Acts 10:34-43
John 20:1-18
“Eyewitness News”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
The news department of almost every television station dubs itself: Eyewitness News.
The apostles were also eyewitness reporters to the greatest news in the history of the universe!!!
Peter tells us that the apostles were eyewitnesses to the signs and wonders which Jesus performed during
His ministry.
More importantly, they were eyewitnesses
to the risen Christ!!!
And they actually ate and drank with Him after His resurrection.
Peter, crumbled into sand during the trial of Jesus, but the resurrection of Christ was the cement that solidied
his faith.
He had seen it first hand!!!
And this gave him a confidence and courage that he never could have had before.
In our Scripture lesson from Acts, Peter boldly proclaims to a Roman officer and his household that this
Jesus, who was crucified as a common criminal, was raised from the dead; and not only that....
but Jesus is the One who is designated by God to judge the living and the dead!
Peter was one of the ones who was bursting with excitement....breaking into the regularly scheduled
programs....like a news reporter....telling everyone about what he had seen, heard, and experienced regarding Jesus
the risen Christ.
But when we take a look at our Gospel lesson we see that Peter and John were not real impressed by the
fact that the tomb was empty.
“They did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”
They just didn’t get it.
So, as Mary stood outside the tomb crying, they just went back to their homes.
And many of us are content to just come to church on Easter morning....
See some friends we haven’t seen in a while....
Sit through the service....
Leave unimpressed....
And return to our homes.....
Ready to get on to the good things--the Easter meal, the Easter eggs, the Easter nap...whatever.
Could it be that some of us just don’t get it?
What do we do when we get back to our homes?
Do we go back to life as usual, or has something changed?
Do we have a story to tell---are we eyewitnesses to the greatest event in history---or did we switch to a
different channel during the service?
Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb crying because Jesus had done so much for her.
She had been a very sick person, but Jesus had healed her by casting 7 demons out of her.
She had experienced the love of God through Jesus’ healing as she never had before.
In gratitude, she returned that love.
Mary Magdalene stayed close to Jesus.
She was with Him in Jerusalem--the final week of His life; she witnessed the crucifixion, His burial.....
But God wanted her to experience and witness much more!
And this is what God wants for us.
God wants us to experience much more!!!
God wants us to be eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
God wants to give us a story to tell!
Jesus came to give us life, and to give it to us abundantly.
And that abundant life begins when we experience the resurrected Christ for ourselves.
Peter experienced the resurrected Christ for himself, and he burst forth: “Christ is Lord of All!”
Not only of the Jews, the priviledged, the poor, the religious...
but of the Gentiles, every nation, the heathen, everyone who believes, and calls on Christ’s name to
be saved!
Peter told Cornelius: “You know. You have heard the Word.”
Cornelius and the ones sitting there had just paid little or no attention.
They had changed the channel when Jesus was moving throughout the country....preaching, teaching,
healing, and saving.
And just think of how many of us hear and sit under the gospel and pay little or any attention to it.
Peter said that Jesus Christ began to preach God’s Word in Galilee right after John’s ministry of baptism.
No one had an excuse for rejecting the gospel of God’s kingdom.
Jesus Christ had travelled and preached the gospel everywhere, and He was the topic of conversation on
everyone’s lips.
He was the top story.
They were without excuse!
And it’s the same today--for those who have heard the gospel.
They are without excuse!
Have you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and decided not to accept it for yourselves?
If so, you are without excuse.
Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit so that He could go “about doing good, and healing all that were
oppressed by the devil.
Oppressed by the devil’s temptations and sins, lying and deceptions, bitterness and hatred, selfishness and
greed, indulgence and extravagance, hoarding and storing up, immorality and lust, laziness and complacency, and
power over death!
And every one of us have the grace-filled opportunity to recieve the Holy Spirit.
All of us have the opportunity to accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and to be born again....born
of God! Saved from death and hell!
Have we done this?
And once we are born again, we too recieve the Holy Spirit of God so that we can have life and life
abundantly, and have the power to be witnesses for Christ to the world.
And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Jesus Christ and His message of peace, His message of
love, and His ability to change a person’s life completely around is exactly what this world needs!!!
Jesus Christ was anointed to “go about doing good” and helping people by delivering them from the
oppressions of the devil.
There is proof that Jesus did these things.
Peter and the earliest believers saw and knew Him.
Listen to John’s eyewitness testimony:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; the
Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was
from the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may
have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to
make your joy complete.”
Is our joy complete?
Jesus Christ is still working in lives today...delivering all who believe from the oppression of the devil.
The proof is seen in the lives and witness of genuine believers.
“I tell you Jesus Christ is a myth,” shouted an atheistic lecturer as he concluded his talk in which he
ridiculed the Bible and denied the existence of God.
A hard-working man, who had come to the meeting in his grimy clothes, stood up and said, “I’m only a
working man. I don’t know what you mean by the word ‘myth.’
But can you explain it to me?
Three years ago I had a miserable home.
I neglected my wife and children.
I cursed and swore.
I drank up all my wages.
Then someone came along and told me about the love of God, and of deliverance from the shackles of sin
by turning to Christ.
Now all is different!!!
We now have a happy home.
I feel better every day.
A new power has taken possession of me since Christ came into my life!
Sir, can you explain to me what you mean by a ‘myth?”
I’ll tell you. Education does have it’s advantages.
In seminary we studied every point of view....from the starkest of skeptics to the most faithful of believers.
And there are a lot of very well educated skeptics....
But I had a world re-reknowned New Testament Professor named Luke Timothy Johnson who is famous for
debunking the skeptics.
And I learned just how little evidence for their unbelief that these well educated scholarly skeptics
have.
I learned that there is much, much more evidence....historically, scientifically and otherwise that Jesus
Christ did indeed come to earth, teach us how to live, was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead...just
as the Scriptures say....I’m talking loads more...I’m talking we’re not even in the same ball park...than any
so-called scholar who does not believe....and comes up with....let me refraise that..makes up all kinds of excuses for
why this did not occur.
But this just strengthened my faith.
The historical facts...and they are facts are not why I believe.
I believe because when I gave my life to Christ...I became a totally new person!
I began to care about others in ways I never dreamed possible.
I was able to get a handle on many sins in my life that were so ingrained in me that they were actually a
part of me. They were part of who I was.
But the overwhelming majesty and priviledge of knowing the loving, risen Savior caused my nature to
change....caused my sinful dreams and aspirations to be of no interest to me...becasue nothing in this world
compares to knowing and loving and being loved by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
I believe because I am an eyewitness to what the risen Lord can do in the life of a person who is caught in
the deepest and darkest of sin.
I believe because I’ve expereinced it!
Have you?
Mary Magdalene was left weeping at the empty tomb.....
Christ had already done so much for her....he had already changed her life.....
But He wanted to do even more than that!
So, He appeared to her as the Resurrected Lord who overcame death itself!
“I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God,” Jesus told her.
And Mary left the empty tomb with no more tears....
She went to the disciples with the news.
“I have seen the Lord!”, she exclaimed.
God has ordained Jesus Christ to judge all people.
He alone, as the risen Lord, has this right!
He determines the conditions of salvation: what a person has to do to be saved...
How a person is saved....
Who is saved and who is not saved!
He determines the conditions of eternity....
What eternal life will be like, and what eternal death will be like.
Jesus Christ determines the reward and the punishment of both heaven and hell.
So, there is a decision we all must make.
Where will we spend eternity?
Will we have abundant life here on earth?
Or will we simply switch the channels...unimpressed?
Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Do we believe this?
Please do not leave the empty tomb unimpressed....
But go home with a story to tell, an eyewitness account!
If you are here and you have not recieved the eternal life which comes from our risen Lord, today is the day
to recieve it!
We never know when our time will come to depart this earth....and it will be too late.
We are not promised tomorrow....but we are
here today, right here, right now, in this place!
The Christian confession of faith comes straight from the Bible, and it is this: “If you confess with your
mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That’s a promise from the Word of God.
It’s as easy as that.
If you have not done this, will you do it this morning?
