Death and Resurrection
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Welcome to CHCC. I hope you all had a wonderful week! Huge shoutout to the men who helped this yesterday fix up the church. The Lord (and Pat) know there is always something to fix with an old church building.
This morning as we venture forward in our study of Luke’s gospel we will (finally!) reach the last chapter. In our past several weeks we have followed Jesus through the streets of the Via Dolorosa, we have seen Him nailed to the cross and placed upon the crux simplex. We have heard the taunts of the the religious leaders, the Roman soldiers, and one of the criminals next to Him.
We have also heard the faith of the other thief on the cross, the promise from Jesus that He would be with Him in paradise. We have heard the final words of Jesus from the cross according to Luke: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Lk. 23:46)
We have seen the response of one of the Roman soldiers, realizing at the very least, “This [Jesus] was innocent!” as he praised God in the process. We witnessed many in the crowd after Jesus’ death come to a similar realization as Luke tells us that they “returned home beating their breasts”—as a sign of proper mourning. Scripture also tells us that those who had been with Him since Galilee stood at a distance watching everything take place; no doubt they feel confused, defeated, heartbroken.
But this is not the end. Jesus’ death is part one of a two part reality that we come to understand as our means to salvation. The death of Jesus is important as it serves as the atoning sacrifice of our sins. But so to is His resurrection as it is evidence to His victory over sin and death. So as we continue this morning we will come face to face with the resurrection as we consider what it means for us today and how we ought to respond.
If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please turn with me to Luke’s gospel, chapter 23 as we begin in verse 50 and then make our way in to chapter 24.
PRAY
The Burial of Jesus
The Burial of Jesus
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
The passage of Jesus’ burial opens up with a man named Joseph. Interesting bookends to Jesus’ life—His earthly father named Joseph and this faithful believer named Joseph.
I also find it interesting that the name Joseph in the Hebrew stems from the Hebrew word meaning “God will continue…” We will certainly see that in our readings this morning.
So what about this Joseph here in Luke 23? Not much is said of him, but what is, is beautiful! How I desire to have the description of Joseph of Arimathea be on the epitaph of my tombstone. “A good and righteous man, who was looking for the kingdom of God.”
Scripture also provides the town from which Joseph resided. Arimathea is believed to be located at the modern town of Rantis, just north of Jerusalem.
An interesting descriptor Luke gives us of this man is that “He was a member of the council.” That is, a member of the Sanhedrin! Wait, but didn’t the council vote unanimously to condemn and kill Jesus? Yes. So is there a contradiction here in Luke’s account? No.
It is likely that the council knew of Joseph’s standing, we also know that the trial was done in secret under the dark of night. They likely never let Joseph know of what was taking place. Some suggest, too, that Joseph was in Arimathea at the time of the trial.
Whatever the case, it is likely that Joseph was not present at the trial, but that he was also a faithful believer of Jesus as the Christ.
John’s gospel even gives us a little more detail into the spiritual life of Joseph.
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.
So again, we find parallel bookends to Jesus’ life on earth. It began with pious and faithful Jews and thus ends with one as well. We see men and women like Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. Joseph and Mary. John the Baptist. The prophets, Simeon and Anna at the temple.
And similar to Simeon, “who was waiting for the consolation of Israel,” Joseph is “looking for the kingdom of God.”
What is more, we can infer from the text that Joseph was rather wealthy. He had his own tomb, which was not something the everyday person could afford. And with that, it is even more remarkable this man’s faith and righteousness.
After all, Jesus said himself back in chapter 18…
For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
And while Joseph had been a disciple of Jesus in secret, in His death, Joseph’s alliance is a secret no more.
This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.
What we need to remember here is that the Sabbath is quickly approaching. It would begin at 6 p.m. The text suggests that Jesus had died around 3pm. So three hours to take the body off the cross, clean it, wrap it, and bring it to the tomb, and then return home before the Sabbath began.
As Joseph took care of Jesus’ body to bring to the tomb, the faithful women who had been faithful followers of Jesus since Galilee follow him.
The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Due to the time constraints of the Sabbath, the women could not complete all that was necessary for a proper burial. They would go home and prepare the ointments and return once Sabbath was complete.
DID JESUS REALLY DIE?
Some skeptics have argued over the years, contending that Jesus didn’t really die. That the entire event was a hoax. But R. Kent Hughes responds well to this. He says:
The unified testimony of all four Gospels points to the fact of Jesus’ death, the impossibility of a freshly impaled man padding around Jerusalem making “ghost appearances,” the psychological absurdity of his followers remaining loyal to such a hoax until death, and the impossibility of the greatest of moral teachers perpetrating a lie. If you believe these myths, you probably also believe that Elvis Presley is still alive.
Three days then pass between the end of chapter 23 and the beginning of chapter 24. As we begin the next passage, it is easy for us with the hindsight of two millennia to approach it with excitement (as we should!). However, let us not forget that these women who approach the tomb of Jesus with the proper spices and oils are doing so with heavy and broken hearts. They are coming upon the resting place of Jesus with no hope whatsoever, even worrying about how they would get into the tomb (a valid concern).
And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
They did not expect anything more than grief and sorrow. It would be like us taking flowers to the site of a loved one. Do you do so with the expectancy of seeing an empty grave? Of course not.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
John’s gospel sheds more light on the thought process of the women when they discover the tomb to be empty.
They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
They assumed that His body had been stolen; perhaps the product of a spiteful grave robber. The scene only deepened their distress. And wouldn’t we feel similar? I think their deductive reasoning is rather sound! But God has a way of working in life that goes beyond the realm of reason, doesn’t He? The empty tomb, initially, did not alleviate their fears, but added to their distress.
While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 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?
The Greek language here to describe their “dazzling” apparel is the same used when describing Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration back in chapter 9. The radiant splendor of Heaven.
And the women seeing these two men have the same response as every person in the Bible does when coming face to face with an angel. They are fearful! And they bow in response and respect.
And one of the angels gives a response that has lived on throughout the ages; a wonderful question filled with hopeful language.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Why do you look for Jesus in a tomb? Why do you come bearing the ointments and spices for a lifeless body when the one you seek is alive?
And before the women can answer this question, the angels give the greatest news of all. They came bearing news of a Savior born in chapter 2, and now they come bearing news of a Savior who is alive again! Defeating sin and the grave!
He is not here, but has risen…
Perhaps a more literal translation is “Has been raised…” And then the angels encourage the women to remember what Jesus had told them.
…Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Three occasions the Gospels record for us Jesus telling His followers of what would become of Him.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Then you may recall, Peter rebukes Jesus! Can you imagine?
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
The second time we come across Jesus’ prophetic words of His death is in Mark’s gospel. A parallel account to what we have in Matthew.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Then lastly, in Luke 9. I know it was a long time ago, but you may remember it, still.
And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “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.”
He didn’t just tell them He would die. But He even gave them clear indication that He would be raised three days later! Why then were the followers so somber? So defeated? What were they hiding and feeling hopeless?
Again, it is easy for us to look down on them from our 21st century perspective. But the reality is that Jesus often taught through metaphors and parables. It’s understandable for them not to take it literally in the moment. Even in Luke 9 it tells us that the disciples didn’t understand what He was telling them and were afraid to ask for clarification. It even tells us that the saying was hidden from them so they would not understand. So with that information it is completely understandable!
But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
However, now, the saying is revealed to them!
And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
And with this new revelation, they return home to share the gospel message for the first time post-resurrection! And it brings to mind the words of Isaiah.
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Could you imagine the emotional swing here? From hopeless sorrow to unlimited joy and wonder in an instant. And what we will come to see in the next couple of weeks is that the entirety of chapter 24 of Luke is all about revelation. Christ revealing the truth of His Words, revealing the truth of who He is. Three separate occasions Luke shows that the Word of God makes sense of everything.
The first example is here in our passage this morning as we just read.
He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words,
The second is on the road to Emmaus.
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
And then lastly in Jerusalem as Jesus appears before His disciples.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
You may even notice how similar the structure is of all three passages. It begins with confusion or bewilderment. Then a rebuke of some kind. Then instruction and then witness. But the one thing I want to highlight here is the instruction. What does Jesus—or in the case of our passage this morning—the angelic hosts—call the people to do?
To remember the Word of God.
And this is the what the whole of the Bible comes down to; Jesus’ atoning death is only fully understood through the lens of the entire Bible. His resurrection only becomes clear in conjunction with His Word.
And what makes this point stand out even further is that it was those who had rejected the prophetic words would reject the resurrection, just as Jesus prophetically stated they would through a parable.
He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
What this tells us is that we are to be men and women of the entire Word of God! Even throughout the Bible we are instructed to be men and women of the Word.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
ALL Scripture. Not just the New Testament; not just the epistles, or the gospels. Not just the prophets. Not just the Torah. ALL of it is breathed out by God and profitable to our souls.
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
How can we keep His commandments if we do not find ourselves in His Word? How can we keep something we do not know? And how can we know Him if we do not take the time to read His truth? The reality is that we can’t.
I know this is going off on a tangent a bit here, but I want us to never take for granted what we have with God’s Word, nor do I want us to ever make God’s Word less of a priority in our lives than it should be.
FIRST WITNESSES
So back to our passage here in Luke. These women now become the first to bear witness of the good news! They take word back with them to the disciples! He is alive! But the disciples response is not what they would have hoped.
And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
According to three New Testament scholars the disciples disregarded the news of the women as hysteria. One calls it “silly-talk.” Another, “humbug.” And the third, “babbling.”
Again, it is easy to think how immature these men must have been! But would I have believed them in their situation? Would I have concluded that what they were saying must be true if I did not yet understand that Jesus came to die and to rise again?
I must admit that I probably would have responded the same way—at best! And maybe even much worse! We mustn’t hold it against them too harshly for these apostles and their faith would be foundational to the early Church.
They too had received Jesus’ foretelling of His death and resurrection. They now receive gospel witness from the women and deny it, chalking it up to “silly talk.”
Like any of us, they heard and yet failed to hear God’s Word. The entirety of Scripture is intelligible,. It wasn’t written for the intellectually elite. The early church leaders were common folk. Jesus’ disciples were blue collar workers, uneducated men and women.
This isn’t to say the Bible is for the simple minded. It is for every person. It is simply to say that God’s Word can be understood!
As Mark Twain once said, “It’s not what I don’t understand about the Bible that bothers me. It’s what I do understand!”
God has given us spiritual truth. Our growth toward spiritual maturity begins by heeding the Word.
And so I think we ought to give credit to Peter here. Last we heard of him in Luke’s account, he had denied Jesus three times. Oh, Peter. The gospels capture his highs and lows. He proclaims Jesus to be the Christ of God and yet fails to stand with Him during His arrest and trial.
But while he did not believe the words of the women, what they said stirred something in his heart. It was worth a journey to take a look for himself. Perhaps the words of Jesus came to him as they did to the women when they were reminded.
But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
But Peter wasn’t all the way there yet. The wording here reveals that what he sees doesn’t lead to faith…yet. It leads to wonder; marveling. Approximately 50 days later, the faith of Peter would be on full display as he gives one of the greatest sermons of all time.
“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.
CONCLUSION
So what are we to make of this, because it doesn’t necessarily leave the disciples in a great light. Three times Jesus tells them He would die and rise again. And yet they fail to believe here. What is the purpose of this passage, then? Why put it here in Scripture?
I think for one it reveals to us that the disciples did not invent the resurrection story. They didn’t even believe it themselves at first!
They resisted the reality of the resurrection at first because they were witnesses to it, not myth makers. As the theologian Alexander Maclaren explains:
The evidential value of the disciples’ slowness to believe cannot be overrated.
But they would come to believe! To the point of death! And let me tell you, no myth or made up legend is worth dying for. But the truth? That is something worth putting our lives on the line for!
And so why would the disciples go from doubt to sure and bold faith?
First, they saw the empty tomb.
Second, they would meet the risen Lord (we will come to this in a couple weeks!)
And lastly, with the evidence before them, they came to fully believe the entirety of God’s Word.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
The passage, while it reveals the nature of the disciples hesitancy to believe at first, it also reveals that this was no myth concocted by the minds of man, but rather it really happened!
And it for us, the resurrection means we have hope! And this is a hope that is like no other.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
A living hope. Not a hope built upon unknown circumstances or future events. It isn’t an uncertain hope, but a living hope that carries on throughout eternity! And the empty tomb is where we find that hope.
What Peter is simply saying to all believers here is this: If Jesus lives, then you will live! God established and secured your hope when he raised his Son from the grave. Therefore, your hope is as alive as Jesus.
Praise the Lord the story did not end with the cross. The empty tomb is a sure sign of the Lord’s might and mercy, and as Peter tells us, “has caused us to be born again to a living hope.”
Whatever trials and tribulations you experience in this life, I hope you are encouraged to be reminded that you have a living hope for all of eternity.
And I get it; life is HARD. Some of you have faced difficulties and pains and sorrows that you will carry to the grave. But that is as far as they go.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Jesus, too, understood this. The Bible tells us He was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief! He understood the struggles of life. He understands us. And He gave us some of the most encouraging words we could hear.
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
A living hope; a future eternal glory awaiting us; and an unshakable, unmovable joy. This is what the resurrection brings us!
COMMUNION//PRAY
