The Resurrection

On Sunday’s we’ve been going through the book of Luke for many years.

Today, we find ourselves in Luke’s account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It’s definitely a perfect passage for today, considering that it is Easter.

The day that we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the grave.

Please open your Bibles to

Read .

This is a remarkable passage.

We begin at the tale end of , and we learn of an unknown disciple, Joseph of Arimathea.

We learn of how he buried Jesus.

Then we learn of unlikely disciples, a group of women.

They first went to the grave on Friday, but it was too late, so they returned home, to finish preparing spices for Jesus’ burial.

They returned on Sunday morning, to become the first ones to find out that Jesus was resurrected.

They also became the first evangelists.

Then we have some unbelieving disciples.

They strangely, are the 11 disciples of Christ.

With each disciple, we learn of a weakness, a flaw.

One is unknown.

Another are unlikely.

And another group is unbelieving.

And yet, we also learn of growth, of obedience.

These disciples don’t remain the way we first meet them.

This is encouraging, because we live in a culture, where most people would say they are Christian.

They believe in God.

They believe in Jesus.

Occasionally they go to church.

And they think that’s enough.

They’ll never think about it again.

This is tragic, because in , we learn that there are many people who claim to be disciples of Jesus, who in fact are rejected by Christ.

In , Jesus describes a group of people who say, “Lord, Lord” to Jesus.

They believe in God.

They acknowledge there is a Jesus.

Occasionally they go to church.

And yet, in , Jesus tells this group of people, “Depart from me, … I never knew you.”

Today’s passage encourages me, and it should encourage you, because it tells me it doesn’t have to be this way.

We don’t have to fear that one day Jesus will say, “Depart from me … I never knew you.”

Disciples can have a real hope.

They can know they are in Christ.

We have 3 groups of disciples who begin with a flaw, and by the end we know where they stand.

There’s a story of Sam Houston, the Texas war hero, and his conversion.

Because in many ways, his conversion mirrors many of ours.

He was the governor of Tennessee.

And at the same time he was a very serious alcoholic.

While governor he was nicknamed “The Old Drunk.”

Finally in desperation, he resigned as governor and went to live with the Cherokee Indians.

Most of the time he was drunk.

It was said that many times, the Cherokee would find him passed out on the forest floor, and they would drag him off the path so they could pass by.

Later he went to Texas, and became part of Texas’ great history.

His battle cry was, “Remember the Alamo.”

He married a Baptist preacher’s daughter.

Many thought that this would bring religion into his life.

They though religion would fix him.

Well, some things cleaned up.

He was no longer found passed out on the forest floor.

But it’s debatable whether or not he was really a Christian.

His behavior was modified, but his heart wasn’t.

He probably was more like many Americans who call themselves Christian.

He had religion.

His wife was a Christian.

But he didn’t know Christ.

Some of his old habits had never left him.

One day while out riding his horse, his horse stumbled, and he let out a good curse word.

And for the first time he was convicted of sin.

He knelt down on the trail and cried out to God for forgiveness.

From that moment on, he truly became a new person.

He was born again.

In our encounter with Christ’s resurrection, Luke introduces us to 3 groups of disciples.

And we see with them obedience that is required.

Maybe today, you find yourself there.

You’ll identify with one of the disciples.

And may God change you as well.

The first disciple we find is the The Unknown Disciple.

We read about a man named Joseph, and he is from a town called Arimathea.

He’s an interesting man.

He’s a part of the council, the Sanhedrin.

This is the governing Jewish body, that brought Jesus to Pilate, ordering His death.

We learn, that though he is a part of that group, he didn’t agree with them.

He’s actually a good man.

He’s a believer of God.

He’s sincere.

He’s a good guy.

He’s also a very rich man.

Jesus had been condemned and executed as an enemy of the state.

Now Joseph goes to Pilate and asks to bury Jesus.

Joseph, being a wealthy man, has a tomb that he had already purchased.

John’s gospel tells us of another secret disciple, Nicodemus, and together they take Jesus’ body and put Jesus in a brand new tomb or grave.

We applaud Joseph for his kindness.

Though this wasn’t originally his idea.

This was something that God had planned a thousand years earlier.

says, “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, ...”

God’s plan was that Jesus would be buried in a rich man’s borrowed tomb.

Joseph didn’t know it, but he was fulfilling prophecy.

Joseph’s action was a brave action.

The Sanhedrin had just put Jesus to death by mob coercion.

They had used their size and influence to put Pilate into an unavoidable situation.

If he didn’t listen to them, they would spark protests, and violence within Jerusalem.

They had a violent and deadly influence.

Up until now, Joseph had been a part of this group.

And it’s not easy to leave a group like this.

I know a man who’s family had connections to the mob back east.

His uncle was pretty involved with the mob, and had had a change in heart and wanted to get out of the mob and move west.

Leaving the mob isn’t something you just leave.

It’s more like trying to cancel a gym membership, near impossible.

His uncle went to the mob bosses, had a bunch of conversations with them, and finally and somehow, convinced them that he could be trusted.

He left, moved to west, and started a new chapter in his life.

But his old home, mysteriously was gutted and burned to the ground after he left.

They wanted to make sure he didn’t leave any convicting evidence behind.

Leaving the mob is a dangerous task.

Joseph going against the Sanhedrin was a dangerous task.

Joseph was putting his own reputation and life on the line in asking for Jesus’ body, and then treating him with respect.

Laying Jesus’ body in a rich man’s tomb.

Dressing the body for burial.

Joseph was risking his own life in identifying with Christ.

This shows us one of the marks of a Christian.

A Christian identifies with Jesus.

Joseph was an unknown disciple.

He secretly followed Jesus.

In , it records Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night.

Afraid of anyone connecting the dots.

But by the time we get to the death of Jesus, these men are no longer secret or unknown disciples.

They become known disciples.

You cannot be a Christian and for that to be a secret.

Jesus said you must be born again.

Being born again means you become a new person.

If you become a Christian and you don’t look any different from what you were before, you should ask yourself, “Are you a Christian?”

Something changes in the believers life.

says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind ...”

There needs to be a transformation.

You don’t remain how you were before.

Anyone who says you can become a Christian and everything will remain exactly the same is lying to you.

It will be risky to follow Christ.

The early church experienced this.

When people were converted to Christ they would lose everything.

They’d be kicked out of their families.

They’d lose their business and employment.

They’d lose their social standing.

No friends.

No allies.

They lost it all.

Jesus knew there was this risk in following Him.

Jesus explained the high cost of following Him.

For some people it will cost them everything.

It will mean losing their closest relationships.

To follow Christ we will be accused of hating those closest to us.

In He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

The goal of the Christian isn’t to see how long you can go before someone finds out you’re a believer.

It’s something that should be known.

One of the first things that a believer does is be baptized.

To publicly proclaim Christ.

To publicly identify with Christ.

To say, “I follow Him.”

I’ve counseled people who desire to follow Christ, and the cost was high.

They came from strong Catholic families.

Their parents had certain values.

And to be baptized and proclaim Christ would seem like a slap in the face to their loved ones.

It would seem like you hate your parents.

Which you aren’t doing.

But you love Christ more.

Maybe you’ve wrestled with this.

Church participation is a battle.

Religion is a battle.

Fellowship is a battle.

Even reading your Bible is a battle.

For you, the question is who do you follow?

Joseph of Arimathea went from being the unknown disciple to the known disciple.

Are you known?

If you’re not, maybe it’s time that you become known.

Next, we have the The Unlikely Disciples.

Jesus was killed on Friday.

Saturday is the Sabbath.

And technically, the Sabbath began at sundown on Friday night.

The Jews could do no work on the Sabbath.

It was a day of rest.

There were some women who had followed Jesus, and like Joseph and Nicodemus, they wanted to help prepare Jesus’ body for a burial.

They were going to put spices and ointments on his body.

Unfortunately, it was getting late, the Sabbath was about to begin, so they would have to put off finishing the burial until the Sabbath was over.

Early Sunday morning, the women took their spices and they went to the tomb.

Remember, this was a nice tomb.

It was a rich man’s tomb.

It was cut from stone.

It had a giant stone, which would have served as a doorway into the tomb.

Much too large for the women to open on their own.

Mark’s account of the event, has the women even wondering who would roll the stone away for them.

Maybe the Roman soldiers would help them do it?

They made it to the tomb, only to find the stone was already rolled away.

They look inside the tomb, and don’t see Jesus anywhere.

Suddenly two angels appear.

Luke says they are dazzling.

That same word is used to describe what a flash of lightning looks like in a dark sky.

They are bright, and hard to look at.

The women are understandably scared.

This happens most of the time when people encounter angels.

They don’t look like the blonde blue fairy that brought the wooden Pinocchio to life, or the angel in a prom dress on top of your Christmas tree.

Angels in the Bible are supernatural beings that bring fear upon men and women when they are seen.

These women are terrified.

These angels know why the women are there.

The women are looking for Jesus.

I love the response from the angels.

They don’t explain much.

They don’t describe the metaphysics of how Jesus came back to life.

No elaborate explanation.

They give a simple and profound statement.

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

Many people are looking for something.

They are bored with life.

They know there’s got to be more.

And so they search.

But they are searching for life among the dead.

They try and find meaning in philosophy or science or art.

The angels said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead.”

Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life.

If you want life, if you want satisfaction, you turn to Christ.

These angels then give great advice.

In they say, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

The Unbelieving Disciple

This is a reminder to you who think you are disciples of Christ, that He is who we get our wisdom from.

There are a lot of people out there who think they are His disciples.

They think they are good people.

They think they are going to heaven.

They think they are Christians.

But they have no idea what Jesus said.

If I said I was a follower of Benjamin Franklin, you’d expect me to know some of his saying.

I’d probably have read the Farmer’s Almanac.

If I said I was a student of Charles Dickens, I better have read some of his books.

And if you say you are a disciple, or a follower of Christ, you need to know what He said.

And how do we know what Jesus said?

By reading the Bible.

And not just the red letters, but all the letters.

says that all Scripture is God breathed.

The women were told to remember what Jesus said.

They searched their memories and then in verses 8 and 9 it says, “And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.”

“You’re right. Jesus told us this would happen.”

Back in Jesus was pretty specific as to what would happen.

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Or how about and 19, ““See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

These women are unlikely disciples.

They go from unlikely disciples, to professing disciples.

These women become the first evangelists.

They remember what Christ said.

They then run to the 11 disciples and tell them about the empty tomb and the resurrected Jesus.

This becomes an example of the truth of Scripture, and the kindness of God.

Here’s what I mean by the truth of Scripture.

Maybe a better word is the honesty of Scripture.

This might not translate well to our modern minds, but let me do my best to explain it to you.

If you were going to start a new company, and have an advertising campaign, you’d pick a good spokesman.

If you were a financial consulting company, you wouldn’t pick someone who had filed for bankruptcy multiple times to be your voice to the public.

If you were opening a gym, you probably wouldn’t hire someone who is overweight and out of shape to be your spokesman.

There have been times a celebrity endorsed a product and then did something very embarrassing.

The company quickly had to try and erase the problem.

Forget the endorsement ever happened.

If you are going to start something new, you want reputable and knowledgable people to represent you.

Times were a bit different in the first century.

If you were going to start a religion, you’d want educated men.

Men who come from good family and can trace their genealogy.

Again, who are the first evangelists, the first to talk about the resurrected Jesus?

It’s not rich, educated men.

It’s a group of women.

And not the most reputable of women either.

Tradition has it that Mary Magdalene was previously demon possessed.

That’s not necessarily the person you’d make the face of a family friendly religion.

Joanna was associated with Herod’s household, not exactly the most friendly of organizations.

And these are the people that God used to tell of Christ’s resurrection.

And this becomes an example of the honesty of Scripture.

Luke doesn’t clean things up.

Luke doesn’t change the story to being men who first told of Jesus being resurrected.

People might have liked to hear that more.

But it wouldn’t be true.

And if this isn’t true, then it couldn’t be trusted.

Scripture hasn’t been cleaned up to be more acceptable to the listeners.

It tells the truth.

And the truth is that the very first evangelists were women.

And their first message, was the most important of all messages, Jesus is alive.

God entrusted the most important news for all of mankind to ever hear, with a group of women.

Jesus is alive.

And with Jesus being alive, it is proof that God accepted Jesus’ death on our behalf.

You see if Jesus didn’t come out of that tomb, then our sins are not forgiven.

And if our sins are not forgiven, we are still at war with God.

These women came with the best news, Jesus is alive.

And they professed it.

A disciple of Christ professes this good news.

Have you professed it?

Have you confessed it?

Have you agreed with the truth, that Jesus is alive and is He Lord of your life?

By the way this all happened on a Sunday morning.

On that Sunday, women proclaimed and celebrated the resurrected Savior.

The reason why we meet on Sundays and not Saturdays, or any other day of the week, is so that we can continue this same practice.

Jesus defeated death on a Sunday.

Part of our profession is coming together, every Sunday, and proclaiming Christ crucified and then Christ resurrected.

Regular corporate worship is a part of the Christian profession.

The last group of disciples is a sad group, they are The Unbelieving Disciples.

The women find out that Jesus is resurrected, and they run to the 11 disciples and tell them the good news.

But look at the response of our beloved disciples, it’s disturbing, verse 11 says “but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”

The disciples hear of it all.

They hear of the stone rolled away.

They hear of the angels.

They hear that Jesus is living.

And they say it is an idle tale.

An idle tale is a fairy tale.

It’s nonsense.

It’s crazy talk.

This is frustrating.

They’ve spent 3 years together.

For 3 years, they have walked with Jesus, and have been personally taught by Him.

He has read to them Scripture.

He has taught them Scripture.

He has shown them how it’s about Him.

For 3 years, He’s been clear to them.

He has explained where He is going.

He explained that His life was moving towards this point.

That He would lay down His

He would die.

3 days later He would rise.

This was all told to them.

And you think they’d be looking for Him.

You’d think they would be the first ones at the tomb.

And now it’s happened, and how do they respond?

“You women are crazy.”

It’s an idle tale.

They didn’t believe.

They are unbelieving disciples.

And that is the saddest thing to be.

How sad it is to be near Christ, but not know Him.

How sad it is to be close, but a mile away.

Because such a person really is no disciple.

Back in , Jesus told a small parable, really it was an illustration.

It begins in verse 24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, ...”

In that story, there is a door, that is wide open.

People can go in at any time.

But then there will come a day, when the door will be shut.

And it will never be opened again.

And there will be all these people outside of it.

They were right at the door, but never entered in.

They were close, but never went inside.

There are many people who are close.

They call themselves Christians.

They identify with this as their religion.

They are so close.

But they’ve never gone through the door.

They don’t actually believe.

And on the day when they breath their last breath they will find themselves before God.

Hebrews says that it is appointed for man to die once, then face judgment.

And He will say, “Depart from me, all you workers of evil.”

But they were so close.

They could see inside.

They knew the people that were inside.

And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That is an ugly surprise.

Identifying with a church or even a religion won’t save you.

You need to enter in, and believe.

Back to , in verse 12, it says that Peter got up and ran.

In John’s gospel, John went with him.

They raced to the tomb.

They went in the tomb.

They found Jesus’ grave clothes, the ones that Joseph of Arimethea put on him, folded neatly by themselves.

And then it says that he marveled.

To marvel is to be astonished.

Luke likes to use that word when people recognize a work of God.

When Zacharias named John the Baptist John, people marveled.

When the shepherds told of the birth of Jesus, people marveled.

When various people came to Mary and Joseph and told them that their young son Jesus, was sent by God, they marveled.

Here, Peter marvels.

The disciples that we are to be are ones who marvel.

It’s not just acknowledging that He came.

But it’s being in awe at what He accomplished.

We don’t stand in awe at the resurrection of Christ in the way you stand in awe at David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear.

We stand in awe because we make it personal.

He died for our sins.

He defeated death.

He rose from the grave.

He now sits at the Father’s right hand side.

And He will come again to gather His children.

We have 3 groups of disciples.

The unknown disciples.

The unlikely disciples.

The unbelieving disciples.

My hope, my prayer, is that the Spirit of God will transform you.

He will cause you to be born again so that you become the Known Disciples.

That He will grant you faith, and cause you to remember the truth and become known as a Professing Disciple.

What makes me sad is to know that there may be some who are close.

I love them.

I know them.

And yet, they are unbelieving disciples.

May the Lord grant you faith, and you become known as a believing disciple.