Sermon Tone Analysis

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.