He is Risen Indeed!
Hallelujah!
Click for Audio Version of This Sermon
Isaiah 65:17-25; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18 (Audio Gospel Reading)
As the Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians twenty years after that glorious morning:
If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when He abolishes all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death.
It began for us in Eden. When Adam disobeyed God, death became the common property of the human race. People began to die. First, Abel died at the hand of his brother Cain. Then more and more people died, each in his or her own time. We died of disease. We died from accidents. We died from murder. We even died simply because our bodies wore out. And throughout all history, the Bible traditions of the Jewish rabbis say that only two or three men did not die. Enoch, in Genesis 5 – Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. And Elijah, in 2 Kings 2:11 Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. And in the last chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses dies, but no one ever found his grave – and yet he appeared with Elijah to Jesus at the mountain of Transfiguration. Everyone else died.
And then, there was Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus had taught a different view of religion. He had appeared on the scene about three years earlier, a cousin of John the Baptist. His teaching was different:
As the Apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians twenty years after that glorious morning:
If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when He abolishes all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death.
It began for us in Eden. When Adam disobeyed God, death became the common property of the human race. People began to die. First, Abel died at the hand of his brother Cain. Then more and more people died, each in his or her own time. We died of disease. We died from accidents. We died from murder. We even died simply because our bodies wore out. And throughout all history, the Bible traditions of the Jewish rabbis say that only two or three men did not die. Enoch, in Genesis 5 – Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. And Elijah, in 2 Kings 2:11 Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. And in the last chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses dies, but no one ever found his grave – and yet he appeared with Elijah to Jesus at the mountain of Transfiguration. Everyone else died.
And then, there was Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus had taught a different view of religion. He had appeared on the scene about three years earlier, a cousin of John the Baptist. His teaching was different:
- Jesus had taught that poor people had value - unlike the common view of that day (and this day) that our wealth determines are value.
- Jesus taught that quiet strong people would inherit the earth - unlike the common view of that day (and this day) that loud people would take over.
- Jesus taught that peacemaking was a virtue - unlike the common view of that day (and this day) that standing strong and fighting was a virtue.
- And Jesus taught that forgiveness should be given to all – by people to other people – unlike the common view that revenge is sweet and something wonderful.
- and most importantly, Jesus taught that God would forgive all things to the man or woman who turned from their old ways and sought to follow a path to God, to follow the ways that Jesus taught and walked.
Unlike other teachers, Jesus ate and socialized most with the lowliest of men and women instead of the high and mighty. Jesus apparently didn’t care what you had done in your past – He was concerned that you change your ways and follow His example.
He taught that all people could be forgiven of all things by God the Father, if they would simply recognize that God’s ways were better than what had got them into their troubles in the first place. After all, if you are digging yourself into a hole, the most important place to begin is to stop digging and look around for another way to get out the hole. Jesus' teachings are the way out of the hole. And so Jesus developed a strong following.
Jesus, who was arrested, tried, beaten, and executed for the crime of claiming to be God, was put to death by the authorities on the afternoon before the Passover, most likely in the spring of the year 33. His claims to be God were not in dispute – He had repeatedly claimed and shown god-like abilities and privileges, such as the right to forgive sins against God - who other than God can forgive sins against God? - the ability to heal people from all sorts of diseases - who has this power? - to chase demons out of people, even to raise people from death, including Lazarus, who had been dead in the tomb for four days.
Jesus, who was arrested, tried, beaten, and executed for the crime of claiming to be God, was put to death by the authorities on the afternoon before the Passover, most likely in the spring of the year 33. His claims to be God were not in dispute – He had repeatedly claimed and shown god-like abilities and privileges, such as the right to forgive sins against God - who other than God can forgive sins against God? - the ability to heal people from all sorts of diseases - who has this power? - to chase demons out of people, even to raise people from death, including Lazarus, who had been dead in the tomb for four days.
Jesus had even used the holy name to refer to Himself – "I AM", as in "I Am that I Am", the holy name of God that God gave to Moses. And whenever He did this, the people around Him understood He was claiming to be God and began to stone Him or throw Him off a cliff, or some other such immediate, direct punishment for blasphemy. But He had always slipped away from them. He said once He had lived at the time of Abraham, over 1600 years earlier - who can live so long? He even said once, very plainly: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30).
And so there was no doubt about His claim to be God walking upon the earth. The only question was whether the claim was true...
And since everyone knew this was clearly a claim that was the claim of a madman or a liar or a dangerous revolutionary, Jesus was arrested, tried, beaten, and executed on the cross for the crime of claiming to be God on that Thursday night and Friday. And He died around 3 pm that Friday afternoon – the Roman guards stabbing Him in the side to make sure He was dead and had not merely fainted.
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, had wanted to let Jesus go simply with a heavy beating. But the crowd had demanded Jesus’ death. So, as a taunt at the people Pilate ruled over, he took care of any future possible trouble and put a sign over Jesus’ head on the cross which read in multiple languages, “King of the Jews”. The sign warned any other would-be revolutionaries of what would happen to anyone else who thought to rise up against Rome, for the “King of the Jews” was covered in blood, naked, defenseless, and spent the afternoon gasping for breath as He struggled to lift Himself on nails driven through His wrists and ankles to keep from suffocating on the cross. And so He died, as so many other criminals had died – at the hands of Roman justice. Efficiently, quickly, publicly, and permanently.
A kind man named Joseph of Arimathea gave His followers the use of Joseph’s own prepared tomb. His followers hurried to put Him in the tomb before night fell, where His body was temporarily mummy-wrapped in linen to keep the bugs off. A 2000 pound stone was dropped into a trench in front of the opening, Pilate’s seal was placed over the stone, wax sealing ropes, and a guard of 16 men were set to watch over the tomb, to ensure no funny business was tried. And everyone hastened home for the Sabbath and the Passover as darkness settled in on the world.
And so there was no doubt about His claim to be God walking upon the earth. The only question was whether the claim was true...
And since everyone knew this was clearly a claim that was the claim of a madman or a liar or a dangerous revolutionary, Jesus was arrested, tried, beaten, and executed on the cross for the crime of claiming to be God on that Thursday night and Friday. And He died around 3 pm that Friday afternoon – the Roman guards stabbing Him in the side to make sure He was dead and had not merely fainted.
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, had wanted to let Jesus go simply with a heavy beating. But the crowd had demanded Jesus’ death. So, as a taunt at the people Pilate ruled over, he took care of any future possible trouble and put a sign over Jesus’ head on the cross which read in multiple languages, “King of the Jews”. The sign warned any other would-be revolutionaries of what would happen to anyone else who thought to rise up against Rome, for the “King of the Jews” was covered in blood, naked, defenseless, and spent the afternoon gasping for breath as He struggled to lift Himself on nails driven through His wrists and ankles to keep from suffocating on the cross. And so He died, as so many other criminals had died – at the hands of Roman justice. Efficiently, quickly, publicly, and permanently.
A kind man named Joseph of Arimathea gave His followers the use of Joseph’s own prepared tomb. His followers hurried to put Him in the tomb before night fell, where His body was temporarily mummy-wrapped in linen to keep the bugs off. A 2000 pound stone was dropped into a trench in front of the opening, Pilate’s seal was placed over the stone, wax sealing ropes, and a guard of 16 men were set to watch over the tomb, to ensure no funny business was tried. And everyone hastened home for the Sabbath and the Passover as darkness settled in on the world.
John 20:1-18
On Sunday morning early, a group of women went to the tomb, hoping to clean Jesus’ body and rewrap the body with spice-infused clean linen, as Jewish custom required of the women who were of the deceased’s family and close friends. It was a terrible task, but these women were bound together with each other and to Jesus by bonds of love, respect, and a mutual understanding that Jesus was special.
When they arrived at the tomb, they found that the stone had been rolled away. A young woman named Mary Magdalene, a woman from whom Jesus had removed demons, ran to tell his disciples Peter and John, and so those two disciples came to the tomb, looked inside and saw that the linen wrappings were lying there, but there was no body. The cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was rolled up neatly beside the wrappings, but where was the body?
And then, it dawned upon John that Jesus might have risen from the dead as He had said He would.
So they went back home, while Mary stood outside, weeping, for she did not believe He was alive – nobody comes back from death, especially a death as horrible, as permanent as a Roman crucifixion. But she peeked into the tomb and there were two angels in white, sitting where the body had been placed on Friday afternoon. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
And Mary, in her grief responded, “They have taken my Lord away and I do not know where they have put him.” And she turned around and there was a gardener.
The gardener asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
And still crying, she wailed, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” She still believed Jesus was dead - where and why had someone taken away the body?
And the gardener said to her one very important word. “Mary.”
“Why would the gardener know my name?” Mary thought. “And that voice sounds so familiar…” She turned around, saw His face and cried out “TEACHER!”, for the man she thought was the gardener was Jesus standing there, healthy, strong, smiling, happy.
She must have grabbed at Him, for Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene ran to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
And now she has told us the news and what He said to her that morning!
Over the next 40 days, Jesus appeared at least eleven times to different groups of people in different places in different circumstances. He walked with people, he talked with them, he ate food with them, they saw him, they touched him, they inspected his wounds where the nails and the spear had made holes in his body, he even cooked some fish for their breakfast. All together, Paul tells us that over 500 people saw him alive after his execution. Of those hundreds of people, four wrote down detailed accounts of his ministry, death, and resurrection - what we call the Four Gospels - and three others referred to the Resurrection in their writings. Other ancient Jewish and Roman writers point to this time in the early 30's as the beginning of the Christian religion – one even corroborates the great darkness that covered the earth at the time of His death. Every bit of evidence that’s been found by archaeologists backs up the accounts written in the Bible for those people and places and events that can be backup that way. The book The Case for Easter tells the story of a reporter’s search through the evidence.
And countless millions of people since that time have found that following the teachings of Jesus is the way to living an abundant life, a much more joyful life, a life that has purpose, meaning, and joy.
Much has been written about the meaning of the death and Resurrection of Jesus. Here’s my take:
Jesus claimed to be God walking on the earth. Many thought He was crazy. Some thought Him to be a liar. Others thought He was just plain dangerous. But the Resurrection of Jesus proved His claims to be correct, for a good God would not resurrect a lunatic, a good God would not bring back a liar, a good God would not bring to life a dangerous man with misguided ideas. God would, however, resurrect His Son, God the Son walking on the earth.
The ancient Law of Moses given to Moses by God at Mt Sinai prescribed sacrifices to be made for every sort of crime. For this crime, a pigeon must be killed, for that crime a sheep, for a great crime by a wealthy man, a bull. In a world without much cash, livestock seemed the best way to measure wealth – and sacrificing a sheep or a goat or bull could be painful for the owner.
Yet there were always crimes and sins for which people did not sacrifice, there were always offences which were not paid for. It still happens today…How many times have you broken the speed limit and not been caught? How much would you owe if somehow the local police were able to get video evidence of all the times you’ve sped, eased on through stop signs, ran red lights, and generally broken the law? How much would you owe?
How many crimes have you committed and not been caught? Jesus told us that crimes and sins committed in your own mind are just as bad as actions – that hating someone is like murder, that lusting in your mind is the same as committing adultery. How many mental crimes have you committed? How many years of prison do you deserve if everything you've even thought of doing was known?
If you are like everyone else, if you are like your neighbor beside you, if you are like me, you’ve committed many, many things you shouldn’t have done. And you’ve avoided doing many good deeds that you should have done.
And God is not pleased.
But the death of Jesus, it is clear from the New Testament, came about because we needed someone who could pay the price for all the crimes and sins and bad deeds that all people had committed for all time. Jesus chose to die on the cross that we deserved to die upon, because He was God walking on the earth and thus the only person or thing valuable enough to pay for all those crimes and sins and bad deeds. Jesus became the sacrifice for all humanity, paying the price for everything we’ve done wrong.
And thus, God the Father, who has perfect integrity, could be reconciled to us because the fines, the debts, the sacrifices had been paid.
We have each received a gift with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have received words from God Himself. Promises from the Creator of the Universe. A gift of life for each of us:
Jesus promised that those who follow Him, who turn away from their old ways and turn to follow Him would receive the gift of eternal life. This is a gift God has given us, we did not earn it, it wasn’t because of how good we are, but it was despite how bad we are. It wasn’t because of something we did – it was because of what Jesus did for us.
On Sunday morning early, a group of women went to the tomb, hoping to clean Jesus’ body and rewrap the body with spice-infused clean linen, as Jewish custom required of the women who were of the deceased’s family and close friends. It was a terrible task, but these women were bound together with each other and to Jesus by bonds of love, respect, and a mutual understanding that Jesus was special.
When they arrived at the tomb, they found that the stone had been rolled away. A young woman named Mary Magdalene, a woman from whom Jesus had removed demons, ran to tell his disciples Peter and John, and so those two disciples came to the tomb, looked inside and saw that the linen wrappings were lying there, but there was no body. The cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was rolled up neatly beside the wrappings, but where was the body?
And then, it dawned upon John that Jesus might have risen from the dead as He had said He would.
So they went back home, while Mary stood outside, weeping, for she did not believe He was alive – nobody comes back from death, especially a death as horrible, as permanent as a Roman crucifixion. But she peeked into the tomb and there were two angels in white, sitting where the body had been placed on Friday afternoon. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
And Mary, in her grief responded, “They have taken my Lord away and I do not know where they have put him.” And she turned around and there was a gardener.
The gardener asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
And still crying, she wailed, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” She still believed Jesus was dead - where and why had someone taken away the body?
And the gardener said to her one very important word. “Mary.”
“Why would the gardener know my name?” Mary thought. “And that voice sounds so familiar…” She turned around, saw His face and cried out “TEACHER!”, for the man she thought was the gardener was Jesus standing there, healthy, strong, smiling, happy.
She must have grabbed at Him, for Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene ran to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
And now she has told us the news and what He said to her that morning!
Over the next 40 days, Jesus appeared at least eleven times to different groups of people in different places in different circumstances. He walked with people, he talked with them, he ate food with them, they saw him, they touched him, they inspected his wounds where the nails and the spear had made holes in his body, he even cooked some fish for their breakfast. All together, Paul tells us that over 500 people saw him alive after his execution. Of those hundreds of people, four wrote down detailed accounts of his ministry, death, and resurrection - what we call the Four Gospels - and three others referred to the Resurrection in their writings. Other ancient Jewish and Roman writers point to this time in the early 30's as the beginning of the Christian religion – one even corroborates the great darkness that covered the earth at the time of His death. Every bit of evidence that’s been found by archaeologists backs up the accounts written in the Bible for those people and places and events that can be backup that way. The book The Case for Easter tells the story of a reporter’s search through the evidence.
And countless millions of people since that time have found that following the teachings of Jesus is the way to living an abundant life, a much more joyful life, a life that has purpose, meaning, and joy.
Much has been written about the meaning of the death and Resurrection of Jesus. Here’s my take:
Jesus claimed to be God walking on the earth. Many thought He was crazy. Some thought Him to be a liar. Others thought He was just plain dangerous. But the Resurrection of Jesus proved His claims to be correct, for a good God would not resurrect a lunatic, a good God would not bring back a liar, a good God would not bring to life a dangerous man with misguided ideas. God would, however, resurrect His Son, God the Son walking on the earth.
The ancient Law of Moses given to Moses by God at Mt Sinai prescribed sacrifices to be made for every sort of crime. For this crime, a pigeon must be killed, for that crime a sheep, for a great crime by a wealthy man, a bull. In a world without much cash, livestock seemed the best way to measure wealth – and sacrificing a sheep or a goat or bull could be painful for the owner.
Yet there were always crimes and sins for which people did not sacrifice, there were always offences which were not paid for. It still happens today…How many times have you broken the speed limit and not been caught? How much would you owe if somehow the local police were able to get video evidence of all the times you’ve sped, eased on through stop signs, ran red lights, and generally broken the law? How much would you owe?
How many crimes have you committed and not been caught? Jesus told us that crimes and sins committed in your own mind are just as bad as actions – that hating someone is like murder, that lusting in your mind is the same as committing adultery. How many mental crimes have you committed? How many years of prison do you deserve if everything you've even thought of doing was known?
If you are like everyone else, if you are like your neighbor beside you, if you are like me, you’ve committed many, many things you shouldn’t have done. And you’ve avoided doing many good deeds that you should have done.
And God is not pleased.
But the death of Jesus, it is clear from the New Testament, came about because we needed someone who could pay the price for all the crimes and sins and bad deeds that all people had committed for all time. Jesus chose to die on the cross that we deserved to die upon, because He was God walking on the earth and thus the only person or thing valuable enough to pay for all those crimes and sins and bad deeds. Jesus became the sacrifice for all humanity, paying the price for everything we’ve done wrong.
And thus, God the Father, who has perfect integrity, could be reconciled to us because the fines, the debts, the sacrifices had been paid.
We have each received a gift with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have received words from God Himself. Promises from the Creator of the Universe. A gift of life for each of us:
Jesus promised that those who follow Him, who turn away from their old ways and turn to follow Him would receive the gift of eternal life. This is a gift God has given us, we did not earn it, it wasn’t because of how good we are, but it was despite how bad we are. It wasn’t because of something we did – it was because of what Jesus did for us.
- You may be at a low point in your life. Accept the gift.
- You may be climbing up out of the darkness. Accept the gift.
- You may be having great success in your life. Accept the gift – turn your life over to Jesus and follow Him the rest of your life.
That gift is awaiting you right up here at the altar rail. Walk up, stumble up, crawl up and ask God to forgive you of whatever you’ve done wrong, and God has promised He will do this. God will accept you back; God will forgive everything you’ve done wrong; God will forget the wrong things you’ve done. If you are reading this bow down right now and ask God to forgive you. And God will.
The gift is waiting for you. You don’t have to be good, you can be at the worst point of your life, God has offered the gift for everyone. All you have to do is ask to be forgiven in prayer, to turn your life over to the leadership of Jesus. And the gift is yours. Come and pick up the gift.
And if you’ve already received the gift, Jesus gave us all a command just before He returned to Heaven. “Go, therefore, to all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them everything I have commanded.” If you have already accepted Jesus as your Lord, learn how to follow this final command of His. And it begins with asking Jesus to send you people to talk with about His love. Follow Him. Learn about Him. Do God's will.
The gift is waiting for you. You don’t have to be good, you can be at the worst point of your life, God has offered the gift for everyone. All you have to do is ask to be forgiven in prayer, to turn your life over to the leadership of Jesus. And the gift is yours. Come and pick up the gift.
And if you’ve already received the gift, Jesus gave us all a command just before He returned to Heaven. “Go, therefore, to all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them everything I have commanded.” If you have already accepted Jesus as your Lord, learn how to follow this final command of His. And it begins with asking Jesus to send you people to talk with about His love. Follow Him. Learn about Him. Do God's will.
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