Remembering For Tomorrow's Hope

And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

What a powerful description of this follower of Christ… Joseph of Arimathea

Good and righteous

Waiting for the Kingdom

What a BOLD request…

Pilate made sure He was dead

Nicodemus helps!… John 3:16 (born again)

Came in the cover of dark now declares his allegiance

These men place his body in a tomb wrapped in burial cloths

The Women...

Faithfully following since Jesus’ ministry in Galilee Luke 8

Listening to His teaching

Contributing to His ministry

And now seeing where He was buried in order to care for His body...

Preparing spices and perfumes… WHY? Because Jesus was dead!

Luke has gone to great extent to assure his readers that Jesus truly was dead… they could be sure of the things they had been taught! Luke 1:4

Have you ever heard but really didn't listen or pay attention...

Failure to Remember

Do you know what the disciples, women, and followers of Jesus Christ were doing Sunday morning??? Wondering about TOMORROW… failing to remember!

Had they remembered...

They would have been waiting at the tomb!

They would not be gathered together grieving

They would not have been making preparations for a body

Instead we read this concerning Sunday morning… Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1–12 NASB95

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 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.” And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. 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.

They should have left the spices at home!!!

They were coming to care for a body not celebrate a resurrection...

Luke makes a point for his readers that there was no body… this is a bodily Resurrection!

A Stern Reminder

Verses 5 & 6 give both a question with a rebuke as well...

He is the “Living One” not dead!!! Death could not hold Him!

How often do we still come to God as if Christ is dead, defeated, not a living powerful, fully engaged Savior!

RISEN= not raised as Jesus had done for others… who would die again. But a divine work of Christ to overcome death and rise on His own divine power!

REMEMBER… “what Jesus spoke” the Word of God!

“And they remembered His Words”

Do you remember what He taught…

The sign of Jonah...

Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days

More specific look at Luke 9:30-31 Luke 13:33 or Luke 18:31-33

Luke 9:30–31 NASB95

And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Luke 13:33 NASB95

“Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.

Luke 18:31–33 NASB95

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. “For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.”

Jesus did not hide the fact He was going to suffer and die or even rise again. These women, disciples and the followers of Jesus were the first skeptics… BUT they remembered the Word of God...

The empty tomb amazed them and they marveled

The angels scared them and reminded them

But it was the power and fulfilment of the Word of God that convinced them of the RESURRECTION!

Power of Remembrance

What they failed to remember from Jesus previous teachings they would proceed through each tomorrow remembering His resurrection…

Because it is the power of the Resurrection that changes lives!

Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion,” says Dr. John Stott. “The concept of resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.”

Paul expresses the gospel clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and continues his argument for the Resurrection in verses 1 Corinthians 15:12-17

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NASB95

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:12–17 NASB95

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

The resurrection changed the lives of these men… Chuck Colson had this to say in an article from the Washington Post:

Watergate proves the Bible is true. So says former White House special counsel Charles Colson, convicted felon and born-again Christian,...The lesson of Watergate is that a lie cannot live for long, according to Colson."Here were the 10 most powerful men in the United States," he said, referring to the Watergate cover-up attempt. "With all that power, and we couldn't contain a lie for two weeks." "Take it from one who was involved in conspiracy, who saw the frailty of man firsthand," he declared, "there is no way the 11 apostles, who were with Jesus at the time of the resurrection, could ever have gone around for 40 years proclaiming Jesus' resurrection unless it were true."

These men all faced torture, prison, and death for the sake of the Resurrection message…

Today...

We remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As John recorded for us in John 14:19

John 14:19 NASB95

“After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.