April 16, 2017

All Scripture from NIV unless otherwise documented

Introduction: I want to show you something this morning. This is a pocketknife that I bought at Bass Pro Shops with a gift card that was given to me one Christmas. I had a really nice Gerber knife that I really, really liked, but I lost it. I looked everywhere for that knife, and the last time I remembered using it was at my neighbor Bill’s house to help untie a knot in a rope. I had hoped that I would find it sometime lying on the ground where I had used it but didn’t. So, I bought this knife with the gift card, and this time I bought a buck knife.

When summer arrived I dug out a pair of camo shorts to wear and guess what I found in one of the pockets? Yes, I found the knife that I thought I had lost. I love it when that happens to me. It’s like having a reunion with a long-lost friend. If you are like me, it really bugs you when you lose something. Have you ever lost your car in a parking lot? I have and there have been a couple times when I thought that maybe someone had even stolen my car.

That’s sort of how Mary Magdalene felt when she arrived at Jesus Tomb on that first Easter morning. You need to read all the gospel accounts to get the complete picture of what Mary witnessed when she arrived at the tomb that morning. John tells us that it was still dark when she arrived. Matthew tells us that there had been a violent earthquake and that an angel had rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. The guards were so afraid that they became like dead men! Mark tells us that when they arrived at the tomb that the stone was already rolled away and there was an angel sitting inside the tomb to the right. Luke’s gospel tells us that two angels appeared to Mary and the other women and announced to them that Jesus had risen from the dead.

All of this must have been overwhelming for Mary and the other women who had come to the tomb. She was told to go and tell Peter and the other disciples that Jesus had risen from the grave. But according to the Gospel of John, when she found them, all she could say was, “They (not knowing who they were) have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him.” John 20: 2 Kind of like you and me when we emerge from shopping expecting to find our car, Mary had an agenda. She was going to finish the anointing of Jesus body for burial, a process that was cut short on Friday because of the onset of the Sabbath. But Mary didn’t find things as she was expecting to. Marks Gospel tells us the women went out “trembling and bewildered” and said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. Mark 16: 8

Luke’s gospel seems to indicate that after they got back to where the other disciples were hiding, that they began to talk to the disciples, but they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Luke 24: 11 Interestingly, in Matthew’s gospel, it appears that Jesus intercepted the women on their way to tell the disciples what they had seen. “Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings’, He said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me.” Matthew 28: 9 – 10

Although the other disciples derided the women for what they were saying, Peter and John had to investigate for themselves what the women were reporting. They ran to the tomb, and John being younger than Peter, got there before he did. John looked inside and saw the burial clothes lying there, but he did not go in. When Peter got there, he immediately went inside the tomb. It’s interesting how John reports what Peter saw there. “He (Peter) saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.”

This bit of eyewitness testimony is important because it helps debunk a few of the false theories concerning what happened to Jesus body that day. If anyone, the Pharisees or the Romans or ordinary grave robbers had removed Jesus body, they wouldn’t have taken the time to unwrap the linens and fold them nicely and leave them in place. They would have simply grabbed the body and ran. Likewise, if Jesus disciples had stolen the body, while armed guards were on duty, they wouldn’t have taken the time to unwrap Jesus body and risk being caught by the soldiers. That would have been a death penalty for them. What we do find, however, is the reaction that John had to what he had witnessed. In verse eight, it says simply that “He saw and believed.”

What did John believe? He believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. Although the Old Testament predicted that this would happen and Jesus had told His disciples many times that He would die, be buried and rise from the dead, they had not comprehended His teachings. (Verse 9)
You see, they too had their own agenda. Jesus was supposed to be an earthly king. Jesus was supposed to establish His kingdom on and they were going to be His advisors. They were going to help establish this kingdom and restore Israel to its proper glory. But Jesus had a different agenda for their lives. After Pentecost, the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and spent the rest of their lives preaching and teaching both Jews and Gentiles about the resurrection power that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. All the Apostles were persecuted for their faith and all but John suffered a martyr’s death. “According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it.”

Conclusion: I know that there are many people today, maybe even some of you, who were introduced to Jesus in Sunday school or church when you were growing up as children. But the wisdom and the ways of the world have put some people on a different path than the one that they were once on. I understand that our own agendas tend to take greater priority as we face the challenges and the realities that this world has to offer. And I know that our faith is often challenged by those realities.

But I submit to you this morning that there is only one Gospel and there is only one Savior, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. In His Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus said these words: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7: 13 – 14

It is my prayer on this Easter Sunday that you have chosen the narrow road that leads to eternal life. That road begins with a confession of belief in Jesus. “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 Corinthians 15: 3 – 4

Yes, Jesus is Alive and we are forgiven! He’s Alive!