Resurrestion Sermon Draft
Good Morning and welcome to church this Resurrection Sunday.
When you hear the term “resurrection” what do you think of?
What does “resurrection” mean?
resurrection, means a rising to life from death.
The concept of resurrection is not found early in the ot, In fact, Ps. 115:17 tells us “The dead do not praise the Lord, [the dead] go down into silence;
The concept of resurrection was introduced by the prophets Isaiah and Daniel
Turn with me to Isa 26:19 Isa prophesied: Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,
And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. (26:19)
This verse mentions both physical body – corpse, and spiritual body –departed spirits.
Today this is not an uncommon thought. We know that the spirit is immortal. The flesh is mortal--it decays.
Jewish tradition says that the spirit remains in the body until decay begins. That’s why they bury their dead within 24 hours – they don’t want to be there when the spirit leaves.
Tradition says that it can take up to 3 days for decay to start and the spirit to leave. That’s why Jesus waited 4 days before going to see Lazarus. Because it was their belief that the spirit was still with the body until decay set in .
That’s why Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was so significant. He was able to reunite Lazarus’ spirit with his body and heal the body.
This is more than the simple healing his followers had seen him perform before. He raised Jairus’ daughter, he raised the son of the widow in the funeral procession.
Turn to Daniel 12:2
While Daniel prophesied: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
Resurrection was thought of as a corporate event. God would raise everyone, the just and the unjust alike before the final judgment.
In Jesus’ day, there were opposing beliefs on life after death:
Sadducees, the ruling elite, based mostly in Jerusalem, believed in no life after death. because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah
We have people today who are like the Sadducees, they say that if the Bible says it, it’s true. For instance, we have the Mormons who have ceremonies of baptism for their dead relatives.
Or Christians who do not tithe, because Malachi is in the OT and they NT Christians
Pharisees, believed in a bodily resurrection.
They look to Isaiah, and Daniel and David who teach the resurrection of the just at the end of the age.
Jewish tradition teaches, The resurrection of the dead will occur in the messianic age When the messiah comes the righteous dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create. The wicked dead will not be resurrected.
While many others believed in a continued existence in a “disembodied world.”
They believe that the spirit lives on forever. Mediums perform séances and contact disembodied spirits. We call them demons.
Still others believed in reincarnation: the rebirth of the soul in another existence.
Matt 16:13 He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
So it should be no surprise that the gospels emphasize the surprise of the disciples to the Resurrection. They were shocked by Jesus’ Resurrection and were clearly not expecting it.
Let’s go back in time to that morning…
Ordinarily when a body is laid to rest in a tomb, Jewish tradition dictates that a man may only wash and prepare the body of a man, whereas a woman may wash and prepare the body of either a woman or a man. We know that Joseph of Arimathea received the body of Jesus before the Sabbath began and placing it, wrapped in fine linen, in the tomb.
Although it does not specifically say that he prepared it with burial spices, one can assume based on Joseph’s wealth, social status and religious tradition that he would have, although presumably hastily since the hour beginning the Sabbath was near.
A second anointing by the woman would not be redundant but might be perceived as an act of reverence. Mary Magedelaine in among their company, she was the one who anointed Jesus with perfume prior to his death.
Sabbath law would dictate that they would have to wait until the Sabbath had passed before they could carry spices, journey to the tomb or attend to the body.
Scripture tells us that women had observed the location of the tomb, perhaps even observing the stone rolled in front of it. We know that they speculated as to how they would roll it away to perform their task. And we know that they were startled to find it open, they went inside to perform their duty.
They are greeted by a brilliant angel who gives them a directive to go and tell the disciples, especially Peter, what they have witnessed.
What happens next? The women go and tell the disciples.
Traditionally the testimony of a woman would be considered unreliable, it is not surprising that the disciples would not believe the women. They were gripped with fear, having seen their leader crucified.
Peter and John run to the tomb to see for themselves and found only the burial wraps and then returned to their homes.
Mary remained at the tomb weeping believing that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. When Jesus appeared to her, she thought he was the gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke and she recognized his voice did she believe the words of the angel – He was risen.
Later that day two followers of Jesus were returning home from Jerusalem along the Road to Emmaus, when Jesus came up beside them. They were discussing the events of the trial and crucifixion
Lets go to Luke 24:19
And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.
21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Remember Pastor preached last week about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, how the people cheered thinking Jesus was their political deliverer?
21b Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened
Remember Jewish tradition says the spirit depart the body when it begins to decay, it s gone by the third day. To them Jesus was beyond coming back.
Like Mary in the garden, they did not immediately recognize him. It was not until he broke bread with them at dinner, that recognition came. These followers returned to Jerusalem to find the disciples and corroborate the women’s story.
When they had told the disciples what had happened, Jesus appeared in their midst. Yet they too did not recognize him. They thought a spirit had come to torment them. (Remember that was another of interpretation of the afterlife.)
When he showed then his hands and feet and told them to touch him and prove that he was not a spirit. Yet they still did not believe. He asked for food and ate, to show that he was alive.
Thomas however was not with them. When the others had relayed all that happed he said, that unless he could see the nail prints for himself and put his hand in Jesus side he would not believe.
John 20: 26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
Isn’t it amazing that these men and women who gave up their jobs, their positions (Matt was a tax collector) and some of their families to spend the last 3 years roaming all over the country with Jesus, eating with him, ministering with him, talking to him, laughing and crying with him, didn’t recognize him?
Why do you think that is? Think about it. Jesus wasn’t who they thought he was. He wasn’t the political messiah they were expecting. He told them
that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. (Matt 16:21)
He couldn’t come back to life because he didn’t fit into their definition of what resurrection was supposed to be.
Let me read you a story,
It was a beautiful Sunday morning. People were filling the church to its fullest capacity! As they entered, each were given a bulletin filled with announcements, topic of today's sermon, what songs they would sing and who to pray for. At the end of the line stood an older man. His clothes were filthy and you could tell that he had not bathed in days. His face was covered in whiskers where he had not shaved for a very long time. When he reached the usher, he removed his tattered old brown hat in respect. His hair was a long, dirty, tangled mess. He had no shoes on his feet, and wore only soiled, black socks.
The usher put his fingers to his nose and glared at the old man and said, "Uh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid we can't let you in. You will distract the congregation and we don't allow anyone to disrupt our service. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
The old man looked down at himself and with a puzzled look on his face, he placed his old brown hat back upon his head and turned to leave. He was sad as he loved to hear the choir sing praises to the Lord. He loved to watch the little children get up in front of the church to sing their little songs. He carried in his pocket a small worn out Bible and loved to see if the minister preached a passage from the Bible that the old man had underlined. He was respectful enough and didn't want to cause any commotion, so he hung down his head and walked back down the steps of the big brick church.
He sat down on the brick wall near the edge of the church yard and strained to listen through closed doors and windows to the singing going on in the church. Oh how he wished he could be inside with all the others. A few minutes had passed by when all of a sudden a younger man came up behind him and sat down near him. He asked the old man what he was doing.
He answered, "I was going to go to church today, but they thought I was filthy and my clothes are old and worn, and they were afraid I would disrupt their service. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is George."
The two gentlemen shook hands and George couldn't help but notice that this man had long hair like his. He wore a piece of cloth draped over his body tied with a royal purple sash. He had sandals upon his feet, now covered with dust and dirt.
The stranger reached out to touch George's shoulder and said, "Hello, George, don't feel bad because they won't let you in. My name is Jesus, and I've been trying to get into this same church for years, and they won't let me in either."
Now we may snicker at this story or even think we might know a place like that, but what grieves my heart is that if Peter and John the disciples Jesus loved couldn’t recognize him, how can I possibly believe that I would?
The answer is here. Turn with me to Mark 16:6
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Did you catch it? tell Peter
Lets stop here for a minute, when was the last time we saw Peterbefore the crucifixion? In the palace denying Jesus three times. Isn’t it amazing that the angel would tell them that Jesus wanted to see Peter in Galilee. Why do you think that is?
Because Peter had been forgiven.
The atonement had been made.
Because Peter needed to be restored
Jesus wanted to see Peter, to restore their relationship.
Jesus came to earth clothed in humanity, suffered and died to restore man’s relationship with to God. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
How will you and I recognize Jesus? He’s the one who wants relationship with you. The resurrection was proof of that. You won’t miss him, he’s looking for you.
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ot Old Testament
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