The Beginnings of Internal Transformation

Luke 23:50-24:12

Intro:

What a gloomy time this was in Jerusalem

Jesus had wide reaching ministry …

This had the attention of the entire region.

Shock, Despair, Heartache, Confusion

The newsworthiness of this would have been like 9-11

As is usually the case, the impact of this event made deep internal impacts on individuals. Today we will look at three. I wonder where we will see ourselves in these three.

1 - The Internal Fear of Association was overcome

Luke 23:50-53

Joseph of Arimathea was a Jewish man who was well respected and was a member of the Sanhedrin Council. He would have had to be a rabbi priest, a wealthy merchant.

Composition: The Sanhedrin was a supreme court of Israel and consisted of a seventy-member council plus Moses, making it the "Great Sanhedrin" of 71 members. In the New Testament era, it was comprised of chief priests, scribes (legal experts), and lay elders.

Purpose: Its functions included adjudicating religious disputes, interpreting the Torah, and ruling on civil and criminal matters.

Hierarchy: Smaller Sanhedrins with 23 members existed in cities and tribes, and ordinary tribunals of three judges handled lesser issues.

Luke tells us Joseph was:

good and righteous / unconsenting of Jesus death / waiting for the kingdom of God /

Mathew - He had become a disciple

John - He was a disciple in secret

Mark

a “prominent member of the council” who “gathered up courage to ask for the body”

John also tells us that Nicodemus, who was also a member of the council, joined Joseph is taking care of Jesus.

Joesph and Nicodemus made clear their view of who Jesus was by the burial they provided.

John 19:38–41 NASB 95

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.

Joseph honored Jesus with double honor.

1 Timothy 5:17 NASB 95

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

new tomb (very long and expensive process) extravagant gift (maybe he knew it would only be borrowed)

Nicodemus also honored Jesus above that of a King.

100 pounds (actually litras which is 12oz so maybe 75 pounds)(1.5-20 pounds was normal based on importance of the person)

the aroma would have well overcome the stench of death (which we know never came because decay never came) The aroma would communicate clearly to all who passed by the uniqueness of the grave.

They were no longer disciples in secret.

Church history clearly acknowledges them as disciples and believers in Jesus as Messiah.

2. The Internal Despair of Doubt was overcome

Luke 24:1-10

These women were among those who had followed Jesus closely. Luke and Mathew list several of these women.

Joanna

Mary Magdalene

Mary the wife of Clopas

Salome

Other women

Joanna

She was a follower of Jesus.

She helped to provide financially for Jesus’s ministry, along with Susanna and many others ().Luke 8:3

Mary Magdelene

Jesus delivered her from seven demons (Luke 8:2

Mary the Mother of Jesus and wife of Joesph (Many scholars agree she would surely be there)

She was present at his execution and burial.

She witnessed his resurrection life.

Mary the mother of James and Joseph

Her sons were named James the Younger (hence her husband must have been named James) and Joses/Joseph (Matt. 27

Mary the wife of Clopas

According to Hegesippus, as quoted by the historian Eusebius, Clopas was the brother of Joseph of Nazareth (Hist. Eccl. 3.11; 3.32.6; 4.22.4). If so, Mary and Clopas were Jesus’s aunt and uncle. Their son Simeon (Jesus’s cousin) became a leader of the Jerusalem church succeeding James the brother of Jesus.

Salome

The parallel passage inmakes it likely that she is the mother of the sons of Zebedee (i.e., James and John)  Matthew 27:56 

Other woman

Women greatly appreciated Jesus.

In the first century, women were not even eligible to testify in a Jewish court of law.

Josephus said that even the witness of multiple women was not acceptable “because of the levity and boldness of their sex.”

Celsus, the second-century critic of Christianity, mocked the idea of Mary Magdalene as an alleged resurrection witness, referring to her as a “hysterical female . . . deluded by . . . sorcery.”

This background matters because it points to two crucial truths.

First, it is a theological reminder that the kingdom of the Messiah turns the system of the world on its head. Into this culture, Jesus radically affirmed the full dignity of women and the vital value of their witness.

Second, it is a powerful apologetic reminder of the historical accuracy of the resurrection accounts. If these were “cleverly devised myths” (2 Pet. 1:16), women would never have been presented as the first eyewitnesses of the risen Christ.

2 Peter 1:16 NASB 95

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

Yes, women were first to testify of the empty tomb!!!

These women had heard the teachings and prophesies of Jesus.

Verse 8 gives us great insight. The events and experience of the last three days had caused despair and doubt to the point of not even remembering the clear prophesy of Jesus.

Luke 24:8 NASB 95

And they remembered His words,

which clearly means they had forgotten or did not believe them

Matthew 20:18–19 NASB 95

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

This was the third time Jesus had taught about these days. This was recent. How could they have forgotten it.

In verse 11 the doubt lingered in many

But now they were testifying of what the angels said

Luke 24:5–7 NASB 95

and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”

3. The Internal Loss of Hope was overcome

Luke 24:12 NASB 95

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

I could preach about the internal transformation of Peter for a while.

Consider his past 4 days

If the resurrection is true, then I have hope!

It is true!

you too can be transformed from following from a distance to open acknowledgement of Jesus as you Priest and King, Savior and Lord

You too can be overcome the despair and doubt, instead fulfilling the words, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

You too who have faced the feeling of thier being no hope for you, come to know the Living Hope that is found in Jesus!!!