Luke 24:1-24 | Empty
Good morning Church! Welcome and Happy Easter!
I know you know the answer to this question but I’m going to ask it any way: Do you know what we’re celebrating this morning? Yes, of course you know, it’s what we’ve been singing about! Right, we celebrate the empty tomb and the risen Christ.
And before we move beyond those facts I’d like to read with you an historical account from eye witnesses as to these facts!
From Luke 24:1-12, we learn that the tomb was indeed empty and Jesus is alive.
Luke 24:1–12 (NIV)
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
Let me stop there for one second. Wes sent me a video this week from Tim Keller and his wife Cathy speaking about this particular fact, the fact that the stone had been rolled away. Until they said it, I hadn’t actually give this fact that much thought.
Why was the stone rolled away? Was it so Jesus could get out of the tomb?
Well, that can’t be the case. How do I know, because later in the historical account we see Jesus passing through walls and locked doors! Jesus didn’t need to be let out of the tomb! So why then did He send his angels to roll that thing away?
It wasn’t so He could be let out. It was so that we could be let in, to test and verify the truth that He had indeed risen from the grave!
You see God does not expect you and I to have a blind faith or a faith that is unreasonable. God’s given us facts that that can be verified. The tomb was empty. The grave clothes were still there because Jesus passed through them in the same way He passed through the locked doors and showed Himself to his disciples. A crowd of 500 saw the risen Christ. Thomas put his hands into Jesus’ nail pierced side. Hundreds of people testified to this truth. Jesus was and is alive! And many of these same witnesses stuck with their accounts to the point of death by crucifixion and being burned alive and boiled in oil.
Let me just ask you this, would you die for a lie? Chuck Colson was a pastor who only became a pastor after working for President Richard Nixon. Colson was a part of the 12 who conspired to cover up the Watergate scandal. As he tells it, do you know how long it took for those involved in that cover up to come clean with the truth? 3 weeks. They all started turning on one another to try and save their own skin!
But here, we see Jesus disciples willing to face not just prison as with the Watergate liars, but they were willing to die gruesome deaths claiming the truth that Christ did rise from the dead! Would you die for a lie?
The stone was rolled away so we could verify the truth of the testimony. Jesus’ body was not stolen. He rose from he dead! But this strength we later see in Christ’s disciples was not always there. Let’s keep reading and what I want you to notice is the weakness!
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Did you catch the weakness on display in these verses? It’s striking to me how the men respond to what the Angels say to the ladies.
“Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” The things Jesus told you would happen. They happened!
And how do the disciples respond to this word from angels?
“It seemed to them like nonsense.” Peter was curious enough to go verify the scene for himself, but still, his conclusion isn’t to trust and believe, we’re told He wondered to himself what had happened!
The story continues in Luke and the other gospels. Jesus arose but His disciples, those chosen, hand picked by Jesus, just could not wrap their heads around the truth!
And we see time and time again, human weakness that meets the compassionate strength of the Risen Lord.
In John 20 we see that Mary weeps in the the garden. She’s broken. Weak. Empty. Just wanting to embalm her friend and Lord’s body. That was her strength. Offering care! She fell back onto her strength, and as she’s relying on her own understanding and her own strength, in her distress, she misses Jesus! She can’t see Him! She thinks He’s the gardener! “Where have you taken His body she demands!”
The Risen Christ stands before her and she can’t see him! What weakness!
Then, in Luke, Jesus comes across two men walking on the road to Emmaus, talking of the recent events. They are confused, disillusioned! Relying on their own strength trying to reason out what had just happened! Jesus was their guy and now He’s dead! They thought He’d be the one to finally free them from the Empire’s power!
And Jesus comes along but they don’t recognize Him and He says to them ““How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” But they didn’t see Jesus! They didn’t know who was speaking with them! What weakness! They didn’t understand, they didn’t see God, that is until Jesus made Himself known to them!
And then there are Jesus’ disciples. Where are they in all of this. Well they deserted their friend to begin with. Peter was especially disloyal and before the rooster crowed he denied knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but 3 separate times! Pretty weak if you ask me!
And now they are cowering in some room behind a locked door! Again, how weak!
But Jesus seeks them out! He appears to them in that room on a couple occasions. Thomas isn’t there on the first occasion and he doubts. How weak! “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”(John 20:25b) But Jesus comes to Him and allows Thomas to feel Jesus’ nail-pierced side and hands.
But even still the disciples cannot in their weakness of mind and in their feeble faith, they can’t make sense of what God is up to and so what do they do? They fall back on their strengths!
Peter, perhaps so crushed by his failure to be a loyal friend, gives up! He gives up on all of it! After seeing the risen Lord Jesus, Peter and the disciples just give up!! What weakness! You see before Jesus several of these men were fishermen and so when their hopes are dashed and all seemed loss, they fall back upon what they thought they were good at.
Jesus had spent the last 3 years teaching them how to fish for men, but they failed. They were too weak to do the job and so they choose rather to fall back upon their strengths and they head to the boats to fish for fish once again!
What weakness Church!! Despicable. Disrespectful. Disgusting weakness. They should be ashamed! They were, but Jesus Christ was not!
In spite of their weakness, precisely because of their weakness, Jesus seeks out his friends, His followers, His children and He releases the strength and power of resurrection upon them!
You see Church the what of Easter is easy. The facts are easy to celebrate. The tomb is Empty and Jesus is alive, but the why, well the why of Easter is sobering.
You see, until you embrace the sobering reality of your utter weakness and emptiness before God you and I will never be able to celebrate or enjoy the results of Christ’s Resurrection!
That empty tomb is meant to symbolize your life and mine apart from Christ! Empty and full of Rags. That’s us with out Jesus! We have nothing! We can do nothing apart from the resurrection power of relationships with Jesus Christ!
Here’s what I’m telling you this morning: Easter tells us that Christianity is a crutch. It’s a crutch for the weak and the wounded. It’s a crutch for the weary. Christianity is a crutch for the hurting and the humble! It’s a crutch for the empty.
I find it a bit ironic that when we speak of crutches for the physically wounded no one has any objection to them.
Right, “Have you ever seen someone using one of these and thought? What a loser? What a weak piece of garbage. Man up little lady. I know your femur is shattered in multiple places, but have some self-respect. And then you rip that crutch from her. Who would do such a thing. Only a psychopath.
So, what's so bad with with a crutch when it comes to Christianity? Well. Crutches are for cripples and ain't nobody wants to see themselves as a cripple, now do they. That's offensive to us. To suggest that we might be weak that we might not have it within ourselves to fill our lives with meaning. To find happiness. To find our passion in life. It's offensive to suggest that we as humans, as Americans, we might not have what it takes. That we are too weak to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. And as hard as we may pull, all the strength we can muster will never be enough.
Church, did you see the weakness embodied in the friends of Jesus! They had nothing. They failed miserably! Their brains were too small! They were too afraid. When Jesus stood right in front of them, in their fear, relying on their own strengths they couldn’t see the risen Lord!
Only when they emptied themselves did they see! Only when they embraced their weakness and ran to Jesus did Jesus show Himself to be strong in and through them! His love for us is greater than our weakness.
So too, only when we empty ourselves of ourselves will we truly be able to experience the joys, the help and the strength that comes from the empty tomb. The disciples had to come to an endof themselves and come to Jesus! With their hopes dashed. Weak impoverished of spirit, crushed, despairing and fearing for their very lives. They were empty, but church, So, was that tomb? When all sense of self was lost. And all hope seemed dead and gone. Up from the grave He arose.
Listen to me. You and I, we are not a special little snowflakes who can do whatever we want. You don't need more self-esteem. The kingdom of heaven does not belong to the strong or those with really really high self-esteems! It belongs to those who consider others more than themselves, and to those who esteem themselves not! The Kingdom of Heaven does not belong to the rich and powerful, to the successful or to those who refuse to mourn the weakness and poverty of man’s spirit! No! as Jesus said, only those who mourn will be comforted and only the pure in heart, that is only those who understand the human hearts’ weakness only those folks will see God!
Think with me about the strong, in the Easter story, the powerful, the productive, the important and successful folks by the worlds standards. Think with me about those who were full of themselves and their achievements! Think with me about the religious leaders. The Romans. Did they see God? Did they experience God’s presence or the joys of resurrection. No. They killed God. And then tried to cover up the resurrection. Think about about that! Those who were full of themselves, they killed God. They buried Him and when He arose they tried to bury Him again. The greatest thing to happen in the history of all creation, they tried to bury and suppress this truth!
Friend, I don’t care what you can do in this life. On your best day, your best efforts, your greatest intentions, your gifting, your successes mean nothing apart from Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
Your work, my work, apart from Jesus is meaningless. Our lives are meaningless. A vapor. Here today and gone tomorrow. As empty as a grave.
Living life only for what you can get or achieve in this life is fleetingly fickle. Vanity. Meaningless! You and I, we are in need of saving, but we cannot save ourselves!
We don’t have what it takes! So the question is who does? Who can save us from our weakness and failure! Who can save us from our sin?
Who will treat us in our wretched weakness with compassion and grace. Church, No body but Jesus!
Who will offer to us strength when we are weary. Who will offer us forgiveness time and time and time again when we fail?
No body but Jesus!
Who else would welcome the company of the hurting and the helpless. Who would dare to seek out those who’ve lost all hope? Not you or I, we despise weak people even though we are them! Who else would offer healing to those whom the world has hurt and have lost all hope! Nobody but Jesus!
Who else could multiply hope and freedom as easily as he does fish and bread. Who else can turn our dusty old religion into a brand new relationship?
What kind of man would claim to be god in the flesh? But then allow that same flesh to be torn apart. What kind of a man would embrace betrayal, insults, torture, mockery and death and live to tell about it.
Nobody, but Jesus.
Nobody. Nobody, But jesus.
Who could speak with such authoritative words and yet, drench them with compassion?
Who could be strong enough to still the storms yet be so gentle and lowly?
Who could allow the hands that created the universe to be nailed to a wooden cross?
Who could choose patience, despite deserving immediate and complete obedience?
Who could be blameless and without fault, but still endure, the judgment that others deserved.
Nobody. Nobody. but Jesus!
Who else will love us like himself? Who else will be with us when all others have left?
Who comforts us in suffering? Who can take my anxiety and turn it into peace?
Who else can reassure me when my mind is drowning and depressed?
Who else will accept me just as I am but love me enough to never leave me there?
Who else would die for me while I was sinking in sin?
Who else can turn the grave into Eastern morning?
Nobody.
Nobody.
Nobody. but Jesus. (Amended from The Skit Guys “No Body but Jesus” https://skitguys.com/videos/nobody-but-jesus)
Church, when the Devil comes to you. When you fail again. When you feel lost, empty, confused, anxious and your fallen self whispers to your heart. To your mind. When you hear the accusing words of condemnation.
“You are weak. You are empty. You have no right calling yourself a child of god, a christian. You are a failure!”
When you hear those accusations whispered to your head and your heart you tell that ancient foe that he is not wrong.
You are empty. Your life is devoid of anything that would merit the love of Jesus. You are empty, but so was that tomb! And God and his sovereign grace has chosen to set his affections upon you not because you’re strong but because you’re weak!
And the King of Heaven has promised. That your weakness. In your weakness, when you acknowledge your weakness, when you embrace it, When you empty yourself of anything and everything, when you esteem no longer. When you call upon Him for help instead of relying upon your own feeble strength, then He will empty that tomb and bring the strength of ressurection to bear upon your life.
In your weakness He will be your strength! He will be strong in you when you are not, when you cannot.
Is Christianity, a crutch. Absolutely. It's a crutch for cripples.
Hear the words of our Risen Lord, you fellow cripples and rejoice!
The Lord Jesus said, He did not come for the healthy for the successful or the gifted. He didn’t come for those who pretend like they have it all together! Nope. It’s not the healthy who need a doctor. But the sick.
Jesus did not come for those who think they are righteous but for those who know they are sinners!
So what do you say. How bout we take up the crutch of Christ together by acknowledge our sickness this morning church.
Let’s together come to the great physician and be healed.
Hear this friend, you are empty but praise the Lord so is that tomb! Esteem yourself no longer, embrace the emptiness and come to Christ! That tomb was emptied so your life doesn't have to be! And know this, when you learn to embrace your weakness and empty yourself of yourself by coming to Jesus for help, there ain’t no body who’s gonna love you like Him!
And that Church is why we celebrate Easter!
Let’s pray and then sing of the reality that there ain’t no body who loves us like Jesus!