While we were in France last year we visited a few churches just to look at the very beautiful art and in one of them I found the Stations of the Cross that caught my attention. You’ve probably heard of the Stations of the Cross which originated from early Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem, where believers would walk the path that Jesus took to His crucifixion.
There are 14 pictures in the story so I followed the pictures around the Church, considering each station which I’ve noted on the right hand side of the picture. 5 of those stations are asterisked because they are not in the Bible. It’s as if someone felt they needed to add to the story to give it more dramatic effect, a bit like the TV series The Chosen.
- Jesus is condemned to death
- Jesus carries his cross
- * Jesus falls the first time
- * Jesus meets his mother
- Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross
- * Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
- * Jesus falls the second time
- Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
- * Jesus falls the third time
- Jesus is stripped of his garments
- Jesus is nailed to the cross
- Jesus dies on the cross
- Jesus is taken down from the cross
- Jesus is laid in the tomb
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
It’s like they read as far as Luke Chapter 23 and didn’t make it to Chapter 24.
Well we’re going to read Chapter 24 of Luke’s Gospel today - his account of the Resurrection. This is the biggest news in all of history. Jesus is alive. History has been split BC and AD.
Luke 24:1-7
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”
Luke says two men but he obviously means angels because they are dressed in shining garments. The two angels tell the women « Why do you seek the living among the dead ? ».
By the way, I have a personal experience of those words from a visit to Paris in 2018 but that is a whole other story !
There are at least 3 big facts proving the Resurrection;
1. The first big fact proving the Resurrection is the Empty Tomb - the enemies of Jesus could not produce his body. They knew where they laid him. They sealed his body in a tomb with a very heavy stone rolled down into place. They had placed a seal on the tomb and put an armed guard in place. Yet the stone was rolled away and the body was missing.
They bribed the soldiers to say the disciples had stolen the body, but that is impossible because of the psychological state of the disciples at the time. In shock, grieving, afraid and in hiding.
The other big facts are;
2. The Number of Witnesses as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. All remaining 11 disciples 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.
3. The Disciples were Martyred The disciples never backed down from their claim and most died for that. They had no choice – they had seen and touched him.
And of course, amongst those witnesses were the first to witness his resurrection, the women. When they heard the angels speak
Luke 24:8-12
And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
The women discovered the truth first. This is another big fact proving the truth of the Resurrection. No one at that time would have written that the women had seen the Lord if they wanted people to believe their story. That would have made the story barely credible. The whole society was patriarchal. All the leaders in Israel were men.
Luke says that Peter ran to the tomb as if to check that the women weren’t delusional. In his account Luke doesn’t mention John running on ahead and getting there first because he was faster than Peter, that’s only in John’s Gospel. John wanted us to know that. We all tend to build ourselves up in our own memories don’t we?
Luke 24:13-18
Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
It is hard to have faith when bad things happen. And the truth is, without the hope of the Resurrection, the loss suffered when someone dies is immense. Especially when our own hopes and dreams are connected to the loved one lost. Without faith, how does anyone cope with that?
Luke 24:19-24
And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain 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.”
To these 2 disciples, the testimony of the women was adding to their pain. They thought the women were hysterical and delusional. They had such high hopes for Jesus. He was the Messiah of Israel, the fulfilment of ancient prophecies. They had been expecting a glorious future. Now their hopes were crushed.
Luke 24:25-27
Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Wouldn’t you have liked to be in on that conversation as Jesus explained the mystery and how all things written in the Scripture were in fact about himself. We ourselves have a lot of unanswered questions don’t we. There will come a day when Jesus explains all of those things to us and I suppose it will be very obvious then that we should never have doubted him.
Luke 24:28-35
Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
That was the 2nd Communion. Just like the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Communion we partake in every week at PCC is our opportunity to remember him, to recognise him at work in our lives, to renew our faith.
By the way, it seems as though a resurrected body is capable of some pretty amazing things, that’s exciting!
And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
It says they went back to Jerusalem that very hour. It was by then evening, so the 2 of them went back to Jerusalem in the dark, unafraid of being attacked because at this point, all fear was gone, instead they were full of excitement and joy. That’s what happens the moment you first believe, all fear goes and peace comes in.
They arrive back at the upper room excited and tell the 11 main disciples that they’d seen Jesus alive, but the 11 were unbelieving and afraid. That’s what happens when you don’t believe. You have fear.
Luke 24:36-43
Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.
Emotions were all over the place. Their brains were having a hard time adjusting to Jesus being there with them. We tend to think of the afterlife as type of ghostly existence. So Jesus kindly did something to bring them into reality. He showed them the holes in his hands and feet and he ate some food in front them. Jesus was not a ghost, it was really him standing in front of them. This is our hope for our resurrection as well. We’re not going to be ghosts, we’re going to have real bodies.
Luke 24:44-48
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.
Repentance is part of the Gospel and must be preached with the message. Remission of sins means complete forgiveness, cancellation, and sending away of sins through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. When someone has cancer and they go into remission, the symptoms of the cancer disappear. In the same way, the symptoms of our sins disappear when we repent and believe in Jesus. Yes we will die one day, but we are in physical remission until then and actually we do not experience the second death, so we are actually healed of our real affliction, the one we inherited from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
But there is something more that God has promised for us in this life. Luke concludes his Gospel and gives us a sneak preview of his next book.
Luke 24:49-53
Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.
Don’t let your life finish the story of Jesus at the tomb like in the Stations of the Cross. There is a new life to begin, a second chance to live the life you were meant to live by being born again by the transformation given by the Holy Spirit.
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