Today is without doubt the most important day in the Christian Calendar. The Gospel is only Good News if the Resurrection is true. And it is, beyond reasonable doubt !
The Bible says;
“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
Deuteronomy 19:15
Note that testimony is God’s way of establishing the facts, Science is man’s way.
Let’s read from the Gospel of
Mark 16
Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.
The women purchased the spices when the Sabbath had finished on Saturday evening. Remember, the Jewish Sabbath is from Friday nightfall to Saturday nightfall. This is based on the scripture which puts the evening ahead of the morning in the very first day;
Genesis 1:3-5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
But why were the women purchasing spices on Saturday evening when Nicodemus had already taken care of everything on Friday evening?
John 19:39-42
Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Does anyone really need to ask why the women would have wanted to go and anoint his body separately even though it had already been done. The women had not had time to grieve properly, the matter of Jesus burial had not yet been dealt with as far as they were concerned.
As a side note, some sceptics have suggested that these women went to the wrong tomb by mistake and that’s why they found it empty but it is highly unlikely they would have been confused over where Jesus was buried as the tomb was in a garden close to the crucifixion site and guarded by Roman soldiers.
So….
Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”
Presumably the women would have asked for some men to come and help them that morning but the men would have been thinking what’s the point, the stone is in place and the tomb is under Roman guard. Anyone who tries to move the stone will be arrested! The real reason was that the men were too scared to come out of hiding for fear of suffering the same fate as Jesus. So the women went on their own perhaps thinking the guards would be sympathetic to temporarily removing the stone which is reckoned to have been one or two tons (similar to tonnes).
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”
The Gospel has to be proclaimed strongly to shake people up. There is no time for moping around. He is Risen ! It was time to depart hostile Jerusalem. Home in Galilee is about 150km away so a good number of days walk.
So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
It doesn’t say they didn’t believe, it just said they were were afraid. How many believers are afraid to tell anyone about Jesus for fear they don’t know enough about science or even Bible theology? Fear can stop many of us speaking up about our experiences because we’re afraid we’ll say something wrong. Just tell what you know happened to you, this is your testimony ! Interestingly the account in Luke provides an extra piece of information.
Luke 24:10-11
Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
We don’t have to have all the answers but our testimony is powerful to proclaim the Gospel. It helps create a fuller picture of the Truth. J Warner Wallace, the former atheist and detective who wrote Cold Case Christianity wrote how separating witnesses at a crime scene is crucial because each witness will have a different piece of information that helps paint the whole picture, sometimes even if it’s wrong ! If the witnesses stay together, the stories tend to get collaborated and little pieces of information that could be important get withheld. He said that the different accounts in each of the Gospels was one of the reasons he believed they were genuine eye witnesses. So don’t be afraid to tell your story !
Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.
If you had died and come back to life, who would YOU go and see first ? Of all the people, Jesus picked Mary. There is a bit of speculation why that would be but perhaps it was simply that Mary was the only one there in the garden. Mary had been at the Cross when Jesus died. Mary was at the tomb that Sunday morning and you can bet she was feeling empty, preferred staying in bed and not getting up on such a sad day of her life. Sometimes all you have to do to experience Jesus’ presence is just make sure you turn up! There’s a lot of people who don’t make an effort to come go to Church on Sundays especially when they’re feeling sad. Even when it’s hard, just turn up !
She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
Who are they who did not believe. Not the women !
From the account in Luke, we know that Jesus appeared first to Mary who believed, then Mary went and found the other women who had been witnesses at the tomb and together they all realised the truth and rushed to tell the disciples that Jesus is alive !!!
It was the men. Strike One, the men did not believe. They should have.
Remember Deuteronomy 19:15 says
“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
Strike Two. If we read Luke 24:13-36, it tells us these 2 were Jesus followers who were on the road to Emmaus but even they didn’t believe straight away.
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.
Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
Simon? Looks like the men are trying to take the credit…
Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
So when Jesus broke the bread, they recognised him. We will have Communion after the sermon this week in case someone here needs to recognise Jesus for the first time.
Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Yes it was right for Jesus to rebuke them because they had heard the testimony of 2 witnesses and that is enough to establish a fact as the Lord has already instructed. Yes your testimony is powerful. If people don’t believe you it is because their heart is hard. But the Lord is gracious. There was Thomas, the most famous doubter of all. Thomas was just like a modern man. He relied only on scientific facts instead of the testimony of trustworthy men and women, he had a block to faith. John tells us;
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:26-31
It’s a funny thing that someone presents you their testimony and you don’t believe it. Perhaps that’s because living in this world we get so used to lies, betrayal and disappointment. So if anyone is still doubting like Thomas, let’s again consider the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
The evidence for the resurrection is a mixture of testimony and fact;
1. TESTIMONY: Here in the gospels we have the eye witness accounts of 4 followers of Christ which tell us that 11 disciples, several women and family members and more than 500 other witnesses actually saw Jesus Christ alive and well after he had been crucified, died and been buried. The bible says that you only need 2 witnesses to establish a fact, but here we have several hundred.
2. FACT: The empty tomb. No one at that time could deny that Jesus’ body was missing.
3. FACT: The disciples never backed down from their claim and most died for that. They had no choice – they had seen and touched him.
There are some weak modern theories to rebut the story of the resurrection - we won’t cover those today.
- Swoon Theory
- Hallucination Theory
- Impersonation Theory
- Spiritual Resurrection Theory
- Wrong Tomb Theory
We’ll focus only the one the Jewish Leaders could offer at the time. That the disciples had stolen the body.
Actually, they knew it wasn’t true but they wanted to try and squash the story there and then. This is found in Matthew 28:12-15
“When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Apart from what is written in Matthew about the bribes, what else shows the claim that the disciples stole the body was a lie?
>The evidence of the linen cloth and swath being left behind neatly folded. People hurrying to steal a body wouldn’t bother to undress it and leave the clothes folded neatly behind. That clearly points to Jesus himself.
>The disciples were not willing or able to take on a Roman guard of well disciplined battle ready soldiers;
i. Their hopes and dreams of Jesus being the Messiah had been crushed
ii. They were grief stricken over the loss of their friend
iii. They had all run away less than 2 days before and were hiding in the upper room. Only the women were brave enough to venture out first thing on Sunday morning.
iv. The only fighting man among them was Simon the Zealot
>There was no reason to move him. Jesus had been buried honourably in the best tomb paid for by a rich man
>It didn’t do them any favours to tell people that Jesus was alive – they were persecuted to their graves because of it. If they had stolen the body, then nearly all of them died for a lie.
All of which we know leaves us with the only true explanation, that Jesus really did rise from the dead. This is what the gospel writers wanted us to know about God. That in his kindness, all he wants from us so we can be saved is our belief. Believing in the Resurrection is the key to our salvation.
As Romans 10:9 says
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
So with that in mind and now as true believers;
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
We are his witnesses, it is our job to speak up our testimony and preach the gospel (and to make disciples out of those who believe). The sober truth is that those who don’t believe will be condemned. We can’t do anything about those who reject Christ. The Lord will ultimately deal with those who don’t believe.
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
No comments :
Post a Comment