THE EXONERATION: Jesus Overcomes All
CSI: Murder of God - Week 6
Matthew 28:1-6, John 11:25-26
INTRODUCTION: (Intro mpeg to CSI:31)
That song “Who are you” really came into play in an episode of CSI just a week or so ago called “Spellbound.” Gil Grissom and Greg Sanders are investigating what seems to be a supernatural case of a psychic who during a “reading” sees murder and then becomes the murder victim. Two girls, Lori and Ann Leah, who received the victim’s reading are the ones that actually find the Psychic murdered. It’s puzzling that these girls would call in the crime because they had been involved in another murder case years ago. But the case is not as simple as just two girls becoming violent because they didn’t like their reading. Fingerprints are found that lead the team to a vegetarian restaurant deliverer by the name of Reese Billingham. Could he have murdered the victim because of an unpaid dinner bill? Then, a retired cop inserts himself in the case and tells CSI that one Gordon Wallace is involved because he also saw the pyshic and this officer believes Wallace not only killed the psychic but also his wife 15 years ago. As you can tell, the case is extremely complicated with a lot of plot twists and multiple suspects. Of course the CSI Team solves the crime in about 30 minutes, counting 10 to arrest the murderer and 20 minutes for commercials.
Well, as we come to the conclusion of our real life case of the murder of Jesus Christ, we too have multiple suspects and a number of complexities. Murder? Oh yes, the Roman crucifixion is just the tool to culminate a complex conspiracy that kills an innocent man. But this crime not only has multiple suspects, it ends with some wild twists. Those that killed Jesus Christ were convinced that His death had sealed their scheme. The plot, hatched by the Religious leaders, helped by Judas, promoted by Caiaphas and finally agreed to by Pilate, had been thought successfully completed when a stone was rolled over the entrance to the tomb that held the body of Jesus Christ. But on the third day after His burial the tomb is found empty! So, today, as we close this case not only do we find some surprises but we also discover the most significant event in all of history! Let’s dig in.
I. CLOSING THE CASE:
First, let’s see how those we believe to be guilty of this crime reacted to the death of the one they hated so badly. It’s very interesting to watch the demeanor of our suspects. Because the opposition to Jesus remained as strong after His death as it did before. The religious leaders were well acquainted with Jesus’ teaching. Ironically, they may have understood some of the things Jesus said better then Jesus’ own disciples. They knew that Jesus has said that He would rise the third day, they just refused to believe it!
Knowing what Jesus taught about his resurrection they go to Pilate and say in Matt. 27:63- "Sir, we remember that while that liar was still alive he said, ‘I will be raised to life three days later." They had it exactly right. Now, the chief priests and Pharisees don’t believe that Jesus will actually rise again, they think the disciples are going to steal the corpse and say that He rose. So, they placed, what they thought, were three safeguards against that happening. They placed a stone across the entrance of the tomb, they placed a seal across the stone and put a guard of soldiers to make triple sure that no one could steal the body. You know, God is so smart. I mean how ironic, the very things they do are the very things that help validate the resurrection! Now, as investigators of this crime we might very well see this continued animosity as just more evidence that these men certainly hated Jesus enough to make sure he not only was killed but that he stayed dead! In fact, I think we might be just about ready to obtain a warrant for their arrest as the main perpetrators of the murder of Jesus Christ. But then, before we can do that, just 3 days after Jesus’ death, comes a huge legal setback that makes it difficult to think of arresting anyone! We find out that Jesus’ body is gone. The Bible says the discovery happened like this: “The day after the Sabbath day was the first day of the week. At dawn on the first day, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary went to look at the tomb. 2Suddenly there was a violent earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, and rolled the stone away from the entrance. Then he sat on the stone. 3He was shining as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The soldiers guarding the tomb shook with fear because of the angel, and fell into a dead faint. 5The angel said to the women, ‘Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to the cross. 6He is not here. He has risen from the dead just as he said he would.’” (Mt. 28:1-6) Now, how are investigators supposed to make an arrest without a corpse? You see, any investigator or criminal lawyer will know the term “corpus delicti. It literally means “body of the offense” but in a homicide case it often refers to the body, the dead body. It’s not impossible, but it’s extremely difficult to make a case of murder without the corpse. And in this case it’s not just a missing body but there are people saying that they’ve seen Jesus alive.
Now, there is no doubt, in the Bible nor amongst 1st century Jewish historians like Josephus or Tacticus that Jesus did die on the cross. So this is not a matter of him “almost” dying or fainting instead of dying. Jesus was killed on the cross and buried in a tomb. Then that tomb was guarded. But now Jesus’ body is gone and it is impossible with all the safe guards that the corpse had been stolen. In fact, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, were faced with at least four questions about what transpired that Sunday morning. And we are confronted with them too.
(1) Who rolled away the stone? You know, the Jewish leaders were right about one thing. If Jesus’ disciples were going to fake a resurrection they would have to roll away the stone to get to the body. But think of what that would take. There would have to be enough people to overcome an armed Roman guard. A fight of that magnitude would certainly leave some of the guard hurt, probably dead in order to get to the stone. Yet, according to reports, all the guards was alive and healthy. Where was the battle? Where were the injuries?
(2) Why wasn’t a search commenced for the body? If the body was taken, it had to be taken somewhere. Why didn’t anyone search for it? Wouldn’t it be logical for the authorities to begin a large “corpse-hunt”?Surely they could scrap together some evidence of where the body was taken.
(3)Why would grave robbers leave the deceased’s grave clothes? The gospel of John tells us that the clothing that Jesus was wrapped in was not only left, but that the head wrapping was folded up neatly by itself separate from the body wrapping which was also laying there. Ever been burglarized? Burglars leave in a hurry! I’ve never known of a burglar to take the time to fold neatly all the things that he had disturbed.
(4) Why were the eye-witnesses so convinced? A little later when those that had seen Jesus began telling the world about it, they were so convinced that they were willing to die for it. It might be one thing for one person or even two "crazies" to die for a lie, but not hundreds. How could they be so convinced.. unless they actually saw Him.
But the problem of opposition to Jesus isn’t limited to the Jewish leaders of the 1st century. So many people today refuse to really come to grips with those questions. Josh McDowell, after 700 hours of study trying to disprove the resurrection said: "I have come to the conclusion that either the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the biggest, foulest hoax ever perpetrated- or- it is the single most important event in all of history and I must bow down before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I chose to do the later."
But before we talk about what Jesus’ resurrection means I want us to go back to why he died. This disappearing body has thrown a real kink in our investigation. Over the last 5 weeks we have talked about the different people who wanted him dead but we really have spent little time in looking at why he said he would die. It’s important to pay attention to the fact that the victim said that his death by crucifixion was going to happen and that there was a reason for it.
Jesus himself and others that knew him well said that his purpose for living was to sacrifice himself for others. For example, his own cousin, John the Baptist in Jn. 1:29 described Jesus this way. “John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘There is the Lamb of God, who will be sacrificed to take away the sin of the world!’”Obviously, there is a connection between sin and Jesus’ death. Hebrews makes it even clearer: “People die once, and after that they are judged. 28Likewise, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of humanity...”(Hb 9:27-28) So, sin killed Jesus. But who’s sin? The religious leaders? Judas? Pilate? No, Hebrews scriptures says the sin of all humanity. Look at Isaiah 53:5-6: “But it was our sins that ripped and tore and crushed him -our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. 6We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him...”(MSG) I want you to look at that passage carefully because here is the explanation to our entire investigation. Oh, don’t you see? The answer to our whole investigation, of who killed Jesus is in these three words: We killed Jesus. Rom 4:25 says: “Jesus died for our sins.”(SEB)
Knofel Staton tells of having a dream one night. He saw the soldier driving the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet and he rushed to stop him. When he got to the soldier he grabbed his arm and turned him around only to be staring into his own face! That’s it. We killed Jesus. Each of you were given a nail when you came in this morning. I’m going to ask that you take that nail now and hold it for the rest of the message. That nail is symbolic of your sin. The sin that nailed Jesus to the cross.
II. CROSSING THE CHASM:
You see, our sin created a chasm. The Bible teaches us that our sin, our lack of perfection, separated us from a perfect God. God cannot abide by sin nor be around it. So, that means he can’t be around us! So, Jesus becomes our bridge builder! His body, his life, becomes a bridge for us that overcomes all opponents, all accusations and all chasms! Let me mention just three chasms that Jesus bridges.
(1) Is the chasm of separation or sin. From the beginning of time God said that if we sin, and we all have, that the punishment would be death. Not just physical death, separation from the body, but spiritual death, separation from Him. So, because of our sin, a chasm was created that separated us from God. In the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, the first couple, before sin walked with God, after sin, they are driven from God. And when we sin we are separated from God too. And no matter how hard we try we can never bridge the sin chasm by ourselves, no amount of effort could erase our sin because once you sin you can never be perfect again. But Jesus, being perfect, could bridge that separation!
And that’s what happened. Earlier I read Rom. 4:25 but not all of it. I read: “Jesus died for our sins.”But there’s more. It says, “Through his death and resurrection we have been made right with God.” You see, Jesus becomes our bridge, he took our sin. When did this happen? It happened while he was on the cross. Mt. 27:46 tells us: “About three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ which means, “My God, my God, why have you rejected (turned away) from me?”(NCV) You see, that’s the moment he paid the penalty for our sin. When all our sin was piled on Him God had to turn away from his son. He cannot have a relationship with a sinner. No wonder Jesus cried out.. For the very first time Jesus and His Father were separated. Not by Jesus’ sin but by taking on ours! And Jesus offers each one of us a chance to cross His bridge and be right with God.
Now, you may be wondering. If Jesus died in my place, since he is the bridge over this chasm of sin, how can I cross this bridge? How can I take advantage of what Jesus has done for me? It’s simple: by placing your trust in Him. All you have to do is put your full weight on this bridge. In a few moments we’re going to give you a chance to walk across this bridge. If you have never told Jesus you will trust him to make you right with God, if you’ve never told Him you wanted him as your savior and your Lord, the director of your life you can do that today. You can drop your nail, your sin, at the foot of the bridge and cross over from death, separation from God to life. That’s one of the great parts of the Easter message: Jesus, through his death on the cross, provides a bridge that anyone can walk over!
But Jesus also, bridges the chasm of broken relationships. Jesus not only died for us to be right with God but His desire is that we be right with each other. You see, here’s the thing about crossing this bridge. When you cross this bridge Jesus is going to give you the nature of a bridge builder. Before you cross the bridge, when you’re out on your own and not living close to God, chasms--relational chasms--tend not to bother you very much. You have an argument with someone at work, and if it results in a slammed door or unresolved issues, as long as you avoid the person, what is it to you? Some people can live with all kinds of distance & chasms in their relationships. It doesn’t faze them much. But when you cross that bridge, when you come to God through what Jesus did for you, one thing that’s going to happen is that you’re going to develop a distinct distaste for the relational chasms in your life. When you have relational problems with someone else, it’s going to bother you. When there’s hurt feelings or distrust or misunderstandings, it’s going to cause you to feel incomplete.
And God is going to work in your spirit to say, “Reach out a hand. You be the first one to call. As a bridge was extended to you, you extend a bridge to someone that you have a chasm with.”Some of you have these chasms in your family. For some of you, Easter Sunday dinner is going to be a difficult experience because of these large chasms. Monday morning it’s going to be tough because there are chasms at work. And those chasms are very real. If I ask those to raise their hands that have had breakdowns in marriages, or breakdowns between parents and children or between extended family members, or significant strains in work relationships, almost every hand in this place would go up. In a sin-infested world, it happens.
If you look at it from a human perspective, if you look at just in your own power you’ll say, “No way.” There’s no way those two co-workers are going to be reconciled. No way the animosity in that marriage is going to be spanned. No human way. I would probably agree. But here’s another piece of wonderful news about Easter: The Bible says that the same power that brought Jesus back to life, the divine power, is available to rank-and-file people like you and me for purposes of internal change in us and to help us build bridges with each other. 2 Peter 1:3- “God’s divine power had given us everything we need to live rightly with Him and with each other.”(SEB) And we need his help. To extend a hand when someone has wronged you, to make the phone call, to write the note, to arrange the meeting, to say, “Can we talk about this?” That takes tremendous courage, courage beyond what most of us have on our own. If Jesus could hang on the cross and look at Caiaphas and the other religious leaders and say, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”(Lk. 23:34 GW) Then, with his help we can bridge our broken relationships too. And you can come walk across this bridge today and maybe that nail you hold needs to be the bitterness and resentment you hold toward another. Why not throw that nail at the foot of the bridge, walk across the bridge of reconciliation and then contact that person and say, “Let’s try and bridge this problem and see if we can come together on this.”
But the greatest chasm that is bridged by the resurrection of Jesus is the bridge over the chasm of death. This a subject matter that we don’t talk about very much. It’s something that can cause us to be uneasy. And yet the honest truth is we all die. In fact the death rate has always been around 100%. Yet, we all have this low grade denial going on about death: It might happen to someone else; not to me.
Part of what drives this denial, for many of us anyway, is that we’re not exactly sure what is going to happen on the other side, so we don’t want to think about it. Some of us are not exactly sure if we’re prepared to meet God, so we just keep shoving it under the carpet. Now, the Bible comes right out and says this is a reality you have to deal with. Heb. 9:27 told us: “People die once and then they are judged.” Death is a huge chasm. But Jesus bridged that too. It is his sacrifice that is the bridge. Many stories allude to the power of sacrifice, one of the most recent is the Chronicles of Narnia, where the Lion Aslan, won’t stay dead!
{Video Clip: Chronicles of Narnia- Start: Chp.20:1:52:34 - End: 1:54:34 - 2:00}
Did you hear Aslan?”Speaking of his resurrection he said, “...even death, itself, will turn backward.” But Jesus didn’t just turn death back, he eradicated it completely! And as Aslan was killed in Edmund’s stead Jesus was killed in ours. Now, because of Him we don’t have to fear death! Jesus himself promises it. He said in John 11: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; and those that place their trust in me will never die.” Never die. God says, “I don’t want any of my people to live in constant fear of death. So I’m going to make it possible for you to be rock solid sure that you have eternal life. My Son will be the bridge to forever.”
And that’s the greatest news about Easter, that when Jesus resurrected from the grave on Easter Sunday, he built a bridge into the next life that all of his followers could walk over. It’s a bridge into eternity, a bridge into heaven. So much so, that we don’t have to dread death, we can look forward to it with a sense of anticipation.
Some of you have physical infirmities. Some of you have emotional wounds, psychological scars that you’ve carried with you. And the promise for you, stated in Scripture, is that because of the power of the resurrection of Jesus and the bridge that he built into the next life, you’ll be transported across that chasm when you die. Maybe that nail for you is fear of death. Maybe it’s just a nail that symbolizes your doubt. Why not throw it down and walk across the bridge.. acknowledging that Jesus isthe bridge to everlasting life.
We’ve all got nails.. sin, broken relationships, death, doubt.. Why not throw them at the foot of the bridge and walk across, thanking Him for covering all chasms. Remembering that he said, “I am the resurrection and the life... Do you believe this?”
{All Scripture taken from Holy Bible, Today’s English Version unless otherwise noted}
