In Jesus Holy Name March 31, 2013
Text: Luke 24:1-3,5b,6a Easter Redeemer
“All Boxed In? Impossible!”
A Sunday School class was preparing their Easter craft project when their teacher asked: each student, "What does Easter mean to you?"
One kid replied: "Easter means egg-salad sandwiches for the next two weeks."
Okay, it was a bad answer. But it was a good question.
What does Easter mean to you? How does it change your life? Does it mean something more than an opportunity for a new spring outfit, a family dinner, and an excuse to bite the heads off all those annoying little purple and pink marshmallow Peeps?
The good news of Easter is not that Jesus lived and died on the cross for our sins, but that Jesus died and lives. His resurrection shatters the iron grasp of fear that Satan has on the hearts of many people today.
This day is dedicated to remembering the Lord's conquest of the grave. It was impossible for Him to stay “all boxed in”, in a box hewn from stone, securely guarded and sealed.
The message of Christianity, recorded in the Bible, is more than a historical record of a great miracle worker named Jesus. The message of Christianity was not created by a group 12 disciples who wanted to keep the “spirit” of Jesus alive after he was murdered by the Romans in 33 A.D. The message of Christianity like many other religions around the world does offer guidance regarding an individual’s ethical behavior so that human beings can create a civil society. But, is that all? Well. No. There is more to the story.
Every religion that has existed in history past, or present, tries to answer the ultimate human question. What happens after my journey on earth ends? What happens when death takes my breath away…….. and stops my beating heart?
Some religions state that there is no afterlife…its very existence is denied. Does that bring peace one’s heart? I don’t think so.
Other world religions provide a list of requirements that one must do, without exception, if one is to experience the “great beyond that flows into the “oneness” of the universe. The problem with these religions is that the individual is never quite sure if her or she has “measured up.” The result? There is no peace. There is no security….only fear and worry is left.
I hope you do realize that every human being who created these unique or well-known world religions are still in their own graves….except for one.
His name is Jesus. Human death and grave could not “box” Him in.
The message of Christianity is that God Himself came to earth. He came to deal with the consequences of Evil. He came to reverse the consequences of death that ends human life. He is risen from the dead.
Now that makes a difference
In Luke's gospel Mary Magdalene and the other Mary make their way back to tomb of Jesus just as dawn breaks on Sunday morning. These women had stayed near Jesus as he suffered and died on the cross. They had watched the Roman soldiers pierce his heart. They watched Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus take Jesus' body down from the cross. They wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen shroud. They knew the location of the stone tomb in which his body was placed. They watched as the stone was rolled in front and the tomb sealed.
The Sabbath was sneaking in even as Nicodemus and Joseph hurried to get Jesus' body safely entombed before sunset. The women, although they remained as long as they could, had to get back to their homes, their families, and prepare to greet and observe this sad Sabbath. They quietly observed the Sabbath with tears. (from sermons.com Leonard Sweet)
Their mourning, their formal expressions of grief and loss, had to be put on hold until the Sabbath with all its special obligations and restrictions, had passed.
Think of all those funeral processions that have been clogging the bloody streets of Syria these past months. Think of the women, crying, moaning, and rending the fabric of their clothes. Women are a key part of the community's mourning process.
By Sunday's dawn, the women could not and would not wait any longer. The women hustled towards the tomb ready complete the anointing of the body of Jesus using some of spices they were unable to use on Friday evening. They would then wail and weep. They would bring back the memories of Jesus' life. Their loss would be expressed with their tears and loud cries. It was the last thing they could do for Jesus. After this ritual of mourning and remembering he would truly be gone forever.
But instead of a quiet tomb the women get...
• an earthquake!
• a dazzlingly radiant angel of the Lord!
• a miraculous pronouncement!
• an empty tomb!
On that first Easter the Bible tells us that both Peter and John, two disciples of Jesus, also ran to the tomb. They, too, had looked in the tomb but only saw the linen shroud that had been covering the body of Jesus – but there was no body.
Even the enemies of Jesus admitted that the tomb had been robbed of its body. It was empty. They spread the rumor that the disciples had absconded with the body of Jesus during the night. (pause) The opponents of Jesus did not deny the body gone. They simply did not see the empty grave as an action of God.
An empty tomb, a burial shroud left behind, cannot in and of themselves bring peace to one’s heart regarding humanity’s basic two (2) problems:
1) How can I find peace with God? I know that broken commandments bring alienation.
2) Is there life beyond the grave?
The tomb is empty! NO! These words are not the message of Christianity. “He is risen!” This is the message of Christianity. He is risen indeed! This is the experience and message from the disciples. If there was no resurrection from death there would be no Christian church today.
The Apostle Paul writes: “Jesus our Lord was put to death for our trespasses, raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). When the women who were near the cross on Friday arrived at the burial plot of Jesus, they experienced an earthquake and an empty tomb. They also heard an angel say: “He is not here” – He is risen.”
In the New Testament, the empty tomb proves nothing. The view of the empty tomb only resulted in fear, trembling and worry. It is the appearances of the risen Jesus that are the most important.
In I Corinthians 15, Paul writes: The risen Jesus appeared to Peter, James, to all the apostles, to me and to more than 500 at one time, most of whom …..were still alive when Paul wrote this letter 25 years later. The Gospel of Matthew reports the appearance of the risen Jesus to the women and to the apostles. Luke reports the appearance of the risen Jesus to several women, to Cleopas, Peter, and the eleven disciples.
In spite of all the centuries of human experiences, that death was the end of human life, the Christian message from the lips of these disciples was clear. Jesus is alive. He has risen from the dead. The question you and I must answer is this: “Do you and I believe that there is a God who has power over death?”
With one swift glance inside that barren cavern, the women's agenda for the day, the agenda for their lifetime, was instantly changed. This was not a time for mourning. This was not an ending. This was the beginning of a whole new world. This was and is a time for joy and dancing.
You know. And I know. Today there are a lot of people out there who are taking shots at Jesus. There are comedians who laugh at Him... and a lot of men can't say a sentence without taking His name in vain. Jesus came to bring us peace, but there are religions out there who hate Him so much that they have declared war on Him and anybody who says, 'Jesus is my Savior.' (Ken Klaas Lutheran Hour Easter 2012)
There are authors who say, "Jesus never died and He most certainly never rose." There are scholars who would have you believe the church has been telling you lies and covering up the real truth. I don't have time to list all of the critics and all of the arguments they come up with to talk you out of following Jesus and I'm not smart enough to argue against them all.
No, I won't argue with them. All you need to do is look inside yourself. Please. Take a look. If you do, you'll conclude you're a sinner, You have broken your own code of ethics, your own values, even if you don’t use the ten commandments as your measuring rod. If you do, you'll see things you've done which are bad, and wrong, and petty, and small. You have been greedy, and lustful, and envious, and hurtful. You have hated. I know, we all have, that’s because all of us are sinners and God isn't pleased with us.
How do I know there is a God? There are a lot of reasons. I'll give you the easiest. Are you wearing a watch? That watch didn't just happen. A watch means there is a watchmaker. Well, you, my friend, are a million times more complicated than your watch. Look at that biological strain of DNA inside every cell of your body. Could that be an accident? Did that grow from some single cell ameba?
No. I know Somebody has made you and that Somebody is God. God is your watchmaker, and the things you have done wrong, the sins you have committed have gunked up the mechanism. Those sins have made you pretty worthless. And that's the way you will remain. A watch can't fix itself, and you can't either, Go ahead, try. The world has been trying for thousands of years but we still have wars, and hatred, and prejudice, and murder, and rape, and theft, and"" Well, you've read the newspapers, haven't you", even more, you've looked into your own heart and you know the big and little sins that are there", some of them are so bad you would be embarrassed if anybody found out, wouldn't you?
Well, God, your watchmaker, wanted to fix you; He wanted to get rid of your sins; get rid of the gunk, To do that, He sent His Son, Jesus, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but He was also born of a human, a virgin by the name of Mary, Jesus was born into this world so He could take your place,
People hated Him so much they arrested Him, They put Him on trial, but the trial was a joke, It was illegal and they brought in bribed witnesses and they kept changing the charges against Him, Because Jesus had given His life to saving you", to getting rid of the gunk inside you", they beat Him; they whipped Him; they put a crown of thorns upon His head; they crucified and they killed Him, And If you hear somebody say Jesus didn't die", don't you believe them, The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus would have forfeited their lives if Jesus had been taken down off that cross alive, Besides which the Bible says those guards, to make sure Jesus was dead, stuck a spear into His heart, You can't get any deader than that
The day Jesus died was a dark day", a black day", the worst day in human history, On the day Jesus was placed into a borrowed grave it seemed that all of us really were lost and the devil, and the world, and sin, and death", foul death had won. If things had stayed that way, they did not.
Three days after Jesus' lifeless body had been placed into that tomb; three days after this world had abandoned hope, the hand of God shook the world and changed our eternal future, On that third day, the day we remember this day, Jesus Christ, a living, breathing, physical, tangible, touchable Jesus Christ came out of that tomb, It happened, and because it happened, things changed,
He is risen, indeed! Those words change things forever; and they change it for all who believe, Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
