Scripture: Luke 24:1-12 and John 19:38-42
Theme: God's Empty Promises
Proposition: The World give us empty promises - God gave us two wonderful empty gifts - 1. The Empty Tomb 2. The Empty Clothes
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Have you ever on the end of an empty promise? Someone said that they would do something but in the end they didn't live up to their promise? It doesn't feel good does it?
Some years ago a young man from an wealthy family was about to graduate from High School. It was a tradition in his family that when one of the members of the family graduated one of the gifts they would receive would be a new car of their choice.
Bill and his father had spend the several weeks before graduation going around to different car lots and looking at brand new cars. They both wanted to find the "perfect car." Finally, after weeks of looking they came across what Bill thought was the perfect car. It was the right color, it had all the right little extras and he could see himself driving off to college in this car. It would be the best graduation present anyone could ever receive.
On the night before his graduation, Bill was handed a present by his dad. Bill was all excited, he just knew that it had to be the keys to the car. Hastily, he ripped off the wrapping paper to dig into the box to find the set of keys to his perfect car. To his amazement and utter astonishment there were no keys. All that was in the box was a Bible.
A Bible? Why in the world would his dad give him a Bible for graduation? It wasn't the worst gift in the world, but this was not the time to get a Bible. This was the time to get a brand new set of keys. This was the time to go out and spin some wheels. This was the time to rev your engines, burn a little rubber and go out on the highway and make some noise. This was not a great time to receive a Bible.
All the anger in the world came rushing into Bill's heart and soul. His face turned every color in the rainbow. He threw down the Bible, stormed out of the house and vowed that he would never speak to his father again. His father was a liar. He had promised him a car and all he got was a Bible. He didn't want anything to do with that man ever again.
As soon as he could, Bill got out of the house and made good on his own promise - He never spoke to his father again. Even though his father attempted to talk to him and write to him, Bill never spoke or responded to him. In Bill's mind, his dad was a liar and he was not going to ever speak or have anything to do with him. He was finished with the old man.
Years passed. Bill got word that his dad was very sick. It didn't matter, Bill still refused to talk to him. Then one day, he received word that his dad had passed away. The family needed Bill to come home and help take care of the final arrangements. He would have to go through his father's belongings and decide what to do with them.
At first, Bill simply wanted to just give everything to a local charity and be done with it all. He didn't want anything to do with his father or with anything he left behind. But for some reason he decided that wasn't the way to handle things and so he made up his mind he would just go through the stuff, ditch what he didn't want and be through with the old man once and for all. After all, the old man was a liar and had cheated him out of his perfect car.
As he looked through his father's stuff, he came across that Bible that his dad had given him for graduation. His dad had kept it all these years. Once again, a flood of anger came all over Bill as he picked it up. He thought about tearing it to pieces, then he thought about burning it right then and there but something caused him to thumb through it. He still couldn't believe that his father had broken that promise all those years ago. He still couldn't believe that he never got his perfect car.
Flipping through the pages suddenly something caught his attention. He flip back to the page and suddenly he was overwhelmed with shame and grief. There laying between two pages was a cashier's check made out the day before his High School Graduation. He looked at the amount and it took his breath; it was for the exact amount that "HIS PERFECT CAR" had been.
His father had kept his promise. His dad had made it possible for him to get his perfect car. Bill had been mad all these years for nothing. His dad had only wanted him to understand that the best gift possible for any young man was not a car but God's Word. His dad had wanted him to know that by living by God's Word he would be able to receive all that he needed, so his dad had put the check in the Bible. It had never occurred to Bill to ask his father why he had given him the Bible. He had just gotten so angry that he stormed out that day and had told his father he would never speak to him again. What a tragic story.
As I thought about that story, I couldn't help but wonder how many people have done the same thing to our Heavenly Father. They have literally tossed aside God's wonderful promise of being able to live a genuine human life - a life in which one experiences the right relationship with God, with oneself, with others and with all creation. They have thrown away the Lord's wonderful promise of abundant life here on earth and one day in heaven. They have thrown it all away because they did not understand it, they did not accept it or they did not believe that they wanted that kind of life.
If only that young man had received that Bible with joy. If only, he had flipped through its pages he would have continued to enjoy a loving relationship with his father and he would have had the car of his dreams. He would have avoided years of anger and malice. How different his life could have been if he had only looked through God's Word. What a missed opportunity.
Just like Bill's father, Our Heavenly Father this morning has given us some wonderful promises in His Holy Word. And like Bill we must open that Word in order to receive all those promises and enjoy them. We know this morning that our world promises things but the majority of the time those promises are empty. All you have to do is to think of all the lose weight, get rich or turn back the clock promises you have seen on TV to understand. Most of the time they promise more than can ever deliver.
God's promises always come true. God promised us that He would make a way for us to be redeemed, renewed and restored into His Image. This morning as we look at Luke 24:1-12 we shall see two promises that at first glance look empty - a. The Empty Tomb and b. The Empty Linen Cloths. Their emptiness shouts to us the clear message that Jesus is Alive and is able to cleanse us our sin and grant us everlasting life. Let's look at each of these empty things in more detail this morning.
I. In this passage we see that God has given us an Empty Tomb - verses 1 - 3
Luke begins in chapter 24 by taking us to the place where Jesus' friends had laid his physical body. They have buried Jesus in Joseph of Arimathea's family cemetery. Joseph had graciously given up the place where he would have been buried so that Jesus would have a honorable final resting place.
Normally, people who had received the death penalty via crucifixion where not permitted to have an honorable burial. It was a common requirement for the deceased's body to hang on the cross for a few days after the person had died. This allowed additional time for the birds and wild animals to consume as much of the body as possible while at the same time serve as a great visual reminder of what happens when one goes against Rome. No one wants their body publicly displayed in such a fashion. These were not gentle times. After that, what remained of the body would either be buried in a local grave yard that had been dedicated to criminals or simply thrown into the local landfill to then be completely consumed by the vultures and wild animals.
However, with it being the time of Passover there is the thought that Pilate out of respect and as a smart PR move (who wants to come and celebrate Passover and at the same time see decaying bodies hanging out in the open) would have had Jesus and the two thieves removed and quickly buried in the local criminal's cemetery thinking that in a couple of days the whole ugly affair would be forgotten. People would be celebrating Passover and aside from a few family members no one would ever care what had happened to these three men.
That is why Joseph of Arimathea's request of Pilate takes Pilate somewhat by surprise. He is surprised that a person of Joseph's stature would want to take the body of a man who had been condemned for treason and blasphemy and bury him. However, it really doesn't matter to Pilate and Joseph is after all a wealthy and influential man and so Pilate agrees to the request. After all it will even save the Roman State some money and time. The whole ordeal had been quite troublesome for Pilate. No doubt Pilate simply wanted to be rid of it all and go back to life as normal.
Life as normal, however would never exist again for Pilate or for all of creation. For as Luke tells us, when Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James arrived at the tomb they were shocked. The stone that had covered and sealed the place where they had laid Jesus' body had been rolled away. They went inside and found only the linen cloths that had covered Jesus body. They had been folded and put to the side. Jesus' body was not there. It was gone.
Verse four further tells us that two men in dazzling apparel appeared right beside them with the message that Jesus had risen from the dead and even question why they had come to the cemetery in the first place. It is interesting to read verses 4 - 7. Luke's account here is a little different than the other Gospel writers. Luke shares that the two beings that were standing in front of the women in gleaming white garments were men. He uses the word "aner" to describe them which translated means "a man or a husband".
Did Dr. Luke get it wrong or is he simply sharing with us another amazing miracle that happened that day? I believe Dr. Fred Craddock is correct in stating that what we see here is Luke linking up this passage with the two witnesses that Luke speaks of in his stories concerning Jesus' transfiguration ( 9:30) and Jesus' ascension (Acts 1:10). Could it be that alongside the other reports of their being angels present (Mark, Matthew and John ) that the Heavenly Father once again sent Moses and Elijah and they were the two witnesses that shared both the message of the Resurrection and Ascension? Hmm? Of course, we don't know, but would it really be that farfetched? Could we not accept the thought that if Moses and Elijah were present at Jesus' transfiguration that they might also be present here at Jesus' resurrection? It's just a thought but an interesting one.
The empty tomb tells us that the body of Jesus was gone. That is all. It does not tell us however, that Jesus was risen from the dead. It only tells us that Jesus' physical body has been removed from the tomb.
To know that Jesus has risen from the dead we must receive the message of those two witnesses. And we must understand the meaning of the second empty thing that God left behind for us to mediate on and understand. We must look at the empty laundry Jesus left behind.
II. We see in this passage that Jesus left us some empty laundry - verse 12
Jesus' empty grave clothes also testify to the greatest miracles of all creation. Those empty linen cloths testify that God the Father raised God the Son from the dead. And as Paul will tell us over and over in his letters, Christ has been risen from the dead and therefore we today have the promise of salvation and everlasting life. Because Christ has been raised from the dead we have the hope of redemption, the hope of New Life and the Hope of being able to be restored into the image of Jesus. Our whole faith in Jesus rests on the truthfulness of the Resurrection.
What is it then about these linen cloths that is such a big deal? It is here that we need some further help and the Gospel of John provides for us that help. In John 19:38-40 our writer shares with us a some wonderful information. Information that once we understand it we see why God left behind this folded up pile of empty laundry and why it's such a big deal.
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
Look back and focus in on verse 39 where Nicodemus and Joseph anoint the body of Jesus with the 75 pounds of spices, namely myrrh and aloes. That is a lot of spices. It is easy to read these verses without fully understanding what exactly happened or what it means when you anoint a body in such a fashion.
Nicodemus and Joseph first washed the dead body of Jesus as carefully as they could. This would have been difficult to do with the body in its condition after all the beatings and the crucifixion. Jesus would have been covered in blood, grime and gore. They had to work quickly because the great Sabbath or Passover was about to being. They wanted to celebrate Passover but at the same time they want do all they could for Jesus' body. So, they took the myrrh either in powder form or more likely as an think oil (resin) and began to pour it on the body along with the aloes. Aloe is a spice made from the aloe tree and usually comes in power form.1
Now, here we must stop and think about thenot so nice part of what is going on, but to understand the totality of this passage we must do it. Jesus had died only about an hour or two earlier. The body would have still been seeping bodily fluids onto the linen cloths2 especially considering the state of Jesus' body. Remember it had been ripped to shred by a Roman flagrum. Those bodily fluids with the oil of myrrh along with the aloe would have congealed and adhered the linen to the body. They would have in fact glued the cloths to Jesus body - spices along with all the fluids and blood. Using 75 pounds of spices would have allowed the gluing factor to set in pretty quickly over the next three days.
By the time Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary and the other women got back to the tomb three days later the body of Jesus would have been securely glued to the cloths that surrounded him. All of this was quite normal for no one ever expected to use those cloths again. Over time everything would have completely dried out and all would have been left was a semi - embalmed body of flesh and bones.
Now, let's go back and read again Luke's statement in verse 12 where Peter comes in and sees the cloths laying together. Other gospel writers tells us that they were in fact folded up.
Now, who did the laundry and how in the world did they remove all those lines off of Jesus without tearing away at least part of his flesh? After all his back had been ripped to shreds and parts of his beard had been pulled out. When those sections of his body had been covered with pieces of linen and had also had oil of myrrh and grounded power of aloes placed all over them, how do you remove them and fold them up so nice and neatly without destroying Jesus' body. It is impossible.
It's like this. We all have covered a cut or an incision with a bandage only to find out that when we try to take it off it has been glued to our flesh by our own blood and bodily fluids. And when we yank it off we lose a little skin. In Jesus' case multiply that by a hundred times or more and you will understand what we are sharing here. There would have been no way to remove those linen cloths without ripping off more pieces of flesh from Jesus' body.
The empty tomb tells us that Jesus' body was no longer there. It doesn't tells us what happened to that body.
The witnesses tell us that Jesus was risen but perhaps there was a conspiracy to lie. We know better but someone could argue that position. They would be wrong but humanity has been wrong many, many times especially when it comes to Jesus.
But the presence of the empty folded laundry tells us something happened that can't be explained. How do you get Jesus' body unglued from all that linen and blood and liquid spices without a great deal of damage? How were their not pieces of Jesus' left behind among all that cloth? Who did the laundry and who folded it up so nicely?
Those empty linens let us know that something supernatural happened to Jesus. They let us know that Jesus is in fact alive but very different. They let us know that Jesus' body has been transformed and we later see that as we read the rest of Luke chapter 24.
Later on that day many of these same disciples would have the privilege to see Jesus, hold Jesus and even break bread with Jesus. But seeing those clothes lying there let these first disciples know that something supernatural had happened to Jesus. Something beyond the scope of their imagination. They knew that you just can't take a body that has been glued with cloth and spices and remove it without a great deal of tearing. And there was no evidence of a body at all or great big pieces of flesh laying around.
Why? Because we know this morning that our Jesus had been raised from the dead by His Heavenly Father. Those two men in dazzlingly clothes remind us that Jesus had promised He would die for our sins and would be raised again by His Heavenly Father and it had come to pass. Jesus had made us a promise and He was true to His word. Jesus always is true to His word.
Now, let's go back and put all three of these things together:
a. The empty tomb
b. The two witnesses
c. The empty grave clothes
This morning, we can rejoice that Jesus is alive. Our LORD has made good on His promise of whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.
Let me close with another story of a father and son. They are driving down the road together on a beautiful spring afternoon. As they drive they put down the windows to catch all the fresh air.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a bee flies into the car. The little boy is deathly allergic to bee stings. If he get stung it could cost him his life. The little boy begins to hyperventilate and begins to cry out in fear. He knows his is in danger.
The father realizes it too and calmly slows down. He reaches out and grabs the bee in his hand, squeezes it and then lets it go. The moment he let the bee go, the little boy began to whimper again out of fear. But the father having come to a complete stop opens up his hand for his son to see it. Right there in the middle of his palm the bee's stinger is lodged. The bee could fly all around it wanted to but it couldn't hurt the boy. His dad had taken all of the pain, all the suffering. The little boy was safe. The fear of pain, the fear of suffering and the fear of death were all gone. They could go on enjoying their trip together only with the windows up. The Father had saved his son's life.
This morning, some 2,000 years ago, Jesus died on a cruel cross and took the sting of sin, the fear of suffering and the pain of death upon Himself. On that cross Jesus took all that evil could throw at Him. Like the little boy's father, Jesus bears the scars of that pain on his hands, his feet and all over his body. But today, because of what Jesus did we don't have to fear death, Hell or the grave. We don't have to fear anything because Jesus took our place. Jesus paid the price and today we can enjoy the promise of salvation and everlasting life in Christ.
Luke shares with us that Jesus took all of that and was raised from the dead by His Heavenly Father. God the Father raised God the Son and because of that our world has never been the same. God made Adam and Eve a promise that one day He would make all things right. He did that day on the cross. He did that day when Jesus walked out of the tomb. He did that day when Jesus ascended into heaven. He did that day when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
Today, Luke shares the reality of an empty tomb, the declaration of two witnesses and the evidence of Jesus' empty laundry. Jesus is alive.
This morning, Jesus invites us to His table. HIs table that is symbolized by bread and wine. We are invited to come and receive the elements of Holy Communion. By doing so:
+We acknowledge that we accept Jesus' gift of salvation and sanctification. We accept His gift to receive the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We accept His gift of redemption, renewal and restoration. We accept His gift of everlasting life. We accept His Lordship over our lives and we commit ourselves body, mind and soul to Him.
Today, we are unworthy of all those gifts but, we have been given a promise by the LORD Himself. And God always makes good on His promises. As you come forward receive to the promises of Jesus today in the form of Holy Communion, receive His grace, mercy and love.
1Just a side note it is interesting to see that in today's market the same amount of myrrh and aloe would cost as much as 100,000.00. See http://footstepsineden.blogspot.com/2009/04/joseph-from-arimathea-was-one-of-jesus.html or http://www.plaza1.net/Anthony/SpicesAloesandMyrrh.pdf
2To help understand all that happens to a body once it has died - please read the following article - just remember it is graphic in nature. Don't read before breakfast. http://mosaicscience.com/story/what-happens-after-you-die -
