IN SEARCH OF JESUS
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Co. 15:3-4).
That is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus, in the words of the Apostle Paul. It is said that this is an early creed of the Church encapsulating the core beliefs of these first believers. There is no creed without the resurrection; without the resurrection there is no good news.
Gerald O’Collins said this, “In a profound sense, Christianity without the resurrection is not simply Christianity without its final chapter. It is not Christianity at all.” That Jesus was raised from the dead is the ultimate validation of our faith. It is the proof of his triumph over sin and death. It is the basis of our hope that we too will one day be raised from death. It is the reason we are here to worship him today. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is undeniably the best news we have ever heard.
But let me ask you this: Is anyone seeking Jesus today?
Such good news should prompt us to know more about Jesus. Yet to be honest, I think we Christians have grown lazy in our search for Jesus. We have him figured out already. There is nothing more to know about Jesus that we haven’t heard in hundreds and thousands of SS lessons, Bible studies and sermons. I will grant that. There is nothing more I can tell this morning than the gospel you have already heard. There is nothing more to do than act on what we have heard. And that is where we are lazy.
News that does not prompt you to act is just entertainment. News that is truly good will inspire you to find out more about it and talk about it to everyone you meet. Good news gets you excited and sends you running down the street like a crazed lunatic.
This morning you will sit and endure one more sermon about the good news you already know so well. We are going to look for Jesus again. We need to find him because the tomb is empty and because whether we admit it or not we have to keep seeking him.
Let’s start by looking for Jesus in the usual places…
1. Looking for Jesus in the usual places
We read in our passage this morning about the shock and dismay that Mary Magdalene, Peter and John experienced at the empty tomb. You may have noticed that the sense of sight plays prominently in this narrative: Mary “…saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance”; Peter “…saw the strips of linen lying there”; and John “…saw and believed.” What they saw stirred a reaction in each one of them.
What do you see?
To see for ourselves we need to briefly put on the glasses of these three witnesses and decide for ourselves what we see.
Mary saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance of the tomb. The good news we apply to this Easter Sunday morning, Mary thought of as terror. Seeing that the stone had been removed from the tomb she deduced that robbers came and stole the body. “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.” Faced with an empty tomb we would be challenged with a similar question: Where did the body go? Today, we can take a tour to Israel and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the site of the supposed tomb of Jesus. What we would find is a huge church filled with gold plated icons and relics, and you would look at the tomb and say to yourself “This is not at all what I imagined” because it has been ruined by religion and centuries of misdirected homage. We stare at an empty tomb and we do not find Jesus there. He is not there but neither can we dredge up sentiment to place us in Mary’s shoes to feel what she felt. Mary was afraid and fear is not our experience of the resurrection.
Peter saw that the tomb was empty and plunged into its dark interior to find some answers. What he saw inside were strips of linen, the cloth bindings wrapped around Jesus’ body and stuffed with burial oils and fragrances. But not a body to be found. What Peter experienced was perplexity and confusion. Luke tells us that Peter “…went away, wondering to himself what had happened.” He had no clue as to the whereabouts of Jesus’ body, just skepticism.
An empty tomb, the possibility of resurrection, leaves a lot of people with skeptical questions. People today are searching for a Jesus that makes sense apart from these usual places. Dan Brown has written The Da Vinci Code, a fictional novel that suggests that the resurrection was a conspiracy concocted by the Catholic Church for ulterior motives; that Jesus was not crucified and buried according to tradition, but married and sired offspring who live today. Is this more plausible than that God could raise his dead son? For centuries humankind has tried to demythologize Jesus and make him real, simply because resurrection makes no sense. Peter couldn’t grasp this either, at first.
Now John is our hero. He looked into the tomb, went inside eventually, and whatever caught his eye inspired belief. What did he believe? Did he believe that Mary was right that someone stole the body? Did he believe Mary was nuts? The way John writes his gospel we must conclude that the use of the word “believed” meant that he believed that Jesus was somehow alive.
But here is the statement that marks all three of these witnesses: They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Mary did not understand this. Peter did not grasp it. Even John with his belief, whatever that meant, did not understand that Jesus had to rise again.
The empty tomb is extremely important. Jesus was dead. This is a historical fact, as was the fact that he was buried. It stands as a symbol for all times that no one anywhere at anytime will ever find the body of Jesus. He is risen from the dead and the tomb is empty. But for us the emptiness of a tomb is not the key here. John points out that they did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.
For you and me the usual places may help us to find Jesus. Or we may find ourselves inventing a Jesus like Dan Brown because without Scripture you can invent any kind of Jesus you want.
So what does Scripture say about Jesus rising from the dead? By Scripture John means the OT. And what I found there was one obscure verse in Isaiah which I think refers to the resurrection of Jesus: “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied…” (53:11). But I was not satisfied and wondered where else the disciples would have looked for proof of the resurrection.
Then I found what I was looking for in the sermon of the skeptic. Peter on the Day of Pentecost, filled with the Holy Spirit who now showed him the truth of Scripture, preached with boldness saying, “…God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him,” and then he quoted David’s Psalm 16:8-11, “I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”
It is the proof of Scripture which makes the empty tomb comprehensible. Apart from the prophecy of David and the like, it is impossible to make sense of the resurrection. When you look in your Bible, what do you see? It is not the empty tomb alone that helps you find Jesus; it is not the usual places that help you find Jesus; it is God’s Word that leads you to Jesus. And this we cannot be lazy about. It is the most important news you have ever heard.
2. Looking for Jesus the hard way
We can look for Jesus in the usual places on this Easter morning and find our familiar symbols – the tomb, the surprised disciples. Or we can look for Jesus the hard way. Finding him is not so hard; the hard part is what you do with him once you find him.
Jesus once told his disciples: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). These are harder words to live by than for me to say, obviously. If the disciples understood these words, and they didn’t, they would have realized that to do this meant sacrifice.
The apostle Paul was one person who, having met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus, understood what Jesus was asking. To follow Jesus means sacrifice… loss… surrender…humility…and brokenness. Paul knew what this meant for him, and he had a lot to lose. He had status, privilege, education, and a reputation.
Paul told the Philippians, “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Phil. 3:4-5). Man, Paul had every credential. He was a product of the law; he kept the law; he was zealous for the law. Paul was the prototypical Jew that any Jewish mother would be proud of.
I often have joked that like Paul, I am a Mennonite of Mennonites. I can trace my lineage back 7 generations; 5 or 6 of those generations have been EMC; educated at Steinbach Bible College, I was zealous for nonresistance.
But what does Paul say about his lineage, his accomplishments, his status and his personal confidence?
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (Phil. 3:7-9).
Paul says that his status, achievements and confidence are worth nothing. NOTHING! In the light of Christ my heritage does me no good. My accomplishments are trash compared to knowing Christ.
I recently wrote a paper for my seminary class on water baptism. It was a lot of hard work and I read a ton of books to gain a perspective. I did my best to write a perfect paper according to Turabian’s law of footnotes. For my efforts I received the highest grade I have ever achieved for an essay – 98.1 %. I am very proud of my accomplishment…but it’s worth nothing. (throw on floor).
In my wallet is represented years of hard work and financial gain. My debit card represents my thrifty ability to save money. My Gold Preferred Visa Card tells you I have earned a reputation with the bank…but it’s worth nothing. (throw on the floor).
My suit jacket represents my pastoral authority. These are my priestly garments as it were. (Don Penner said one time that people who wear suits are pretentious anyways. Yes he does use big words now and then). At times I have to remind myself of the immense responsibility it is to lead 300 plus people through a spiritual wilderness. A shy, ordinary kid that no one paid much attention to is now a leader…but it’s worth nothing. (throw on the floor).
These shoes represent a lot of experience in ministry – 16 years as a minister – 19 as a student of the Bible. These feet have been to South America, braced me as I stood speaking to large audiences, and have carried me to wonderful places I have longed to see and experience…but it’s worth nothing. (throw on floor).
It’s all worth nothing if it stands in the way of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. All my pride, all my achievements, all my status is worth nothing…Paul’s says it’s manure…compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have LOST all things. I consider them trash that I may gain Christ…because you have to lose to gain Christ. Just imagine the pile we could make on the floor if you all came up and dumped whatever is standing in your way of knowing Jesus better right now. And if you did that, if you lost all for Jesus, you would gain a righteousness that is by faith not by anything you have done, or could do.
What stands in your way of knowing Jesus? Your schedule? Your calendar? Your work? Your family? Your prestige? Your pride? This is why it’s so hard to look for Jesus. It costs you everything. And what’s it worth to gain Christ?
Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:10-11).
To know Christ is the deepest possible union. It is not knowledge per se, or some kind of head knowledge, or intellectual insight. Biblically speaking, to know Christ is to enter into the deepest personal intimacy and union. It’s like marriage in the sense of the personal nature of knowing someone.
To know Christ is to be enamored with him, to be so into him as to be like him. And to be like him is to share in his suffering, but that’s okay because you will know that it is worth it. If you die for him, Paul believed with all his heart that to die was gain, then die for him.
Why? To know the power of his resurrection and to attain it, to experience it. Paul says “somehow” but all he means is that he does not know how he will die…what he does know is that to lose all for Christ is to gain Christ and his resurrection.
I could ask you now, what do you have to lose? You may have a lot to lose, so that is the wrong question. The question is really, what should you lose for his sake?
In our search for Jesus… even Christians should be seeking him…in our search for Jesus, we can look in the familiar, usual places this Easter morning. But I challenge you to go beyond the empty tomb and look for Jesus the hard way. I call you to true discipleship, and it is not easy but it is good. We have good news – our sins are forgiven – Jesus is raised from the dead ………Now what will you do with this good news?
Who is this Jesus? He is risen from the dead and he’s my Lord!
AMEN
