A. Happy Easter everyone and may God bless you today with hope and joy!
1. I hope you have come this morning with a sense of anticipation.
2. I heard about one 3-year-old little girl who was being driven to church on Easter Sunday.
3. As they drove, the child’s parents explained the Easter story, and how Easter Sunday is the day when we celebrate Jesus coming back to life.
4. When her parents paused, the little girl excitedly asked: “Will Jesus be at church today?”
5. Jesus is certainly with us today, not in person, but in true spiritual reality.
B. I heard about another little boy who was not exactly happy about going to church on Easter Sunday morning.
1. His new shoes were too tight, his tie pinched his neck, and the weather outside was just too beautiful to be cooped up inside.
2. So as the little boy sulked in the pew, his parents heard him mutter to no one in particular, “I don’t know why we have to go to church on Easter, anyway; they keep telling the same old story and it always comes out the same in the end.”
C. Perhaps you have similar sentiments this Sunday morning.
1. Not so much the desire to be somewhere else on Easter Sunday morning, but perhaps like that little boy you wonder about the Easter message.
2. It is the same old story - year after year - about two thousand years ago Jesus died on the cross on Friday and rose from the grave on Sunday.
3. Then angels and Jesus made appearances to some woman, to the apostles and to many others to prove He was alive again.
4. Why is it important that we go over the same old story year after year?
a. First, because there are some who have never heard the story.
b. Second, because many who have heard the story do not believe it is true.
c. Third, because those who have heard it and believe it need to be reminded of the difference the resurrection continues to make.
D. Let’s again hear the story of the resurrection in the words delivered to us by Luke, the doctor, who was a follower of Jesus and traveling companion of the apostle Paul (Luke 24:1-12):
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
E. There continues to be a lot skepticism concerning the resurrection of Jesus.
1. The resurrection of Jesus has received more attention than any other event in the history of mankind.
2. There are few people on the planet earth who do not know there are masses of people in churches today thinking about the resurrection of Jesus.
3. And so, those who are skeptics may be rejecting the truth of the resurrection, but not the knowledge of it.
F. And so, all over the world, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus will be relived in the hearts of countless millions today in worship through song, sermon, and most of all the Supper of our Lord.
1. But we must realize that not everyone receives the story of the resurrection in such an appreciative manner.
2. There are those who see the resurrection of Jesus as nothing more than a fable or farce.
3. There are liberal scholars who debate with regularity the reality of the resurrection of Jesus.
4. There is an abundant supply of books and articles written, and seminars offered to explain away the literal and miraculous resurrection of Jesus.
5. But what is unexplainable to these scholars is the “why.”
a. Why, in the face of their best efforts, has the resurrection doctrine not been squelched?
b. They can’t understand why the message of the resurrection is as alive today as ever before.
c. Why, in the face of their so-called “compelling arguments,” has it not been put to sleep?
G. The resurrection of Jesus has gotten a lot of attention over the years, even in secular publications.
1. Most of the time, when secular publications bring up the subject of Jesus and His resurrection, it is usually to try to discredit it and shed suspicion on it, but not always.
2. Michael McManus is a well-known evangelical Christian and socially conservative columnist who has been featured in many small and mid-range U.S. publications over the years.
3. In 2005, he wrote an article titled “Newsweek Affirms the Resurrection.”
4. I want to share with you some of what he wrote in that article, McManus wrote: “Four decades ago I was a TIME correspondent and proud of the fact that one section of TIME from its beginning in 1922 was Religion. TIME founder Henry Luce, a son of missionaries to China, knew the importance of faith in America, and pioneered serious religion coverage.
To compete, Newsweek began in 1939 with a Religion section. But after TIME merged with Warner, show biz got more space and the Religion section was dropped. Newsweek recently discontinued its regular coverage too.
Both magazines do cover stories at Christmas and Easter. Last Christmas (2004) both wrote cover stories that questioned the virgin birth of Jesus, prompting a critical column by me.
Last week, however, Newsweek published a very encouraging cover story, ‘How Jesus Became Christ: From Resurrection to the Rise of Christianity.’ Interestingly, it was written by Jon Meacham, the magazine’s Managing Editor not a religion writer.
He asks how ‘did the Jesus of history, whom many in his own time saw as a failed prophet, come to be viewed by billions as the Christ’ or Messiah whom the Nicene Creed calls ‘the only begotten Son of God...God of God, Light of Light...’
In this culturally divided time, ‘when believers feel besieged and skeptics think themselves surrounded,’ he acknowledged that many secular people ‘dismiss the faithful as superstitious or simple.’ However, he reminds readers that as the sun set on the Friday of the crucifixion, Jesus appeared to be a failure and was abandoned by virtually all of his followers. ‘The disciples clearly did not expect Jesus to rise again.’
Something had to have happened to empower his followers. It was the Resurrection of Jesus that transformed his scattered followers into the apostles who would build a church of two billion Christian followers that is now the world’s largest religion.
Skeptics have always dismissed the Resurrection as a theological invention. However, Newsweek cites two key facts that scholars agree provide evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead: ‘First, the tomb in which Jesus’ corpse was placed after his execution was empty.’
Second, ‘the apostles, including Paul, believed the risen Jesus had appeared to them; writing in the first years after the Passion, Paul lists specific, living witnesses, presumably in order to encourage doubters to seek corroborating testimony.’
The Gospels, written later provide added detail. ‘Sometimes he appears as flesh and blood; at others, he can walk through walls. Sometimes, he is instantly recognized; at others, even close followers fail to understand whom they are speaking with until Jesus identifies himself,’ Jon Meacham writes.
‘On historical grounds, then, Christianity appears less a fable than a faith derived in part from oral or written traditions dating from the time of Jesus’ ministry and that of his disciples.’ Jesus is quoted in Mark as saying, ‘The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that... he shall rise from the third day.’ Mark adds that the disciples who heard this at the time ‘understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.’
‘That the apostles would have created such words and ideas out of thin air seems unlikely, for their story and their message strained credulity even then,’ Newsweek asserts.
Newsweek continues: ‘A king who died a criminal’s death? An individual’s resurrection from the dead? A human atoning sacrifice? This is not something that the PR committee of the disciples would have put out,’ says Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.’
McManus concludes: “What's the significance of Newsweek’s story? The facts it reports are known to believers. But to skeptics and secular readers of Newsweek, this reporting should prompt many to reconsider the basic Christian message. In decades of reading similar stories in all three news magazines, none have made such a persuasive case for the accuracy of the New Testament.”
In an Easter sermon the Rev. Robert H. Malm, Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, said, ‘while waiting in a grocery store checkout line he saw the cover story and read it. He announced in his sermon, exultantly, ‘Newsweek got it right! The world would be so different, if it were not for the Resurrection.’
Amen to that.”
H. So what do you believe about the resurrection of Jesus? Do you believe it really happened?
1. A Harris Poll taken in 1994 found that 87% of Americans believed that Jesus was raised from the dead. But a survey conducted in 1996 by Barna Research Group found that 30% of born again Christians do not believe that Jesus came back to physical life after He was crucified.
2. I looked for more recent polling numbers and found a Harris poll from 2013 that reported that 65% of U.S. adults say they believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that’s down from 87 % in 1994.
3. I don’t know what is the present percent of Christians who believe in the resurrection, but I am not so naive as to deny that there are many who claim to believe in Jesus who do not believe in His resurrection.
4. I don’t understand it how a Christian could deny the resurrection, but I know there are doubters even among believers.
5. But this cynicism is nothing new – let me share a list of others who doubted the resurrection of Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, Peter, John, Thomas, Andrew, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, James the son of Alpheus… and on and on the list could go.
I. What I want us to wrestle with today is the fact that the resurrection of Jesus was truly beyond belief, even for those who experienced it.
1. The resurrection was beyond belief of the apostles, and beyond the belief of the women who came to the tomb that Sunday morning.
2. And if we are perfectly honest, perhaps many of us have had our own moments of doubt and disbelief and skepticism.
3. Luke shows us that not one of Jesus’ closest followers expected the resurrection, even though Jesus had predicted His resurrection no less than six times in the gospel of Luke.
J. Luke’s account is especially significant because Luke was a physician.
1. As a doctor, every fiber of his medical training would have prejudiced him against the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
2. Yet Luke records the story of the resurrection beautifully and completely, without question.
K. Luke starts with the witness of the women who first went to the tomb.
1. On that resurrection Sunday morning, some of the women followers went to His tomb with spices.
a. The fact they were bringing spices with them to the tomb is indicative of their expectations.
b. According to their custom, the spices would be used to embalm the body of Jesus that had been dead and decaying for three days.
c. The spices would help delay the decomposition of the body.
2. However, when they got to the tomb, the stone that enclosed the tomb had already been rolled away, and the body of Jesus wasn’t inside.
a. They weren’t expecting to encounter the risen Christ – they were expecting to see a dead man, lying in a grave, wrapped in a shroud.
b. They expected Jesus to be dead, and they expected Him to remain dead.
3. The surprise of Jesus’ followers is important – They didn’t anticipate His resurrection, but had to be convinced of it.
a. It's easy to forget sometimes how hard it was for the disciples to believe in the resurrection.
b. The empty tomb didn’t convince them – It only told them that He is gone, but not risen.
c. What they needed for proof was the announcement of the angels and the appearances of Jesus.
4. All four gospels indicate that the women were the first witnesses to the resurrection.
a. If the gospel writers were making up this story, they would not have use women in this capacity.
b. No offense to women, but in the Jewish society of that time, women were the worst witnesses they could have conjured up.
c. Back then, women were not permitted to testify in a Jewish court of law – sadly, the word of women didn’t count.
b. So if you were conjuring up this resurrection story, you would use better witnesses than these women.
5. That might help to explain the reaction of the apostles toward the women’s testimony – they simply dismissed the words of the women.
a. “And their words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (vs. 11)
b. The NIV uses the word “nonsense.” “Their words seemed to them like nonsense.”
c. The Greek word for nonsense is leros – it is a medical term meaning “foolish or idle talk, the wild ravings of one in delirium or hysteria.”
d. Can you believe that? The resurrection of Jesus seemed to be nothing but nonsense to His most devoted followers, despite the fact that Jesus had told them just a little while before His death that He would be coming back.
e. To them, this story these women told was nothing more than jabber, rigmarole, and hogwash.
6. When the women arrived at the tomb, they were confronted by two men.
a. Now this is one of the so-called discrepancies of the Bible.
b. Matthew says it was an angel of the Lord, but Matthew does not say there was “but one angel,” he simply focuses on the angel that moved the stone.
c. Mark says the messenger was a young man in a long white robe.
d. Luke describes them as two men in gleaming clothes.
e. John calls them two angels.
f. Does this mean that the resurrection story is all fouled up and these gospel writers all contradict one another? Certainly not.
g. The differences are not contradictions, but are simply the parts of the story each focused on, just like many of us would do if we gave an eye witness report of an accident.
h. But one thing is absolutely consistent with all the witnesses – THE TOMB WAS EMPTY FOR A VERY GOOD REASON!
7. Notice the response of these angels: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (vs. 5)
a. To the women up to that point, Jesus wasn’t a risen Messiah – He was a dead rabbi.
b. They didn’t go to the tomb to celebrate His resurrection; they went to mourn His death.
c. They were looking for Jesus among the dead people, but Jesus wasn’t dead.
8. The angels go on to say in verse 6, “He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise.”
a. Don't you think it’s strange that the women had forgotten that Jesus said He was going to be resurrected?
b. Verse 8 says, “And they remembered His words...”
c. These women were not the only ones who had forgetten what Jesus had said, the apostles had forgotten as well.
L. The only people who didn’t forget what Jesus said about His resurrection were the Jewish rulers.
1. They went to Pilate and asked that guards be placed around the tomb to keep anyone from stealing the body and claiming He had been raised.
2. They wanted to make sure that the body of Jesus was kept in the grave so there would be no validity to anything that Jesus had said.
3. Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t rise from the grave and immediately go the home of certain key Pharisees or the High Priest? Wouldn’t that have been interesting!
4. Henri Nouwen wrote, “The resurrection of Jesus is a hidden event. Jesus didn’t rise from the dead to prove to those who had crucified Him that they had made a terrible mistake, or to confound His opponents. Nor did He rise to impress the rulers of His time or to force anyone to believe. Jesus’ resurrection was the full affirmation of His Father’s love. Therefore, He only showed himself to those who knew about this love. He made Himself known as the risen Lord, only to a handful of His closest friends. There is probably no event in human history that has had such importance, while remaining at the same time, so unspectacular. The world didn’t notice it; only those few to whom Jesus had chosen to show Himself, and whom He wanted to send out to announce God’s love to the world just as He had done.”
M. When the women went back and reported to the men what they had witnessed, the men thought their words were nonsense.
1. But there was a stirring in one of those men; something propelled Peter to check it out.
2. Other Gospel writers tell us that John accompanied Peter, but today we are looking at Luke’s account.
3. While the others doubted the women, Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself.
4. When he too saw the tomb empty, and saw the linen wrapping lying there, it changed his morning and his life – he went home marveling (wondering) at what had happened.
5. Peter must have contemplated the fact that if anyone had stolen the body, they would have done so quickly, and would not have taken the time to remove the grave clothes.
6. What did all of this mean? Peter’s questions would all be answered later that Resurrection Sunday when Jesus appeared to him and to the other apostles.
7. The resurrection of Jesus transformed Peter for the rest of his life.
N. In what ways should the resurrection be transformational for us?
1. Primarily, the resurrection of Jesus offers us the hope that death is reversible.
2. Philip Yancey in his book, “The Jesus I Never Knew,” talks about how death has always struck him as being irreversible.
a. He tells about a kitten he had that was killed by a neighbor’s dog.
b. At the time it happened, he cuddled his kitten and soon felt a deep sense of permanency and that it was irreversible.
c. He thought, “If only I had kept the kitten inside...if only the boy didn’t have the dog...”
d. The first time you have a pet that dies you discover that death is irreversible.
3. There are many things in life that are reversible or fixable.
a. You wreck your car, you get another one…lose your credit cards, you have them replaced.
4. But then one day, a person who you know very well dies and again the feeling that death is permanent and irreversible is made concrete to you.
a. Your mom or your dad dies, or your grandparent or your spouse dies, and you have that deep sense that death is irreversible.
b. Maybe that is why death is so fought and so feared the way it is – because death is permanent.
c. There are no do-overs when it comes to death.
5. But the truth and power of the resurrection is transformational, because the resurrection of Jesus offers the single hope that death is reversible.
a. We have stood as a family and cried together at the grave side of many from this church, and when we have done so, we have cried for ourselves, not for them.
b. The resurrection of Jesus gives us the assurance that those people we love so much are living again. DEATH IS REVERSIBLE.
c. All of those who die in the Lord, now live again and they walk the streets of gold with our Lord.
d. Because “He Lives” we face those tough moments with confidence that death is not the end of the story.
e. Death is reversible in the truest sense of the word.
6. Death is reversible and Sin is reversible.
a. Romans 6:4 says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
O. A few years ago, Newsweek magazine printed an actual letter from the Greenville County, South Carolina, Department of Social Services.
1. It was one of those official form type letters that has to be written from time to time, and is usually computer generated.
2. Surprisingly, the letter was actually written to a dead person.
3. It said: “Dear So and So: Your food stamps will be stopped effective immediately, because we have received notice that you passed away. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”
4. The resurrection of Jesus gives us the hope that our circumstances change for the better after our death.
5. Jesus declared that He is the resurrection and the life and that anyone who believes in Him will never die – in other words they will experience eternal life. (John 11:25-26)
6. The hope of eternal life, that the resurrection of Jesus provides, helps us in our hardest moments, and compels and inspires us to live for the One who died for us and was raised again.
7. I hope that all of us here today will put our trust in Jesus and will be buried with Him in baptism into death so that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we too will walk in newness of life.
Resources:
“A Morning Beyond Belief,” Sermon by Noel Whitlock, College Church of Christ, Searcy, Arkansas.
“Newsweek Affirms the Resurrection,” by Mike McManus, www.virtueonline.org/newsweek-affirms-resurrection-mike-mcmanus
