Easter 2024: Luke 24:1-12
Notes
Transcript
“Going to a Tomb
“Going to a Tomb
Going to a tomb
Introduction:
Review of Good Friday: Journey to the Cross
Filled with awe, and wonder…
Sang songs like “Were You There,” “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” “Man of Sorrows, What a Name.”
In practice, some of the songs even sound uncomfortable to sing.
The Journey to the Cross is a journey of spiritual reflection, introspection. Somber tone.
Easter: Singing: Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Come People of the Risen King
But as we will see this morning, the journey to the TOMB in this passage is quite similar to the the Journey of the Cross.
It doesn’t sound so optimistic…
We’re going to journey with the women this morning:
Mary, Joanna, Mary, and the other women
On route TO the Tomb
Leaving the Tomb
Journey Expectation: Starts with a Mission
Good Friday: Last Words on Good Friday
Last words Quoted from scripture: verse 55, “The women who had come with him from Galilee, followed, and saw the tune and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared, spices and ointments.” I took out the second half of the verse to make an intentional tie between Good Friday and Easter.
Luke repeats this sense of responsibility the women have of preparing the body for burial…
But there are complications…
What we DIDN’T Read:
Verse 56b: “On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”
Friday afternoon:
Hastily Prepared Spices
But they didn’t have time to prepare for the body because doing so would be considered “WORK” on the Sabbath.
Friday Night:
Stopped preparing=Beginning of Sabbath
Rested because they were obedient:
Wrong to anoint a body on a Festival or move a limb.
What were the spices made up of?
Sunday Morning:
First crack of dawn so they can see what they’re doing…
verse 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.”
24:1: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
So they did:
Approaching the Grave with a mission
A Mission with pure motives, sincere motives, obedience to the process
“They rested according to the commandment…”
And yet, and yet… THEIR MISSION, as good as it was, WAS COMPLETELY HIGHJACKED!
They waited until after the Sabbath
Jeff shared about going to church as a kid. Go to church without the Gospel
Being a good person. Studious person
And yet, and yet…
Our Mission and motives are EMPTY and VOICE without the EMPTY and VOID TOMB!
Our Mission and motives are EMPTY and VOICE without the EMPTY and VOID TOMB!
Millions of people go to church each Sunday without the hope of the resurrection
Journey to the Grave started with ALARM and CONFUSION
Luke 24:2 “2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb…”
Their mission was to find a dead body to prepare for burial.
Instead, their mission halted immediately.
You can’t fulfill a burial without a body!
THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY!
Just for Laughs Gags
Hidden Camera TV Show out of Quebec.
No words spoken, just music in the background.
One prank went like this:
People walking outside a church are asked by someone to bring in a bouquet of flowers into a funeral. As they have this conversation outside the church someone takes a picture of the stranger, quickly prints a large photo of the stranger, and places into a picture frame. Someone then quickly prop it up on a stand in the church right above the casket.
So imagine: walking into a funeral trying to be helpful, only to interrupt the actual funeral service. As you walk up to deliver the flowers, the pastor stops and looks at you completely shocked!
He looks back at the picture, and looks back at you as if he’s looking at a ghost. And you see that it’s your picture over the coffin!
He lifts the coffin and no one is there and everyone is happy!
It’s like, THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY!
Total shock.
Some laugh historically.
FACES ARE SO CONFUSED… GOES FROM SHOCK AND AWE TO TOTAL CONFUSION!
FROM ALARM TO CONFUSION
Luke 24:3-4: “But when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
All these questions:
Who would do such a cruel thing as to take a corpse?
Why did they do this?
When did they do this?
HOW, how did they move the stone?
Perplexed:
Mixture of doubt, confusion…
Total loss, what is going on here…
Journey to the Grave continued with FEAR
5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
Some people in that Just for Laughs Gag literally ran out of the church screaming in fear!
“It’s really funny, but it’s also sort of sad…”
And if you think that prank is over the top, just do what most of Canada does and blame Quebec.
Frightened and bowed
But when things don’t go right with a fundamental aspect of reality, then fear is a pretty instinctual reaction, right?
Once you have a moment to process…
Children’s Message: (Kids expected something to be in there)
“I was expecting something to be in the tomb.”
Where did it go?
What’s going on?
Confusion
But no one cares about a piece of paper.
People deeply care about their loved ones…
So many things happening all at once:
“We’re not seeking the living, we’re seeing the dead?”
The angels speak into their fear:
6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
How did we come?
All the different emotions coming the cross?
The Journey to the TOMB:
Came with Religious Control
Pure but misguided sense of mission
Sense of duty, responsibility.
Attending for all the right reasons: “You just have to go to church on Easter.”
Came with Confusion
What’s going on here, really?
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
Perhaps Jesus’ body was stolen.
Friend of mine told me this past week that last Year’s Biggest Google Search was Damar Hamlin
Damar Hamlin went into Cardiac Arrest after a major hit.
Miraculous recovery due to the excellent work of the medical staff from the Bills and the Bengals.
First time he was back to a game, Damar Hamlin was watching from the an executive sweet. The camera kept trying to get a picture of Damar, but it was snowing so much, you couldn’t see him. All you saw was this figure waving.
I didn’t know this, but apparently that got the conspiracy theory folks out to play… Damar didn’t live:
Theories about a body double
Theories about the NFL closing him.
Totally ridiculous!
BUT, isn’t it more ridiculous to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Came with Concern:
Afraid what the resurrection may mean for you, what it would DO to you!
Just as the snow eclipsed Hamlan’s face, so the resurrection eclipses our lives!
Afraid to face the truth.
How to leave the Tomb?
Answer: Control, confusion, and concern gives way to RECOLLECTION
8 And they remembered his [Jesus] words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
They remembered:
Luke 9:22 “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Luke 9:44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”
Luke 18:31–33 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.””
Feelings of control, confusion and concern give way to Recollection
We have way more than Luke to help us with our recollection:
Like Arnold Swarzeneggar, live a life of TOTAL RECALL of the Resurrection
Root: REMEMBER AND GRAVE have the same root:
Remembering= “is to be mindful of”
TO BE MINDFUL OF THE EMPTY BUT NOT VOID TOMB.
To remember is to bring to remembrance. That remembrance transformed our thinking!
How will you be leaving this service?
You can leave screaming like the Just for Laughs Gag, which would be awkward and uncomfortable for everyone.
But will you leave dying to your sense of control, or to confusion, or concern:
Control to Freedom
Confusion to clarity
Concern to Joy!
Me: "Hello, You’ve reach Grace Church.”
Person: "Oh, I must have the wrong number, I was looking for 'Body and Soul' (a foot care clinic in town????)
Me: "Well, sir, it's Easter weekend and at this church we'll be reflecting on the death and resurrection of body and soul, but I'm guessing that's not what you're looking for?"
Person: "um, no." click