Ken Davis is one of my favorite comedians, who tells the story of a dead pet rabbit. Take a look… (show video of Dead Rabbit)
A woman looked out the window of her home and was horrified to see her German Shepherd shaking the life out of the neighbor’s pet rabbit. Her family had been quarreling with these neighbors; this was certainly going to make matters worse.
She grabbed a broom and ran outside, pummeling the pooch until he dropped the rabbit now covered with dog-spit—and extremely dead.
What was she going to do?
The woman lifted the rabbit with the end of the broom and brought it into the house. She dumped its lifeless body into the bathtub and turned on the shower. When the water running off the rabbit was clean, she rolled him over and rinsed the other side.
Now she had a plan. She found her hair-dryer and blew the rabbit dry. Using an old comb, she groomed the rabbit until he looked pretty good. Then, when the neighbor wasn’t looking, she hopped over the fence, sneaked across the back yard, and propped him up in his cage. No way was she taking the blame for this thing!
About an hour later, she heard screams coming from the neighbor’s yard. She ran outside, pretending she didn’t know what was going on. Her neighbor came running to the fence. All the blood had drained from her face. “Our rabbit, our rabbit!” she blubbered. “He died two weeks ago, we buried him, and now he’s back!”
Resurrections, supposed or real, have a way of shaking people up. So it is with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It will literally turn your life upside down if you let it. At first, it might seem a little scary, but the resurrected Christ can give you a whole new life.
It all depends on your point of view. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 20, John 20, where we have three views of the resurrection of Christ, only one of which is life-transforming.
John 20:1-5 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. (ESV)
This “other disciple” is John, the author of this gospel, and it says here in verse five, “He SAW the linen cloths…” That is to say he noticed them lying there. The Greek word used for “saw” here (βλέπει) simply describes a person’s ability to see physical objects. No particular insight is implied, just that he sighted something unusual – grave clothes with no body in them.
It’s like the way some people watched the Final Four NCAA Basketball Championship games last evening. They were flipping through the channels looking for some cooking show, and they happened to catch the Kentucky – Wisconsin game for a few seconds. That’s when they saw 10 young men chasing after an orange ball, 2 old men in black striped pajamas blowing whistles all the time, and 1 orange hoop with a net underneath at each end of the court. They (quote) “saw” a basketball game, but they had no idea what was going on, so they flipped the channel to the Food Network and watch another episode of “Chopped.”
I think that’s the way some people “see” the resurrection of Christ. They “see” pictures of a cross and an empty tomb, but it doesn’t mean anything to them. They don’t really understand it, so they move onto something else.
Perhaps, that’s where some of you are at this morning. You came to church at the invitation of a friend or family member, but none of it makes any sense to you. I urge you…
DON’T JUST PEEK AT THE RESURRECTION this morning.
Don’t just notice its pageantry and symbols and move onto something else this afternoon. Instead…
PONDER THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
Think about it. Consider it more deeply like Peter does here.
John 20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there…
It’s the same English words used of John, the other disciple, in verse 5, but the Greek text uses a different word for “saw” here in verse 6. Here, it’s the word “theorei” (θεωρεῖ), from which we get our word “theorize”.
In other words, unlike John, Peter saw the linen cloths and thought about what they might mean. He was forming theories in his mind. He pondered what he saw. And what did he see?
John 20:6b-7 He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
According to John 19:39-40, Jesus’ body was wrapped according to the burial custom of the Jews. That is it was wrapped like a mummy in strips of linen cloths, which were glued together with 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes. Myrrh is a sticky resin which comes from thorn bushes common in the area; and aloes, which are more rare, is the fragrant resin which comes from the eagle wood tree.
Merrill Tenny, a New Testament scholar, says, “In preparing a body for burial according to Jewish custom, it is usually washed and straightened, and then bandaged tightly from the armpits to the ankles in strips of linen about a foot wide. Aromatic spices, often of a gummy consistency, were placed between the wrappings or folds. They served partially as a preservative and partially as a cement to glue the cloth wrappings into a solid covering (Merrill Tenny, The Reality of the Resurrection, p. 117).
In other words, Jesus’ body was wrapped like a mummy with strips of cloth that were glued together. Then a face cloth was placed around the head of the body and wrapped under the chin to keep the jaw from sagging. The face cloth was separate from the linen strips which wrapped the body.
Now, this is what Peter saw when he looked in Jesus’ empty tomb. He saw the face cloth separate from the linen cloths. Only there was no body! The body had simply disappeared, leaving the linen wrappings and face cloth collapsed right where they had been.
Now, that was certainly something to think about. If the body was stolen, how could anybody take it without disturbing the mummy-like wrappings?
That’s what Peter was pondering, and that’s what we must ponder, as well. Think about it! Not only do we have the empty tomb, but we have the empty grave clothes, as well. How do you explain that? Hmmm! Very interesting!
Again, think about the way some people watched the Final Four basketball games last evening. They may have been channel surfing when they came upon the Kentucky – Wisconsin game, but something caught their interest. The fans were very excited about 10 guys chasing after an orange ball, but they got really excited when that orange ball went through an orange hoop with the net tied underneath. Intriguing! Those viewers may not totally understand the game, but they find it interesting enough to watch it for a while.
And perhaps that’s your attitude towards the resurrection of Christ this morning. You find the whole thing intriguing, enough to pay some attention, and that’s good! I urge you: think about it; ponder it, because the thought of Christ rising from the dead can be life-changing if you let it permeate your psyche.
That’s what happened to Alister McGrath, a former atheist who has since become a believer in Christ, as well as a professor of science and religion at the University of Oxford. He says…
“[As a young man], I was a grumpy and frankly rather arrogant atheist. I was totally convinced that there was no God, and that anyone who thought there was needed to be locked up for her own good. I was majoring in the sciences at high school and had won a scholarship to study chemistry at Oxford University, beginning in October 1971. I had every reason to believe that studying the sciences further would confirm my rampant godlessness. While waiting to go up to Oxford”, he says, “I decided to work my way through a pile of (what he calls) “improving books.” Needless to say, none of them were religious.
“Eventually,” McGrath says, “I came to a classic work of philosophy – Plato's Republic. I couldn't make sense of everything I read. But one image etched itself into my imagination. Plato asks us to imagine a group of men, trapped in a cave, knowing only a world of flickering shadows cast by a fire. Having experienced no other world, they assume that the shadows are the only reality. Yet the reader knows – and is meant to know – that there is another world beyond the cave, awaiting discovery.
As I read this passage, the hard-nosed rationalist within me smiled condescendingly. Typical escapist superstition! What you see is what you get, and that's the end of the matter. Yet a still, small voice within me whispered words of doubt. What if this world is only part of the story? What if this world is only a shadowland? What if there is something more wonderful beyond it? (Alister McGrath, “The Resurrection: A Bridge Between Two Worlds,” Christianity Today; www.PreachingToday.com)
Alister McGrath was a committed atheist believing only his senses, but he started thinking about the possibilities beyond what he could see; and eventually that led him to true and genuine faith in Christ even as an Oxford trained scientist.
You see, Christianity can withstand close scrutiny, so don’t be afraid to really think about the resurrection of Christ. Don’t be afraid to examine it closely and see where the facts lead you. Don’t just peek at it. Ponder it until you begin to…
PERCEIVE THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION.
Until you begin to understand and believe it like John, “the other disciple.”
John 20:8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed… (ESV)
Again, in the English, we have the same word, “saw,” but in the original Greek, it is yet a third word, the word eiden (εἶδεν from ὁράω), which means to understand, to realize, or to perceive. When John “saw” the linen cloths a second time, he understood what had happened; he realized the significance of their arrangement; and he came to believe that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead!
You see, if someone had moved the body, they could not have left the strips of grave cloths intact like they were. Or suppose Jesus had not really died, but only swooned on the cross as some skeptics suggest. Then after being revived in the cool tomb, he presented himself as alive from the dead.
However, there are two very real problems with this theory: 1st, there was a 2-ton boulder in the way sealing the tomb; and 2nd, Jesus would have walked out of the tomb with the grave clothes on, not left them undisturbed. The only logical explanation for the empty tomb and the empty grave clothes was the fact that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead!
John saw this and believed, and I urge you to do the same. Examine the evidence, and put your faith in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him with your life and your eternal destiny.
Jonathan Dodson, in his new book, Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection, talks about the resurrection as “a dividing line – a parting claim.” He says…
“The resurrection is like a river that parts a road. People are on the road approaching the river. Arriving at the river of the resurrection, you look across it to where the road continues and see quite a few cars are there. In your doubt, you can't imagine how people got to the other side of the river. How did they get across? How can rational people come to the belief that Jesus died and rose from the dead?”
Well, “Faith is the unnoticed ferry,” says Dodson, “lying hidden near the bank of the river that can take us from the riverbank of doubt… to the other side of belief in the resurrection. [But] it's not blind faith… You don't cross by closing your eyes and wishing Jesus' resurrection was true. No. You cross with your eyes wide open. This is an informed faith, faith in a historical plausible resurrection, attested by hundreds of witnesses,” as well as the empty tomb and the empty grave clothes. (Jonathan K. Dobson and Brad Watson, Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection, Zondervan; 2014, pp. 17, 37-38; www.PreachingToday.com)
When you truly ponder the resurrection and examine the evidence, there is no other conclusion. You must see and believe just like John did in verse 8. You must get on that ferry called “faith.” Now, faith is more than just accepting the facts and believing that they are true. It is staking your life and your eternal destiny on those facts.
Consider a bottle of penicillin, the famous antibiotic discovered by Alexander Fleming, and first produced for clinical use in [Great Britain]. The drug was responsible for saving the lives of countless individuals who would otherwise have died from various forms of blood poisoning.
Think of [true] faith like this. I may accept that the bottle exists. I may [believe] in its ability to cure blood poisoning. But nothing will change unless I receive the drug which it contains. I must allow it to destroy the bacteria which are slowly killing me. Otherwise, it is not true faith. (Alister E. McGrath, What Was God Doing on the Cross, Zondervan, 1992, pp. 99-100; www.PreachingToday.com)
In the same we, we must accept the fact that the resurrected Christ exists, believe that He can cure me from my sins, and then receive Him into my life, allowing him to destroy that sin which is slowly killing me.
I must trust Him enough to let Him into my life and begin to make those changes that only He can make, to replace bitterness with His love, to replace anxiety with His peace, and to replace despair with His joy.
Won’t you do that today? Trust the One who died on the cross for your sins and rose again. By faith, receive Him into your life, and let Him begin to change you from the inside out. Don’t just peek at the Resurrection this morning. Ponder it, and perceive it. In other words, just like John, see and believe this morning! Then…
PROCLAIM THE RESSURECTION.
Tell your friends all about your resurrected Lord. Describe to them what you have seen Him do in your life.
John failed to do that right away. Sure, “he saw and believed,” but he and Peter, verse 9, “as yet did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” They couldn’t grasp the profound implications of the resurrection, that the prophets had predicted it for centuries (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:10-12). So, verse 10, “the disciples went back to their homes.” They had just witnessed THE miracle of the ages, but they didn’t tell anybody about it. They just took their faith home and kept it to themselves.
Not Mary Magdalene. When she saw the resurrected Lord, she couldn’t keep the good news to herself, no! She had to tell somebody. She had to share the good news!
John 20:11-16 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher -- literally, “my Teacher”).
Mary recognized Jesus for who He was, her very own teacher, having come alive from the dead! She thought she had lost Him for good; but now He was there, standing right in front of her, and she wasn’t about to let Him go again.
John 20:17-18 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. (ESV)
She saw the resurrected Christ, and she told her friends all about it! She couldn’t keep the good news to herself.
I think about my friends in Wisconsin who are avid Badger fans (or the viewers in Kentucky who are avid Wildcat fans). When Wisconsin (or Kentucky) won last night, they went wild! They had been following their Badger (or Wildcat) basketball team all season. They saw every game they played. They understood everything about the game and every player. They believed in their team enough to wear their jerseys.
So what to do you think they did when their team won last night? Did they sit at home and keep their mouths shut? No way! They posted it on Facebook. They called their friends to talk about the win, and they may have even celebrated the win with other fans. Think about what YOU would have done had the Wichita Shockers made it to the Final Four and won last night. The news was too good to keep to themselves, so they shared it with anybody who would listen.
In the same way, we need to share the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Don’t stay at home with your faith. Tell somebody! Tell somebody how wonderful your Resurrected Lord is!
Many of you are familiar with Mr. Heinz “57 Varieties” of pickles. Did you know that Mr. Heinz was also a committed believer in Christ?
One day, after an evangelistic service, the speaker turned to him and said, “You are a believer, but with all your energy why aren’t you up and at it for the Lord?” Heinz went home in anger, but that night he couldn’t sleep. So at 4 o’clock in the morning he prayed that God would use him to lead others to the Savior.
A day or so later, he was at a meeting of bank presidents, where he turned to the guy next to him and spoke of his joy in knowing Jesus. The man gave Heinz a look of surprise and said, “Because I knew you were a Christian, I’ve wondered many times why you never spoke to me about salvation.”
That gentleman became the first of 267 converts – people of different varieties, from all walks of life – that Mr. Heinz eventually won to Christ (Bible Illustrator).
Let me tell you. That can be your experience, as well. All you need to do is pray like Mr. Heinz did: “Lord, use me to lead others to the Savior.” Then look for opportunities to share. If you pray, God will give you those opportunities, and He will use you to bring others to Christ.
For me, there is no better way to enjoy the resurrection of Christ this Easter season. Don’t just peek at it. Ponder it. Perceive it. Then proclaim it to as many people as God gives opportunity. That way you, like Mary Magdalene, will know the real joy of the resurrection, and the real joy of seeing your life transformed along with the lives of others.
