SERMON: THE GREATEST COMEBACK
Scripture: Matt 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.
The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.
“Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.”
The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. “Good morning!” he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life! Don’t be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”
I want to honor some unknown person for the TITLE of the message for the morning. I was skimming the internet and suddenly, these three words flashed on my screen. I tried to find out who wrote it, but was unable to do so. Therefore, whoever you are, wherever you are, thank you for the Title of the sermon, for today.
THE GREATEST COMEBACK.
Needless to say, there have been many great comebacks in history. In the political arena, in baseball, football, basket ball, and all other sports, there have been some amazing comebacks.
In baseball, for example, let's go to August 5, 2001, and see a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners. It was the bottom of the 7th inning, and Cleveland was trailing 14-2. In that bottom of the 7th, Cleveland scored three runs. In the bottom of the 8th, they scored 4 more. In the bottom of the ninth, they scored an incredible 5 times, making the score 14-14, and putting the game into extra innings.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, a little known player, named Jolbert Caberera's one-out broken bat single scored Kenny Lofton from second to complete the comeback win.
The Utah Jazz's 36-point turnaround against the Nuggets in November 1996 has never been matched nor beaten. Utah trailed the Nuggets 70-34 at home in the final minute of the first half. But, led by Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek, the Jazz outscored the Nuggets 71-33 in the second half for a 107-103 win.
In football, the current NFL record is in a game between Minnesota and the Vikings. Minnesota gave up return touchdowns from a blocked punt and an interception and trailed 33–0 at halftime. Between 8:22 to play in the 3rd quarter and 2:15 to play in the 4th quarter the Vikings outscored Indianapolis 36–3; they scored five touchdowns in the space of seven possessions. The Vikings won in overtime, by scoring a field goal.
In horse racing, Back in the day, if you were placing a bet on a race with Gary Stevens – who should be given the honorary title of “The Comeback King” – the odds would probably not have been in your favor. However, Stevens’ amazing comebacks were not about his ability to win from behind. Rather, it was about the courage he displayed in overcoming physical adversity. He’s a rider who has suffered injury after injury and managed to come back each and every time – that is, until his most recent accident, which damaged his spine.
Going back to 1985, Stevens was thrown into a rail in a starting-gate training incident and ended up in a coma. In 2013, he finished first at the Arlington Million – now called the Mister D Stakes – at Arlington Park, Illinois, but was thrown into the oncoming riders by his own horse, which resulted in a collapsed lung and neck injuries.
Stevens has had his right knee and left hip replaced and has undergone other minor and major surgeries over the years until a checkup for a pinched nerve revealed a major spinal injury that could spell disaster if he fell again. After finding this out, Stevens announced his retirement in 2018.
I recall, from personal experience, a Babe Ruth League game when I was 13 years old. My team, believe it or not, was called BECKLEY HOTEL GARAGE RADIATOR SHOP. A man with the unlikely name of June Mathena was our coach. He had a bit of a speech impediment, and was not always easy to understand.
We were playing Calfee Funeral home, and they had us buried, 17-3. We scored 12 runs in the 6th inning, and 2 more in the seventh, putting the game in extra innings. In the top of the 8th, Calfee's scored 4 times, making the score 21-17 ....and we came to bat in the bottom of the 8th .... It was sort of like that old CASEY AT THE BAT poem by Ernest Thayer ....
"But Flynn preceded Casey, and so did Jimmy Blake, the former was a pudding, and the latter was a fake ... but Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all, and Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball...":
Well, I was Flynn, the pudding ... my batting average was dismal, to say the least .....but somehow, I managed to get a little blooper single that cleared the first baseman's outstretched hand by anout 3 inches ...., and Bobby Thorn, a black ghetto kid with a lot of talent, and a lot of attitude, doubled to left field, getting me to third base.
Next up was the pitcher .... can't recall his name, but he struck out. Then, the meat of our batting lineup was next. David bunted, and I scored, although he was thrown out at first. Stan .... Stan.... Stan ..... Richmond belted one over the centerfield fence, making the score 21-20, and then, our hero, Billy Longmire, (who could ever forget Billy) was up. He was batting a bit over 400, leading the league in homers with about a dozen, and could outrun any rabbit.
By the way, what do you call a rabbit with fleas? Anyone? BUGS BUNNY! :)
The infield played deep ... and our coach, Coach Mathena, told Billy to drag a bunt, which he did, and reached first easily, since the infield was playing a heavy hitter deep.
The grand moment arrived ... Robert Saunders was up ... and he had already struck out three times that game.
But this time, we knew that he would not let us down. He took the first pitch, a called strike, and missed the second one on a wild swing at a ball that was way too far outside.
Upon that stricken multitude, grim melancholy sat ... for there was little chance of Robert doing anything that day.
To the wonderment of all of us, though, he hit one deep to center field, which was dropped by Calfee's player, letting our rabbit, Billy, score from first, tying the game, and Robert was standing on second base with a huge grin on his face.
The score was tied at 21-21. They intentionally walked our next batter, ...and his name escapes me, but I remember that walk, because it set up a force play at both third and second bases.
Bobby Jenkins was up ... Bobby was an average player .... nothing special. Good enough to make the team, but would never be a super star ....
He took a couple of pitches, and then smashed a wicked line drive straight at the second baseman. Unfortunately for that second baseman, though, the ball hit him in the face, knocking him down, and allowing Robert to score from second, giving us the win.
But all these combined even, does not come close to the greatest comeback of all time. In any period of history, one cannot find anything that tops the comeback at Jerusalem on that day some 2000 years ago, when Jesus or Nazareth, a condemned criminal, although He was the most innocent man in all of history, recorded or not, left a tomb that had been His home for the previous three days.
Following the mockery of a trial, in which there were many errors, Jesus was crucified, killed, murdered by the law, if you please.
Consider, for example, that most criminal trials in that day took weeks, if not months, to complete. One of the requirements was that the verdict could NOT be unanimous, in order to secure a conviction. The idea was that if all 71 of the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body, voted to convict, something was wrong because one can never get 71 people to agree on anything.
In the case before us, Jesus was arrested, tried, and convicted, unanimously, in a space of about 9 hours!
Even the arrest of Jesus was not legal. Hear the Scriptures:
“Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore … went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am He.’ … ‘Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way’” (John 18:3-5, 8).
And Luke adds, “Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, ‘Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs?’” (Luke 22:52).
Notice that those who were involved in Christ’s arrest included the priests and elders—His judges! Among them were also the very ones who bribed Judas.
It seems to be true that “No session of the Court [was] to take place before the offering of the morning sacrifice” No night meetings were, therefore, permitted. The law allowed such an investigation only upon daylight.
The preliminary investigation before Annas brought forth no evidence whatsoever. Instead of dismissing the case, they proceeded to hold an illegal court.
Jewish law states, “A criminal case resulting in the acquittal of the accused may terminate the same day on which the trial began. But if a sentence of death is to be pronounced, it cannot be concluded before the following day” (Mishnah, “Sanhedrin” IV, 1). This was to allow sufficient opportunity for any witnesses in support of the accused to present themselves. But the court did not allow Jesus this opportunity.
for the last of the offenses AGAINST Jesus, we note that Jesus was brought into the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. The trial of Jesus wasn’t even held in a court of law!
“Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house” (Luke 22:54).
According to Jewish law, “A sentence of death can be pronounced only so long as the Sanhedrin holds its sessions in the appointed place.” But the court building wasn’t legally to be opened until after sunrise.
And one final anomaly .... The Jewish leaders, the religious government, had complained that Jesus had blasphemed ....their only complaint. But, when they presented Jesus before Pilate, the civil rulers, the charge was suddenly switched to TREASON, a civil crime.
Well, so be it. The verdict, secured before Jesus was even arrested, was death. And so, they crucified the Lord of Glory. They killed Him, unjustly, unfairly, and unbelievably cruelly.
They placed Him in a tomb, a hollowed out rock tomb, put a huge stone over it, sealed the stone, and set guards around it to ensure that His disciples would not come and steal the body, and then, claim that He had risen from the dead, as He had said He would do.
And, thus, we have the background to the GREATEST COMEBACK in all of history. Jesus left that tomb. As the way we say the Apostle's Creed, dead, buried, but on the third day, He arose again from the dead .....
From death to life, life eternal, for Himself, for you .... and for me. He arose! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within ..... my heart! Amen!
PASTORAL PRAYER
Thank You, Father God, for the grand conclusion of the Apostle's Creed......I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
It is our faith that draws us to worship services, so we can hear the great words of the Bible read, sing the great hymns of our faith, offer to You our thanksgivings, give for Your work in this world of our money, and have fellowship with friends, both old and new.
From that contemporary song a few lines reads like this: we were the beggars, now, we're the royalty .... we were the prisoners, now, we're running free ....
We give thanks, Lord, that we can rightly declare that we are royalty, because we are children of the King! His royal blood, now flows through our veins ....
Bless us, Lord, and our community through us, as we, here and now, and again, dedicate our lives to Your purposes on this earth.
We pray in the Marvelous Name of the One who gave His life for us. Amen!
N.B. Many people provided some of the material for this message of hope.
