Jesus Who WAS Crucified

Opening Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

1 Corinthians 15:12–20 ESV

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:22-24

Acts 2:22–24 ESV

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Sermon:

Good Morning Church!

I was especially Glad on Resurrection Sunday When they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

For He is Risen! (He is Risen Indeed!)

Well Today we are, since we were already sort of mixing up order and doing things a little out of Whack recently, I thought it would be fitting and appropriate for us to skip ahead a little bit in the book of Matthew. We will still be in Matthew, but instead of Jesus storming into the temple and driving out all uncleanness within in, We will look further ahead. Don’t worry, we will go back to that to make our way through Matthew and actually we will come back to this one again when we get here later. But i think it is good and right for us to look at the resurrection narrative in the book of Matthew.

So we will be Reading Matthew chapter 27 verse 62 to Matthew 28 verse 10. And as we contemplate this passage as we read it, I don’;t want us to forget what all has taken place before this passage.

The last time we have seen jesus was on good Friday. Where he was brutally murdered. in the most unjust, the most NOT right trial that has ever occured on this planet. Which is bold to say but I stand behind it, for in this trial the only man who was truly and fully innocent was sentenced to death. The people who once, on last Sunday, Palm Sunday at the triumphal entry were glorifying his name were within one week crying out CRUCIFY HIM. Pilate found nothing wrong with him yet HE still delivered him over to death. When the people were given an option: Shall we free Barabbas the thief, the insurrectionist or should we free jesus the crown chanted: GIVE US BARABBAS! He was mocked, he was flocked, beaten, a crown of thorns thrust upon his head, he was truly put Murdered, he was CRUSHED. But that is NOT how the story ends. and THAT becomes the beauty of Easter.

For Jesus, who WAS crucified, did not stay dead!

Matthew 27:62–28:10 ESV

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, Let us Begin with a word of Prayer:

Dear Lord we do thank you for today. We praise you for you are great and greatly to be praised. We wonder at your strength and might. WE are in awe of your Beauty and your grace. WE are enlivened by your power at work within us. That we can stand boldly and proclaim that the same power that raised Christ from the grave is alive and well within us causes our hearts to sing. Thank you for causing our dead hearts to come alive, giving us new life, giving us hope, giving us a future. thank you for the precious gift of the resurrection, may you give us eyes to see it ever more clearly, It is in Jesus name we Pray. AMEN

here we have it. this is the moment that all of Matthew was building up to. This is the moment, it is perhaps more right to say, that ALL OF SCRIPTURE was building up to. Here we have Jesus, the christ, the messiah the son of the Living God. Brutally murders, but that is not the whole story. for we know, we read in Isaiah and elsewhere that it was for our transgressions that he was afflicted and pierced. that the chastisement that brought us peace was placed upon him BUT death could not contain him. As the Living God, as the second person of the trinity, he had the keys and power over death. and so he arose in glorious victory and power.

Today I would just like to look at this passage. We are not going to sort of walk through it verse by verse like we normally would, because we will do that when we get to this passage later this year again. But rather I would like to note a few things that I hope can minister to our souls here. thoughts that i find interesting and illuminating.

And the first thing I want to note, the reason we read this first part. Is that when we are confronted with jesus who claims to have power to raise from the dead we have only a few options. WE can, worship at his feet, proclaiming holy holy holy is he. or we can reject him. and this is highlighted in the Pharisees and the FEAR OF MEN.

The FEAR of Men

The Pharisees, having killed Jesus still somehow feared him. their ultimate fear seems to be that their great scheme to murder this man will backfire on them (spoiler alert, it does, just not for the reasons THEY think!). Their great fear is that MAYBE just MAYBE they wouldn't be able to defeat jesus on the cross like they thought and maybe the memory and the thoughts of jesus would live on to haunt them.

It turns out the Pharisees remember better than the disciples do what Jesus said. Matthew 27:13: Sir we remember what that IMPOSTOR, that LIAR, the one who claimed to be king of the Jews, the who claimed to be the son of God the one who claimed to be able to forgive sins, the one who claimed to be able to tell US that WE were wretched. that we were children of iniquity. the one who dared confront us, that IMPOSTOR. we remember that he said he would rise on the third day. and we will not have that. — Maybe his disciple remember too — Which, quite frankly is giving a lot of credit to the disciples that they probably shouldn’t have. but MAYBE the disciples will break in and they will take his body and maybe they will do SOMETHING to try and convince people that Jesu rose from the dead. and if that word gets out we are RUINED. it would be, this is their phrase that: The last FRAUD WOULD BE WORSE THAN THE FIRST. in other words: it would be bad for US if this Jesus rose from the dead. WHY: because if he can do that he can DO ANYTHING!

So Pilate says: OK. Have a guard of soldiers. as many soldiers as you need, and you make that place as secure as your can. you lock every door, you do everything that it takes to MAKE SURE no one thinks this Jesus could or did raise.

So They scheme and they plot. they seal the stone, they set a guard. they do everything they can. For they fear this man - WHO IS DEAD.

but here is the blessed irony - they Should fear him. for he becomes vindicated by THE POWER OF GOD

The POWER of God

The fear of man is that maybe we can’t be done with this jesus, maybe he will still be a thorn in our flesh, maybe our plan and our scheme and our thoughts will not work out they way that we hoped and planned. but the power of God shows that there is NO being done with this man!

Here come Mary and the other Mary. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, hows that a way to be remembered. We all get to heaven, nice to meet you I’m David, oh, I am THE OTHER MARY. They come to see the tomb. and there is an earthquake. An Angel of the Lord descends for heaven and came and rolled back the stone. this great stone that took an army to put in place and make secure. this stone guarded by the solders, the ANGEL it seems with very little trial and very little trouble rolls back the stone. And then he just sits on it.

When the solders see this, this angel of the Lord, his appearance like lightning, his clothing white as snow they tremble in fear. They become like dead men. They see this agent of the power of God and they are now walking dead men. the angel turns and says to the women. DO NOT BE AFRAID. WE know why you are here. you came to seek, here are the words of the angel. JESUS WHO WAS CRUCIFIED. verse 6: he is NOT HERE, for HE IS RISEN!

Why Mary and other Mary do you look for Jesus in this tomb. he is not here. he has risen. Why do you search for the living among the dead. he is not there. the Pharisees knew and remember he said he would rise on the third day, so you who know him and believed him, why do you think he would be in his grave? He is RISEN INDEED! Come, if my word is not enough, if Jesus saying he would do this is somehow not enough for you that's fine, come look. See where he laid. See the cloths he was wrapped in the cloth covering his face. come and see this, and when you see that he is not here, and when you see this great stone rolled away, and when you see the power of God that raised Christ from the dead you go tell the disciples HE IS COMING, JESUS IS ALIVE. he is going before you to Galilee. not only is he alive but he is on his way! you better catch up. you are going to see him!

the Power of God conquers all the fear and trouble and trials of man. the power of God that raised Chrsit from the dead, no exhaled and glorified, that power on display for the world to see.

and here is the tragedy (for lack of a better word) of being a pharisee. You were afraid the disciples might steal the body and the last fraud would be worse than the first. but here is the news: GOD RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. Proving that all he said and taught was WAS NOT a fraud, but rather that this man was God. For now you see that the one that you crucified was both King and God, He truly was the messiah and he is the only Savior of all mankind. not a fraud, but the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. and it is HERE that the power of God is on display.

Here in the resurrected Christ is ALL the power and goodness and grace and mercy of God, visible to all mankind. He conquered all the enemies of man., On the cross he conquered sin, in the resurrection he conquered death, they are BOTH DONE AND DEAD We do not fear them anymore. and THAT is the power of God. SO GO tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. Go shout it from the mountain tops. go proclaim the goodness of God who raised Chrsit from the dead.

But finally I would like to note for us THE FRUIT OF THE RESURRECTION

The FRUIT of the Resurrection

verse 9: Behold, jesus met them and said: Greetings. Here these two Mary's looking for the disciples, Jesus he is not in the grave, we saw the angle, he is risen, but before them appears Jesus with the understatement of the millennium. GREETINGS. Hello! Hey Mary, hey other Mary. and they came up, took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Worship ought to be the fruit of the resurrection.

Worthy is the lamb who WAS slain, to receive all glory honor power and dominion. and he DIDN'T stay dead. worthy again of all glory honor and praise. Adoration, devotion and service and yes WORSHIP. the fruit of the resurrection is that he became firstborn of the dead. the fruit of the resurrection is that he has now been given a name FAR above all other names. the fruit of the resurrection is that he is now shown to be, for now but also for forever the high King of Heaven. for even death could not hold him. No grave could contain him, for he is the LORD.

So fall at his feet. Worship him. Take hold of his feet for he is our precious savior. To offer to him anything less than the highest praise and adoration, to give to him anything less than EVERYTHING is to rob from the creator of the universe.

The true fruit of the resurrection is that we see our savior glorified, and so we worship him. If Chrsit had not been raised for the dead we would be the most pitiable people. but since he HAS been raised, and thus demonstrating who he is we must then PRAISE him! In Grace Group a few weeks ago we looked at different passage talking about the triumphal entry and we noted that Luke included something else no other writer did, This idea that if the people didn;t praise him on Palm Sunday then the rocks would cry out.

So the question that I bring before you today, on not palm Sunday, but on Resurrection Sunday is this: If on Palm Sunday, as he comes riding on a donkey he deserved praise such that even the rocks should cry out, how about NOW? when he rides not on a donkey, but rather on the clouds. When he has stood in victory over death, as he rules and rings as he has established himself for all time as the one who conquered. Conquered what, conquered all things! how much more NOW ought we say:

Hosanna TO THE SON OF DAVID! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST. May we worship the savior who WAS crucified, but now lives. Let us Pray

COMMUNION:

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”