The empty tomb- what does it mean? Lk24:1-12 WBC 31/3/2am (Easter Sunday)
INTRO:
ILL.- Mary Louise Duggard, age 8 said of Easter, "You get eggs, and you remember God." Not bad!
Jamila Young-Hogan, age 4,. said, "It’s the day that God woke up." Again, not bad.
Amanda Ward, age 7, said, "It’s when Jesus got alive."
ILL.- A group of four-year-old children were in Sunday School in a church in Chattanooga, TN. The teacher asked the class, "Does anyone know what today is?"
One child said, "Today is Palm Sunday." The teacher exclaimed,
"That’s fantastic. Now does anyone know what next Sunday is?"
The same little girl held up her hand and said, "Yes, next Sunday is Easter." "Great," the teacher said and "what does that mean?" The little girl said, "Easter is when Jesus came forth from the grave BUT IF HE SEES HIS SHADOW, HE WILL HAVE TO GO BACK IN FOR 7 WEEKS." (groundhog day!)
And a little four-year-old boy whose father was a funeral director was puzzled one Easter morning when he was told about the resurrection of Christ. He asked, "Do you mean that Jesus really rose from the dead?"
"Oh, yes" the teacher said. The boy shook his head and replied, "I KNOW MY DADDY DIDN’T TAKE CARE OF HIM BECAUSE IF HE HAD, HE’D NEVER GET UP AGAIN!"
So, what does the empty tomb mean?
1) He’s alive!
It means He’s alive! He came back to life and is alive NOW
- I don’t know any other way of explaining it
- Who else had the body? (Romans- why? Jews- produce it. Disciples- why die for it?!)
- How come SO many people said they had seen Him (1 Cor 15:6)
- How come so many have been changed by Him since
- (beyond what you would get as a psychological phenomenon)
Now: following Jesus… believing in God takes faith
- so there is always room for faith/doubt
but THIS event takes you the furthest I know into fact.
- into objective verifiability
- Sunday Times article, Easter 97- 50% of UK population surveyed believe Jesus rose from the dead.
Professor Thomas Arnold, headmaster of rugby school, revolutionised education, appointed to the chair of modern history at oxford university: “I have been used for many years to studying the histories of other times, and to examining and weighing the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead’ “
The empty tomb has a message for us.
- To science and philosophy it says, "Explain this event."
- To history it says, "Repeat this event."
- To time it says, "Blot out this event."
To faith it says, "Believe this event."
Of course- some would say, nobody had the body. He didn’t die. He swooned.
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, my friend said that at Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, Beat your friend with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear thru his side...put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens." Sincerely, Charles.
But it seems to me the whole thing is virtually water-tight. So that the foundational thing of our faith would be rock-solid… and so that enquirers would see the light when they look into the empty tomb
Donald Grey Barnhouse: ’The angel rolled away the stone from Jesus’ tomb, not to let the living Lord out, but to let unconvinced outsiders in’
That those who look into this… the empty tomb… will see that: the Lord… your Lord… Jesus is ALIVE
- death could not hold Him because of
- who He is. God in the flesh. Sinless. LIFE in Himself
This is SO tremendously important.
= central, fundamental to our faith (some things aren’t)
= central to the ch’s faith
Here’s what Cambridge scholar N.T Wright has to say about the subject, "Why did Christianity arise, and why did it take the shape it did? The early Christians themselves reply: ’We exist because of Jesus’ resurrection….’ There is no evidence for a form of early Christianity in which the resurrection was not a central belief. Nor was this belief, as it were, bolted on to Christianity at the edge. It was the central driving force, informing the whole movement."
It means
- this man was who He said He was/is
- demands a response. “Your life, your all”
- The Archbishop of Paris once told a story of three cynical young men who were visiting the cathedral of Notre Dame. On a dare, one of the young men entered the confessional booth and made a false confession to the priest. The priest wasn’t fooled by this arrogant atheist. He assigned the young man an unusual penance: stand in front of the crucifix in the sanctuary, look into the eyes of Jesus, and say three times, "All this you did for me, and I don’t give a damn." The young man and his friends sniggered as they entered the sanctuary; might as well carry the dare to the end. But as he looked into the eyes of Jesus, the young man had trouble finding his voice. He announced, "All this you did for me, and I don’t give a damn." The second time, his voice faltered as he said, "All this you did for me, and I don’t give a damn." But the third time, his voice failed him altogether. The young man returned to the confessional booth and made a sincere confession to the pries! t. Later, that same young man entered the priesthood. He went on to become the Archbishop of Paris. -- Robert C. Morgan, Lift High the Cross (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), pp. 36-37.
- that we’re gonna go the same way. Death is NOT the end, and after death we’ll have to give an account of our lives. A reckoning awaits us
- = a bit scary!
- Isaac Errett wrote these words in the Christian Standard publication on April 8, 1939. "The resurrection of Christ is a glorious revelation, but it is at the same time an awful threat to the one who will not accept the fact!"
The tomb was empty because He was alive. Alive in Himself
- but alive for you, too. It has implications for you
2) YOU’RE FORGIVEN
Jesus wasn’t in the tomb. Look in- empty
S0- it says a lot about Him.
but says a lot about YOU, too
- if you are a follower of him… and have let Him in (however dramatic or un-dramatic that may have been… or whether you’re going great guns or not)
It means you’re a NEW CREATION. New being. Been given a clean slate. Fresh start
- because You rose WITH him
- “ah, but I keep blowing it” you say
- Yes: but Jesus’ resurrection is bigger than all that. Bigger than you. His resurrection power is SUFFICIENT
- Half of our problem is not knowing this and living in it
Regret frets the soul as tension frets the nerves and anxiety the mind. I believe that the chronic unhappiness of most Christians may be attributed to a gnawing uneasiness lest God has not fully forgiven them, or the fear that He expects as the price of His forgiveness some sort of emotional penance which they have not furnished. As our confidence in the goodness of God mounts our anxieties will diminish and our moral happiness rise in inverse proportion.” A.W.Tozer,l book entitled, “That Incredible Christian”.
- “ah, but those events were SO powerful. They still affect me”
- yes, but Jesus’ resurrection power IS sufficient. You are made NEW
The Easter message is about empty tombs, Easter chicks and eggs
- why? New life. New beginnings
As you look back in the tomb- it’s empty! There’s nothing there
- no old self. No record of sins. No unforgiveness or unforgiven sin. No regrets
- All that died with Jesus
- (= what is symbolised in Baptism)
So- why are you looking into the tomb?
- Jesus is not there
- Neither are you!
- You are a new creation 2 Cor 5:17 “if anyone is in Christ”
James Ryle (VCF Pastor Bolder Valley, Colorado): when he was 2ys old his father was sent to prison. At 7 placed in orphanage. At 19 friend killed in car wreck, he was driving. Sold drugs to raise legal fees. Caught. Arrested. Imprisoned. Became Christian in prison. Eventually went into ministry. Years later sought his father to be reconciled with him. Father asked him ’which prison were you in?’. James told him- father was taken aback. ’I helped build that prison’ (he had been a welder). Ryle was in a prison his father had built. But Jesus had set him free. There were no bars on his cage no door on that tomb- he was free to walk out.
- your paste, parents, mistakes may have put you in a prison, a mess
- but you’re free now. “behold, I make all things new”
So- Easter is a message about clean slates, second chances. Forgiveness
- REDEMPTION as well
3) It’s okay
The empty tomb speaks to us about the experiences of life.
- particularly the bad. The ‘Good Fridays’
… and how they can be
- used by God
- redeemed by God in His purposes/providence
It speaks of how the bloodyness of Good Friday (& everyday life)… can be turned into Easter Sun
Have said SO much about this recently. And find myself saying it again as it’s so deeply there in Easter- and in what God wants to say to you at the moment
We live in a world that tries to avoid pain, death, good Friday (inconvenience, even!)
… but we have a faith that says
- God may not send it, but He can use it, redeem it. Even death itself
- That’s what the empty tomb says
It means: it’s okay. To be tearful on good Friday. But also that ‘it’s going to be okay’
- as Julian of Norwich said “All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well”
… not necessary ‘okay’ by OUR standards/criteria. But God’s
It means God can use good Friday
- if you let Him
- if you will let His Spirit mould your response (rather than the world)… and raise this circumstance up
- Nothing is beyond His providential care
- NO event is beyond His redeeming power
Because the tomb is empty. Hallelujah! Thine be the glory!
