MARK SERMON XII –TRAVESTY TO MAJESTY – MARK 14:53---16:
Series Within A Series
PART SEVEN – DARKNESS TO DAWN – DIVINE INTERVENTION
MARK 16:1-8 . . .
There comes a time in life when intervention is essential. Just recently, for example, my wife’s heart problem necessitated medical intervention by a cardiac specialist to correct a life-threatening condition. Her doctor said, in effect, “The time for medical intervention has come.”
At Noon on the day Jesus was crucified, it was as if the Lord God declared, “The time for divine intervention has come.”
After Jesus had hung three hours on the Cross – nailed to two trees that had been crisscrossed and cross-tied, then dropped with a thud into a post hole – God invaded the scene of the crucifixion with darkness and thereby set in motion the final events of the Passion of Jesus.
Let us recall that, from the time of the Last Supper on Thursday evening, until Noon Friday, enemies of Jesus had been in charge.
His enemies had arrested him on trumped-up charges . . . forced him to go before the high priest for unfair questioning . . . bound him and hauled him off to Pilate, who “passed the buck” to the governor, who sent him back to Pilate, who allowed his enemies to falsely accuse him . . . demanded that he be crucified . . . scourged him, spat upon him, cursed him, kicked him, mocked him, thrust a crown of thorns onto his head, nailed spikes through his hands and feet. Then the Lord God took charge!
Beginning at Noon on Friday, darkness covered the face of the earth for three hours, making it obvious to friend and foe alike that the God of the universe had taken charge of the situation, initiating the outcome. As all but a few of the onlookers fled from the place called Golgotha, frightened by the sudden totality of darkness, Jesus agonizingly suffered to the very end when, at three o’clock in the afternoon, He died as he uttered his last words - “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
Was it the end? Was it over? Had his ministry been nothing more than the pipe dream of a disillusioned young Jewish rabbi from Nazareth? Well, apparently many of his followers thought so. Their feeling of discontent at the arrest of Jesus had turned to dismay when he was crucified, and now had turned to defeat when he died. Many of them went into hiding. Yet, his mother and a few others stayed through it all.
How precious are the memories of those who refuse to give up . . . stay . . . fight the good fight . . . finish the course . . . keep the faith!
How precious in the sight of God are his saints who, come what may, remain true to their Lord all the way! Such faith shall be rewarded!
The perseverance of the faithful who stayed with Jesus was indeed rewarded – at dawn on Sunday morning --- Mark 16:1-8 . . .
Let’s back up a little bit to Friday afternoon and point out that, after Jesus had died, one of the few who had stayed close to Mary the mother of Jesus was a man whose presence might have been surprising to some who were there; he was a prominent member of the Jewish Council, and his name was Joseph of Arimathea – no doubt a believer in Christ; he asked for and was granted permission to claim the body of Jesus for burial.
The women who saw where Jesus was buried on Friday returned to the tomb a little after sunrise on Sunday, only to find the stone already rolled away; and, inside the tomb, they were greeted by a young man – angelic in appearance, dressed in a white robe.
They listened in utter disbelief to those immortal words that have reverberated through the ages: “He is not here. He has risen!”
How fitting that one of the women who were the first to be told of the resurrection of Jesus was one of our Lord’s most gossiped-about converts – Mary Magdalene! Prostitute! Sinner saved by grace! Such were they all! Such are we! Sinners saved by grace!
To me, this Mary represents the essence of conversion to Christianity – sinners who felt unworthy, but found in Jesus someone who really cared - someone who would forgive them - no matter how sinful they had been! Jesus once said to Mary the prostitute, “Go, and sin no more.” To all penitent sinners he says, “Thy sins are forgiven thee; go, and sin no more!” “No longer allow sin to have dominion over you.”
How fitting that the resurrected, glorified Jesus – his appearance epitomizing the loveliness of youth and the purity of an innocent lamb – would personally greet those who came to the place where his body had been laid to pay their respects and to anoint his body.
And folks, we can only imagine the personal greeting which we too shall receive one day when we find ourselves in his glorious presence - not surrounded by the pallor of a funeral parlor but the palatial beauty of the House of the Lord - in which we shall dwell forever.
How fitting that the risen Christ would instruct those who discovered the empty tomb to “go tell Peter”! Why Peter? Remember Jesus telling this fisherman - the first to discover and declare who Jesus really was - “Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my church!”
Jesus was saying to the women: Tell Peter to come see for himself. Tell Peter to get them all together for a reunion with me before I return home to be reunited with the Father and with all the heavenly hosts. “Oh, that will be glory for me - and you too!”
Tell Peter, because I am depending on him to get the work of evangelism started – to set in motion the task of spreading the Good News, so that “as many as believe in me as the Christ, and receive me as Lord and Savior, to them will be given the privilege of becoming sons of God!”
Tell Peter to meet me in Galilee so that he can see me and know that I have risen indeed! What a glorious day it will be for you and me when we shall meet the risen Lord face to face!
And folks, just as Jesus went before them into Galilee to commission His followers to spread the Gospel, he has gone before us into the realm of glory where he awaits our coming to be with Him in the place He has gone to prepare for us.
Remember his words of comfort to His Disciples? “I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
Remember his words of consolation to Martha the sister of Lazarus? “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in me though he is dead, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Remember his words of confirmation during his final discourse prior to his arrest? “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.”
If you and I are as human as the three women who witnessed the stone rolled away . . . observed the place where the body of Jesus had been laid . . . heard the angelic young man say, “He is not here; he has risen,” we too, upon our recognition of the reality of the resurrection, will be awed at the wonder of it all!
How awesome to know that God loved His Son Jesus and raised him from the dead . . . God loves you and me . . . Jesus loves you and me . . . He took our sins upon himself as he died on the tree for you and me . . . He won the victory over sin and death for you and me . . . He today is at the right hand of God interceding for you and me . . . One day He will welcome you and me home!
Praise God! And let all the people say, Hallelujah, Amen!
