Unleashed
Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021
Brad Bailey
Intro
It’s such a joy to be gathering to celebrate something GREAT...something profound...something powerful. We are gathering around an event that changed the world.
This is the event that divides all of human history. It is this event which made it’s way throughout the world and divided time between BC and AD. Every other date is set by this event. Your birthday is set by this event.
This could make us think that this event must have been like a massive bolt of lightning that struck the earth...but what I want us to realize this morning is that it wasn’t the power that changes the earth...but a power that changed people.
When Jesus was crucified in 33 AD...there were only about 120 devoted followers...120 who really received him... today...2000 years later...there are 2.3 BILLION. There is an estimated 2.3 BILLION people living today who have come to know this Jesus to be their savior. That is 1 in every 3 people on this entire planet. That is more than all he lives who live across all he European nations...... more lives than all who live US... more lives than all who live in China. In fact...it represents more lives than all of Europe.... the United States and China...combined.
Think about that. A few fishermen and outcasts had just watched as the one they had followed was arrested, beaten, mocked, and then crucified. There is no better picture of a group of powerless lives being reminded who rules this world. They were left lost in their failings and fear... afraid to be identified by the religious authorities...and hiding from the forces of the Roman Empire. What could have transformed such fear into a force that changed the world?
One word: The resurrection. Jesus had risen from the dead. [1]
Something happened that they couldn’t have imagined... and now they couldn’t deny. Let’s listen to a portion of what the disciple John, the one closest to Jesus and these events, declares in his Gospel account:
From the Gospel of John...chapter 20, verses 1, and 16-22
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
...16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. 19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
Here we have ...one of the testimonies of that moment...about the moment that God struck the world... and it sent something outward that would divide human history...and spread out through history to our very lives sitting here today.
It’s vital that we see that state of these lives ..when this moment came.
What we see in this moment was the culmination of all that God had prepared. God had chosen not to come to those who represented the powers of this world...the kings and pharaohs... but rather he formed
mysterious nation of Israel...by calling one nomadic figure named Abraham... and told him he would make his descendants a great nation through whom he would bring his blessing to the whole world...and then he makes him wait to have a child... allows those people to fail to fulfill their calling.
They were a mystery though history. They reveal that God will come show his power as distinct from the powers of this world... as greater than the powers of this world.
And so when God sent one into the world to save it...as he had said he would... and he came to the remote and rudimentary... the poor and powerless. And the very powers he defied....he allowed to bind him...and execute him.
These lives had just experienced the dramatic proof that the powers of this world are in control. The one who had come as the ruler of God’s kingdom ... and defied the powers of this world...had just been silenced by the religious leaders...executed by the Roman Empire.
What they just witness was horrific... it was the hate of the religious leaders unleashed against this threat to their self-righteous rule. It was the brutality of the Roman Empire to declare what it does to anyone who would not bow to Caesar.
So as John describes ... “the disciples were together, with the doors locked in fear. [2]
What we see in this moment was the culmination of all that God had prepared. He would not come to work with the pride and pretense of human power... which has enslaved us. He set up that which led to showing His own true power...the power that loves what we deem the least... the power that gives life. So this moment is centered by those who are most clearly facing the power of insignificance and the inevitability of death.
And John describes
how “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb.”
Who is this Mary? This Mary is not the Mary who was the earthly mother of Jesus. This Mary is a woman from whom some time earlier...Jesus had delivered from spiritual oppression...and who had joined the wider group of devoted lives that included the 12 disciples... as well as a few others... who joined in the journey to Jerusalem.
It was now the third day since Jesus had been crucified...since he had breathed his last breath... and was buried. The Sabbath day... which is the day of rest...when people are not to labor or travel... is now over... so Mary decides to show her honor by going to the tomb... probably hoping to add spices
John tells us it was dark... just before the dawn. And that seems so symbolic of her state.
She hadn’t just watched him die... she was there with his mother... caring for his lifeless body... trying to take in that he was dead... and that from their understanding...God had deemed him cursed...for he had been defeated and executed by the pagan enemies. None of it fit. She knew he was from God. But God had allowed the powers of this world to kill him. She came in the darkness of the morning... when nothing was clear...when nothing made sense. I have no doubt that some here can relate to such time.
What is clear is that she came with spices ... not with hope. [3]
But what she discovered would transform her. What she discovers ...is that the seal is broken...the tomb is open...and his body is not there... nothing is there but the grave clothes that he had been wrapped in.
At this point... this was just unsettling. Like everyone wo came and found the tomb was empty...all they could imagine is that someone had taken the body.
But then as she sat outside...she hears a voice...
It was a moment that defied her expectations. [4]
It was a moment in which everything changed.
By the evening... Jesus would come to all those who were gathered in hiding.
And they too had to go through a process of taking it in... it defied their understanding... Jesus had to show them that his new body was indeed real....and many of us may go through a process in which the
reality of God and the raising up of Jesus defies our understanding. And we can discover that when they did take it in... everything changed. The risen Jesus appeared and interacted with them several times in the days that followed...often in a group...so that there was no individual experience that could simply be dismissed.
And everything changed.
What they could never have imagined...now they can’t deny.
When threatened with death... not one recounted.
These lives who were stopped...became unstoppable.
Those bound in fear were loosed.
If I had to choose one word to describe it...it would be this. Unleashed.
They were unleashed.
The power of the resurrection... brought the power to unleash us from all the binds.
And John tells us how it began when the voice of Jesus calls Mary by name.
This is the voice that was unlike any other.
This was the voice of one who had found her spiritually oppressed and demanded such evil forces release her. He had seen the woman of great worth within her. He had shown the power of God to bring freedom.
When Jesus said, “Mary”... it was nothing less than the voice of God recognizing her as the unique child of God that she was.
When he said “Mary”... he was declaring that the creator of universe sees her...and knows her.
With those words... Mary is
Unleashed from Being Unknown
The truth is that we all have a name...but none of us really know who we are.
We find some identity from our parents and our past...some from what we do....some from who cares about us. But we know that we can’t be defined by others ...so we may try to define ourselves...We want to make a name for ourselves... ..but when we try to name ourselves... it proves rather vain.
We can deny it or dismiss it... retreat to the reclusive road... but it only leaves us in the darkness ...outside of life...outside of love...where our humanity dies. Time spent alone is good...but what we find is that we can’t not where we find ourselves within ourselves...but where we can hear the one who made us and knows us. If you ask me who I am... I find only an undefinable mix of often identities and attachments... often unsettled and even in conflict. Within my own self... I sense I am yet to know who I really am... but in my spirit I hear that call of God... and realize that he knows who I am... that I have been found and identified as one who is bound to God.
Apart from the source of our existence...we are lost... we are being who are ultimately unidentified.
And Mary knows how such a state can be used and abused.
But then Jesus calls her name. And Mary is unleashed from being unknown.... from being unseen...and unidentified... from the world of the lost. He unleashes her from being falsely known....from the spirits that have tried to take over her life...and the names that have tried to define her.
Some of you may sense that there are other sources that are trying to name you and claim you. Jesus has the authority to reclaim you.
In fact we find that Jesus makes a point revealing that we are known.
When Jesus was calling his very first disciples...Phillip introduces Nathaniel to him...and Jesus tells Nathaniel things no one knows... and Nathaniel responds... "How do you know me?" to which Jesus says, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." (John 1:48)
And there is Zacchaeus. He’s a tax collector...not only collecting taxes from his own fellow Israelites for the oppressing Roman empire...but clearly getting rich taking extra for himself. So he doesn’t dare join the crowd waiting for Jesus to come into the village...he climbs up in a tree hoping to see but not be seen. And when Jesus arrives...he calls out to Zacchaeus by name...and says come down... I need to have lunch at your home. (Luke 19:5)
Jesus speaks to crowds... but he calls lives by name.
He unleashes us from the being unknown... and hidden.
There is power when you sense that God may be calling you by name. He may speak to you within a crowd...but you sense in your inner being....that you are a part of his calling... that your name is included... that what is being said... is to you.
It may be at this very point that we dare to hope...but we are also afraid...afraid to be seen.
The strange thing about being found...is that we are also afraid of being found out. We’re afraid to be seen in all of our raw and hidden ways.
Our debt to God... is like a backpack that is being slowly loaded with weight. In the end...guilt without grace will kill you in more ways than one.
But Mary knew that Jesus had seen her... he knew what was in people’s hearts...... but he welcomed all who trusted him. And now Mary knew that all she had just seen of that fateful Friday when Jesus was crucified...was her own guilt...her own debt to God...being paid in full.
In the final moments of his death on the cross...Jesus said.. “It is finished.” The words are those used to speak of a debt being fulfilled...a debt being completed.
The power of the resurrection...is the power to become
Unleashed from Guilt...from the Debt We Owe God
As the Scriptures explain,
"Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God." Romans 4:25 [5]
The power of the resurrection is the power to be unleashed from the debt of our sin... the shame of our defiant independence. We can spend our lives living between denial and despair... but Jesus says that all who are sinners... can turn to him and receive his sacrifice.. and follow.
And Jesus goes on... tells Mary to “go”... to go and tell the others. It was a confirmation of his calling and commission to go and join the changing of the world. And then on that very night...he comes to those who had been hiding away...and says, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
With these words...he unleashed them from their fear and failure... and into significance
Unleashing into Significance
With these words Jesus is making them a part of something bigger than themselves.
He was saying... come let me prepare you to join the creator of all existence in redeeming the world.
And they needed to understand something. This new kingdom is not going to unfold like a Roman play or a Hollywood movie...where the world is saved in 90 minutes and the heroes are cheered.
It won’t come swiftly like a war. The kingdom will be far more hidden. It will look like a sower who sows seeds which take time. It will take place in the nitty and gritty and other itty of life. In fact... they need to know that they WILL have troubles...just as he did.
So what was the resurrection revealing? That the new life of this kingdom is unstoppable.
What the resurrection has declared is that the power of God isn’t always exciting and expedient... but it’s unstoppable.
This can be so important to realize as those who have been shaped by our modern culture. We have been raised by constant drama... we equate drama with what really matters. We have been shaped to believe that drama means something is important. We look for who has the most followers on social media...who has the most political power.
The risen Jesus defied it all. While the world was looking to the powerful and the popular...he was bringing the authority that is uniquely Gods.
When he was crucified... it looked like his ways were foolish ideals ....but now risen he reveals that the power of God is not bound to the fame and glory of this world.
Jesus was unleashing them into the unstoppable...into the reality that...
•The empires of this world are not ultimately ruling.
•Your bank account is not your truest asset.
•Your diagnosis... is not the end.
•Your body is not the essence of your being.
Such truth will unleash us from being tied to this world’s false ideas of significance.
Whoever you are...wherever you are... you can join in changing the world.
And presence of the risen Jesus declares an even more ultimate unleashing. The risen Jesus had revealed the power of being...
Unleashed from death
Death had marked the ultimate end. It defined life to be bound within time.
We live and then we die. Period. Jesus had died. Period. You can put a period at the end.
But in the presence of the risen Jesus...that period was changed to a comma.
Not only death...but the whole on entropy...of degeneration of life... would see it’s end...when the world is brought fully under the eternal rule of God.
This is what Jesus had make clear.
Jesus said, "I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again." John 11:25 (NLT)
The risen Jesus brings the power to be unleashed from fear and futility of death.
When death is the end... life will always tend to look back...and focus on what is behind us. ...but Jesus lived for what was ahead of him....and he created lives that live in FORWARD drive.
That is what he has for us. If you think your best days are behind you... Jesus wants to unleash you from the limited vision.
The risen Jesus reveals the truth that what matters most is what is still ahead of you.
That can be an important truth after a year of having life feel contained. Many of us may feel ou lives have been on pause... maybe even enjoyed some aspects of the pause...but feel challenged to move forward. Next Sunday I want to share about how to live into the future...how to move forward from this season. And I’ll introduce a new Sunday series and focus for the remainder of this Spring.
But let me be sure we recognize one final and powerful way that Jesus unleashes lives.
Verse 22...”And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.””
When Jesus rose... he unleashed lives with power
Unleashed with power
They were not being sent to change the world by their own power. It was God who had been working through Jesus...and he was imparting that work in them. It was the power of he Spirit that allowed Jesus to have the strength of mind and heart and spirit to fulfill the will of heaven. But this was also a point of transition. His earthly body could only be preset in one place... now by the work of his Spirit...he would work through every one of them. And his desire is to unleash every one of us in the power of his Spirit....to guide us and strengthen us. He was with them. And he wants to be with each of us.
CLOSING:
I want to invite us to come before the presence of the risen Jesus.
The power of the resurrection... was the power to unleash lives. As they took in the reality of Jesus having risen... their lives were unleashed from the power of this world. They knew that the kingdom of God...had actually broken into this world.
They knew that the one who created their existence... had called them by name...and had paid their debt...and had unleashed them from death...and had commissioned them as part of what God was doing. And now his spirit was a force within them.
PRAYER
Notes:
1. The Resurrection is the epicenter of belief. It is, says C.H. Dodd, "not a belief that grew up within the church; it is the belief around which the church itself grew up, and the 'given' upon which its faith was based."
2. As John describes this group of lives... they were bound by fear... as he said... “the disciples were together, with the doors locked for When John describes “for fear of the Jews”...it is very important to grasp that he is not referring to the Jews in general...in fact all the disciples were Jewish as well. He is not referring to his fellow Jews in general...but to the religious leaders who had just appeared to put an end to the one whom God had sent.
3. Mark 16:1-4 describes the scene: “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.”
Among various ways to bring these accounts together... I imagine the three women went that morning...perhaps the other two were behind Mary in their timing... or more likely, had run first to the disciples, leaving Mary in this moment alone. As for the stone, it seems from Mark’s account, they simply hadn’t thought about the stone until after they had set out.
4. The only concept any Jews had about a resurrection ...was a potential event at the end of all history when God might raise the dead.
5. Consider also:
"In Christ we are set free by the blood of his death. And so we have forgiveness of sins because of God's rich grace." Ephesians 1:7
"All of us have strayed away like sheep. We've left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all . . . From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people realized that he was dying for their sins and suffering their punishment? He had done no wrong, and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; then he was put in a rich man's grave. But it was God's plan that he should suffer . . . Yet when his life IS made an offering for sin, he WILL have a multitude of children." Isaiah 53:6-10 (NLT)
