Sermon Tone Analysis

Is He Alive?

Introduction

Is He Alive?

Several years ago, I began listening to the Ric Edelman Show.

His two-hour talk show centers on financial planning, investing, retirement, and future technology.

Most of the time, he talks about financial related news.

Occasionally he will have interviews with experts focusing some aspect of the market but often about Social Security.

Lately, he has been including a segment called “Really Bad Advice” where he highlights pundits who have made some sort of prediction.

Recently, he talked about some dooms-day bloggers who were certain that the stock market would plummet in 2013.

That year, instead of plummeting, it rose by more than 10%.

That same blogger reinstated his prediction for the next year - the S&P 500 grew by more than 30%.

Heeding that advice would have caused investors to miss out on big returns.

In our media crazy work, news sources are constantly faced with a need to make big headlines, making dire predictions that get people’s attention, but end up far from reality.

Jesus’ ministry was filled with teachings that had people hanging on His every word.

One of the things that we see here at His crucifixion is that people didn’t truly believe every Word.

You see, on three different occasions in the book of Matthew (; ; ), Jesus told his followers that he would be delivered over to other people, would be beaten and put to death, then he would raise on the third day.

And yet, in the emotional turmoil of his betrayal and crucifixion, his disciples did not seem to expect that He would come back to life.

Joel Gilbert / General

Easter 2019 / Resurrection; Easter; Resurrection of Jesus Christ; Listen / ;

Last week, we discussed the beginning of the Passion week, as Jesus clashed with the political and religious leaders of His time.

He entered the city of Jerusalem as a Submissive King and entered the temple as a Provoking Prophet - challenging the religious conventions that dominated the culture.

He then sparred with the religious leaders, revealing His rightful authority, and yet reinforcing their opposition to Him.

Throughout the book of Matthew, Jesus reveals to His disciples that He would suffer, die, and return to life.

In spite of all of His advanced notice, His disciples still seemed unprepared for His death and were not looking for His resurrection.

Do we take Jesus at His Word? Did the resurrection really happen?

Over the next several days, Jesus continued to teach in the temple and instruct His disciples privately.

After His final meal with His them, He was betrayed by one of His disciples, arrested, wrongfully accused and indicted.

The religious leaders convinced the political authority to have him flogged - a Roman punishment where He was tied to a post and whipped with cords in which pieces of bone, metal, and wood were intertwined.

He was mocked by the soldiers as they assembled a crown of thorns and shoved it on His head.

Exhausted from the beating, He was forced to drag a large wooden cross through the town, only to be nailed to it.

For six grueling hours He fought through the pain as He would push Himself up on the the nails in His feet, trying to get air into His lungs, scraping His wounds on his back on the rough timber of the cross.

When he could take it no more, He cried out, “My God My God, why have you forsaken me” and gave up His life.

The sky had been unusually dark for three hours.

At the moment He died, an earthquake rocked the entire region.

In response, one of the guards commented, “surely this was the Son of God.”

This was no ordinary man.

Is He Alive?

Beyond all of the drama and the obscure weather, during the darkness, the a curtain in the temple which separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was torn in two - from top to bottom.

Now this curtain was thick and strong and tall.

This seemed to signify that worshippers of God would have have direct access to God, no mediator was needed.

The book of John states that as the day wore on, the Jews asked that the legs of those on the cross be broken so that they could not hoist themselves up to breathe, hastening their deaths.

So the soldiers broke the legs of two criminals.

When they came to Jesus, it appeared that he was already dead.

Instead of breaking His legs, he took a spear and pierced His side, cause blood and water to flow out - confirming His death.

This was no ordinary crucifixion.

This was no ordinary death.

The book of John states that as the day wore on, the Jews asked that the legs of those on the cross be broken so that they could not hoist themselves up to breathe, hastening their deaths.

So the soldiers broke the legs of two criminals.

When they came to Jesus, it appeared that he was already dead.

Instead of breaking His legs, their took a spear an pierced His side

Jesus was carefully lowered from the cross.

A wealthy man named Joseph got permission from the political leader to place Jesus’ body in his own tomb.

According to Matthew’s account, Mary Magdalene and one of the other women named Mary observed his body being placed in the tomb and watched the stone be rolled into place.

Dusk of Friday ushers in the Sabbath.

Day 1 is over.

The next day, the Sabbath, the religious leaders ask for guards to be placed at the tomb, because they heard Jesus discuss rising from the dead.

The religious leaders wanted to ensure that the disciples would not steal His body and profit from propagating a lie.

Dusk of Saturday ends the Sabbath.

Day 2 is over.

So this bring us to our text for today.

If you have your copy of scripture, let’s open to .

Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake!

For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.

3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.

4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

5 Then the angel spoke to the women.

“Don’t be afraid!” he said.

“I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

6 He isn’t here!

He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.

Come, see where his body was lying.

7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee.

You will see him there.

Remember what I have told you.”

8 The women ran quickly from the tomb.

They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message.

9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them.

And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid!

Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of going to California to see my dad and celebrate his 70th birthday with him.

On my way back, I downloaded a movie on Netflix to watch on the plane.

The movie was based on a true story and was set in the late 70s and early 80s.

In this movie, a young reporter and his wife encounter a crisis of faith.

You see they were devoted atheists - confident that there was not a God, believing only in what they could see and touch - believing only in matter.

At dinner one night, their only daughter nearly died as a piece of food gets lodged in her throat.

A nurse comes by and saves her - communicating that she felt led by God to go to that restaurant that night.

This near-death experience led the mom to search for answers to the existence of God.

The dad dug in his heals, strengthening his disbelief.

As his wife eventually became a Christian, her new-found faith drove a wedge between them, causing a great deal of tension in their home.

As he vented to one of his colleagues at the newspaper he was urged to treat the claims of Christianity like he would a news article and let the facts reveal the truth.

And so, he set out to research the facts of the resurrection.

Today, as we consider the resurrection, we are going to consider some of the arguments both for and against it.

My hope is that if you are a follower of Christ, that this will give you fuel as you encounter friends and family who are skeptical about that claims of Christianity.

For those who may be here out of a courtesy to a loved one - thank you for being here.

My hope in this conversation is that you might see that Christianity is not a fact-less faith, but rather a faith established sparked by the words of Jesus, propelled by the works of Jesus, and confirmed by the reality of Jesus.

We’re going to briefly look at the

Protests

Proof