Making Conversation: Too Good To Be True (Mark 16:9-16)

Too good to be true?

I’m old enough to remember getting those envelopes in the mail. “You’ve just won $100,000.00”. How many of you have opened an envelope like that? You open the letter only to read the words.. “This could be you.” These days we get emails from Ace Hardware and Kohl’s. You’ve won a new gas grill. All we need from you is a $100 dollar deposit guaranteeing the mailing. The BBC is currently running a series on its podcasts about a female celebrity who sends guys her picture and after developing a relationship with them and promising of all things marriage, begins asking for money. Thousands of guys have been taken in, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been scammed. And it’s not the celebrity it is just her picture and she doesn’t live in florida she lives somewhere in Africa or Europe.

If it sounds too good to be true, it’s ________________.

We’ve all been taken in by someone at some point. How do you feel? You feel foolish. And you promise yourself this will never happen to me again. It does. But over time, we do tend to look at unbelievable news as news to be ignored or not to be believed.

That happens in today’s story. I dont’ know if you noticed when we were reading the text, but that’s a running theme after Jesus rose from the dead. With his best friends. We looked last week at the witnesses, the women that were told that Jesus was alive. Here in another biography of Jesus, we are told about the reaction to the women’s message and it’s not pretty. But first things first… here’s what’s happening in this story. Again, this is the day that begins with women making their way to the tomb. These women are going to the tomb of their best friend and they are planning on putting burial perfume on the body. And when they get there there is no body. Instead, an angel tells them that Jesus has risen and they are told to go and tell the rest of his friends. And that’s when it gets interesting.

Jesus appeared.

Three times in this story, it says Jesus appeared. What the angel said is true. Jesus is alive and he’s making appearances. To his friends. This resurrection is real. These aren’t visions. When it says “Jesus appeared”, the writer’s are telling us that Jesus showed up and was seen. There are witnesses to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. But here’s what happens when Jesus shows up and shows himself to his friends. Here’s the rhythm of this story.

Jesus appears.

Mary goes.

Mary reports.

They don’t believe her.

And again. The same thing.

Jesus appears.

The 2 friends go.

The 2 friends report.

They don’t believe them.

And then there’s a third appearance.

Jesus appears.

Jesus rebukes.

They hadn’t believed the reports.

There’s no missing this pattern here. Jesus appears. The friends go. The friends report. The rest of them don’t believe the reports. We don’t know who the two friends are. But Mary Magdalene was a known friend. One of Jesus’ closest friends. They all knew her. But it was too good to be true. Multiple accounts of Jesus being seen and Jesus being alive. And still there is this persistent unbelief. Mark, who is writing this doesn’t want us to miss this. They don’t believe. They don’t believe. They don’t believe.

This has been a running theme throughout Mark’s biography. Jesus is to be believed and yet people have a hard time believing that He is the Messiah, the Promised One of the Old Testament, the Son of God, God himself. People, including those closest to Jesus just don’t believe. If Jesus is God, then God has a problem because people aren’t inclined to put their belief in God or at least the kind of God who comes in humility and suffering and finally gets himself killed. What kind of a God is that?

We want a God who is going to come in power, but we want that power to be used against those who aren’t with our program. We want His power to fulfill our expectations. And Jesus is coming and not fulfilling anybody’s expectations. He’s hanging with sinners. He has no where to sleep at night. He spends his time talking about carrying crosses. and then he carries a cross himself and he dies. What kind of a God does that? He isn’t to be believed.

And then this Jesus rises from the dead and his best friends continue this story of fear and unbelief. It’s too good to be true. You know if I’m those friends, I’m listening to Mary and the 2 disciples who say they saw Jesus alive, and I’m sitting there thinking… if he can rise from the dead, why did he get himself killed to begin with? He wouldn’t do that, would he?

And then there’s Jesus himself and he shows up and he’s not explaining how he died, he isn’t giving details as to how he rose from the dead.. I’m sure they had questions, but this is Mark’s summary of the conversation between Jesus and his friends:

Mark 16:14 “Later he appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen.”

He rebukes them because they didn’t believe the gospel. They didn’t believe he rose from the dead, even though they had reports from credible witnesses, including Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ best friends. As Mark is telling this story, Mark wants us to see this close connection between Jesus rising from the dead and the necessity of faith. Faith in Jesus and His resurrection. And among those who think it’s too good to be true and have written the resurrection off are those who are his best friends.

Go and preach

The conversation doesn’t end there between Jesus and his friends. Jesus himself is giving them some instructions, based on the same pattern.

Mark 16:15-16 “Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..

You’ll notice the same pattern here. This is the gospel pattern. The gospel is to be shared. The resurrection of Jesus is to be shared.

Go.

Preach (report)

Whoever believes..

The same thing that Mary was commissioned with and the 2 disciples were commissioned with is now their commission. Go. Report. Report what? Report that Jesus is alive. Wherever you are going, whatever conversations you are having, be talking about my death and resurrection.

Preaching to believe

In this conversation, belief is the end game here. Jesus and the Gospel of his death and resurrection for sinners are constantly moving toward what is going on in the heart. Moving toward belief. In fact, it is the Gospel that creates faith in us. His resurrection gives us life and gives us faith to receive the very news that is so unbelievable… that Jesus loves sinners. And died for sinners. and rose for sinners. Jesus has grace for sinners. Me and you.

The most amazing thing and probably tragic thing about those friends who didn’t believe the reports is that they were hanging on to what they thought was real, and their own ingenuity, their own science, their own power and control and what they were missing in their unbelief was the very thing they needed the most. Who is it that calms the fears? Who is it that has eternal life? Who is it that has grace and mercy for us in the moment, and all of the time? It’s Jesus. We have no greater need and we’re to busy trying to be the hero of our own story we simply don’t believe that the risen Jesus is enough for us. And all of us, we do this all of the time. We are so forgetful of the gospel.

You know who didn’t have a hard time believing Jesus and the things he said and who he was? The sinners. The outcasts. Jesus is absolutely beautiful for the sinners and outcasts. Those who know they are messed up and don’t measure up. Those who know their own morals and virtues are a big letdown.

They preached everywhere

Mark tells us that those friends leave that conversation and they turn the world upside down. And it’s not because they somehow figured it out… somehow they were smarter or better than everyone else. No, they know that this Jesus is risen gives them the belief they need. This Jesus who is risen knows their unbelief and knows their failures and he loves them anyway. I mean Jesus’ conversation just turns on a dime.. he says something to them about the unbelief, and the very next thing he is saying is Go and tell what you’ve seen. There’s no guilt. There’s no shame. There’s just grace and love. In fact, the “go” there is really… as you are going. I know you’re going to go with this. That’s unbelievable love. That kind of love is the kind of love that is too good to be true.

The Gospel is our life

The Gospel is too good to be true. It really is. Jesus loves and forgives sinners unconditionally. That’s a scandal. That doesn’t happen in our culture. Jesus knows all about us and he loves us and forgives us anyway. Too good to be true. That Gospel is aimed at our belief. It is to be believed. All of the time. In all of life’s circumstances. And it’s aimed at our neighbor’s belief. The goal of these conversations that we have is bringing others along to believe in the same Jesus we do. To bring them along in the same story that is too good to be true. Jesus lived. And died. And rose. For sinners. For me. For you. For them.

Jesus is in the Super Bowl

Tonight is one of the biggest holidays in America. People who don’t follow football will be watching the Super Bowl with friends. More than half of all Americans will be watching the game tonight. Spending on food rivals some of our biggest holidays tonight. And tonight will also be an opportunity to talk with our friends and families about Jesus. Not necessarily tonight. But tomorrow and the rest of the week.

The theme of the ads is He gets us. And Jesus does get us. Jesus is one of us. He has flesh and blood like us. He came and identified with our messiness. Too often Jesus has been presented as judge and jury. That’s the Jesus I grew up with. That’s not Jesus. The Jesus who died and rose from the dead provides us with grace and love that is unconditional. Most of the critics of the ad think Jesus is out to damn people. Jesus didn’t do that in his lifetime. He did it with the religious leaders who thought behavior was more important than the gospel. But not with the masses.

We have the opportunity to do this next Sunday during and after the Super Bowl. 2 He Gets Us commercials will air during the Super Bowl. And people will be talking about the ads. 74% of the people we know are very interested in spiritual things. 55% are glad to have spiritual conversations. And the reality is that most of them want Jesus, want to talk about Jesus, but they don’t like Christians. They don’t like the church. And a lot of that is for good reason. The church is not a safe place for a lot of people.

These ads are an opportunity to be something else for people who want the connection to Jesus.

Three ways to engage those who watch:

Be discerning.

You don't need to lead a formal discussion unless it organically happens. That might be right after the ads run, or it could be days after the Super Bowl. Consider the best opportunity for conversation, based on the atmosphere and your relationship with those who encounter the ads.

Be curious.

Ask people what they think about what they saw. What did they like? How did the spots make them feel? When you do share, speak from your personal experience. No need to be an expert or answer every question either–you can always direct people to HeGetsUs.com to get more information.

Stay connected.

Encourage your friends and guests to connect with you and stay connected to He Gets Us on social media. There’s sure to be conversation around the ads in the days following the Super Bowl. Some have suggested that these ads don’t say enough about who Jesus and what He has done. Of course they don’t. They are simply conversation starters.

Let’s Pray.

Do you struggle with unbelief? I do. And this is the answer. This Table provides life. This Table creates faith. Jesus said the one who eats his body and drinks his blood will have eternal life. So we come to this Table and receive Jesus in faith, even as He creates faith in us when we come to the Table. He is Here for you and for me and for our unbelief.