They’re looking for “life” on Mars. Why? I guess it would be interesting just to find out if it’s there or not. The Brits launched Beagle 2 a few years back. They’re not sure what happened with it. That would have been a sure bet. I figure, about 2 days after landing a Beagle on Mars, the neighbors would be showing up to complain about the noise. As it turns out that there has been some evidence of life on Mars, but hard facts remain sketchy. After looking at a few photos of the Martian landscape, I’ve concluded this: if there is life on Mars, it’s very bored.
If there is no life on Mars, it doesn’t matter how long or how hard we keep looking for it, we’re not going to find it.
It’s kind of like looking for the body of Jesus in a tomb after He’s alive. Someone might well ask, “Hey, why are you looking for the Living One here where you would expect to find dead people?”
That’s what the angels said in…
Luke 24:1-12 (NIV)
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
We’re here this morning to wonder at the empty tomb. The Bible, right here, tells us in clear terms what Easter means.
Easter means…
I. Much hasn’t changed…but it CAN
Any time you look at someone in the Bible and shake your head about the way they botch things, take a mirror, look right into it, and shake your head again. Let’s see just how true to our situations God’s word is. Those women at the empty tomb, those disciples they spoke to – that could have just as easily been us! Here’s what I mean…
1. We forget His words
The angels said to these ladies, “remember how He told you…” He had. He had told them and the disciples in plain terms before His death exactly what was going to happen:
Matthew 20:18-19
"We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"
Did they remember? Sure – once they were inside an empty tomb with 2 angels reminding them! “Then they remembered…”
Isn’t it amazing how we can listen to the Lord’s words, maybe over and over, and manage not to remember them? Not anymore amazing than a husband who listens to his wife say over and over some item at the top of the “honeydo” list and then, later when she asks him if he got it done the answer is NO…he didn’t remember it. Kids also develop selective memory. And ladies, you’re guilty of it too! We all understand it, don’t we? We manage to filter out the things we don’t want to accept; even things that God tells us very plainly. These ladies had done it, and so do we. Much hasn’t changed.
2. We search in the wrong places, and for the wrong things
Why do you seek the living among the dead? It is a rhetorical question…isn’t it?
The idea, in the original, could be translated, “Why are you seeking the Living One among the dead ones?” A tomb isn’t the place you look for someone who’s alive! First of all, they weren’t looking for someone who was alive, so they were searching for the wrong thing. But they were searching for Jesus, so the place they were looking was the wrong place.
Look in the mirror again. Where do you look for peace? satisfaction? security? a clean conscience? wisdom? meaning in life?
Way too often, our search is just like the search for a dead Jesus in an empty tomb. We spend our time chasing after something that doesn’t even exist, and the places we’re looking don’t make sense. Peace, satisfaction, security, wisdom, meaning in life aren’t there! Why do we look for real life in places where it just doesn’t exist? That’s a good question. There is much that hasn’t changed!
3. We disbelieve the truth
Once the good news was staring these ladies, and the 11 disciples, in the face, they didn’t get it. They “did not believe;” they “were wondering.” They didn’t really accept it when they heard it from Jesus beforehand, and they didn’t really get it once it all happened.
And I’m thinking to myself, “Seriously? What does it take?” And then I look in the mirror again, and I think about the things that the Lord has told us, and I’ve read it, and learned it, and even taught it to others, and I find myself not always acting like it’s true. The problem isn’t that God hasn’t spoken clearly. It’s not that I haven’t been able to understand what He’s saying. The problem is that sometimes I have chosen not to believe what He says. Period. Can I get an amen?
Much hasn’t changed! But it can change. I expect, if these ladies could go revisit the scene with what they learned over the course of the next few weeks, they would have approached it quite differently. Why can’t we? We know how this story goes! Much hasn’t changed, but it can!
4. We find what we don’t expect
This last one here is a fun part of following Jesus. When He does appear to these ladies (remember, they’re carrying spices to embalm His dead body), I wonder if they suddenly hide them behind their backs. How embarrassing it might have been if Jesus had said, “Hello ladies! What’s that you’re carrying there?”
They didn’t expect what they found as they arrived at the garden tomb that early morning. Of course, following Jesus around, they had come to expect the unexpected. That was nothing new.
Let me suggest that this hasn’t changed either. If you come looking for Jesus, expect to be surprised…
II. You’ll be surprised…often
Over the centuries, enemies and skeptics of Jesus’ claims have tried to come up with explanations for the empty tomb. One idea they invented was that Jesus’ followers “faked” His resurrection – they somehow snuck His body out of the tomb and then said, “Well, hey, how about that!? Jesus isn’t in here! He must have risen from the dead!” Really? First of all, they would have had to sneak past a military guard. Then, they would have to move the huge stone, sneak out the body of Jesus, and get a look-alike to show up and claim He was actually Jesus.
There’s an even bigger obstacle: One of the great evidences that the disciples didn’t “fake” Jesus’ resurrection is that they didn’t expect it or believe it! The Jewish leaders knew that Jesus said He’d rise again. They’re the ones who asked for a guard to be posted at the tomb! This was one point where Jesus’ enemies believed Him more than His own followers!
How do I know? Because they were surprised, and their actions showed it.
Some surprises we really like! Come looking for Jesus, and you’ll be surprised. Easter reminds us that Jesus is full of surprises for our lives:
We look for…
An obstacle; it has been removed
An avenue of grief; we have a reason to rejoice!
Graveclothes; we find angels as bright as lightning!
A dead body; there’s an empty tomb!
A reminder of our greatest enemy; we’re assured and reminded of a great victory!
Easter also means…
III. Jesus is for real…always
A movie called “Heaven is for Real” recently released. It’s based on the book by the same name – an account of a boy who, at a very young age became gravely ill, went into a coma, and when he came out was telling about an experience that seemed too fantastic and too accurate to be imaginary –an experience of going to Heaven. Now, I don’t know what to say about that. I do know that a lot of people seem to be drawn to such a story. I think that’s because, deep down, we’d like some reassurance that Heaven really is for real. We want to be convinced of it, and we want to know what it’s like.
Those are good desires. God gave us those desires. I just want to tell you that Heaven is for real, but the reason that we be sure of it is much more solid than just the experience of a little boy.
And, I want to tell you today that Jesus is for real, and that you’re sitting around a group of people who truly believe that and who have experienced the reality of Jesus in their lives in a multitude of ways. But I also want to tell you that the reason you can know that is much more solid than just the personal experience of the person sitting next to you this morning.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (MSG)
The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me.
Jesus claimed that He came from Heaven; that He was, in fact, the Son of God, living among us. He claimed to be the One the Old Testament had told about hundreds of years before. He claimed that He was going to lay down His life – not that anyone was going to take it away from Him, but that He had the authority to lay it down, and to take it up again. He claimed to know beforehand that He was going to be crucified, and He claimed that on the 3rd day he would rise from the dead. He’s not the only person in history to make such claims – but He is the only person to make such claims and prove they were true by rising from the dead.
Conclusion:
Regardless of where you’re at in relation to Jesus this morning – whether you just stumbled in here off the street or you’ve been speaking the name of Jesus as your best friend since you were a baby – there’s something to be done now. I don’t know if you’re amazed, skeptical, or this is a story you’ve heard every year for 50 now, but here are some words for all of us to…
Put it into play:
Matthew 28:6-7; Luke 24:6b-7
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.”
Now I have told you."
Come – you have to make some effort. You did by being here today. The fact is, Jesus isn’t going to come and grab you by the throat and threaten you. If you’re waiting for some lightning bolt experience to hit you between the eyes, or if you’re planning to be moments away from dying and suddenly convinced, that doesn’t sound like a very good plan to me.
See – Look at the evidence. Peter Marshall - “The stone was rolled away from the door, not to permit Christ to come out, but to enable the disciples to go in.” God doesn’t expect people to just believe in Him because there’s a vacuum to be filled…although there is. It would be great if everyone instinctively understood there is a God and believed in Him and knew all about Him, but that’s just not how it is. So, God invites us to weigh the evidence. He urges us to look at what we can see in order to trust Him for the things we can’t see.
Remember – Remember His words, and believe them too. God’s gave us His word for our good. It’s for us – to know about Him; to understand His nature, His plans, His expectations, and His love for us. It’s there to convict us, instruct us, to grow our faith, to protect us from temptation, comfort us, and to use as our weapon in this war of ideas we fight daily.
Go – Get out of here! Now! The angels didn’t say, “OK. Here’s the empty tomb. Come on into here and just stay. You’ll be safe; you’ll be reminded all about Jesus; it will give you warm fuzzies.” Nope. The empty tomb was informational. It was no place to stay. Basically the angel said, “There, I’ve told you! Now get going!” Whatever you planned by coming here today, and whatever your thoughts about “the church” have been for the past year or your whole lifetime, if you think that we come together here just to keep our Christianity here, you’ve come with the wrong expectations. If you think that this is where worship stays, and where living like we believe it stays, and where the message is supposed to stay, then welcome to being surprised! Here’s a word for you today: GO! Get out of here!
Tell – Share the news. You say, “Oh, but I can’t do that yet.” Do you realize, these women didn’t know everything there was to know about Jesus? They didn’t have all their facts straight. They weren’t seminary trained or experienced sociologists. But they knew Jesus, and they knew He was alive, and it was time to start telling what they knew.
Easter is the good news that you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.
Have you accepted Jesus’ death on your behalf? Or is it just a story you once heard?
Are you someone who shares His victory over death, or is that another thing that just belongs to someone else?
Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise." ~ Phillips Brooks
OK. Let’s try that. Let’s start a new tradition, shall we?
The Lord is risen! [He is risen indeed!]
I shall rise! [I shall rise indeed!]
