WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.120 Well, good morning, church. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Let me invite you to turn 00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:16.300 to the Gospel of Luke. Our sermon text picks up at the end of Luke chapter 23 with Jesus' burial 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:23.379 and then continues to Luke 24 with the empty tomb. As you're turning to Luke chapter 23, 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:28.239 let me pray for us, and then I'll read the text. Let's pray. 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:35.619 Our Father, we ask that on this Easter Sunday, Lord, a strange Sunday, 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.620 a unique Sunday given the global climate that we live in, 00:00:41.980 --> 00:00:46.099 we pray that you would still meet with us as we gather around your Word this morning. 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:52.140 Would you show us fresh things from these resurrection passages that we will look at 00:00:52.140 --> 00:01:00.100 this morning and help us to see afresh Christ risen and your Holy Spirit at work. Do a work in us now, 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:07.260 we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. So Luke chapter 23, starting with verse 50. 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:14.280 Now, there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:18.540 a good and righteous man who had not consented to their decision and action, 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:25.520 and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 00:01:26.520 --> 00:01:31.440 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone where no one 00:01:31.440 --> 00:01:39.219 had ever yet been laid. It was the day of preparation, that is Friday, and the Sabbath was beginning. 00:01:39.219 --> 00:01:45.959 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed and saw the tomb, and now his body was laid. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:50.099 They returned and prepared spices and ointments. 00:01:51.539 --> 00:01:54.079 On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:00.640 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:03.000 taking the spices they had prepared. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.480 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:09.960 But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:14.620 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.340 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:21.500 Why do you seek the living among the dead? 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.740 He is not here, but has risen. 00:02:24.740 --> 00:02:30.620 Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered 00:02:30.620 --> 00:02:35.400 into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.860 And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to 00:02:40.860 --> 00:02:42.160 the eleven and to all the rest. 00:02:43.660 --> 00:02:48.439 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:50.600 them who told these things to the apostles. 00:02:51.600 --> 00:02:54.660 But these words seemed to them an idle tale. 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:56.780 And they did not believe them. 00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:00.540 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb. 00:03:01.540 --> 00:03:04.580 Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:08.640 And he went home, marveling at what had happened. 00:03:11.180 --> 00:03:17.980 Well, I want us to consider this morning the transforming power of the empty tomb. 00:03:18.200 --> 00:03:23.500 From the very beginning of the Christian movement, this was the surprising and revolutionary message 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:28.439 that God had raised Jesus bodily from the dead. 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:37.359 Now, of course, Easter today is a time when we celebrate a lot of fun traditions, egg hunts, 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.479 Easter baskets, chocolate, bunnies. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.599 Earlier this week, I think it was Jimmy Kimmel, though, who said, 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:47.300 you know, Easter doesn't feel all that exciting this year. 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:52.039 Probably because I've spent the last three weeks driving around looking for eggs already. 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:59.359 Jokes don't go as well with an empty sanctuary, but, you know, you're probably laughing at home. 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:03.000 So Easter is a time when there's a lot of fun traditions. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:12.359 But more importantly, Easter is that day when the church testifies that something happened in history, 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:19.759 an event that has changed the course of human history, an event that will change your life if you let it. 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:25.840 In fact, the Gospel of Luke shows us two transformations on that first Easter morning. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:30.319 The first happens to Mary and the other women in verses 1 through 9, 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:35.439 and the second happens to Peter in verses 10 through 12. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:42.019 And what we see here is that the resurrection of Jesus has the transforming power 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:50.600 to fill even the most sorrowful heart with hope and even the most skeptical heart with wonder. 00:04:51.620 --> 00:04:56.959 The resurrection of Jesus has the power to fill even the most sorrowful heart with hope 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.319 and even the most skeptical heart with wonder. 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:03.759 So first, let's look at the transformation of Mary and the other women. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:06.480 The sorrowful heart filled with hope. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:11.639 In verse 1, they come to the tomb carrying the spices and ointments they had prepared. 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:16.000 Now these spices were for embalming the dead body of Jesus. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:20.420 You see, by the time Jesus was taken down from the cross and his dead body laid in the tomb, 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:22.259 the sun had already begun to set. 00:05:22.599 --> 00:05:27.899 And that meant that the Sabbath was beginning, a day when faithful Jews stopped their work. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:33.300 So the women rest on the Sabbath, and they come back as early as they can 00:05:33.300 --> 00:05:39.520 after the Sabbath is over to do the honor of properly burying Jesus' body for its burial. 00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:44.939 Now can you imagine the sorrow of these women? 00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:50.019 At the most basic level, their sorrow, of course, was personal. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.879 They had lost their teacher, their friend. 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:57.960 Jesus was the one they had eaten with and traveled with and listened to and laughed with. 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.120 And now he was gone. 00:06:02.419 --> 00:06:10.680 But with the loss of their friend and their teacher, they had lost as well their hope, their dream. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:19.539 Jesus, after all, claimed to be the Messiah, the King who would set Israel free. 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:28.960 The women had joined Jesus with the hope that God's long-awaited promise of liberation would finally come to pass. 00:06:29.460 --> 00:06:35.720 And now, everything they had built their lives around for the last three years had been shattered. 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:39.840 They hadn't just lost a beloved friend. 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:41.000 They'd lost their hope. 00:06:41.220 --> 00:06:42.240 They'd lost their dream. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:51.540 The story that they thought they were a part of, this story of God's liberating kingdom, turned out to be just another dead end. 00:06:51.939 --> 00:06:56.180 Jesus was just another would-be Messiah crucified by the Romans. 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:04.180 I think we can understand something of what those women felt that Sunday morning, maybe. 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:10.600 Many of our stories are being significantly rewritten by the global pandemic. 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:15.819 For some of us, it's our economic stories that we thought we were telling ourselves. 00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:19.120 For some of us, our vocational stories. 00:07:19.960 --> 00:07:22.480 For others, our educational stories. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:25.960 These things aren't turning out the way we had planned. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:31.500 Some stories, even, are being tragically cut short. 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:39.240 The Harvard Business Review recently interviewed David Kessler, who's one of the world's foremost experts on grief. 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:45.439 And insightfully, he said that what many of us are experiencing is anticipatory grief. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:53.639 He writes that we feel there's a storm coming, and it breaks our sense of safety. 00:07:53.639 --> 00:08:03.099 And then he goes on to say, I don't think we've ever collectively lost our sense of general safety like this. 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:09.539 All of us, culturally, engaged in anticipatory grief. 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:18.480 So we show up this Easter Sunday, many of us, carrying spices in our hands. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:23.400 Because our plans, our dreams, some big, some small, have been shaken. 00:08:23.840 --> 00:08:27.420 And perhaps some of them have even begun to die. 00:08:30.820 --> 00:08:34.980 But notice how the women leave the empty tomb. 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:40.700 They come with their spices of sorrow, but they leave with a message of hope. 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:44.779 Their story at the empty tomb has been rewritten. 00:08:44.920 --> 00:08:46.539 No longer is it a dead end. 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:47.740 Now they have a purpose. 00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:48.740 Now they have a mission. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.820 And it's a mission brimming with energy and life. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.600 They come back to the rest with news. 00:08:57.580 --> 00:09:03.399 So what do they experience at the empty tomb that fills even their most sorrowful heart with hope? 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:09.399 Well, the angels tell them that this empty tomb means two things. 00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:11.100 One, it means something about Jesus. 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:13.039 And two, it means something about them. 00:09:14.420 --> 00:09:15.620 So something about Jesus. 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:19.019 They tell the women, why do you seek the living among the dead? 00:09:19.300 --> 00:09:21.620 He is not here, but is risen. 00:09:22.779 --> 00:09:24.539 We could even translate that more literally. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:28.720 Why do you seek the living one among the dead? 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:35.620 Now for the last two chapters of Luke's gospel, Jesus has been called many things. 00:09:35.620 --> 00:09:41.259 A criminal, a blasphemer, an enemy of the people, a threat to Roman rule. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:45.620 In short, he had been condemned as one deserving death. 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:48.519 Jesus was a dead man. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:57.319 But this verdict of death was not the last word for Jesus. 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:05.120 In the resurrection, the verdict of the world was overturned by the verdict of God. 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:09.960 Jesus is the living one who cannot be held down by death. 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:17.840 And the empty tomb stood as a gaping sign that a hole had been burned through the gates of death. 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:28.180 And the Son of God had risen in victory, proving that his words were true, that he is the king and will be forevermore. 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:31.740 Jesus was alive. 00:10:31.900 --> 00:10:35.680 And alive not merely in their hearts as an inspiring memory. 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:42.759 Jesus was alive not merely in some spiritual way, but Jesus was alive bodily. 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:46.559 That's what the word risen actually means. 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:50.939 And soon, even later that day, they would meet the risen Lord Jesus face to face. 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:52.259 And he would eat with them. 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:53.419 And he would drink with them. 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:55.039 And they would see him with their eyes. 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:56.859 And they would touch him with their hands. 00:10:58.479 --> 00:11:00.459 Why do you seek the living among the dead? 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:02.259 He's not here, but has risen. 00:11:02.259 --> 00:11:06.580 What the empty tomb means is that Jesus has conquered death. 00:11:06.939 --> 00:11:09.220 He lives never to die again. 00:11:11.819 --> 00:11:15.980 But because the empty tomb says something about Jesus, it also says something about the women. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.039 It says something about us. 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:21.759 The angels go on to say, remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:28.980 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:32.620 Notice the word must. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.759 This was Jesus' divine mission. 00:11:38.800 --> 00:11:41.360 This was what he had come to do. 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:48.720 His death and resurrection were not an accident or a mistake or a plan B. 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:54.740 Earlier in Luke's gospel, Jesus said that he had come to seek and to save the lost. 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:58.000 And here at the empty tomb, we see how. 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:08.139 You see, Jesus came to bring a liberation greater and more revolutionary than any of his followers had ever imagined. 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:14.360 Earlier in the service, we read from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth. 00:12:15.379 --> 00:12:19.960 And there, Paul spoke of Jesus' resurrection as the first fruits. 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:23.280 Now, first fruits were just that. 00:12:23.379 --> 00:12:24.840 They were the first fruit of a harvest. 00:12:25.160 --> 00:12:29.980 It was the initial crop that told you what was going to happen to all the rest that was about to come. 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:39.460 Along the edge of my backyard at home, I have a scraggly hedge that's about six or seven feet high. 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:44.120 And that whole hedge right now, pretty much still, is brown. 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:46.780 It's monochromatic brown. 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:48.240 Barely a leaf in sight. 00:12:49.220 --> 00:12:52.180 Except for one bush. 00:12:53.580 --> 00:13:00.280 Off in the left corner, there's a blazing yellow forsythia. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:05.000 Just radiating yellow bright light. 00:13:06.420 --> 00:13:07.500 There it is. 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:11.320 It's the first fruits of my hedge, as it were. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.220 Telling me what's to come. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.940 Telling me that soon there's going to be leaves. 00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:18.179 And there's going to be berry bushes growing. 00:13:18.299 --> 00:13:19.600 And there's going to be all sorts of weeds. 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:22.940 And then we're going to think, why didn't we trim this thing back when it was still all brown? 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:24.639 Now we've got to take care of this massive thing. 00:13:24.740 --> 00:13:26.840 But the forsythia were the first fruits. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.440 Telling me that life was on its way. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:37.440 The resurrection of Jesus, the living one, is the same. 00:13:38.160 --> 00:13:44.420 In Jesus, God took our humanity, flesh and all, into himself. 00:13:44.419 --> 00:13:51.839 God came as close to us as possible in the incarnation. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:57.560 And then God in Christ went down into death. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.300 Sharing our humanity down into its bitter end. 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:04.780 And exhausted it to the full. 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:12.919 But then, still united to our humanity, flesh and all, 00:14:14.839 --> 00:14:24.679 Jesus broke through death's bars like a tree breaking through the hard soil of winter, rising up to new life. 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:29.620 The angels tell the women, must. 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:34.139 Why must Jesus die and rise again? 00:14:35.259 --> 00:14:42.099 So that all those under the curse of death might rise with him on the last day. 00:14:42.979 --> 00:14:49.699 What God has done in Christ is to pierce a hole through the thick dam of death. 00:14:51.199 --> 00:14:53.059 Don't our lives feel like that at times? 00:14:53.059 --> 00:15:01.459 You know, we flow down the river of life and things seem good and things seem to be flowing well. 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:04.500 But sooner or later, we hit the dam. 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:11.059 High, wide, thick, impenetrable death. 00:15:13.979 --> 00:15:18.419 And all of our life, then, just stops at the end. 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:20.479 A pool that goes nowhere. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:26.060 But imagine now standing before that dam that seems so immovable. 00:15:27.180 --> 00:15:30.240 And suddenly, you see a crack start to form. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:36.000 And then a single stream of water comes shooting forth right through the middle. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:39.899 Now, I'm not a structural engineer. 00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:43.159 But I know a thing or two, maybe, about that dam. 00:15:44.319 --> 00:15:47.659 And the truth is, I wouldn't want to be downstream from that dam for long. 00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:55.799 Because what that seemingly little stream tells me is that sooner or later, that dam is going to crumble and come down. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.299 And a flood is going to be released. 00:15:58.299 --> 00:16:04.359 You see, the crack in the dam is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.899 Because death was not the last word for Jesus. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:12.799 Death will not be the last word for anyone united to him. 00:16:13.199 --> 00:16:19.099 He has blazed a trail in our humanity through the last enemy, through death itself. 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:25.779 And so the women leave the tomb with hope. 00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:28.879 And so can we. 00:16:30.920 --> 00:16:32.899 We come to the tomb with grief. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:34.600 Some actual. 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:36.759 Some anticipatory. 00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:39.420 We can leave with hope. 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:43.539 Not a hope that we will never suffer. 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.539 Jesus walked a road of much hardship. 00:16:47.779 --> 00:16:49.299 And so may we. 00:16:50.699 --> 00:17:00.219 But we leave with a hope that even our darkest sorrows, even our heaviest crosses, will one day be swallowed up, redeemed in life. 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:08.799 Hope that our risen Savior has liberated us, not from temporary trials, but from the fear of death itself. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:13.519 Hope that nothing we face now can ultimately conquer us. 00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:21.000 Hope that because Jesus has conquered sin and death, nothing can now keep us from the liberating love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:25.960 Perhaps think of it this way. 00:17:28.019 --> 00:17:36.680 If Jesus hadn't risen from the dead, if he had not risen from the dead, his life and his death would have ultimately been meaningless. 00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:44.380 Just another zealous, young, first century Jewish man cut down by the Romans. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.779 But the resurrection changes all of that. 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:55.160 His life and especially his death now mean everything because of the resurrection. 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.660 And you know, the same is true for us. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:11.600 Because of the resurrection, our living and our dying, our joys and our sorrows in this life are not meaningless. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:21.459 Our joys and our sorrows in this life will not, at the end of the day, just be swept away in the finality and absurdity of death. 00:18:22.879 --> 00:18:28.699 No, because Christ has been risen for us and because we will be raised with him, united to him. 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:38.840 Our joys and even our sorrows are part of a bigger story, a better story, the sweeping work of God in Christ making all things new. 00:18:42.840 --> 00:18:48.580 The sorrowful leave the empty tomb filled with hope. 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:50.779 And so can we. 00:18:50.779 --> 00:18:55.559 But you know, that's not the only transformation that happens here. 00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:57.960 The sorrowful are filled with hope. 00:18:58.220 --> 00:19:02.559 But we also see that the skeptical are filled with wonder. 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:05.779 Listen to the end of our passage again. 00:19:05.879 --> 00:19:11.420 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. 00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:17.039 But these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:23.159 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:29.539 He saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:39.019 You know, we often forget that the resurrection was just as hard to believe in the first century as it is today in the 21st century. 00:19:39.779 --> 00:19:46.259 The message the women brought from the empty tomb sounded like nothing but an idle tale to the apostles. 00:19:46.259 --> 00:19:50.140 And I think we can sympathize sometimes with that today, can't we? 00:19:51.660 --> 00:19:55.259 Now, in the first century, here's why the resurrection of Jesus was hard to believe. 00:19:55.940 --> 00:19:59.960 One, everybody knew that dead people stay dead. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.039 That was not something that humans happened to figure out in the Enlightenment. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.559 Dead people stay dead. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:15.480 Second, if you were not a Jew, the prevailing belief among Greeks and Romans was that the physical body was like a tomb. 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:16.200 It was like a prison. 00:20:16.299 --> 00:20:20.079 It was something you wanted to actually escape, not something you wanted to come back in. 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:27.279 So the idea of a bodily resurrection was not really that desirable of an idea in the first place at first. 00:20:28.599 --> 00:20:34.160 Three, if you were a Jew, you maybe believed that God would raise up all people at the end of time, 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.839 but not one person and not in the middle of time. 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:44.579 And so it was just as hard for them to believe as it is for us. 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:53.659 They had all sorts of reasons not to believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead. 00:20:53.660 --> 00:21:03.900 But by the end of our passage, Peter's initial skepticism has given way to wonder. 00:21:05.580 --> 00:21:09.600 He returns home, Luke says, marveling at what had happened. 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:12.900 So what made the difference? 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:15.920 What moved him from skepticism to wonder? 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:21.580 Well, the difference was he checked it out for himself. 00:21:23.660 --> 00:21:29.680 He refused to close his mind around his preconceived ideas and the prevailing cultural prejudices, 00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:32.660 and he went to look at the evidence himself. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.080 Now, make no mistake about it. 00:21:36.140 --> 00:21:39.900 Then, as now, believing in the resurrection of Jesus means a shift in our worldview, 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:42.640 but it's not a leap in the dark. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:46.600 Christianity has always claimed that the resurrection is a historical event, 00:21:46.860 --> 00:21:49.720 an event whose evidence we can consider for ourselves. 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:56.100 Perhaps the challenge for some of us this Easter is to do just that, 00:21:56.860 --> 00:22:04.120 to follow Peter to the empty tomb and to ask what really happened. 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:10.040 Perhaps having hope in the midst of sorrow sounds like good news, even great news, 00:22:10.040 --> 00:22:12.580 but at the same time, maybe it sounds like an idle tale. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.680 But think about it. 00:22:17.420 --> 00:22:20.700 Most of us have plenty of time on our hands these days. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:27.300 Why not, in between streaming the latest episodes of Tiger Kings or whatever, 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:32.220 why not take some real time and consider something that won't just entertain you, 00:22:32.340 --> 00:22:33.480 but will change you? 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.280 There are lots of good places to begin your search. 00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:40.040 On our church website, we have a page called How Can I Know God? 00:22:40.040 --> 00:22:42.420 You'll find a couple of good resources there to get you started. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:45.820 Or maybe you could talk to a thoughtful Christian friend, 00:22:45.940 --> 00:22:52.580 figure out what resources they found helpful as they've grappled with this surprising message of Christ risen. 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:57.400 Ask them what brought them to change their mind about the resurrection of Jesus. 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:02.180 But if you're going to take this step, 00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:07.080 then you need to be open to being surprised, 00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:10.259 just like those first disciples. 00:23:11.080 --> 00:23:11.840 Did you notice? 00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:15.820 None of them were expecting what they found. 00:23:15.819 --> 00:23:20.700 What Luke shows us here in his gospel and what all the earliest accounts of the resurrection show us 00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:23.419 is that the resurrection of Jesus took everyone by surprise. 00:23:25.819 --> 00:23:28.939 You know, if I were writing the resurrection accounts, 00:23:29.639 --> 00:23:32.500 you know, if it was something I was just sort of making up after the fact, 00:23:32.579 --> 00:23:34.659 here's probably how I would have written the resurrection accounts. 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:38.279 And then Nick, so full of faith in everything that he had been told, 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:40.000 showed up at the empty tomb, 00:23:40.360 --> 00:23:42.519 expecting the resurrection of his risen Lord. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:45.040 And they found it just as they had believed. 00:23:45.460 --> 00:23:48.380 But no, that's not what you find at all in the resurrection accounts. 00:23:48.380 --> 00:23:51.320 They're rifled through with this honesty, 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:52.779 this intellectual honesty, 00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:57.440 that we came expecting nothing but a dead man. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:00.180 And it was foisted upon us. 00:24:01.299 --> 00:24:03.180 Even though Jesus had told us ahead of time, 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:04.340 we didn't believe him. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:05.360 And it happened. 00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:10.519 Why did it take them by surprise? 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:12.220 You know, they knew perfectly well 00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:15.220 that if you followed someone who thought he was the Messiah 00:24:15.220 --> 00:24:16.279 and he got killed, 00:24:16.360 --> 00:24:17.160 then that was it. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:18.500 You know, in fact, 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:21.820 we know of at least a dozen other messianic or prophetic movements 00:24:21.820 --> 00:24:24.380 that happened within a hundred years on either side of Jesus. 00:24:24.380 --> 00:24:27.100 And they routinely ended with the death of their founder. 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:31.059 You can go back and read the history of the first century, 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:31.920 of the second century, 00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:33.160 of the first century before Jesus, 00:24:33.259 --> 00:24:35.519 and you find that there were messianic movements that happened. 00:24:35.980 --> 00:24:37.320 And those messianic movements, 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:38.240 the leader was killed. 00:24:38.320 --> 00:24:39.000 And then what happened? 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:39.840 It was done. 00:24:42.320 --> 00:24:44.519 And we don't remember any of those movements, 00:24:45.100 --> 00:24:45.920 except for one. 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:48.120 Christianity. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:51.059 Christianity was different. 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:52.440 Why? 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:52.480 Why? 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:56.940 Well, the answer that the followers of Jesus gave 00:24:56.940 --> 00:24:58.320 from the very start. 00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:00.960 In fact, the letter that we read earlier in our service 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:01.720 was written, 00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:03.400 oh goodness, 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:06.640 just a decade or two after the death of Jesus. 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:09.140 From the very start, 00:25:09.820 --> 00:25:12.100 the answer that the Christians gave 00:25:12.100 --> 00:25:14.500 was that Jesus was raised from the dead. 00:25:15.340 --> 00:25:17.420 That's why they still believed in him as the Messiah. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.759 Now, why in the world would they believe that? 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.740 Why would they believe something so unprecedented, 00:25:21.940 --> 00:25:23.580 so contrary to their former beliefs? 00:25:23.579 --> 00:25:25.879 You know, and many theories have been advanced. 00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:28.779 Maybe they had a spiritual experience of Jesus after his death. 00:25:29.099 --> 00:25:32.299 Maybe they felt his forgiveness in their hearts. 00:25:32.399 --> 00:25:35.639 Maybe it was sort of a result of cognitive dissonance. 00:25:37.099 --> 00:25:37.859 But the reality is, 00:25:37.919 --> 00:25:40.699 there was language for all of those things in the first century. 00:25:41.379 --> 00:25:43.939 There was language for talking about spiritual experiences. 00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:45.960 There was language for talking about grief. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:48.179 There was language of talking about inner forgiveness. 00:25:48.180 --> 00:25:51.920 But that's not the language that the first Christians used ever 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.900 to talk about what happened to Jesus. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:01.940 So those theories, they just don't fit. 00:26:02.320 --> 00:26:07.180 Something unprecedented historically happened in the first century. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:11.500 What is the best explanation of the data? 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:17.140 And he writes, 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:18.539 a scholar who's written probably 00:26:18.539 --> 00:26:21.160 the most thorough scholarly work on the resurrection, 00:26:21.339 --> 00:26:21.980 puts it this way. 00:26:24.099 --> 00:26:24.619 He says, 00:26:24.700 --> 00:26:26.279 the only way you can explain the rise 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:28.960 of the early Christian belief that Jesus was raised 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.119 is that there really was an empty tomb 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.740 and they really did meet Jesus again 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:35.079 in a transformed body. 00:26:36.779 --> 00:26:38.220 Then he goes on to say in that interview, 00:26:39.099 --> 00:26:40.480 of course, when I wrote a big book on this, 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:41.860 my philosophy tutor from Oxford, 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:42.880 who was an atheist, read it. 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:43.319 And he said, 00:26:43.660 --> 00:26:44.200 great book. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:45.579 You really make the argument. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:47.720 I simply choose to believe 00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:49.980 that there must be some other explanation, 00:26:50.299 --> 00:26:51.819 even though I don't know what it was. 00:26:53.460 --> 00:26:54.420 And then Wright replies, 00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:54.799 he says, 00:26:54.819 --> 00:26:55.420 he says, fine. 00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:57.440 That's as far as I can take you. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:26:59.640 I can't bully you into saying, 00:26:59.779 --> 00:27:00.799 therefore you must believe, 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:02.920 because to do that requires a change of worldview. 00:27:05.099 --> 00:27:06.680 But once you change the worldview 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:07.680 and say, 00:27:08.099 --> 00:27:09.880 maybe there really is a creator God. 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:13.980 And maybe this creator God really is sorting out 00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:16.180 this sad old world at last. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:21.000 Then everything makes sense in a way that it doesn't 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:23.240 with any other possibility. 00:27:26.420 --> 00:27:29.760 Are you willing to be surprised by the evidence 00:27:29.760 --> 00:27:32.040 that God really has come 00:27:32.040 --> 00:27:34.660 to sort out this sad old world at last? 00:27:35.260 --> 00:27:37.640 To pierce a hole through the veil of death, 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.780 to give us hope in the midst of sorrow, 00:27:39.900 --> 00:27:41.840 hope that death doesn't have the last word, 00:27:42.100 --> 00:27:44.000 and that life is not a meaningless pursuit. 00:27:44.360 --> 00:27:45.440 Above all, that Jesus, 00:27:45.620 --> 00:27:48.180 the one who loved us enough to die for us, 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:50.300 is the risen Lord of all. 00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:52.420 Are we willing to be surprised, 00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:53.540 or surprised again, 00:27:53.740 --> 00:27:57.680 by that great transforming power of the empty tomb? 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:01.900 Because that's what it is. 00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:06.000 The transforming power of the empty tomb, 00:28:06.060 --> 00:28:08.860 it can fill even the most sorrowful heart with hope, 00:28:09.060 --> 00:28:12.160 and even the most skeptical heart with wonder. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:15.000 So how about you? 00:28:16.380 --> 00:28:19.779 Will you let it transform your heart as well? 00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:21.340 Because if you do, 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:23.259 it will change your life. 00:28:24.360 --> 00:28:25.040 Let's pray. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:35.720 Our Father in heaven, 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:39.119 we pray that you would give us eyes to see 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:41.639 the transforming power 00:28:41.639 --> 00:28:43.599 of what you have accomplished 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:45.539 through the resurrection of Jesus, your Son. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:49.119 Lord, I pray that for many of us 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:50.420 who are sorrowful in this time, 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:52.240 you would give us a renewed grasp 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:53.759 of hope that we have, 00:28:54.680 --> 00:28:55.940 because you have gone down 00:28:55.940 --> 00:28:57.420 into the darkest places 00:28:57.420 --> 00:28:58.480 where we could go, 00:28:58.900 --> 00:29:00.019 down even to death, 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:02.319 and you have swallowed it up in victory. 00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:04.140 Lord, help us to see 00:29:04.140 --> 00:29:05.980 that even these trials 00:29:05.980 --> 00:29:07.099 that we face in this day 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:08.079 are preparing for us 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:09.200 an eternal weight of glory. 00:29:10.259 --> 00:29:12.180 And would that make us people of hope 00:29:12.180 --> 00:29:14.279 and love in these tumultuous times? 00:29:16.819 --> 00:29:18.559 And Father, I pray for those of us 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:19.660 who are still grappling 00:29:19.660 --> 00:29:21.120 with the plausibility, 00:29:21.220 --> 00:29:22.160 with the truthfulness, 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:24.680 Jesus, that you're raised from the dead. 00:29:26.740 --> 00:29:29.059 Lord, help us to be seekers after truth. 00:29:30.779 --> 00:29:32.099 Help us to pursue 00:29:32.099 --> 00:29:34.579 what really is true 00:29:34.579 --> 00:29:36.160 and give our minds 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:37.900 the openness 00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:39.380 to really consider 00:29:39.380 --> 00:29:41.039 and to be open to the fact, 00:29:41.900 --> 00:29:42.620 God, that you 00:29:42.620 --> 00:29:44.339 are real 00:29:44.339 --> 00:29:45.559 and alive 00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:46.480 and living 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:48.079 and you love us enough 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:49.339 to come 00:29:49.339 --> 00:29:51.140 and die 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:52.099 and be raised for us. 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:54.680 Father, we pray all this 00:29:54.680 --> 00:29:55.980 in Jesus' name. 00:29:57.140 --> 00:29:57.359 Amen.