“He Is Alive!”

Series: The Gospel Truth/ Subseries: Eight Days that Changed the World

Text: Mt 27:57-Mt 28:1-15

Introduction: (What?)

In Israel today there are at least two locations that are touted as being the burial place of Jesus. One is in a garden tomb near the location of what is called “Gordon’s Calvary”. The other is in the Catholic “Church of the Holy Sepulcher”. No one can say for sure that either is the burial place of Jesus. Today we will look at the burial, the Resurrection and the conspiracy to hide the resurrection and what it means to us today.

Examination: (Why?)

1. The Burial, When Where and How

Mt 27:57-66 “57 When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released. 59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, 60 and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb. The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three day I will rise again.’ So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come , steal him, and tell the people he ‘He has been raised from the dead’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.’ ‘You have a guard of soldiers,’ Pilate told them. ‘Go and make it as secure as you know hos.’ They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.”

Mark and Luke both identify Joseph of Arimathea as a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, although Luke points out that he was not in agreement with the decision of the Sanhedrin to have Jesus crucified. Also John noted that Nicodemus, the priest who had come to Jesus at night (John 3) was there to help with the burial. As mentioned in the introduction, there are at least two places that are venerated as possibly the tomb of Jesus. When I was in Israel I visited the Garden Tomb, also called “Gordon’s Tomb” which is named for the British General who, looking from the balcony of a house in Jerusalem, saw what he thought was the image of a skull and decided that it must be Golgotha, the “place of the skull” where the crucifixion took place. Near this location is a garden in which there is a tomb hewn out of the rock. The tomb fits the description given in the gospels.

Catholics however point to a location in “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre” as the tomb of Jesus. When I was there access to the tomb was closed because of some renovations being made. Both of these tombs were outside the walls of Jerusalem, though the walls of Jerusalem were extended to enclose the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre”.

I believe that neither is the location of the tomb because God doesn’t want us to worship a “place” instead of Himself. That is the case with the location in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. People light candles, kneel and touch the area where they think the preparation of the body took place.

As to the “how” of Jesus’ burial, Josh McDowell presents a compelling description. “The exacting Jewish process started with placing Jesus’ sheet-covered body on a board so it could be bathed with lukewarm water. A.P. Bender, in a Jewish Quarterly Review article, states that the burial cleansing was so thorough, that even Jesus’ nails would have been cleaned and cut with a particular kind of pin, and His hair specially arranged. Jesus would then have been clothed in grave vestments made of white linen. Women would have sewn the linen without knots, which were prohibited. Jewish custom dictated that Jesus’ torso be wrapped to His armpits. His preparers would have then placed Jesus’ arms straight alongside His body, before wrapping more linen cloth around Him, to the neck. A separate cloth was wrapped around His head. As the gummy myrrh would have adhered so closely to Jesus’ body, it would have been difficult by this point for anyone to remove the linen cloth. And yet the Gospels record that the burial cloths were found in the empty burial tomb — neatly folded!

Scripture tells us that about 75 lbs of spices were used with the gummy spices being added after each wrapping of linen.

2. The Resurrection; What’s the Big Deal?

Mt 28:1-10 “1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. 5 The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” 8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus told them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus cast out a number of evil spirits and Mary, wife of Clopas and mother of James the Less and Joseph got up early Sunday morning and went to the “view the tomb”. They knew where it was because they had watched as Jesus was interred there. Mark noted that they had brought spices so that they could complete what had been a hurried burial to beat the 6 p.m. deadline before the Sabbath. He also noted that they were concerned about who would roll the giant stone away from the entrance so they could get in. In Matthew’s account it appears that they were witnesses to the miraculous opening of the tomb, the guards becoming catatonic, the brilliant light surrounding the angel and heard his announcement. It seems that every time an angel appears to a human they always say the same thing… “Don’t be afraid”. Then he gave them the news that Jesus had risen and sent them on their way to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them later in Galilee. (Interestingly Mark, who got the story from Peter, said that the angel said, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter..” (He was probably feeling like somewhat of an outsider because of his denials.)

On their way to take the message to the disciples, voila! Jesus met them. Still in shock, they fell at His feet and worshipped Him. He repeated the message of the angel and sent them off.

So…what is the big deal about the resurrection? For one, Jesus had told them that this would happen. For another, if He had not raised from the dead He would be just like the deceased founders of other religious movements…dead and in a grave. Paul explained the impact of the resurrection.

1 Cor 15:1-19 “1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I work I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me. Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.”

“12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.”

Paul’s key point was that if Jesus had not been raised from the dead, then all who followed Him then and now, should be “pitied more than anyone.” There would be no hope for those who had forsaken all to follow Jesus. Paul gave conclusive proof that Jesus was seen post resurrection by up to 500 people at one time in addition to His appearances to the disciples and to him personally. The bottom line is, without the resurrection there is no hope for anyone, ever.

3. The Conspiracy; Then and Now

Mt 28:11-15 “11 As they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’ 14 If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.”

In the meantime the guards had recovered from having passed out and noticed the stone removed (not just rolled away, but actually taken several feet away from the entrance.) Knowing that their lives were on the line, they rushed to the Jewish leaders and reported what had happened. Quickly the Jewish leaders devised a plot and bribed the soldiers to back their story so that what Jesus had prophesied would not be true.

Today there are still those who try to explain away the resurrection. There are five possible theories: Christianity, hallucination, myth, conspiracy, and swoon.

1. Jesus died;---Jesus rose; Christianity

2. Jesus died; Jesus didn't rise—apostles were deceived and Hallucinated

3. Jesus died; Jesus didn't rise—apostles were myth-makers. Myth

4. Jesus died; Jesus didn't rise—apostles were deceivers (liars); Conspiracy

5. Jesus didn't die, He only Swooned (fainted)

The great Christian apologist, C.S Lewis said; “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Application: (How should I apply this to my life?)

What do you believe about the resurrection? If Jesus was right about that, He is right about all the gospel. If you choose to believe and to surrender to Him, you too will experience resurrection to a new life with Him for eternity. If not…you are doomed.