In Jesus Holy Name March 31, 2024
Text: Matthew 28:1,5,6b Easter -Redeemer
“Hope Offered by The Man in the Middle”
Rev. John Stott in his book: “The Cross of Christ” writes: “We can not proclaim the cross without the resurrection nor the resurrection without the cross.”
The story of Easter began long before three men died on Roman crosses outside the walls of Jerusalem. Pontius Pilate condemned two thieves and one man he knew was innocent. The Pharisees demanded the death of Jesus and Pilate gave in to their request. The three men who hung upon those crosses were united as they died a painful, lingering, agonizing death. That is not to say all three of these men were alike. The Man-in-the-middle was exceptional.
His name was Jesus. When God entered human time with His birth in Bethlehem, He who had been beyond time chose to become bound by time. He was imprisoned in human flesh, restricted by weary prone muscles and eyelids. The Son of God left His throne in heaven so that by His death He would destroy the power of the devil who holds the power of death over the human race. (Hebrews 2:14) His death and His resurrection from death and the grave is the story of Easter.
If we are honest with ourselves we know that people worry about their eternal destiny. Maybe that is why some of you came today, you want to know if there hope for life beyond this earth. People want to know what happens when our heart stops beating. Is there hope? Is their life after death. The answer is: Yes! That is why Jesus rose from death on Easter morning.
On that “Good Friday” afternoon, the darkness of the midday was frightening. The sun could not break through the glum that filled the air and hearts of those standing near the three crosses. Jesus could have stopped the soldiers as they stretched His arms on the beams. One soldier pressed a knee against a forearm, another, holding a mallet and spike in hand ready to strike. They thought it was only a carpenter’s hand. No, wasn’t this the same hand that stilled the storm? Isn’t this the same hand that healed the leper and raised the dead? Of course it was. Jesus could have clenched His fist, but He saw something else. He saw the hand of God. The same hand stretched on the cross was the hand that formed Adam from the clay. The same hand that sent locust that plagued Egypt, that sent ravens to feed Elijah. (Max Lucado He Chose Nails p. 34)
God was turning His back on His only Son, dying on the cross. His death was planned by the Creator of the Universe, the moment Adam and Eve broke God’s Commandment. The wages of sin is death for every human being. No one escapes. We all have broken God’s commandments. On “Good Friday” between the hand of Jesus and the wood of the cross was a list. A long list of our broken commandments. The list of our sins.
The blood dripping from the hands of Jesus was blotting out the list of our sins. The list of our faults cannot be read. The words cannot be deciphered. On the cross Jesus had absorbed the sins of the entire world. (Colossians 2:14) The “man in the middle” on that Good Friday offers forgiveness to all who place their trust in His death and resurrection.
The Easter event is the great watershed that ultimately divides believers from unbelievers. St. Paul confirmed this reality when he wrote in I Cor. 15:14 “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”
You can’t have it both ways: Either Jesus actually rose from the grave or he did not. There is no middle ground regarding the “man in the middle” You cannot say He rose in spirit but not body, although some try.
Jesus came into the world so that by His perfect life, his blood shed on the cross would destroy the devil who holds people in the fear of death… His resurrection frees hearts that were held in slavery by their fear of death.
(Hebrews 2:14)
We are not here today to remember the death of a great teacher, a great prophet whose name was Jesus. We are here today because He kept his appointment with death, but was raised to life with a glorified body, with flesh and bone. His grave was empty on that first Easter, not because some disciples had stolen the body, but because God’s Spirit raised Him to life.
The man in the middle was exceptional. He forgave the people who had nailed Him to the cross. He talked to one of the men who was dying with Him. An unusual conversation. It ended with the Man- in- the middle assuring His companion that before the sun set, they would be together in paradise.
By sunset all three men were dead. The Man-in-the-middle died around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The earthquake and the darkness which accompanied His death shook the soldiers’ self confidence. Still, the death squad took no chances. One of them plunged his spear into the Man’s heart. The act caused no great damage to the heart which had already stopped beating some time before. The Man was dead.
We don’t know what happened to the bodies of the two thieves. We do know what happened to the corpse of the Man-in-the-middle. His body was claimed by a friend and placed in a garden tomb which a friend had commissioned to be cut from the rock for himself. (Man in the middle theme Rev. Ken Klaus)
A great stone was rolled in front of the grave’s entrance. The body was shut away. Then, to discourage grave robbers, to squelch rumors of a resurrection before they could begin, the Man’s enemies had the tomb sealed and set a guard of soldiers to keep watch. They followed the advice of the Roman governor…”go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
His disciples watched Jesus die on the cross. The Roman soldiers pierced His heart to make sure He was dead. The soldiers knew it. The Romans knew it. The Jews knew it. The disciples knew it. The women who were slipping thru the early morning darkness to the tomb….knew it.
They were walking to the new tomb carved from a Jerusalem hillside in which His body had been placed. When the women arrived at the tomb, all was quiet. The guards were gone. The air was crisp, with the freshness of spring. The stone had been rolled away. They entered the tomb and their fears were confirmed. The body of Jesus was gone! All that was left was the linen shroud, lying on the bed of stone. The grave was empty. This is why the angel spoke to the women and said: “why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen, just as he said.” This the story of Easter. He is Risen!
Earlier that morning, inside the tomb, before the women arrived, there was an explosion of light. The darkness was shattered, and the tomb was filled with light. The body of Jesus was quickened by the Spirit of God. Energized by the Spirit of God the Father, God the Son cast off the restrictions of death. Instantaneously He possessed a resurrected glorified body.
Before dawn on the third morning, God had sent an angel from Heaven and rolled the great stone away from the front of an empty tomb. God sent an angel from heaven, not to let the Man, God’s only son Jesus, out of the tomb, but to let the world in… to let the world see that Jesus had risen from the dead. The stone was rolled aside…. Not to let Jesus out, but to let the disciples and us inside.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God was reclaiming and redeeming this world from the shackles of sin, the damnation of death, and destruction of the devil. God’s Son, the Man who had been crucified in the middle; Jesus Christ, by His resurrection from death, guaranteed that the ransom price of God’s justice was paid “by the Lamb of God, for our forgiveness.
If this was the end of the story we would have no hope. It was on the cross that Jesus took upon himself our broken commandments, and transfers to all who believe in Him, his perfect righteousness. This is the story of Easter.
Everyone knew the grave no longer held the body of Jesus. The women knew. The disciples knew. The military guards knew. The Jewish authorities knew. As a matter of historical record, the military guards reported everything that had happened to the chief priest, the Jewish authorities knew the story. They knew an angel had appeared at the tomb. They knew the grave was empty and that the body of Jesus had been resurrected.
They devised a plan. They made up a story. They paid the soldiers a large sum of money. The promised the soldiers protection if they would spread the false report that during the night the disciples had come and stolen the body of Jesus. This story has been widely circulated to this very day. (Matthew)
The resurrection of Jesus means that death is no longer our ultimate end. Death has been swallowed up by God’s victory. “Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await our savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20-21) When he returns with the trumpet call of God and the voice of the archangel… then all who have died believing in Jesus will be raised to life and we will be with the Lord forever.
The grave of Jesus is empty because he lives. He rose from the grave. He is seated at the right hand of God. He has opened the gates of heaven to all who believe. This is the Easter story.
He is risen!
