April 15, 2001 Matthew 27:62-28:15
The longest sermon on record was preached by Rev. Robert Marshall, minister of the Birmingham Unitarian Church, Michigan, in 1976. He preached for 60 hours and 31 minutes. The previous record holder was Robert McKee who preached for 52 hours. He said that it took him two-and-a-half years to write the 500,000-word sermon. The book I got this from never said, but I wonder how many people sat through the whole sermon? I wonder how many people came to his next sermon? Different preachers take different amounts of time to preach.
Then there’s style. Most are familiar with the Southern Baptist fiery style of preachers. Then there’s the monotone type of preacher as well. Some are very animated, while others are more laid back. Everyone has a different style of preaching.
There’s also one other distinguishing characteristic in preachers - content. Some preachers will tell a lot of stories - their sermons will consist of a longer drawn out story with one main application at the end. Some like to add a lot of humor. Some like to pound a lot of law. Some like to talk about Jesus a lot and others like to talk about every day issues a lot. Different preachers have different content to their sermons. Even though today is officially “Easter Sunday” in the Christian church, I would imagine that if you went from church to church you would find a wide variety of teachings.
There was also a wide variety of preachers available on the original Easter Sunday. Some were preaching with conviction. Some were preaching with anger. Others were preaching with deceit and envy. There are three different messages. We are going to hear all three of them. Then we will make the determination, “which one will you listen to?”
Take Your Pick of Three Preachers This Easter
I. The Prohibition Preacher - Jesus must not rise!
In 1880, the voters of Kansas adopted a constitutional amendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages, except for medicinal purposes. Kansas saloon keepers violated that law however. On January 26, 1901, a female figure dressed in black appeared on Topeka’s streets . A dark veil shrouded the woman’s face but couldn’t disguise her from the city’s populace, who immediately recognized her as one of the country’s most well known prohibitionists - Carry A. Nation. For the next three weeks she and her followers smashed saloons in an effort to close all the city’s illegal "joints." The crusader’s progress was watched across the nation with interest and growing sympathy. In less than six months she did more to enforce prohibition laws than had been accomplished by churches and temperance organizations. And yet, after all of her work, Carry’s efforts came to naught. She couldn’t stop the people from drinking. The voice of prohibition was heard and gained some interest, but in the end, it was not listened to.
There’s a different voice of prohibition shouting from today’s text. This is the voice of the chief priests and Pharisees. The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” The preachers were trying to prohibit the resurrection of Christ.
This is kind of a strange thing - that the chief priests and the Pharisees would get together in order to stop a resurrection. If there’s one thing the chief priests and the Pharisees didn’t agree on - it was the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees, being rationalists and materialists, denied it. The Pharisees, being literalists and spiritual, affirmed it. If Jesus had raised from the dead, it would have given credence to their teaching. Yet they both decided that Jesus could not rise from the dead - indeed - he must not rise. For if the disciples were to come and “steal his body,” then they would lose even more of their followers. And so they went out on the Sabbath Day and preached to Pilate - “don’t let him rise!” They knew that Jesus had predicted his own resurrection three days after his death.
So Pilate said, “Take a guard. Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. If you think about it, this security unit must have been a fighting machine. If the disciples had tried anything, it would have been a “six-second war.” One soldier could have dealt with the entire group of disciples. He could have single-handedly sent them running for cover. These were not little pipsqueaks running around with plastic swords. Pilate gave them the orders to make the tomb “as secure as they knew how.” The prohibition preachers preached, “Jesus must not rise!”
It reminds me of the prohibition preachers today who say, “Jesus must not rise” in their own little cunning ways. “Take the phrase, ‘in God we trust’ off of our money. Don’t allow Bibles in schools. Keep the Ten Commandments off of the walls of our courts. Jesus must not rise!” The devil says, “don’t celebrate some resurrection from the dead - instead - celebrate the Easter bunny. Don’t fall for that religious superstition!” You wonder what kind of arrogance such people have - to think that they can actually keep God from doing something. It’s like thinking you can tell the wind to stop blowing or the sun to stop shining. Only God has the power to do that. It would be comical if it weren’t so tragic.
II. The Proclamation Preacher - Jesus is risen!
While the preachers of prohibition were busily trying to prevent Jesus from rising from the dead, the disciples were living with the exact opposite presumption. Instead of even assuming that Jesus would rise from the dead, they were trying to make sure that his body would be properly prepared for burial. Right after Jesus had died, they spent the late hours of the night preparing some spices to take to Jesus’ grave and to wrap Jesus’ body in. After all of Jesus’ predictions that he would die and rise from the dead, they expected Jesus to remain in the grave.
What do we make of this? Had the disciples completely lost their faith? Think about it. If they believed that Jesus was a fraud, would they have taken the time to bury him? Would they have gone through the care and concern to prepare his body and wrap it in spices? Think about it - if you spent several years of your life following a man who you found out to be a fake, wouldn’t you be irate? The disciples care for Jesus’ body showed that they still had faith - it just needed tweaking. Maybe they believed that Jesus would instead come down from heaven and establish his kingdom. They just couldn’t get beyond the popular ideas of the day - and realize that Jesus would actually rise from the dead.
What they needed was preacher - a proclamation preacher - to preach it the way it was. To get through to them that Jesus had risen from the dead. That’s the second preacher of today. 1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. The first preacher that came to the pulpit of proclamation was an angel. Some preachers just look like preachers. When I was in growing up, I had an elderly pastor with white hair and a deep voice - when he entered the pulpit - he would scare the socks off of me. His very presence demanded attention. That’s what this angel did. With an appearance like lightning and clothes as white as snow - the guards were terrified and couldn’t move. The women also were afraid - the angels had gained attention!
But the angels said, “there is no need to fear!” Think about that first proclamation! Don’t be afraid! How could a sinful human not be afraid in the presence of holiness? Because - He has risen! That meant that God accepted His sacrifice - that all of their sins had been paid for. As 1 John 1:7 says, the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. They had no need to fear, because they were now holy through faith in Christ. They had no need to fear, because Jesus really was the Son of God, just as He claimed. He really was alive to protect them now. Jesus had risen from the dead, JUST AS HE SAID. You can sense a small rebuke - but what a rebuke of comfort! It’s kind of like when you are worried that someone is going to pick you up and they show up right on time and say, “what were you worried for!” The angel said, “Jesus TOLD you he was going to rise, so why are you surprised?”
It was almost too good to be true. But as they say, “seeing is believing.” And so the words of Jesus were confirmed by the tour of proclamation. The angel guided the ladies into the tomb and said, Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” If the word of Jesus were not enough - maybe the view of the empty tomb would convince them. And if that were not enough - the angel proclaimed it himself, “HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD. YOU WILL SEE HIM IN GALILEE.” The preachers were preachin’ it. It was starting to sink through. The ladies left - afraid, yet now they were filled with joy and running!
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” If this were not enough - one more preacher of proclamation appeared before them on the way to Galilee. It was Jesus. For all of the preaching that Jesus was praised for - his most effective sermon consisted of one word - “greetings.” He didn’t need to really say anything. This picture was worth more than a million words. Jesus - the same Jesus that they had seen crucified - was standing right before them. The women’s faith was now complete - realizing that Jesus had risen from the dead!
I have heard that possums are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!” But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks. The possum will enter and not be afraid. The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave - we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb. Paul preached the proclamation of Easter - “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message that we need to hear this Easter! Jesus is risen! When we hear that message with conviction - we then KNOW that we will not stay in the grave. We know that we will not go to hell. Why? Because the check that Jesus paid God for our salvation was returned with the signature of God and a notice on it - “paid in full.” It’s this message that takes our fear away and fills us with joy. It’s that message that makes us come to church on Easter Sunday - fall at Jesus’ feet - and worship him - just like the women did that Easter morning.
III. The Prejudiced Preacher - Jesus did not rise!
There’s a saying that goes - “wherever God sets up his temple, the devil sets up his tabernacle right next door.” The devil didn’t just give up once Jesus rose from the dead. What he immediately did was try to do some damage control. What he had to do was to set up a pulpit - right in Jerusalem - to completely deny everything that had actually happened. 11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
There’s another saying that says, “money talks.” It was money that did the talking here. You would think that if you were a heathen and you saw some a miraculous sight - someone rising from the dead - that you would be converted right on the spot. You would also think that the chief priests would THEN admit that Jesus was the Son of God. But Jesus wasn’t kidding when he told the rich man in hell, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. Instead of coming to faith, the chief priests hired a new preacher with a new message. Even the soldiers were not trained, they put gowns on them and paid them to proclaim - Jesus did not rise! His body was stolen.
A big city lawyer was called in on a case between a farmer and a large railroad company. A farmer noticed that his prize cow was missing from the field through which the railroad passed. He filed suit against the railroad company for the value of the cow. The case was to be tried before the justice of the peace in the back room of the general store. The attorney immediately cornered the farmer and tried to get him to settle out of court. The lawyer did his best selling job, and the farmer finally agreed to take half of what he was claiming to settle the case. After the farmer signed the release and took the check, the young lawyer couldn’t help but gloat a little over his success. He said to the farmer, “You know, I hate to tell you this but I put one over on you in there. I couldn’t have won the case. The engineer was asleep and the fireman was in the caboose when the train went through your farm that morning. I didn’t have one witness to put on the stand.” The old farmer replied, “Well, I’ll tell you, young feller, I was a little worried about winning that case myself because that silly cow came home this morning!”
In the story, the young lawyer couldn’t prove innocense for the railroad because his witnesses were sleeping. And the farmer couldn’t win his case that his cow was dead because his cow was alive! Both sides show story of the chief priests and guards was hopeless. If the Roman guard had fallen asleep, how could they have known it was “the disciples who had stolen the body”? Never in history has a witness been allowed to testify to what transpired while he was asleep. The same body of Jesus would appear to over 500 people over the next 40 days! The guards knew that Jesus had risen. The chief priests did as well. So why did they spread this lie? Finally - it comes down to prejudice. They had something against Jesus. Therefore, they wouldn’t listen to their ears or believe what their eyes told them.
Amazingly, the story is STILL being spread to this day. On the news the other night they reported that they had a new drawing of what Jesus may have looked like. Then they showed on the screen this caveman looking kind of guy. It didn’t look anything like the other caricatures of him. Then I found out why. Do you know how they came up with this drawing? They say that they found the body of Jesus in a grave near Jerusalem and made a reconstruction from his face. They still don’t get it, do they? Jesus isn’t in a grave. That wasn’t the same Jesus - he rose from the dead. But they keep on spreading it - because they’re naturally prejudice - born to hate God. The sad fact is that there are even a few religions that no longer believe that Jesus physically rose from the dead. The preachers of prejudice are still today proclaiming that Jesus did not rise.
You have been presented with three different preachers with three different messages this morning. On Easter Sunday, the chief priests said, “Jesus must not rise.” Then the angel and Jesus said, “too bad, Jesus has risen.” Then the soldiers entered the pulpit and said, “Jesus did not rise.” Which one will you listen to?
Some choose to listen to the chief priests and the soldiers. They think that we are foolish for believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead. They feel sorry for us. But Paul says of them in 1 Corinthians - if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. These people live with no knowledge that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice. They have no hope of their own resurrection. They are only living, then, for blessings in this life. They are dedicating their lives to a temporary religion and a dead God. They are to be pitied.
Thankfully, there is no choice for us to make. God has already chosen us to listen to the preacher of proclamation. He has pulled us out of Pastor Prejudice’s pulpit - put the Holy Spirit in our hearts - and given us faith in the fact that Jesus did rise from the dead. Now we are assured that our sins have been paid for. Now we know that we will go to heaven when we die. We know that we and our loved ones who died in Christ will rise from the dead - without sin. We live with a living hope - all through the resurrection of Christ. That’s the truth that was proclaimed to us. That’s the truth that we proclaim to each other this Easter Sunday and every chance we get. Amen.
