As temperatures rise so does the urge to get out and enjoy the beauty of spring. Some will head out on backcountry trails in the mountains but they will do so at their own risk, for this is avalanche season. It’s especially at this time of year that we hear reports of skiers and snowmobilers getting buried in tons of snow and ice that crashed down on them from lofty peaks. Can you imagine what it would it be like to receive word that a loved one had been buried in an avalanche? The news would be devastating wouldn’t it? Imagine your joy and relief then if word came later that they had been found alive! Would you keep that news to yourself? I doubt it. You’d want to make sure that everyone in the family knew about it. But would you share that news with total strangers? Would you tell the cashier at SuperStore that your spouse or parent had just been found alive after having been buried in an avalanche? Probably not, because while they may be happy for you, that news won’t change their life.
That’s what makes Jesus’ resurrection so unique. It’s news that not only changes our lives; it can change someone else’s life – even someone who is a total stranger. So as the Apostle Peter did in our text, we’ll want to tell others that Jesus is alive.
Our text takes place fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection. The occasion was Pentecost and the place was Jerusalem. After receiving the ability from the Holy Spirit to speak in foreign languages they had never learned before, the disciples attracted a large crowd. After some in the crowd accused the disciples of being drunk, Peter stood up and addressed the people. Our text is just a portion of the sermon Peter preached to the people of Jerusalem that day.
When you think about it, it’s amazing that Peter would stand up before such a crowd and boldly preach about Jesus. Just weeks earlier he had denied knowing Jesus. Then after Jesus’ death, Peter and the other disciples had hid behind locked doors. Peter was now bold because he had a wonderful message to share: Jesus was not dead; he was alive.
In what may have seemed to be a strange tactic, Peter started his sermon with the “bad” news. He accused his listeners of crucifying Jesus even though it had been obvious to them from his miracles that he was from God. How did Peter know that everyone he was speaking to was guilty of having Jesus crucified? Whether the people had actually demanded Jesus’ crucifixion or not was irrelevant. As a nation, the Israelites had rejected Jesus claims of being God’s Son and turned their backs on him. Even Peter had done that when he denied knowing Jesus. For that matter, we too are guilty of Jesus’ crucifixion when, instead of speaking the truth to our parents, we bend the truth. Or when we worry about our future even though Jesus has told us not to worry about it.
By telling the people that they had crucified Christ, Peter wanted them to know that they had done something terrible. He wanted them to see how they had missed their opportunity to be God’s friend and instead showed themselves to be his enemy. Peter wanted the people alarmed over their sins so that they would breathe a sigh of relief when he told them that, although they had put Jesus to death, God raised him from the dead!
Jesus’ resurrection must have seemed unbelievable to the crowd. To show them that he wasn’t making it up, Peter quoted verses from Psalm 16 that prophesied Jesus’ resurrection. King David wrote Psalm 16 a thousand years before Jesus’ birth. In this psalm, David spoke of the hope of eternal life. David said: “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the grave” (Acts 2:27, 27a). Why was David so confident that God would not abandon him to the grave? David goes on to tell us why: “…you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (Acts 2:27). When David said that God would not let his Holy One see decay, he could not have been talking about himself. Peter made that clear when he said that David died and his tomb was still there in Jerusalem a thousand years later. Had they exhumed David’s body, they would have found nothing but decayed bones. Therefore the Holy One that David spoke of had to be someone else, it had to be the Messiah. Jesus’ resurrection proved that he was the Messiah David spoke about because the crowd could have opened Jesus’ tomb and they would not have found a body, for Jesus was not dead, he was alive!
Jesus is alive! So what? Well it made all the difference for Thomas. In our Gospel lesson this morning we heard how Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus first appeared to all the disciples on Easter Sunday evening. When the others told Thomas about Jesus’ appearance, he refused to believe. Think of what Thomas’ week must have been like. He must have continued to feel sorry for himself for spending three years of his life following someone whom he thought was the Messiah. He must have been concerned about his future. Thomas felt that way only because he refused to believe in Jesus’ resurrection.
That happens to us too doesn’t it? No, we may not actually deny that Jesus has risen but we often live as if he’s still dead. We fret about our future. We wonder whether or not God loves us when we’re in pain and stressed. Such gloom is a sinful denial that our Lord lives and rules on our behalf. Jesus’ rose to do away with our gloom. David understood that’s what the Messiah’s resurrection meant for him for he wrote: “Because [the Lord] is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the grave” (Acts 2:25b-27a). Like David we can live in hope (literally “tent on hope”) no matter what life throws at us. We can be eternal optimists because Jesus is alive!
Thankfully the resurrected Lord made a special point to appear to Thomas and assure him that he had indeed risen. That appearance changed Thomas’ life. No longer a skeptic, Church tradition says that Thomas went as far as India to share the news about Jesus’ resurrection. Why? Because he knew that Jesus’ resurrection was news that could change the lives of others. And so it still is true today. We don’t want to keep news of Jesus’ resurrection to ourselves but to tell others, even those people who are total strangers to us. Sure, it’s easy to think that it’s not worth the time or effort, especially when the people around us don’t seem to care about Jesus at all. Yet Peter could have easily thought that about the people in Jerusalem. After all, these were the people who had Jesus crucified. Why would they believe that Jesus had risen? Peter could have thought those things and kept the news of the resurrection to himself but he didn’t. Prompted by the Holy Spirit he spoke boldly, and through that message the Holy Spirit brought three thousand people to faith on that day alone.
It’s important that we get this news of Jesus’ resurrection out because whether it’s by avalanche, car accident, or illness, one day we, and our loved ones will die. But there is no reason for us to be afraid of death for it has lost its grip on humanity. When Jesus died only to come back to life, he burst death’s ability to hold us. Like a pin popping a balloon, Jesus’ resurrection shred death to pieces. Jesus is alive! Death has been conquered! Believe it! Share it! Amen.
