BIBLE MESSAGES ON EASTER
Bob Marcaurelle
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Message 5
Annual Sermons: Vol.7 No. 14 Mark 15:40-16-8
Concord Baptist Church: 1993 EASTER
Bob Marcaurelle: Pastor
WHEN HE AROSE
The best news this old weary, dreary, teary world has ever had, is that when the weeping women went to the grave of Jesus, worrying about who would move the stone, that stone was moved, the grave was empty, and Jesus was risen.
When I was a boy we would throw pennies into the river, let them settle to the bottom and ten dive down and see who could come up with the most. I remember going down, down, down and scraping that bottom for pennies until it seemed my lungs would burst. And I remember, at the last minute, pushing off that bottom, going up, up, up, until I burst free above the water and filled my lungs with precious air.
Multiply that millions upon millions of times and you get a glimpse of that first Easter morning when Jesus Christ burst through the bonds of death. Peter, in his great sermon at Pentecost put it like this, “You nailed Him to a cross and put Him to death but God raised Him up, putting an end to the agony of death, because IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE for Him to be held in death’s power” (Acts 2:23-34).
Why is this good news? How can something that happened 2,000 years ago to someone else, have anything to do with you and me? It has everything to do with you and me because of who it was who died, why He died and what happened to Him after He died.
Look at the empty tomb in the light of HIS CLAIMS. Study the gospels and you will see that Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be God in human form. He said,”The Father and I are one. . .He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14).
He took to Himself the prerogatives of God. He claimed the power to forgive sin (Mt. 9:2) and said that one day He would come back to earth with His holy angels, in the glory of the Father and be the Judge of every man, woman, boy and girl who has ever lived on planet earth (Mt. 25) In John 5:22 He says, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son.”
With these amazing claims we would call Him a LIAR who deceives men or a LUNATIC who is deranged, except for one thing. God raised Him from the dead, and in so doing, said, “This is My beloved Son, you’d better listen to Him.” In Romans 1:4 Paul said Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” Ladies and gentlemen, the Jesus who burst forth from the grave is the God who made you and the God before whose throne you will one day stand to be judged.
The resurrection of Jesus is good news that reaches into these pews today when we look at it in the light of HIS CONFLICT. In the Garden of Eden, when God judged Satan, He spoke of the coming conflict between him and His Son (Gen. 3:15). Satan would hurt Him (bruise His heel) but would be crushed in the process.
1 John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil.” Paul said that when He nailed our sin debt to the cross (Col. 2:14), “He disarmed the rulers and authorities (e.g. demonic powers). . .and triumphed over them.”
On the cross Jesus battled death and won. Life met death and life won. On the cross Jesus met evil and won! God met evil and good won! Thus it makes every difference in the world which side you are on - the side of good and God or the side of evil.
I. THE TERRIBLE REALITY OF DEATH
(15:40-47)
The first fact of Easter is the terrible reality of death. To have a real resurrection you have to have a real death. When our Lord’s spirit went to the Father in heaven (K. 23:46), from which He went and preached to folk who lived in Noah’s day (1 Pet. 3:18), His beautiful, powerful body went limp and lifeless, another victim to the jaws of death.
1. This Death Is Indisputable (15:44). Pilate, his soldiers, and the Jews made certain that Jesus was dead. Throughout history there have been attempts to prove that Jesus was not really dead, but all are broken upon the solid rock of history.
The Roman Empire executed Jesus, it sealed His grave stone and it set guards over it. Adolph Harnack, the noted historian, who does NOT believe in the resurrection, to be true to history admits, “The firm confidence of the disciples of Jesus was rooted in the belief that He did not abide in death, but was raised by God. That Christ was risen was. . .just as sure as the fact of His death and became the main article of their preaching about Him” (History of Dogma, Chapter 2).
Jesus’ body was dead. The death of Jesus is an indisputable fact of Jewish and Roman history. The eleven disciples went out into the world, ready to die and even Harnack knows men don’t die for a lie.
2. This Death Is Influential (15:42-46). In the glory of the resurrection, let us not forget the glory of Jesus’ death. Our Lord died like He lived. He died well. It was His death and the way He faced it that caused the thief to ask for mercy; the soldier to call Him the Son of God and Joseph and Nicodemas to bravely go to Pilate and ask for the body.
The absence of whining, the offer of mercy to His murderers, the thoughtfulness toward His mother, the shout of victory and the giving up of His soul to the Father, is a noble example to us of how to live and how to die.
It is enough for you and me that we die well. Stephen, when he prayed for those who stoned him to death (Acts 9), no doubt drew strength from the prayer Jesus prayed. If we follow Jesus’ example in dying we can be a source of strength to others.
In Foxes Book of Martyrs, I believe, is the example of an old man and a young man being burned for the faith. As the torches ere being brought the young man began to week and draw away. The old man cried, “Courage, my friend. These flames will heal us both and lift us to heaven.”
3. This Death Is Incomplete (15:46).
Yes, it is enough for us to die well, but it is not enough for Jesus. You see we need to know if death has the last word and if evil has the last word. They would if this were the last sentence in Jesus’ life, “So they took Him down, wrapped Him in linen cloths and laid Him in a tomb. . .and rolled a stone over the door” (15:46). That is the terrible reality of death; anoint the body; place it in the grave; position the stone; and go home and cry your heart out. Thank God that’s not the end of it, for we also have the REST OF THE STORY. . .
II. THE TRIUMPHANT VICTORY OVER DEATH
(15:40-16:8
1. There Is Victory Over Sorrow (15:40-41)
. The terrible events of Friday, beginning with th arrest in the garden, continuing through the mock trails and climaxing in the brutal crucifixion, struck fear in the hears of Jesus’ brave disciples. John, the only one who didn’t run, tells us they went to a house and locked the doors “for fear of the Jews” (Jn. 20:19).
But Jesus was not alone when death came. John was there with many faithful women. Among them were Jesus’ mother Mary; his own mother Salome; Mary the mother of James and Joses and Mary Magdalene, from whom, Luke tells us, Jesus had “cast out seven devils” (Lk.8:2). These and other godly women like Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Susanna and others financed the work of Jesus and His disciples (Lk. 8:1-3).
What a beautiful picture of the Christian church. From every level of society - Old Testament saints, Herod’s palace and the demon possessed - they came, joined together by one thing - love for Jesus.
But now, when Jesus’ body went limp and the terrible nails tore the muscles and tendons to the breaking point, love paid the price of sorrow. The sword of grief now pierced Mary’s soul. Can you imagine the grief and despair that swept through this little band. Sacred art shows Mary swooning at Jesus’ feet. But did you notice the words of our text?
There was not one word about their sorrow. And the same is true when you read Matthew and Luke. Why was this omitted? Surely grief was there. Mary could have swooned! Why aren’t we told about it? Ray Steadman gave the best answer. He says the joy of the resurrection dropped this dark day into the background. Their joy, he said, has swallowed up their despair.
Where do you live? On dark Saturday or joyful Sunday? Our dreary, weary, teary world is filled with empty people who go through the motions of living in a monotonous march toward death. The chief emotions are boredom and anger. And when disease or death or old age spoil their party, most turn to cynicism and hate.
Why? Because they do not have the risen Christ in their hearts! They do not have Easter in their hearts! They do not have the hope of heaven in their hearts. A church member told me this week of a man he knew, who was dying of cancer, and with his complaining was making life miserable for his whole family. Thank God, I have seen many react the opposite way.
I was talking one day with a church member whose strong body was being ravaged by cancer. I don’t know what to day in times like that, who does, so I mostly listen and learn. This man said, “Brother Bob, I can’t lose. If I am healed I will be a different person, a stronger Christian, because of my illness. But if I am not healed, I am going to heaven. And what I have been through is the only hell I’ll ever know.
The people I feel sorry for are those who go through this world without the Lord. This painful life is the only joy they’ll ever know.” How could he say this? Because Jesus rose from the death and lived in him.
2. There Is Victory Over Secrecy (15:42-47).
It often took days for crucifixion victims to die, usually from exposure and dehydration. The Romans, as an example to others, left bodies on the crosses to rot. The Jewish law, however, would not allow someone who had been hanged to stay there overnight (Dt. 21:22-23). Because of this and especially since the Sabbath began that night at 6:00, the Jews asked Pilate to take the bodies down (Jn. 19:31-37). What an example of the blindness of a legalized religion. They could have an innocent man framed and murdered but wouldn’t let his body hang there after 6:00 for fear they would disobey the Bible. Pilate’s soldiers saw to it that Jesus was dead.
The question now was what would happen to the body? Time was running out. Jesus died at 3:00 and at 6:00 the Jews could not carry His body for it would be the Sabbath. The soldiers would throw Jesus; body in the garbage dump like a piece of trash. But god did not let it happen.
Joseph of Arimathea - a high ranking official of the Jewish senate, the Sanhedrin, an Oldy Testament saint, “good and righteous” like Jesus’ parents, “one who was looking for the kingdom of God” (15:43) and had not voted to kill Jesus (Lk. 23:51), stepped forward. John tells us he was really a “disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he was afraid of the Jews”: (Jn. 19:38).
When he stood up, Nicodemas, who served on the Sanhedrin, who had talked one night with Jesus (Jn. 3), stood up too. They boldly went to Pilate and asked for the Lord’s body. Pilate granted their wishes so they lovingly took the Lord’s body down, wrapped it in strips of linen, applying as they did the sweet smelling spices of myrrh and aloes. Then Joseph and Nicodemas left the body buried in Joseph’s family tomb in Jerusalem, a cave in the rock covered by a huge stone. And watching all this, no doubt with gratitude, were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus.
The death of Jesus reversed some roles. It sent His disciples scampering in fear for a hiding place, but it brought two secret disciples out into the open. This was a costly and dangerous move. The 100 pounds of spices must have cost a small fortune. From this point on they would be hated by their fellow Sanhedrin members. And Pilate, always fickle, could easily have arrested them for treason and put them to death. But friends, they didn’t care. They stood up for the one who died for them. If there’s anything this weary, teary, dreary world needs, it is for the true Christians to come out of hiding and display their colors.
3. There Is Victory Over Stumbling Blocks (16:1-8).
Mark ends his gospel with the Sunday morning announcement of the young angel.
1) The Stumbling Blocks of our FRAILTY (16:1-8).
The women with their spices were worried about the stone. It was beyond their strength to move it. But when God asks you and me to do something, He enables us to do it and turns stumbling stones into stepping stones. When David faced Goliath, all he had was a slingshot but it was enough, because God was with him. When it comes to your heart, you home, your health, what does God want? Whatever it is, you can do it. No stone between you and doing His will is too big for Him.
2) The Stumbling Blocks of Our FAILURES (16:6,7). The angel had moved the stone and he moved another one when he said, “He is risen.. .Go tell the disciples AND PETER” (16:6-7). With those two words “AND PETER” he removed the tone of Petr’s failure and denial.
If Mark’s Gospel is really the preaching of Simon Peter, and I believe it is, Simon never got over the fact that in spite of his failure the Lord never gave up on him. Friends, we need to personalize Easter. It is grand to lift Jesus up from the grave to the right hand of God where the whole universe is subject to Him. But it is grander still to see Him walking by our side, loving us individually in spite of our failures and using us in spite of our frailty.
