave an account of what I new -- and the guy who plowed into our car had his story, which didn’t quite add up. As a result, the police officer concluded that all 5 drivers were at fault. Now, imagine if there was one eyewitness who saw everything and testified that my version of the story was true. The Officer would be more inclined to believe my account, wouldn’t he? How about if there were 3 eyewitnesses? It’d be even stronger if 12 people were willing to testify. My case would be even stronger if 100 people saw what happened. It would be airtight, and totally convincing if over 500 people witnessed that accident. I’ve never heard of a trial that had over 500 witnesses. To put this in perspective, if we were to call each of them to the witness stand to be questioned and cross-examined for just 15 minutes each, and we went around the clock without a break, it would take from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all. After listening to nearly 129 straight hours of eyewitness testimony, who could possibly walk away unconvinced? And that’s how strong the case is for the resurrection of Jesus! Over 500 different individuals testified and gave witness to the fact they had seen the resurrected Christ. When Christianity was launched on the scene, these eyewitnesses were still alive and could be questioned. In effect, the early church could say, “If you don’t believe us, you can ask those who saw Him with their own eyes.”
The third piece of evidence is changed lives. Peter was one of those eyewitnesses. On the night before Jesus’ death, Peter had told Jesus he would be faithful to him until his last days but just hours later, Peter denied Jesus three times. He then ran into hiding for fear the Jewish leaders would seek to crucify him and the disciples as well. Yet just weeks later, Peter went to the heart of Jerusalem and preached his first sermon. After summarizing what the prophets wrote about Jesus, and how Jesus lived, Peter laid out the details surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then he says, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” Acts 2:32 Peter saw Jesus, he talked with Him, and even had a fish fry with Him on the beach one day. But Peter was not only an eyewitness, his life became evidence of the resurrection as he went from scared coward to bold leader of the church and proclaimer of the Good News.
He is not alone. Those who met the Resurrected Jesus had their lives totally transformed. All of the disciples were transformed from men in fear of their lives to men who boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus resurrection. Every one of them had come from doubt to determination, from confusion to conviction, from fear to faith. Listen to how they died and see if it sounds like they were just making up the Resurrection:
• Matthew was killed in Ethiopia
• Mark was dragged through the streets until he was dead
• Peter, Simeon, Andrew, and Philip were crucified
• James was beheaded
• Bartholomew was flayed alive
• Thomas was pierced with lances
• James, the less, was thrown from the temple and stoned to death
• Jude was pierced to death with arrows
• Paul was boiled in hot oil and beheaded
The only thing that could have possibly changed their lives so dramatically was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every one of the apostles died because they proclaimed He was alive! Not only did the resurrected Christ impact this group of individuals, His life-changing power has transformed people from the first century down through today. The combined testimony of changed lives attributed to the risen Christ runs into the billions. They are from every race and tribe and language and nationality in the world.
Jim Cymbala’s tells the story of a woman named Roberta Langella. At the age of 16 she left a broken home to move to New York City where she began living with a man twice her age who got her into IV drug abuse through heroin and cocaine. One night after shooting up, her boyfriend thought she had died. He took off, leaving her on a rooftop where someone discovered her and called 911. The paramedics revived her. Her feelings of worthlessness led her to one destructive, physcially abusive and drug-centered live-in relationship after another. She began going to underground clubs where she would shoot up and share needles with 20-30 people at a time. Eventually she and her latest boyfriend were out of money, out of food, the utilities had been turned off, and she they were selling their furniture to finance their drug habit. Faced with this impossible situation, she called her mother back in Florida, who let her move down, and got her into Narcotics Anonymous where she kicked the drug habit and soared with newfound confidence. But then – everything came crashing down. A visit to the doctor unveiled a horrible fact. She was HIV positive. After 2 years of being clean, she returned to crack cocaine with a vengeance. Wanting the drugs like never before. After a week long cocaine binge, she was truly at the end. Faced with an impossible situation. HIV positive. No money. No love relationship. Years ago, she had happened to meet a woman in her apartment building who attended Brooklyn Tabernacle. And for some reason, that Tuesday night with nowhere else to turn, she showed up at that church and went to the altar shedding tears she couldn’t stop. “God, I need you in my life. Help me please!” And that night her life was changed. God gave hope when there seemed to be no way out. She got clean, kicked the habit and , even though she is sick, she heads up a ministry at Brooklyn Tabernacle called, “New Beginnings," a weekly outreach to drug abusers. That is the power and the witness of the resurrection for changed lives.
Jesus has changed my life and He has changed many of yours as well. His life-changing power is just as available to us today as it was to that group of frightened followers on the first Easter. It doesn’t matter what you are facing. If you’re facing drug addiction, the power of the resurrection is available to you to change your life! If you are facing depression, the power of the resurrection is available to you to change your life! If you are facing a problem with anger in your life, the power of the resurrection is available to you to change your life! If you are struggling with the sin of envy or pride in your life, the power of the resurrection is available to you to change your life! Whatever you are facing or struggling with in your life, the power of the resurrection is available to you to change your life! If he can change, transform and redeem Peter after denying Jesus three times, he can do the same for you. All you need to do today is confess your sin, accept the forgiveness of Jesus on the cross for your sins and and place your whole faith and trust in Him. Then not only will you believe in the resurrection but you will experience the power of the resurrection in your life which then will become a witness and evidence of the resurrection for the whole world. Amen and Amen.
