Luke 24:1-12
The Beginning
Nature’s seasons remind us of the seasons of life. There is spring, where new growth is popping up out of the earth. The wild flowers are so pretty this time of year in South Texas. There is summer, and later fall, which here is like a slightly milder form of summer. And then there is winter, where all living things lie dormant. If the weather drops in the 20s, we feel like we might not make it. I remember this winter thinking, “Will it ever grow warm again?” Remind me I asked that when July rolls around!
That first Easter weekend some 2,000 years ago felt like winter and spring all in one weekend, kind of like our up and down weather lately. On Good Friday, all hope was shattered, as Jesus the probable Messiah was executed as a common criminal. It was like a bleak winter day. Nothing happened that long Passover Saturday, as every good Jew stayed indoors for Sabbath, likely mourning the terrible events of the day before. But on Sunday, spring burst forth! The daffodils and the Easter lilies sang out, “He is risen!” The empty tomb brought a whole new perspective. Consider, then, what the empty tomb means for us even today. First,
Easter brings...
1. Hope
I find it interesting that, in a male-dominated society like First Century Jerusalem, God allowed the news of Jesus’ resurrection to first come to a group of women! The details of the resurrection story differ a little from gospel to gospel in the Bible: Were there two men in the tomb or just one? Were they angels or men? Which of the women came out? The details are slightly off, as you would guess with different eye-witness accounts. Yet, one fact stays constant. All four gospels report that the first witnesses of the empty tomb were women!
Sometimes people ask me, “How do you know the Bible isn’t just made-up?” One reason is that this kind of thing never would have made it into a fictional account. Back then, women were not even allowed to serve as witnesses in a court of law. So it’s refreshing that God would choose women to first witness the empty tomb.
The men who were certainly angels presented a shocking message to these women. And note their hearts turned from fear to hope, as they recalled the ways Jesus had tried to prepare them for his death and resurrection. With the angel’s prodding, it all came back to them. It was as if the light finally turned on, and everything made sense.
Verses 11 and 12 tell of the reception they got from the disciples: “But they [the disciples] did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb...” (vv. 11-12)
The disciples discounted their testimony, perhaps because they were women, perhaps because the news seemed too far-fetched to be true. But Peter had enough hope to go to the tomb and check it out for himself.
Pastor J.D. Greear writes, “The men and women who went to bed in despair met the next morning with a surprising hope -- the same hope that is available to us today. If Jesus is alive, He can bring the dawn of resurrection into your life. As long as Jesus is alive, there is hope for you.”
Easter gives us hope: hope that when we’re at a dead end, God can bring us through; hope that no matter how alone we are, we never have to be lonely, because he is with us; hope that with God, all things are possible. Easter brings hope. And it also brings...
2. Forgiveness
Something supernatural happened on that cross that first Easter weekend. Not only did Jesus die a horrible physical death, he also died a horrible spiritual death of sorts, as all the sins of the world were laid upon him. And he did it willingly for you and for me! That is love!
Why did an innocent man have to die? Because none of us are innocent. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The only way a holy and perfect God could be in relationship with us is if someone took our punishment, someone who never deserved such punishment. And that someone is Jesus.
Listen to Romans 5:8: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” You don’t have to get cleaned up before you come to Jesus. You can come just as you are, because he loves you completely just the way you are.
C.S. Lewis gave a metaphor for this sacrificial death of an innocent in his classic children’s book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” There, he told the story of the great lion Aslan, who loved every child, even naughty Edmund, and ended up giving his life as a sacrifice in their place, so that the curse of the White Witch could be dispelled once and for all, and the dreadful winter of Narnia could turn into spring.
When Jesus died on the cross, he willingly laid down his life for you, paying the price for every sin you would ever commit. So that we can say, with the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:1, “There is no more condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.” Once we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, God no longer condemns us. And if God doesn’t condemn us, we can stop condemning ourselves. We can find the forgiveness each of us so desperately needs. Easter gives us a fresh start, a blank slate, a do-over. Thank you, God!
Easter brings hope; Easter brings forgiveness. And Easter brings...
3. Life
Notice what the angel asked the women in verse 5: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Indeed, why would they? Jesus was no longer dead. He was very much alive. The tomb was empty. When Jesus came back to life, he reversed the curse on all mankind. The Bible calls Jesus the second Adam. The first Adam led us into sin and death. The second Adam led us into forgiveness and life. So that the Apostle Paul would later write, “Death, where is your victory? Grave, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). If you belong to Jesus, you don’t have to fear anything! What’s the worst thing that could happen to you? You could die, and then you get to go to heaven!
One of the best known verses in the Bible is John 3:16. You often see it on posters at football games. It reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus brings us life, eternal life, life to the full, life that begins the moment we believe and continues into all eternity.
Billy Graham died last year. But years before his death, he uttered a profound statement that revealed his ultimate trust in the resurrection. He said, “One day you will hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe it. I'll be more alive than ever, I will just have changed addresses.”
Do you have that assurance? Do you know that you know you belong to God? If not, you can change that today. It’s very simple. You merely say to God, in your thoughts or out loud, “Here’s my life, God. Please forgive my sin, all of it, because of what Jesus did for me. I give my life to Jesus now, best I know how, to live for him from now on. Amen.” And you start a grand adventure with a God who loves you and forgives you and promises never to leave you or forsake you. Let’s pray about it:
God, thank you for Easter. Please bless our special meals today and our Easter egg hunts, and gatherings of family and friends. And please help someone today trust their life to you for the very first time, as you take away all their sin and bring them into your eternal family. Help us live for you every day, with the power of the resurrection in our lives. Help us to live with hope, with forgiveness, with life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Welcome time:
From an unknown comedian: “We celebrate Jesus brutally dying on the cross by getting a giant bunny rabbit to hide chocolate eggs.
I can't help but feel there is a massive gap in information somewhere.”
What happened when the Easter Bunny met the rabbit of his dreams?
They lived hoppily ever after.
What day does an Easter egg hate the most?
Fry-days.
What do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole?
A hot cross bunny.
Luke 24:1-12
24 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. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 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? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.12 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.
