Rock N Roll Ressurection

It was rolled away for the women, so they could see that the tomb was empty.

WHAT WS GODS PURPOSE IN ROLLING THE ROCK

God wanted everyone to understand clearly the impact of the resurrection.

Leave the tomb sealed and there would be now hope but roll away the rock, show and empty tomb, a missing body and some stunned guards, and now everyone had to have a glimmer of hope that he had been resurrected.

All it took to evidence the possibility of a new resurrected life of Christ was a stone to be rolled out the way.

TWO MARYS LIVES CHANGED – JOY

POSSIBILITY OF CHRIST BEING ALIVE

For the two Mary’s the fact that the rock had rolled, meant that their lives from that moment on changed forever.

They never did understand how the rock had rolled away; all they knew now was a joy.

A joy because their rock of despair had been rolled away and there was a chance they would see Jesus again.

What started out as a terrible day had suddenly been changed into a day filled with inexpressible joy.

The contrast between the journey to and from the tomb is overwhelming.... the steps the two Mary’s would now take would be full of hope, something they didn’t have when she had gotten up that morning.

Matthew 28:8 tells us that they were filled with joy and hope.

For them they must have deep down hoped that the THE ROCK ROLLING MEANT THAT THEIR CHRIST WAS ALIVE.

PETER NEEDED SOME HOPE TOO

There was someone else though who needed a similar dose of hope.

Someone else who must have hated that rock almost as much as Mary, That was a tired, depressed, angry fisherman - Peter.

WHAT THE ROCK MEANT TO PETER

That rock stood outside that tomb as a testimony to the fact that Peter had failed. In his mind it was a monument to his betrayal of Christ.

It must have shouted at him of his inadequacies and his failure. In his mind he probably even had blamed himself for Christ’s death.

PETER POSSIBLE NEW LIFE

And then he heard the news. The news made possible by a rock being rolled away.

If that rock had never moved, Peter would have never had a chance of a new lease on life.

He would have carried that heartache and “what could have beens” for the rest of his life.

The other person to have betrayed the Christ was so broken he took his own life. You could imagine the depression of Peter.

But when that rock rolled, Peter was in with a chance.

WHAT THE ROLLED ROCK MEANT FOR PETER

That rolled rock now meant that maybe just maybe he too would see the Christ again.

For Peter, that rolled rock meant that maybe he could be forgiven. Maybe after all bhe had done Christ would still want to be in his life again.

That rolled away stone and empty tomb gave these two people hope.

RESULTED IN HOPE – HOPE NOT EVERYTHING

Hope is what our belief is all about. God made that hope possible by rolling away that stone.

But hope is not necessarily the objective.

The open and empty tomb gave them hope. But did it truly give them a new life? Did it give them joy and completeness?

If you were critical, you could say that the rolled stone simply gave them a false expectation. More was required for the hope to turn to joy.