[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Easter Sunday morning, the 27th of March, 2016. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
In just one week, we have run the gamut of emotions ranging from great triumph to the most dismal and devastating defeat and loss imaginable. Last week we paraded into Jerusalem alongside our Lord Jesus. The people filled the streets and rooftops to greet their King. They shouted, “Hosanna!” “Save us!”
During the week Jesus cleared the Temple of crass materialism, healed the sick and lame and blind, cast out demons and unclean spirits, and taught in the synagogue – all the things He normally did when He hit town. But this was the time of Passover and the Jews needed a spotless lamb for a sacrifice. And they chose the perfect, spotless Lamb of God.
Thursday evening we sat with Jesus and shared His last meal on this earth, and all He asked was that we remember Him. As if we could ever forget. Then one of His closest followers, His closest friends, betrayed Him to the chief priests of the Jews.
He was arrested and carried off to face a mockery of a trial. Those same people who cheered Him and begged for salvation just a few days earlier now called out for His blood. “Crucify Him!”, they shouted. “Crucify Him!”
So on Friday, they nailed Him to a cross where He gave up His mortal life - took His last breath as a man and died. They laid His lifeless body in a borrowed tomb, sealed the entrance with a huge boulder, and placed armed guards at the door so that none of His followers could come and take His body.
For us – mere mortal humans – that would have been the end of the story. But Jesus was no ordinary man. Listen to what happened next, according to the Gospel account of the Apostle John, the entirety of chapter 20, reading from the New Living Translation of our Bible…
During the week Jesus cleared the Temple of crass materialism, healed the sick and lame and blind, cast out demons and unclean spirits, and taught in the synagogue – all the things He normally did when He hit town. But this was the time of Passover and the Jews needed a spotless lamb for a sacrifice. And they chose the perfect, spotless Lamb of God.
Thursday evening we sat with Jesus and shared His last meal on this earth, and all He asked was that we remember Him. As if we could ever forget. Then one of His closest followers, His closest friends, betrayed Him to the chief priests of the Jews.
He was arrested and carried off to face a mockery of a trial. Those same people who cheered Him and begged for salvation just a few days earlier now called out for His blood. “Crucify Him!”, they shouted. “Crucify Him!”
So on Friday, they nailed Him to a cross where He gave up His mortal life - took His last breath as a man and died. They laid His lifeless body in a borrowed tomb, sealed the entrance with a huge boulder, and placed armed guards at the door so that none of His followers could come and take His body.
For us – mere mortal humans – that would have been the end of the story. But Jesus was no ordinary man. Listen to what happened next, according to the Gospel account of the Apostle John, the entirety of chapter 20, reading from the New Living Translation of our Bible…
1 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought He was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will go and get Him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to Him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them His message.
19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” He said. 20 As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and His side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again He said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in His hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in His side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” He said. 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand into the wound in My side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me.”
30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name.
--John 20 (NLT)
Let us pray… Father God, Your Son Jesus gave everything for us, ending His mortal life on a cross before You resurrected Him back to His life eternal. While we are saddened beyond words that He had to die for us, we celebrate with great joy that He still lives! Our risen Lord and Savior lives! Speak to us this morning, Father, and touch us with Your Holy Spirit, that we might better understand what this all means to us. In the blessed name of Your Son Jesus we pray. Amen.
The staff at Outreach Incorporated once wrote this little illustration of what we celebrate today:
In 1887, twenty two years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his coffin was dug up and opened because there were constant rumors that his body was not in the grave. So they dug it up and the body was there. But the rumors persisted, so 14 years later they had to dig it up again. Both times witnesses were present who testified that Lincoln was still in the grave.
Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, similar rumors began to spread throughout the land of Israel. Only this time there were no witnesses who could say that they had seen His body. In fact, to the contrary, many witnesses claimed to have seen him out of His grave and even talked with Him after the resurrection.
As great a man as Lincoln was, there were witnesses to prove he was still in the grave. If one of our Presidents or another leader in our government were to cry out today to Lincoln for help, there would be no response. If a scientist were to cry out to Einstein for help today there would only be empty silence. If someone were to call out to Mohammed or Buddha or Gandhi today there would be no help. But if you and I call out to Jesus Christ there is instant power available to us... power to change lives. Why? Because He lives!
Poor Abe. Apparently, a bunch of people ignored the age old epitaph of “Rest In Peace”. They dug him up twice to ensure his remains were indeed in the grave. You can’t help but wonder just how much proof these people needed!
And sure enough, Abe’s bones were there, right where we would expect them to be. Just as are the bone of Mohammed and Buddha. Just as are the bones of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Every man who has ever lived, left behind earthly remains when they died. All but one.
Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and verified dead. His lifeless body was prepared for burial and then placed in a freshly dug tomb. A stone that required many men to move was rolled into the entryway to seal it and armed men were posted to guard it. The Jewish leaders suspected that some of Jesus’ more radical followers would come and take His body so they could say He had been risen from the dead like He had promised He would, and the chief priests did not want that to happen.
So everyone involved was quite surprised when, on the third day, Mary Magdalene came to the grave and found that the huge stone had been rolled away. She went to get Peter and John, who ran to the tomb to see for themselves. The tomb was empty. Nothing remained but the burial cloths they had wrapped Jesus with. The small cloth they had covered His face with lay aside, neatly folded. As my good brother Pastor Rickey Payne mentioned during our joint Palm Sunday service, Jewish custom had it that if a diner left his plate with his napkin neatly folded, it meant he planned to return. Jesus left the small cloth neatly folded, because He does indeed plan to return someday.
But the point of today’s message is that there was no body in the tomb, no physical remains of flesh and blood. Nor have any been found in over 2000 years! in fact, counter to remains left behind, Jesus appeared in the flesh after His death and burial to over 500 people!
No remains in the tomb. No refutes of the eye-witness accounts of His resurrection. Nothing to dispute what our Gospel accounts record of God bodily raising His Son from the grave. What more proof do we need that our Lord Jesus Christ lives!?!
Well, there were some who tried to refute the amazing story of resurrection: the Jewish high priests. Remember those guards they placed at the tomb so no one would take the body of Jesus? When they returned to the Temple with their story of angels and huge boulders effortlessly rolled away and an empty tomb, the priests couldn’t handle it. They must have believed the guards, because they bribed the men to not tell that story again. But was this enough for them to believe that Jesus was truly the Messiah? Apparently not. What more proof do you think they needed!?!
One of those more than 500 witnesses to the living Jesus was Thomas, who refused to believe until irrefutable proof was given to him. Believe he did, but only because he had the proof right there in front of him. Jesus acknowledged it was good that Thomas finally believed, but our Lord added that those who believe in Him without having proof are blessed by God.
Then Thomas and the other disciples watched over the ensuing days as Jesus performed other miracles before finally going home to be with His Father and sit at the right hand of God. They saw all this with their own eyes, and recorded it in their Gospel accounts so that others might believe and be blessed. Are we willing to accept their word for it, or do we need more proof?
Believe and be blessed. Believe, even without the benefit of tangible proof. Believe without needing more proof that what the Apostle John and his brethren recorded for us. You’ve heard me read before what the author of the Book of Hebrews says in chapter 11, verse 1…
The staff at Outreach Incorporated once wrote this little illustration of what we celebrate today:
In 1887, twenty two years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his coffin was dug up and opened because there were constant rumors that his body was not in the grave. So they dug it up and the body was there. But the rumors persisted, so 14 years later they had to dig it up again. Both times witnesses were present who testified that Lincoln was still in the grave.
Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, similar rumors began to spread throughout the land of Israel. Only this time there were no witnesses who could say that they had seen His body. In fact, to the contrary, many witnesses claimed to have seen him out of His grave and even talked with Him after the resurrection.
As great a man as Lincoln was, there were witnesses to prove he was still in the grave. If one of our Presidents or another leader in our government were to cry out today to Lincoln for help, there would be no response. If a scientist were to cry out to Einstein for help today there would only be empty silence. If someone were to call out to Mohammed or Buddha or Gandhi today there would be no help. But if you and I call out to Jesus Christ there is instant power available to us... power to change lives. Why? Because He lives!
Poor Abe. Apparently, a bunch of people ignored the age old epitaph of “Rest In Peace”. They dug him up twice to ensure his remains were indeed in the grave. You can’t help but wonder just how much proof these people needed!
And sure enough, Abe’s bones were there, right where we would expect them to be. Just as are the bone of Mohammed and Buddha. Just as are the bones of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Every man who has ever lived, left behind earthly remains when they died. All but one.
Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and verified dead. His lifeless body was prepared for burial and then placed in a freshly dug tomb. A stone that required many men to move was rolled into the entryway to seal it and armed men were posted to guard it. The Jewish leaders suspected that some of Jesus’ more radical followers would come and take His body so they could say He had been risen from the dead like He had promised He would, and the chief priests did not want that to happen.
So everyone involved was quite surprised when, on the third day, Mary Magdalene came to the grave and found that the huge stone had been rolled away. She went to get Peter and John, who ran to the tomb to see for themselves. The tomb was empty. Nothing remained but the burial cloths they had wrapped Jesus with. The small cloth they had covered His face with lay aside, neatly folded. As my good brother Pastor Rickey Payne mentioned during our joint Palm Sunday service, Jewish custom had it that if a diner left his plate with his napkin neatly folded, it meant he planned to return. Jesus left the small cloth neatly folded, because He does indeed plan to return someday.
But the point of today’s message is that there was no body in the tomb, no physical remains of flesh and blood. Nor have any been found in over 2000 years! in fact, counter to remains left behind, Jesus appeared in the flesh after His death and burial to over 500 people!
No remains in the tomb. No refutes of the eye-witness accounts of His resurrection. Nothing to dispute what our Gospel accounts record of God bodily raising His Son from the grave. What more proof do we need that our Lord Jesus Christ lives!?!
Well, there were some who tried to refute the amazing story of resurrection: the Jewish high priests. Remember those guards they placed at the tomb so no one would take the body of Jesus? When they returned to the Temple with their story of angels and huge boulders effortlessly rolled away and an empty tomb, the priests couldn’t handle it. They must have believed the guards, because they bribed the men to not tell that story again. But was this enough for them to believe that Jesus was truly the Messiah? Apparently not. What more proof do you think they needed!?!
One of those more than 500 witnesses to the living Jesus was Thomas, who refused to believe until irrefutable proof was given to him. Believe he did, but only because he had the proof right there in front of him. Jesus acknowledged it was good that Thomas finally believed, but our Lord added that those who believe in Him without having proof are blessed by God.
Then Thomas and the other disciples watched over the ensuing days as Jesus performed other miracles before finally going home to be with His Father and sit at the right hand of God. They saw all this with their own eyes, and recorded it in their Gospel accounts so that others might believe and be blessed. Are we willing to accept their word for it, or do we need more proof?
Believe and be blessed. Believe, even without the benefit of tangible proof. Believe without needing more proof that what the Apostle John and his brethren recorded for us. You’ve heard me read before what the author of the Book of Hebrews says in chapter 11, verse 1…
1 Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.
--Hebrews 11:1 (CEV)
I read that from the Contemporary English Version of our Bible because it puts it into our language, our lingo, our way of speaking today. And I think it answers that question: what more proof do we need? Faith gives us proof of what we cannot see.
We can’t see the holes in Jesus hands left by the nails nor the slit in His side from the Roman spear, like Thomas did. We can’t even see Jesus in the flesh, like over 500 folks did, because He is now home with our Father God in heaven. We cannot see Him, but God gave us this wonderful gift of faith, and with it we have all the proof we need.
Believe, even without proof, and be blessed. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, this is Resurrection Day and we joyously celebrate You raising Your Son bodily from the grave, restoring Him to life, letting Him be seen by so many witnesses, just so that we might believe. Jesus took all our sins to His grave and left them there so that we might stand before You some day, washed clean by His precious blood. Thank You, Father God. Thank You, Lord Jesus. We believe, and You bless us so very much.
Lord God, we repent of our sin against You. We beg for Your forgiveness and Your help to be righteous in Your eyes. Hear us now, as we come before You this morning with bowed heads and humbled hearts, calling out into the silence directly from our hearts…
Lord Jesus, in just a few minutes we will share in Holy Communion with You. Your Apostle Paul reminds us to only come to the table if our heart is right with You and our Father God. Jesus, we pray that if anyone among us this morning needs to get right with You, if anyone has not yet accepted You, if anyone still struggles to believe, that You will touch them with the Holy Spirit and move them to seek Your righteousness now before taking of the elements of Your body and Your blood. Bless us, Lord Jesus, in our belief and in our faith. In Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our living God, we pray. Amen.
[Holy Communion followed in the service.]
We can’t see the holes in Jesus hands left by the nails nor the slit in His side from the Roman spear, like Thomas did. We can’t even see Jesus in the flesh, like over 500 folks did, because He is now home with our Father God in heaven. We cannot see Him, but God gave us this wonderful gift of faith, and with it we have all the proof we need.
Believe, even without proof, and be blessed. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, this is Resurrection Day and we joyously celebrate You raising Your Son bodily from the grave, restoring Him to life, letting Him be seen by so many witnesses, just so that we might believe. Jesus took all our sins to His grave and left them there so that we might stand before You some day, washed clean by His precious blood. Thank You, Father God. Thank You, Lord Jesus. We believe, and You bless us so very much.
Lord God, we repent of our sin against You. We beg for Your forgiveness and Your help to be righteous in Your eyes. Hear us now, as we come before You this morning with bowed heads and humbled hearts, calling out into the silence directly from our hearts…
Lord Jesus, in just a few minutes we will share in Holy Communion with You. Your Apostle Paul reminds us to only come to the table if our heart is right with You and our Father God. Jesus, we pray that if anyone among us this morning needs to get right with You, if anyone has not yet accepted You, if anyone still struggles to believe, that You will touch them with the Holy Spirit and move them to seek Your righteousness now before taking of the elements of Your body and Your blood. Bless us, Lord Jesus, in our belief and in our faith. In Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our living God, we pray. Amen.
[Holy Communion followed in the service.]
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