Risen!
Mt 27:57-28:15
Preacher: David Williams
Sermon Mt 27:57-28:15. Theme: Risen! Sermon by Pastor David Williams. Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 17 April 2022, Easter Sunday.
Jesus is risen! But is he? 3 questions
1. Is it possible?
2. Is it true?
3. Our response? I’ll be addressing those three questions today.
Is it possible?
Is it possible that a man rose from death?
We need to ask a prior question. Is it possible that the universe, that those tiny subatomic particles, that life itself was all created – created by someone outside this universe. Created by God?
If you concede it is possible that God gave life, then why can’t he give life again? Give life to the dead?
It is perfectly reasonable to accept that miracles can happen if we accept that the universe is not all that there is. Is it really so hard to accept that God may exist outside our universe and sometimes intervene in supernatural ways – ways that go beyond the laws of nature and our senses.
Is it true?
It may be possible that a man rose from death, but is it true? For that we need to consider the evidence. Let’s pretend. You are a jury that has to decide if someone should be believed or not. The jury decides on the basis of evidence. Not on superstitions and suppositions but hard facts. Many kinds of evidence can be produced to a jury – the stories of eyewitnesses, what people say, the way they react. Physical objects or their absence can be evidence. Evidence that can only be explained by ruling out other unlikely explanations, and so on. You may decide it is not true – that is your right as a member of the jury. But you must consider, you must weigh up the evidence as a conscientious jury member. We could talk about a lot of things, but we will focus on just five items of evidence today – mainly from Matthew’s account.
a. Female witnesses
After seeing the angel and the empty tomb, the women
8 departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
I don’t want to criticize God. After all, I am a pastor and he is my boss. But what was God doing when he chose women to be his first witnesses to the resurrection!? Women had no credibility at all in ancient courts – either Jewish or Roman. Their testimony counted for nothing. When the women brought the news to the disciples, according to Luke’s account – the disciples dismissed it as an idle tale (Lk 24:11). Here we have the most significant event since the creation of the world, the raising of a man from death – and God picks two women as his eyewitnesses! Was God having a senior’s moment? No-one, not even Jesus’ own disciples, would accept their testimony.
And that, members of the jury, is my first piece of evidence. That is, the fact women that were chosen. Let me explain. If I was a first century Jew inventing a story, I’d want people to believe it. So the last thing I would have done is write women into the story, you get it? So Matthew’s account has the ring of truth. Matthew wrote about the two Marys because they were actually there. That is what truly happened.
b. Empty tomb
28 1 … Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it… 5 But the angel said to the women, “…6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
The tomb was empty – this is my second item of evidence. Some have attempted to explain it away. There was a mass hallucination that fooled both the women and the guards. Or the body was stolen.
The hallucination can be quickly dismissed, for even if there was an initial hallucination – the tomb remained open. You can be sure that the chief priests sent others to check to confirm.
As for body snatchers, there were substantial obstacles to this – physical obstacles - namely the stone and the guards. A huge circular stone was put into a sloping trench with a wedge under it. When ready, the wedge was removed, and the stone rolled down to close the tomb entrance. It would have taken many strong men to move it back uphill.
The guards were posted so that no one would steal the body. That was their job. They were Jewish guards. If they had been Romans, they would have been executed for sleeping on the job. No question. In fact, when an angel let Peter out of prison, his guards were executed (Acts 12:19). Pilate might have executed them anyway, if he found out. So it was a serious matter. The story of several guards sleeping on the job, with engineering works going on around them, is not believable.
According to that great logical thinker, Sherlock Holmes, when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. See the logic? The most likely explanation is that the body rose to life and walked out of the tomb.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen an immortal body. But you would expect it to be different. Jesus’ body was the same and yet different from his earthly body. He was recognised as Jesus - The women immediately knew it was Jesus, and he could be touched – the women took hold of his feet. Yet according to the other gospel accounts, this was a body that could go through locked doors, and sealed tombs. It was the same and yet different.
c. Appearances
These are some of the appearances that were recorded,
9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
17 And when [the eleven] saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
And then Paul gives the most extensive account.
Christ was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
And look at Paul’s focus on seeing:
He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all … I also saw him. 1 Cor 15:3-8.
He was seen by his followers. Followers who had lived and worked with him continuously for the last three years. They stood under his cross as he bled and died in agony. He was seen by at least who was one aunt, and his half-brothers, James and John, people who had known him all his life. There was no mistake – this was Jesus!
Jesus appeared to many over a period of six weeks after the resurrection (Acts 1:3). It was not a one-off vision or hallucination. It is not excessive wishful thinking on the part of the disciples. These were not gullible simpletons. No-one expected it. The gospels keep insisting that the disciples did not have a clue he would rise, despite his many predictions. After all, people just do not rise from the dead – especially after a Roman crucifixion. If you were crucified by the Romans, any chance of revival was just not on the cards. As you would expect, some doubted even as Jesus stood talking before them. It is impossible – this dead man cannot be standing talking to me. And yet he was – fully alive, full of vigour. He was not some ghost either. He was seen, heard and touched. The women took hold of his feet. He ate and drank with them.
Paul’s account was written in about AD55, that is just 20 years after the crucifixion.[1] So most of those who claimed to have seen Jesus would have been alive when Paul wrote his letter. Sceptics could go and question those witnesses. From the very beginning the Jews were keen to quash this story, but they could not. The eyewitnesses were seen as credible, honest witnesses and so the church grew rapidly. Which leads to the next item…
d. Changed lives
The women had gone to the tomb in deep grief. They were in mourning for the suffering and death of their Lord. Yet on meeting the angel and seeing the empty tomb,
8 they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
The disciples were all radically changed by the resurrection. What could explain this change? They went from being timid, cowering behind a locked door, to speaking out boldly, fearing neither prison nor death. Peter, only days before had denied even knowing Jesus, and that before a servant girl, now stood and proclaimed Jesus is Risen to the crowds, including hostile Jews and Romans – who had just crucified his leader. Jesus had predicted Peter would suffer crucifixion, and many of the early followers suffered torture and death – yet nothing would suppress their report, Jesus is Risen!
You don’t get people going to death and a violent death for a story they know to be fake. The chief priests were astounded by their boldness. These men were utterly convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead.
e. Fulfilled predictions
Jesus’ resurrection on the third day had been prophesied in the OT. Jesus himself predicted it several times. Even his enemies knew of his prophecy:
62 … the chief priests … gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’
The angel reminded the women of his prophecy:
6 _He is not here, for he has risen**, as he said**._
This is not the sort of vague gobbledegook you get from a Nostradamus or the horoscopes. You know the sort - Soon you will meet a tall, pleasant stranger…
Jesus’ predictions were all very specific. Four times he is recorded as saying, he will be crucified and on three of those occasions he adds,
and he will be raised – not just sometime, but - on the third day (Matt 16:21, 17:22-23; 20:17-19; 26:1-2).
So I rest my case, members of the jury. The use of female witnesses, how to explain the empty tomb, the large number of eyewitnesses, the radical change in his followers and the fulfilled predictions. What is your verdict? And whether you have decided this years ago, or whether you are looking at this evidence for the first time, what are the consequences?
Our response?
If the resurrection is true, how should we respond? Let me say how we should not respond. I thank our church leaders for this. Church leaders in our State promote a Peace and Justice Walk for Easter. The promo reads,
“Churches and Faith Communities walk together in solidarity for peacemaking and justice keeping… The walk will be in silence.”
Whatever their good intentions, I have three problems with this.
a. Go and tell!
When the angel appeared to the women, when Jesus appeared, what did they both say? Go on a silent march? No way! Go and tell!
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid … 7 go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead…”.
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers …”
The resurrection is the spur for mission and evangelism. We too are witnesses of the risen Christ. We know it from his Word, we know it by the Spirit’s presence in our lives. “It should be impossible for believers to refrain from mission” (Green). So let it rip! Don’t be silent! Go and tell that Jesus is risen! Because …
b. The resurrection is good news!
It is the greatest news ever. And Easter is the one chance each year we have to talk openly about Jesus, crucified and risen. Amazingly, we still have public holidays that celebrate his death and resurrection. Isn’t that incredible in our secular society? What a tremendous opportunity we have each year to explain what they are about. And yet our church leaders are silent. Shame on them! Where is Christ, crucified and risen in their Easter walk. Not one mention. No doubt this is to ensure solidarity with other “Faith communities”. But Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews all need to hear the good news, Jesus is Risen!
Resurrection is at the heart of the gospel – there is no good news without it. Without the resurrection we have a dead teacher, not a Saviour. Christianity is unique – but this is not a popular idea in our so-called tolerant society. Jesus as society would see him, is an extremist. He certainly wouldn’t be allowed any airtime on the ABC. For he said,
I am the way the truth and the life. Noone comes to the Father except through me, Jn 14:6.
How bigoted is that! Unless it is true!
Jesus is unique. Buddha died. Muhammed died. Only Jesus died and rose again. Only Jesus claimed to be Son of God. And the proof of that? These Jews, who all their life had confessed that God is one, they worshipped the risen Christ. They worshipped Jesus as a member of the Trinity.
And [the women] came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him, 28:9.
And when [the eleven] saw him they worshiped him, 28:17.
c. Divine Peace & Justice
Who does not want peace and justice? Especially when we consider the atrocities being committed on Ukraine. But the organisers of this Easter march are missing the only lasting solution. Ultimately peace and justice come through the cross.
Jesus was the Prince of Peace, who died for the sins of the world. As Isaiah prophesied,
The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed, Is 53:5.
Jesus was also the King of Justice. Alone among men, he was truly innocent, without sin. Yet his death bore the combined injustices of the entire human race. Through his death, we, the guilty ones, are set free.
By His knowledge, my righteous Servant will justify many and He will carry their iniquities, Is 53:11_._
The resurrection is proof of these claims. Do you want to promote peace and justice? Forget the Easter walk. Instead proclaim the Easter story. Jesus is risen!
Easter celebrates the most incredible event in the history of the world. God became man, died for our sins, and rose from death. Let us tell the world, Jesus is risen!
Lord Jesus, thank you that you died for our sins, for my sins, and you conquered death itself. Give us boldness to tell the good news – you are risen – that many may turn to you and be saved. Amen.
Source:
· Green, E. M. (2014). The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven. InterVarsity Press.
[1] http://paulbarnett.info/2011/05/chronology-and-the-corinthians1/