Over
the past month, we’ve spent time looking at the scene of the cross. We’ve specifically been looking at the people
gathered around that most polarizing and significant event in all of human
history. We’ve seen Satan at work, we’ve
seen prophecies fulfilled, and we’ve seen a hardened criminal repent and called
Jesus Messiah. A few days ago, at our
Maundy Thursday service, we walked through the events of Jesus’ final day prior
to his crucifixion. We looked at his
foretelling of Judas’ betrayal, his gathering with his disciples in the upper
room, his mental torment in the garden, Judas’ actual betrayal of him, and
finally his breathing of his last breath and giving up his spirit. Now, in the immediate aftermath of all this,
we find in the various Gospel accounts that several things happened. First, as Jesus breathed his last breath, the
curtain of the temple was torn completely in two from top to bottom. Secondly, a Roman soldier who was part of the
battalion that crucified Jesus, after witnessing all that had happened up
close, proclaimed that “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Third, we find that many of those gathered
around Jesus were in stunned silence.
Some could not believe what they had just seen, while others were
waiting for something else to happen.
However, that something else never came (or at least it didn’t come when
they were expecting it to). And finally,
we find that since the Sabbath is fast approaching, that two men, Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus, asked Pontius Pilate for Jesus’ body so that he could
be properly buried. All of this
ultimately ending with Jesus’ lifeless body being placed in a tomb with a large
rock rolled in front of the only entrance, and Roman guards are placed in front
of that rock.
Now,
it’s been three days and nothing has happened (at least nothing that anyone
knows about). It was no secret where the
body of Jesus was laid, and so people were free to come and see the tomb and
care for it, just as long as they didn’t try and remove the boulder. Well, a group of women went on the first day
of the week (i.e. Sunday) to place spices around the entrance of the tomb. This was a common practice similar to our
laying of flowers on a gravestone. The
spices served two purposes, they were decorative, and they also helped to mask
any odors that might resonate from the tomb.
When the women got to the tomb, they found that that rock had been
rolled away. With their curiosity peaked
and fearing that someone had stolen Jesus’ body, they looked into the
tomb. However, they did not find Jesus
lying there, but instead found as Luke says “two men dazzling in appearance.” We know from Matthew and John’s accounts of
these events, that these two men were actually angels. They see the somber faces of the women and
they say to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still
in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and on the third day rise.” We’re told that the women then remember
Jesus’ words. So they rushed off to tell
the eleven remaining disciples and word begins to spread from that point.
How
quickly sadness turned to shock. How
quickly shock turned to mourning. How
quickly mourning turn to fear, and fear to confusion and then rejoicing. While those three days must have felt like an
eternity of never-ending sadness, it seemingly was erased in a matter of
moments as the angels informed these women what had taken place. Can you imagine what it must have felt like
for these women to have all of that sorrow and all of that guilty seemingly
lifted from them in a matter of seconds?
Imagine that feeling you got when the Gospel finally became real to
you. Remember back to that moment when
the Holy Spirit finally penetrated all of the callousness and all of the layers
and defenses and walls that you had built.
Think back to that point in time when you saw Christ for the first
time. I have to imagine that it felt
something like that for these women.
Spending a day watching Jesus be beat and put to death there on the
cross; seeing his body taken away and buried in a tomb; sitting around for
three days in disbelief that “it” was all over.
Only to have two angels say to you that, “He is not here. He has risen.”
Despite
how overjoyed these women must have felt upon hearing these words, it can’t
even compare to what we should feel today as we read them and hear them
proclaimed some 2000+ years later. This
is the resurrection of our Savior. On
this very event the church is built.
Other worldly religions have similar strong ethical systems, concepts of
paradise and the afterlife, and writings that are held as sacred. However, only Christianity has a God who
became flesh and died for His people.
Only Christianity has a God who after dying for His people was raised
again in power and glory to rule and reign forever and ever over His people.
It’s
estimated that there are 2.18 billion Christians worldwide according to the
latest survey. Each Sunday, many of
these folks gather in church buildings not unlike this one to worship. Sure, some are much larger and some are much
smaller. Some are meeting in school
buildings and rec centers, but the focus is still the same. Some services of worship are very traditional
and have remained unchanged for hundreds of years, while others are more modern
and at times resemble theatre performances to some. However, the One who is worship is the same
throughout. You see, the point isn’t how
we worship, although that is important biblically speaking. No, the main point is who and what we
worship. We worship God. We worship the one who created and sustains
each and every one of us. However, one
Sunday per year, Easter Sunday, nearly every Christian worships and proclaims
the empty tomb and the resurrection.
Now, setting aside the fact that these things ought to be praised every
day and not just one day a year, we have to ask ourselves why this empty tomb
and resurrection is so important.
Obviously,
we don’t have time here today to go into every single aspect of why the
resurrection is important in full detail, but I want to quickly state for you
several of the primary reasons why we ought to cling to and praise the empty
tomb each and every day. The first
reason is because it changed the direction of the world. Instead of heading for destruction, we are
head for redemption. The power of God is
working in this world to destroy sin, create newness of life, and prepare the
way for Jesus’ second coming. Secondly,
we know that death has been conquered.
We know that we too will be raised from the dead with Christ to live
forever. Thirdly, we, as Christians and
the bride of Christ, have been given authority to witness into the world. We will see the early stages of this unfold
as we begin our series on the book of Acts starting next Sunday. Fourth, the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament that
we celebrated both last Sunday and Thursday evening, finds its meaning in the
crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Fifth, we find comfort in our times of sorrow and tragedy through the
empty tomb. When we suffer the pain of
loss, the resurrection lets us know that death is not the end and that there is
hope for the future. Sixthly, we know
that because of the empty tomb that Christ is alive at this very moment,
sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, ruling and reigning over
his kingdom. And finally, the power of
God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us as we try to live and
work our way through this fallen and sinful world as we seek to serve and
worship Him.
Friends,
I want to challenge all of us in here to do something this year. Maybe it’s something that you have always
done, or maybe this will be something that is new to you, but I think that it
is a right response to the glorious and life-giving news of the empty tomb. I want to challenge each and every one of us
to live every day like today. I want us
all to live each day celebrating that the tomb was and is empty and that our
Savior has indeed risen. You see, it’s
not as if the tomb is any more empty today that it was yesterday. It’s not as if the tomb will be any less
empty tomorrow than it is today. The
simple fact of the matter is that the tomb is forever empty; that death is
forever conquered. All of those reasons
that we listed a moment ago for the importance of the empty tomb are
forever. There’s no limit to the amount
of time that they are true. They are
true yesterday, today, and forever. In
just a few moments, at the end of the pastoral prayer, I want all of us to join
together by saying the Lord’s Prayer.
And I want you to pay special attention to the last line in that
wonderful prayer, “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and glory forever and
ever. Amen.” Friends the tomb is empty, and it will remain
empty from this day and forever more.
Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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