The Lord's Resurrection

Introduction

My name is Matthew. It seems like only yesterday I had a completely different life. First, my name was Levi and I was a Jew who collected taxes for the Romans. You get used to the hateful stares, the ridicule, and the loneliness. But all of that changed when Jesus stepped into my life. I was doing my job, counting money and preparing a list of more people to visit, when Jesus walked by my booth and simply said, “Follow me.” No one has taken time to show they care in a long time, much less, want me to come with them. So, I jumped at the opportunity.

The next 3 years were a whirlwind of learning at the Master’s feet. Many things I didn’t understand at the time, but now I realize that He was preparing me and the other disciples to be His witnesses. So that, we could spread the good news all over the world! That’s the message I came to share today.

I. The Last Supper (26:1-46)

During the final week, leading up to the Passover, strange things started happening. Jesus said several times that He was going to die. Like, “what do you mean? For years whenever someone tried to arrest you, you just walked on by. No one could lay a finger on you, Jesus, so how are you about to die?” In Bethany, Mary poured an alabaster jar of perfume on Jesus’ head. We were upset, she could have sold that expensive perfume to help the poor. How could she not think of that? She totally wasted it. But Jesus stopped us in our tracks and said she was preparing His body for burial. He followed up by saying that everywhere the good news was preached so would this woman’s anointing. And here I am, still talking about it. But there was so much the disciples and I didn’t understand.

Little did we know that the leaders, including Caiaphas, the high priest, were plotting on how to stealthily arrest and kill Jesus. Us disciples were clueless, but we stuck by Jesus’ side until it was time to observe the Passover.

We relied heavily upon Jesus, He usually had something in mind for us. So, we asked Him where we should prepare the Passover feast. He gave us instructions on where to find the man and we went to prepare the feast. That evening, the 12 of us and Jesus were around the table. As usual, a lot happened during that meal, which made this Passover unique from previous years. There was absence of joy, the room felt tense, and you could tell Jesus had something on His mind.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Jesus spoke, “Truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me.” (26:21). That hit deep. We just looked at each other in bewilderment and one by one started saying, “Surely, not I, Lord.” Then He said that it was the person who reached in the bowl with Him and we saw Judas reach in. Judas said the same thing we did and Jesus responded, “You have said it yourself.” Now we were all even more confused. I thought that Judas needed some air after that one, because he left.

After that heartfelt moment, Jesus continued on with the meal. This was one of the most impactful moments for us, He instituted what we call “The Lord’s Supper.” He took unleavened bread, prayed a blessing, and broke it then gave it to us saying, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Well obeyed. Then He picked up the cup of juice and said, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom.” (26:27-29). Once again, we all drank. After that, we sang a hymn and went out to Jesus’ favorite get away spot, the Mount of Olives.

The further we walked the more intense and solemn Jesus became. It was hard to see Him so grief-stricken. None of us knew what to say, so we just listened as He continued to teach us and prayed for us. What an amazing thing to see, even while suffering some kind of inner battle, Jesus still cared about us.

When we finally entered the garden He told us to wait there while He went a little further to pray. We sat there and waited for a good while and we got pretty sleepy. It had been a long week and that night was full of ups and downs. So, we drifted off to sleep only to be awoken by Jesus and He was disappointed with us, saying, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we felt awful that we let Jesus down. It only got worse from there. You know that feeling when someone woke you up at the wrong time and you’re super groggy? Yeah, that’s how we felt and we fell asleep again. Yeah… There’s no good excuse.

The next time we woke up was to Jesus saying, “Arise, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

II. The Betrayal, Trials, and Death (26:47-27:66)

It was only then that I could hear what sounded like a hoard marching toward us. If we were groggy before, we sure weren’t now. We jumped up and were nearly blinded by hundreds of torches lighting up the garden. As we scanned back and forth we realized there must have been somewhere between 3 and 600 soldiers there. As our eyes adjusted, we began to recognize some of the Jewish elders, several chief priests, and even Caiaphas the high priest.

The mob before us stood still while one man walked toward us. As he drew closer we recognized Judas. My head was swimming with thoughts, “Where did he come from? Did he bring these soldiers? What is he doing?” Judas walked straight up to Jesus, grabbed hold of him and proclaimed, “Hail Rabbi!”, then he kissed my Lord, and they arrested Him on the spot.

Some wanted to stand and fight but Jesus wouldn’t allow it. He willingly went with the mob and we fled. We were so terrified, now what was going to happen? We knew the Pharisees didn’t like Jesus, but this? We kept our distance the rest of the night, hiding amongst the shadows.

The rest of the night was a blur. Jesus stood before the Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin while dozens of people railed accusations at Him. He never once defended Himself, even so, not one testimony could stick. Clearly, it wasn’t true. A glimmer of hope lit through Jesus’ followers until two people attested to hearing Jesus say He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days. Jesus would not respond until He was put under oath to answer the high priest’s question, “Tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus calmly looked at Him and answered, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven” (26:64).

All of Jesus’ supporters held their breath. The high priest tore his robes and declared, “Blasphemy! What do you all think?” And the Sanhedrin answered, “He is deserving of death.” It’s almost like a plug was pulled out. The crowd spat on Jesus, slapped Him, and mocked Him, “Prophecy to us, you Christ; who is the one who hit you?”

At dawn, Jesus was taken before Pilate, the governor, who was also there for the Passover. It seems that Pilate questioned Jesus out of sincerity, hoping to discover the truth. After what felt like hours, Pilate brought Him out before the crowd along with a well-known criminal, Barabbas. By this time, a large crowd had formed and Pilate offered them the choice he offered every year: “which prisoner do you want me to release to you? Barabbas? Or Jesus who is called Christ?”

The chief priests and elders had such a hatred of Jesus that they persuaded the crowds to call out for Barabbas. Pilate looked surprised, but did as they requested. He then asked the crowds what he should do with Jesus and again the crowds were stirred up to shout, “Crucify Him!” We began to see the true colors of Pilate, he began to defend Jesus saying, “Why? What evil has He done?” But all the more the crowds shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!!” We disciples all held our breath as we watched Pilate wash his hands and declare that he is innocent of Jesus’ blood and turned Him over to be crucified.

The following hours were horrific. We knew that Jesus really was the Christ, He was going to usher in a new kingdom, and we witnessed the Roman soldiers mocking Him with purple robes and a crown of thorns beaten onto His head. We could barely stand the crack of the whip as it laid into Jesus’ flesh, tearing apart the skin and muscle, exposing bone. They beat Him repeatedly until it looked like He couldn’t take any more. Several men brought out a large wooden cross and placed it on Jesus’ back, forcing Him to carry it to Golgotha, the place of the skull. His body gave out under the 180 lb. cross. The soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Him.

Upon reaching the place of crucifixion, we could see two men were already hanging on crosses of their own. The soldiers laid the cross on the ground, placed Jesus upon it, popped His arms out of socket, stretched out His hands, and began hammering nails into His hands and feet. Once the soldiers knew He was secure they used ropes and elbow grease to lift up the cross and drop it into a hole dug in the ground. Jesus’ hung there bleeding, broken, and suffering.

He hung on that cross for 6 hours. There were 3 hours of darkness, gambling over His clothes, and abusive words hurled at Him. Even so, He never retaliated. He said many things while waiting to die and none of them were a curse upon His executioners, but came from care. The saying that stuck out to me was when He started to quote Psalm 22, (Matthew 27:46) “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” We didn’t fully understand it then, we thought He was calling out for help. But we realized after the fact that He was reminding us all of how He fulfilled Scripture. He died just as it was written. After this He cried out with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. Our Lord, our hope, had died.

Fear came over us. Most of us couldn’t even stand at a distance to watch the burial. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came and told us what happened to Jesus’ body. One of the Pharisees named Joseph took the body and laid it in a new tomb. A symbol of all our hopes dashed, kept behind a stone. Not only that, but the chief priests posted a squad of soldiers outside the tomb after sealing it off. All hope was lost. The other disciples and I went back to the house where we ate the Last Supper we had with Jesus, we locked the door, and shook with fear until everything died down.

III. The Resurrection (28:1-15)

We stayed there for days, not knowing what to do, not knowing where to go. We were broken, our faith dashed to pieces. We were beside ourselves until Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the house early Sunday morning. She was out of breath and trembling, but it wasn’t fear, it was excitement. She frantically told us how she went to look at the tomb. But when she got there the stone was rolled away and a man wearing white was shining and said, (Matthew 28:5–7) “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.”” Then they sped off hastily from the tomb.

At this point, we were all at the edge of our seats. Then they said something that was bewildering and impossible to believe, they said they met Jesus on the way. Like, He was living and breathing. Surely, they were hallucinating or their grief had overcome them. But later that night, while we were still locked up in the house, Jesus Himself came in. We jumped in terror and He said, “Do not be afraid” and He showed us the holes in His hands and side. There was nothing left to do but fall at His feet in worship. No longer did we doubt, we believed.

Conclusion

Friends, I’m here to tell you that this is not a fairy tale, but a historical fact. The disciples went from fear-stricken to bold proclaimers overnight and they became martyrs for Jesus, more than 500 followers of Jesus saw Him at the same time, the Jewish leaders tried to cover up what happened. Still, out of all the religions through time, none has stood up to the scrutiny and tests like Christianity. Why? There is an empty tomb. Jesus did come to earth, He died a horrific death, and now He lives to bring salvation to all who would come to Him.

We are left with a choice when we are confronted with Jesus: be like the disciples or the Jewish leaders. Will we change our fear and doubt into faith and live out our lives for Jesus? Or, will we reject the evidence and the Person of Jesus? The choice is ours. Let’s choose today and every day to worship at the feet of Jesus.