INTRO: 1. The greatest evidence that Jesus rose from the dead was not an empty tomb or the grave clothes folded neatly where Jesus’ body once were but the multiplied eye-witness accounts of a living Lord for some 40 days after he rose.
2. This was not a limited sighting.
a. In that short period of 40 days over 500 witnesses encountered this same Jesus after he had risen.
b. They had walked with him, talked to him, ate with him, touched him, was touched by him, was served by him and served him.
b. These where not gullible people looking for something to believe in… for the most part these where skeptics, doubted, defeated people who had their hopes dashed and who found it hard to believe that the man they saw die on that cross and buried is now alive.
3. Here in our text, we see one such encounter that Jesus had with his disciples… as they sit and hear the words of the two men who on the road to Emmaus tells of their encounter with the risen Lord.
a. This encounter begins with a terrified group, hesitant to speak to this man that now stands before them.
b. But Jesus changed the atmosphere in that room when he declared “Look at my hands and my feet.”
c. What was it about his hands and feet that would so radically change this band of frightened recluses into champions of faith? His scars.
4. Jesus is not ashamed of those scars, but he wears them as ornaments of his love for us.
a. They are not marks of shame to him… but beautiful proof of his love, of his sacrifice, of his victory on our behalf.
ILL. A small orphaned boy lived with his grandmother. One night their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the little boy asleep upstairs, perished in the smoke and flames. A crowd gathered around the burning house. The boy’s cries for help were heard above the crackling of the blaze. No one seemed to know what to do, for the front of the house was a mass of flames. Suddenly a stranger rushed from the crowd and circled to the back where he spotted an iron pipe that reached an upstairs window. He disappeared for a minute, then reappeared with the boy in his arms. Amid the cheers of the crowd, he climbed down the hot pipe as the boy hung around his neck. Weeks later a public hearing was held in the town hall to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the boy was allowed to speak briefly. The first man said, “I have a big farm. Everybody needs the out-of-doors.” The second man told of the advantages he could provide. “I’m a teacher. I have a large library. He would get a good education.” Others spoke. Finally the richest man in the community said, “I’m wealthy. I could give the boy everything mentioned tonight: farm, education, and more, including money and travel. I’d like him in my home.” The chairman asked, “Anyone else like to say a word?” From the backseat rose a stranger who had slipped in unnoticed. As he walked toward the front, deep suffering showed on his face. Reaching the front of the room, he stood directly in front of the little boy. Slowly the stranger removed his hands from his pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd. The little boy, whose eyes had been focused on the floor until now, looked up. The man’s hands were terribly scarred. Suddenly the boy emitted a cry of recognition. Here was the man who had saved his life. His hands were scarred from climbing up and down the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw himself around the stranger’s neck and held on for life. The farmer rose and left. The teacher, too. Then the rich man. Everyone departed, leaving the boy and his rescuer who had won him without a word. Those marred hands spoke more effectively than any words.
b. When death comes to claim me, it will step aside because of the man with the scars.
c. When hell comes to condemn me, it will have to step aside because of the man with the scars.
5. Those scars are not just his scars, they are mine as well.
a. Oh, the comfort of knowing that when he rose from that grave, he left the grave-clothes behind, he left the tomb behind… but he kept the scars.
b. I’m sure that Jesus doesn’t look anything like Hollywood has made him out to be, but I’m not worried when I get home in heaven, I’ll just look for the man bearing Calvary’s scars.
c. You’ll know him by his scars!
I. WHY HE KEPT THE SCARS
a. Jesus the healer, didn’t have to keep his scars.
b. In a word he could have forever healed them as if they had never existed.
c. No, He chose to keep the scars throughout eternity.
d. The only man-made thing is heaven is those scars.
e. Those scars will outlast the earth, the moon, the sun… they will never fade away, but serve as eternal reminders to us that there was a cross and there was a tomb.
f. There was no absolute necessity for them to remain, but Jesus knew what they would come to mean for us.
g. I want to focus on what those scars declare to us.
A. HIS SCARS declare “I am the same Jesus.”
1. The most obvious reason is the issue of his identity.
Vs. 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!…
2. It was infallible proofs that it was in fact the same Lord they walked with and talked with, the same Lord that had been nailed to a cross on Golgotha’s hill.
3. The scar in his side was distinct, the others had their legs broken, but this scar would let them know this is in fact Jesus.
4. My Lord, is not the descendant of Jesus Christ… He’s the same one who open blinded eyes and made the lame to walk, that spoke to the dead and the grave gave them up.
5. I’m not here this morning to introduce you to a religion or even a church, but may I introduce you to the same Jesus that stepped from that tomb on that glorious morning.
6. He’s alive, He’s alive, He’s alive!!!
7. Oh, the consolation and comfort that flows from knowing that the same Jesus that suffered for you, will be with you in your suffering to.
B. HIS SCARS declare “I have won.”
ILL. Like a veteran that bears the scars of battle in the fight for our freedom, Jesus bears the scars of our freedom.
1. The soldier will tell you on the battlefield that these wounds are not disfigurement—but badges of honor demonstrating the price he was willing to pay for your victory.
2. His were the scars of victory.
3. Reminders to us of how far Jesus was willing to go to win victory for us.
4. It demonstrated his victory over sin because he paid the full pride for our pardon.
5. Over death because these where fatal wounds evidence of his death, of the ultimate price he paid for you.
C. HIS SCARS declare “I keep my promises.”
1. Nothing, nothing, not even death could keep Jesus from keeping his promises.
2. How do you know that Jesus will come back… because his scars prove that no matter how long it’s been or how dark it looks Jesus always keeps his promises.
3. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s promises to us.
4. No the promises that Calvary made will not fade with the ages… they are ornaments in the eternal hands feet and side of Jesus.
5. The bible tells me that Jesus is now interceding on our behalf at the right hand of the Father.
6. I believe that when I pray that all Jesus does is turn to the Father and show him his hands and the answer is on the way.
7. His wounds still plead and prevail on our behalf even know.
8. When will his promises fail… when those scars are no longer in his hands and feet… and they will never disappear.
D. HIS SCARS declare “The Empty tomb and the Cross are Inseparable.”
1. It’s too easy to separate the two events in our thinking.
2. They are three days apart and the sentiment of the two is dramatically different.
3. But the tomb without the cross is meaningless.
4. The cross without the tomb is incomplete.
5. With the scars he reminded them that the same Jesus that rose from that tomb was the same Jesus that had suffered and died on the cross.
6. If the wounds had been removed eternity may have caused us to forget that there was a great price, a great sacrifice made for our Eternal life.
7. Even in the joys and celebration of his resurrection, we are always reminded of the cross.
II. WHAT SHOULD THIS TRUTH DO IN US?
a. I’m not talking about knowledge here, but truth.
b. Knowledge is educational, but truth is transformational.
John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
c. As these facts became truth to the disciples we can witness the transformation that took place in the disciples.
d. What happened as a result to them seeing the scars in his hand, feet and side?
e. What will happen to you this morning if you believe their testimony that He’s alive?
f. Today people will only commit to things they feel are relevant.
g. They say, “OK, Easter happened. So what? How will it make a difference in my life now?
h. We can see in the disciples what a difference the realization of his resurrection made to them.
A. Turns our Fear into Peace.
1. Jesus asked them “Why are you troubled?”
2. Before we can ever have peace of mind, we must have peace with God.
3. And unless we embrace the truth that Jesus is risen we will never really embrace peace for our lives.
Vs. 35 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
4. The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom” which means fullness and wholeness.
5. The peace is in knowing that everything is in those nail scarred hands… why should I worry or fret?
ILL. On 5th avenue in NYC there’s a visual reminder of this kind of peace. At the entrance of the RCA building is a huge statue of Atlas struggling to keep the world on his shoulders. But on the other side of the street is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and behind the alter in the cathedral is a small stature of Jesus effortlessly holding the whole world in one hand.
6. We can struggle with this life on our own and it will crush us or we can hand our lives over to the one who has overcome the world.
7. Hear the words of Christ not long before he went to the cross…
John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
8. It’s all in His nail-scarred hands!
B. Melts our doubts and makes way for faith.
1. The scars where undeniable proof that Jesus who had died was now alive.
2. The skeptic will rob himself of the power that is Easter.
3. The critic will never have enough evidence to believe.
4. But the sincere doubter can find the reality of a Jesus who is not afraid to challenge our doubts.
ILL. Awhile back I was disturbed at a television program about the life of Pontius Pilate as I heard a so-called scholar declare that Pilate was nothing like the gospel show him as. I asked myself the question. So, you where born thousands of years after Pontius Pilate lived and yet I should take your word over eye-witnesses that where there. That kind of thinking would never hold up in any court.
5. Over 500 people testified to the fact that they saw and touched and ate with the man with the scars still in his hands, feet and side.
6. Remember the encounter Thomas had with him, a skeptic until Jesus showed him the scars and invited him to touch them.
7. I believe in a risen savior… who still bears the scars of Calvary.
C. Brings Joy to our lives.
1. It started with hesitant joy in Vs. 41, but it ended in Vs. 52 with worshipping and “great joy.”
2. The disciples where at first surprised by Joy.
3. How could they feel joy going having faced what they faced?
4. How could the heaviness of grief and despair lift so quickly?
5. We wrongly equate joy with escaping the cares of this world… but joy gives us the ability to face them with strength.
6. Don’t settle for substitutes for joy that relies on your circumstances… get the real thing from the resurrected Lord.
7. We’re prone to want God to change our circumstances, when He in fact wants to change our character.
8. It may be another holiday to you, but for those of us who have embraced the reality of Easter, today is a truly a celebration.
ILL. In the Russian Orthodox tradition of Christianity, the day before Resurrection Sunday they tell their best jokes to each other. They do this to reflect the joke God pulled on the devil in Resurrection. Satan thought he’d won on that Friday, but God had the last laugh on Easter Sunday. We can laugh and rejoice in the victory of that empty tomb.
D. Brings Awe BACK to our lives.
1. The bible says they experience “amazement.”
2. In other words they where in awe of what God can do.
3. Oh, we should never lose the awe of the risen Lord.
4. No I can’t understand how he triumphed over death, hell & grave… but I don’t have to.
5. How could flesh and bone walk through a closed door? But it did.
6. My Lord is awe-inspiring in that there is nothing he can’t do.
7. If you can understand and explain your God, then it’s not this God.
E. Opens our understanding.
1. It wasn’t until they had embraced the fact that Jesus had risen that Jesus could “open” their understanding about all that had taken place and would take place.
2. Understanding God’s word and God’s plan hinges on embracing what took place on Calvary and that empty tomb.
3. It doesn’t matter how much you know about the bible or how many theological degrees hang on your wall, until you have embraced that cross and that empty tomb… you’ve missed the point.
F. Unleashes Hope for tomorrow.
1. Jesus placed them back on track with their future.
2. They where given instructions to go to Jerusalem and await the Holy Ghost outpouring… as we know this was merely the beginning.
3. God has plans for us, a mission for us.
4. How could they so confidently strike out in the future when they had felt so threatened.
5. Because Jesus had revealed that our Hope is endless… even the grave will not stop us.
6. Because that nail-scarred savior came back they where not afraid of even the prospect of death.
7. When people ask what happened to us we can declare… Easter happened to us.
8. But the greatest hope for those of us who have embraced his resurrection is that one day when we breathe our last we too will walk down those streets of gold and when we see him, he’ll stretches forth his nail-scarred hands to receive us home.
ILL. A B.C. comic stripped some time back… Two women are sitting on a small hill. One is reading the Bible and says, “Oh, my goodness. . . Says here. . . Jesus descended into hell!” The other is shocked and says, “You’re kidding!” Then the woman with the Bible says, “Oh, no. . . Not to stay! He just dropped in to cancel our reservations!” There is more truth in that cartoon than in a library full of books.
G. LASTLY, IT DEMANDS A CHOICE
1. What will you do with that empty tomb?
2. What will you do with the scars in His hands?
3. But for those who reject that empty tomb, there is no comfort in his scars.
4. There were some eye-witnesses that chose not to believe… the roman guards.
5. For them belief wasn’t a matter of proof or a matter of believing their own eyes… it was a matter of convenience… it wasn’t the popular thing to do.
6. It would cost them too much… O, but look at what they lost.
7. Make this resurrection Sunday, your resurrection Sunday… when you chose to experience that resurrection power and step from death into life.
CONCLUSION: It’s so simple to know this nail-scarred Savior. He’s done so much to make it so easy to receive Him into your life. Won’t you?
