A Tomb with a View

Holy Week Recap

This week has been known as Holy Week. We start off with Palm Sunday. Last week at the traditional service we had the Easter Cantata. During the contemporary service, we looked at Palm Sunday and what happened on that day. Christ entered Jerusalem as a celebrated King. We looked at the faith on display that day. Jesus tells two of His disciples to just go into town to get a colt for Him to ride in on. They willingly obey. When the owners of the colt see these men taking the colt and they are asked why they are taking it, the disciples respond like Jesus tells them to. “The LORD needs it” they say, and with that the owners of the colt let them go right ahead. We have to ask ourselves how we would have responded in a situation like that. Would we go along with God or would we come up with a reason to not do what He has asked us to?

Jesus rides into Jerusalem and everyone is enthralled. They are so happy that He is here. They are shouting “Hosanna in the highest heaven”. “Blessed is the coming of the Kingdom of David”. This group saw their conquering hero enter the Holy City, but within a few days, their attitude toward Him has changed. He doesn’t do what they want Him to do. Rather than go and clear out the Romans occupying the city, He goes after the people making the religious observations convenient. He goes into the Temple complex and flips tables and drives the money changers out. The Temple was no longer being used as a place to honor God. Instead, it had become a bit of a religious convenience store. The problem at the time is that going to the temple just became a matter of tradition. It was not a matter of relationship with God. It was not about going and making sacrifice for sins. It was a check in the block and people had made that check in the block more and more convenient over time. So the people were understandably confused when Jesus goes and attacks convenience and commerce before He does anything about the Romans ruling the city. The real problem was not the Romans, it was that the people had forgotten God, they had fallen away from Him. My brothers and sisters, we must ensure that the same thing doesn’t happen to us. We must ensure that our walk with Christ is not a mere check in the block, but that we go and do the things He has called us to do.

Through the week, the hatred of Jesus begins to fester. By Thursday, Jesus celebrates the Seder with the disciples. At the dinner that night, He tells them that one is going to betray Him. From there, they go to the Garden of Gethsemane where He prays that God would remove the cup He is about to drink. When He gets up from His prayers, He sees that the disciples there with Him have fallen asleep. One thing about that night is that Jesus said one would betray Him, but at some level each and every disciple betrays Him. They fail Him, they deny Him, they don’t do what He has told them to. We look at Judas, the one that betrayed Him by handing Him over to the chief priests, and that certainly was a betrayal. However, poor Jesus suffered betrayal from pretty much everyone.

Jesus goes before the Sanhedrin, who pass Him over to Pilate since they cannot order the death penalty. Pilate hands Jesus off to Herod since Herod has jurisdiction and he just happens to be in town. When Herod can’t get any answers out of Jesus, he sends Him back to Pilate. Pilate has Jesus whipped and then asks if the people want to have Him released or Barabbas. They choose for Barabbas to be released and call for Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus is flogged a second time and then placed on a cross. Because of the two beatings He had endured, the crucifixion did not last as long as most. That is not to say that the execution wasn’t painful. It is just that it did not go as long as it would normally. For three hours, darkness is on the land before Jesus cries out “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?” Then He proclaims “it is finished” and breathes His last.

With that, the atoning work on the cross was complete. Christ’s blood was shed on that cross so that we could be forgiven of our sins. His blood is what atones for our discretions against God. His sacrifice is perfect and final. There is no greater sacrifice that could be made. God did it all so that we could have our relationship with Him restored. Hebrews 10:11–12 “Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” From the outset, this was God’s plan for redemption and it was all done that day at the cross.

When Jesus breathed His last, though, there was general confusion. The followers that maintained their faith in Him are understandably confused. Here is the Messiah, the One that was and is and is to come, but now He has died in front of them. They watch His lifeless body as it is removed from the cross and then hastily anointed and wrapped up in a linen cloth and placed in a tomb purchased by Joseph of Arimathea. A stone is placed in front of the tomb. The crowd goes home, happy that this outlaw has been killed. The disciples go home mourning and not knowing what to do. They had all given up their livelihoods for Jesus and now He is gone.

The chief priests go home, satisfied that they have protected their power. Except, that’s not true. They are not that satisfied. They are actually quite concerned about any potential fallout from this act. So they take matters into their own hands again. Matthew 27:62–66 “The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.” Pilate had already given in to them and had Jesus crucified. Yet when they come to him with this worry, he doesn’t tell them not to worry about it. Instead, he gives them soldiers to guard the tomb. What’s more is that he puts his seal on the tomb. Seals were important back then. If a seal was broken by someone other than the one intended to break it, it carried the death penalty. This tomb is well guarded.

On Sunday, the day after the festival, two of the women were headed to the tomb to finish the burial rites for Jesus. We know that His body had not been fully prepared on Friday due to the hasty burial. So they are headed to the tomb. No doubt, they knew that the tomb was sealed, so I am sure there was concern on how they were going to get it open. Perhaps they thought they could get the guards to move it for them. However, there is no need. Matthew 28:1–8 “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news.”

God rolled that stone away. No need for any men to do it. God sent an angel to handle that. When the women see this, they are amazed. They run to tell the disciples. In this event, John records that they don’t know where they have taken Jesus’s body. We have talked before about how eye witness accounts always have some level of variation to them. If everything was recorded exactly the same, that is when we would have the cause for doubting its authenticity. Every recorder of the Gospel had a different vantage than the others, so their recollections will be different. For instance, when I was at Fort McCoy, I was sitting at the DFAC having lunch. Terrence Brown, an Aviation Handling Chief (the guys wearing the yellow shirts on Top Gun) was telling the story of the time that the F-14 had a tailhook snap off when it landed on the flight deck. The plane hit trap number two, the tailhook snapped, the pilots ejected, all was well. But Terrence was off a bit from what I remembered. First of all, it had been 20 years since this event. Terrence and I didn’t know it, but we sailed on the Stennis together for five years. Did the same deployments, all of that, but we didn’t know it. Here we are united 20 years later and his recollection is different than mine. One of the reasons is because he was forward on the flight deck when it happened. I was abaft on the Landing Signal Officer platform. My view was very different than Terrence’s. There is no doubt that that event happened. Even after telling both of our stories to the gathered shipmates at the table, they had no doubt that the stories and the event were historic and authentic. So when we see these differences in the Bible, we have no need to question their authenticity.

This is one of the reasons we know the resurrection of Jesus is a fact and not fiction. The fact is that our LORD showed Himself firs to two faithful FEMALE followers. If the disciples had been making the story up, then the women would not have been mentioned. Back then, women did not carry the same kind of clout they do today. In those days, a woman’s testimony would be discredited just based on her gender. That’s how the Ancient Near East worked back then. So the fact that Jesus shows Himself to the women first and they go to tell the men about it is a big deal. That gives us proof that this happened the way they recorded it. Further, there is belief at least from two of the disciples because rather than doubt the story that the Mary’s have brought to them, they get up and run to see.

John 20:3–10 CSB

At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.

I can only imagine the excitement these two were feeling as they ran to the tomb. I think it is hilarious that the sibling rivalry is still on display in these event. They must have been feeling better at the news that the tomb was empty. Peter is significantly older than John, so I can only imagine that John was bragging about how he was going to beat the old man to the tomb. Peter probably thought, “who’s going to know”. It’s no coincidence that John made sure he got the detail in there that he was the victor. In John’s account, he looks in and sees that the tomb is empty. They see that the cloths Jesus was wrapped in were lying there empty. The body was gone. John gives us a huge detail in his writing. He notes that the wrapping on Jesus’s head was not with the rest of the cloths. Instead, it was set aside separately and folded up. This indicates that Jesus will come back one day. In the Jewish custom, when a dinner was happening, if the master or any guest got up from the table, but planned to come back to the table, he would fold the napkin up and place it down. That way the servants knew that he would return, so they wouldn’t remove his plate. If the master was finished, he would ball the napkin up and leave it on the plate. Jesus shows that He will in fact be coming back at some point. When that time is, we do not know. We just know that it will happen one day. We know it will happen because God has promised it and when God promises us something, we know it’s going to happen.

The rest of the cloths are lying there, crumpled up. There is no body. That part of the process is done. The sacrifice had been made and it was and still is perfect. The amazing thing about the resurrection is that on Good Friday, all the sins of the world were piled on Jesus. He took every single sin that has been committed and will ever be committed and that guilt was placed on Him. The glory of our LORD is that He took that sin to the grave. He buried it there, but then He rose gloriously, showing that He holds the keys to death and Hades. He is the Master. Since He holds that power over death, we know that we have victory over death because He has that victory. Our success is not rooted in what we have done, but what Jesus has done. He is the ONE that can save us. He is the ONE that shows victory over the grave. There are other stories in the pagan pantheons of little g gods coming back from the grave, but there was always the need for another to take the place of the one coming back to life. So if you ever hear someone tell you that other religions have a resurrection story, tell them that those resurrection stories required a replacement. Jesus went to the cross in our place and then He resurrected Himself out of that grave and He left that sin and shame in the grave. God ALMIGHTY is the ONLY God that has that kind of power. He is the One true God and He is strong to save.

But there are people today that doubt His power. There were also people that doubted back then too.

Matthew 28:11–15 “As they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’ If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.”

I am not a smart man. However, I would hope that if I was a chief priest that spent so much of my time studying the Scriptures and then having sent Jesus to the cross only to find out that He came out of the tomb just as He said He would. I would hope that I would have the wherewith-all repent of my stupidity and see that Jesus is LORD. I mean, we would think that this group would look at each other and think, “oh man, we made a huge mistake”. The problem is that they don’t fear God. They don’t fear the One they claim to know. They know that their power will be called into question, so rather than try to make it right, they just double down on stupid and bribe the soldiers to lie. That would have been an awesome opportunity for them to witness to the soldiers and the rest of the Jews about the power of Christ. However, they are only worried about themselves. The soldiers get a large sum of money to spread the lie that the disciples came and took Jesus in the middle of the night.

That is complete balderdash. We know that the disciples didn’t just come in and take Him out because of the seal that was placed on the tomb and the soldiers standing watch. Even if they were able to make it past the watch, they would have been terrified of getting caught, so if the disciples had taken the body, they would have taken the body, cloths and all! We know that didn’t happen, though, because John and Peter find the cloths He was wrapped in.

Despite the lies that are being spread. Jesus spends a few days appearing to the disciples before heading back home. We know that Jesus resurrected and that He had a physical body because of His last interaction with the disciples.

One of Jesus’s last interactions with the disciples is when they are out fishing. At this point in the game, there was still confusion on what they were supposed to do. Jesus has been resurrected, but they don’t have their marching orders yet. Since many of the men were fishermen before following Christ it would make sense that they would go back to fishing. They spend the night fishing, but they catch nothing. Then somebody calls to the across the water and tells them to drop their nets on the other side of the boat. They do so and they bring in such a haul that they have to get reinforcements to get the fish. At some point Peter realizes it is Jesus that has been talking to them so he jumps out of the boat to go and greet His Master.

John 21:10–14 ““Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus told them. So Simon Peter climbed up and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish—153 of them. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. “Come and have breakfast,” Jesus told them. None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.”

We see here that Jesus sits down and has breakfast with the disciples. Ghosts don’t eat. They can’t, they don’t have a body. Jesus did not come back as a ghost. He was 100 percent human with the ability to eat, so not just some kind of a spiritual entity. Since He has raised Himself physically from the dead, we know that one day He will raise us out of the grave too. Again, we don’t know when it is going to happen. It could be this afternoon or it could be in the year 3000. Only the Father knows the time and hour.

What we do know is that Christ is risen! So our goal is to daily wake up and live lives that honor His sacrifice. Our goal is to wake up and give Him the glory and lives lives that reflect we believe in His power. Our goal is to cling to Him and none of the silly and futile things the world tells us we should cling to. We can live our lives knowing that we belong to God. Just as Jesus raised Himself from that grave after burying our sins, we know that He will save us as well.