Easter 2024

Jesus is Enough

*Barabbas Video*

Is Jesus enough for you?

How has Jesus changed your life?

_________________________________

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 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,”

This morning I want us to look at 2 stories related to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

I want you to ask yourself too, how has Jesus changed you?

Is he enough?

Read Mark 15:6–15 “6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. 9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. 12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. 13 “Crucify him!” they shouted. 14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” 15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”

Barabbus

This story is so strange in the narrative of the gospel.

Why share this random story?

As the video shared, just pay attention to what Barabbas doesn’t do.

He never turns and acknowledges Jesus.

There is no record he thanks Jesus or anyone else. He just is released and leaves.

in vs. 14, Pilate questions the people about their cry for the crucifixion of Jesus…

“Why? what crime has he committed?”

Pilate doesn’t want to do this to Jesus.

-In Luke’s account Luke 23:20 says “20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again.”

You see, I think Pilate wanted Jesus to go free… but he listened to the peer pressure.

This thug Barabbas goes free… Jesus stands now condemned for you and me.

NAME MEANINGS:

Barabbas means “son of the father”

Jesus comes from Hebrew word Joshua.

Joshua means “Yahweh saves”

Christ means “annointed” or “messiah”

In other words, Jesus Christ is “Yahweh, the annointed one who saves.”

Barabbas doesn’t have great meaning.

We don’t know much about Barabbas other than Jesus exchanged His life for Barabbas’

But as Jesus approached the cross in the place of Barabbas, even though Barabbas doesn’t respond...

We have an opportunity too.

Barabbas didn’t realize the merciful God who took His place that day.

But we can!

God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our sins.

Ephesians 2:4–5 “4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Because Jesus rose up from that tomb, we can have life.

Isaiah 53:5 “5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Don’t be Barabbas today.

Don’t see what Jesus has done for you and just walk away.

Living your own life.

Oblivious and ignoring the one who has offered you and given you freedom and salvation!

Too many of us look our sin in the face and think we can dig ourselves out of the mess we find ourselves in.

We think if we just try harder to get it together, we will be ok.

Easter reminds us:

- You will never be enough yourself.

- You cannot get yourself together.

- You cannot clean yourself up enough.

Jesus died a bloody, violent, ugly death taking on the weight of sin that WE OWED!

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus took our death, our sin, our shame, our guilt… so that we could go free like Barabbas.

Is Jesus enough for you?

2. Nicodemus

Let me tell you who Jesus was enough for.

One of the most overlooked parts of the gospel come sin the middle of the gospel story.

1 Corinthians 15:3–5 “3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 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, and then to the Twelve.”

We know Jesus died.

We know he rose from the grave. 1 Corinthians 15 goes on to say that if Jesus did not raise from the grave then our faith is worthless.

Everything hinges on Easter morning that Jesus is alive!

So please don’t miss that this morning.

But there was one guy in the Easter story who believed Jesus was enough.

Growing up, I lived on 2 acres

- Behind my parents property was a big field.

- Beyond the field was just endless woods.

- In the woods was a large pond and a river.

Growing up, this was my sanctuary.

I loved exploring these areas.

It felt massive!

However, as I got older, those woods didn’t seem so big.

My back yard also felt smaller.

from a child’s perspective, everything seems massive.

Your dad looks like he’s 7’2

Your house feels like a castle.

the forts you build made you feel like a king.

But as you grow up the opposite happens.

small things in your mind begin to grow in significance.

Big things seem smaller. And the small things seem more significant.

As a kid, I kicked a soccer ball with my dad in the back yard thinking I’d be a professional soccer player and day dreaming of that.

However, now, I wish I could just go back and enjoy the moment kicking a ball with my dad.

I’ve talked about this too, but it was a small thing to assume my parents house would always be there, the yard would always be there.

As I’ve gotten older, the fields and ponds I would play around are now all gone, turned into housing developments.

the house and property have been sold to another family.

the small thing in my mind was the assumption those things would always be there.

That I’d build my own memories kicking a ball with my sons in that yard.

Gone are the dreams of where that childhood home would take me and now remains the precious memories of what we had there in that special place.

The point is the things that are small to you now will likely grow in importance later.

In John 19:38-42, something “small” happens, but the more you look at it, the bigger this event is!

John 19:38–42 “38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

Jesus is buried.

This seems like such a small thing. This is the in-between event between the cross and the resurrection.

The grave is often overlooked in light of the significance of the other two events.

Don’t miss what happened at the grave.

That middle part of 1 Corinthians 15.

2 men show up to bury Jesus.

Joseph of Arimathea. - A rich man who was a disciple of Jesus who buried Jesus in an unusual place.

A tomb was not usual for a crucified man.

Gehenna is a place Jesus references talking about hell.

It was a real place around Jerusalem that served as a garbage dump.

It would be common for the dead bodies of criminals to also be thrown in there.

Or they would just dig a pit and throw the bodies in and cover it up.

crucified men were not given tombs. This was most unusual and perhaps had never occured before.

Jesus receives the tomb of a king.

Nicodemus. - Pharisee

This man shows up only 3 time sin the gospels.

John 3 where he comes to Jesus at night to ask him questions.

Unclear if Nicodemus believes in Jesus at the end of the conversation.

Nicodemus defends Jesus in John 7:50 among his peers.

It seems at this point his life has been changed by Jesus.

John 19- Now we see Nicodemus at the burial. He is certainly a believer.

Though all the disciples abandoned Jesus at the time of his death, an unlikely believer steps up.

Nicodemus.

A pharisee.

The man who sat with Jesus in the darkness of John 3 and heart Jesus tell him

John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

This Nicodemus was with Jesus when all seemed lost.

Because to Niocdemus…

Jesus was enough.

APPLICATION:

IS JESUS ENOUGH TO YOU?

The only answer we have in this life, especially on this Easter Sunday, is Jesus.

Like we just sang about this morning.

“Christ be magnified. From the altar of my life. Christ be magnified.”

Is this my life?

Is this yours?

Is Jesus enough.

My life is an altar.

What am i placing on the altar of my life?

Am I placing my good works? My efforts? My accolades and accomplishments?

Or! Am I simply saying, “All I have is Jesus...”

Galatians 2:21 “21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!””

Romans 8:1–2 “1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

Live in the freedom today that Jesus is enough.

Barabbas missed Jesus.

Nicodemus didn’t.

Which person are you this morning?

Here’s my life Jesus… Be magnified through my life!

May that be our prayer this Easter morning.