Sermon Tone Analysis

Lamb of God

We ate in the traditional way, all gathered on one side of a long table facing a painter.

Just kidding.

I found this somewhat more realistic depiction.

Next time we do seder, maybe we should do away with the chairs to make it even more traditional.

Reclining together at table.

Recap Seder dinner - the Passover Lamb, by whose blood death passes over our door.

Jesus is the fulfillment, the sacrifice, whose blood forever frees us from death, from sin that leads to death, and from the guilt and shame that accuse us.

Recap story of Jesus - obedient to death on a cross.

Cross-Centric

So we survey the “wondrous cross” and the crucified Jesus.

We are “cross-centric”, “Cross-centered.”

Deciding to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified.

Deciding to boast in nothing else but the cross of Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world.

We take up our cross and follow Jesus.

So… why then the tomb?

The empty tomb of Jesus is the most controversial, the most “magical”, the most offensive aspect of Jesus.

You can get all kinds of scholars to love Jesus as a teacher.

Even his teachings like “take up your cross and follow me...”

You can take a Buddhist interpretation of “accept suffering as an aspect of life.”

And nearly everybody LOVES Jesus’ teachings on love, especially if they get to redefine what “love” means to suit their purposes of the moment.

Maybe we can take Jesus and his teachings on love and God and even his faithfulness to death on a cross… take all that without the “religious” or “magical” resurrection mumbo-jumbo?

Distance from the Cross to the Tomb

In 2012 I had the incredible privilege of getting to visit Israel for a couple weeks with a group from Denver Seminary.

While there, in Jerusalem, we stayed at a hotel just a couple blocks from the church of the Holy Sepulchre… the traditional site of both Calvary and the empty tomb.

Built in the the 4th century by Emperor Constantine’s mom in place of a temple to Jupiter… and we have records saying they filled in “rock cut tombs” to build that temple, these really are the best candidates for the actual sites.

Everything is dripping in gold and there is no sense whatsoever of the hill, certainly not of the tomb, it is all shrines and altars.

Lines like Disneyland, but with more robes.

But you walk in and there is the “Rock of Calvary” with an altar over a hole in the floor where you can reach in and touch the “Rock.”

And you turn to the left, and there is the Holy Sepulcher which is a little freestanding gold plated chapel on the spot…

It wasn’t the opulence that surprised me, and to be honest I didn’t get a sense of majesty or holiness there at all.

It wasn’t the magic of the place that surprised me.

It was the proximity.

Proximity of death and resurrection.

And it makes sense that they are close.

They would perform execution outside the city walls.

and they would bury outside the city walls.

Why go far when you could take the body right there?

We are cross centered.

Eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and him crucified.

But just past the cross… is the empty tomb.

The Gospel Without Resurrection

Perhaps the earliest telling of the gospel story:

That’s James, the brother of Jesus.

I’ve said it before, but he’s my favorite post-Resurrection convert.

What would it take to convince you your older brother was the Son of God, the Messiah?

So what was of “first importance”?

One sentence here.

Christ died for our sins, was buried, raised on the third day, all of this prophesied and all of it witnessed but hundreds.

I’ve heard people say “I would follow Jesus even if there were no heaven.”

He’s just so sweet and loving and nice and good, and so many blessings.

I get it.

I understand it.

But when I read Scripture, I can’t help but think you’re doing it wrong!

That isn’t the way the disciples saw it, and they knew Jesus in the flesh, they loved him deeply, they knew and received his love profoundly.

Most to be Pitied

Do you believe that?

Do you live that way?

I do.

I am really wasting my time here if Christ is not raised from the dead.

I am really wasting my life if Christ is not raised from the dead.

What a dumb idea to “take up our cross and follow in Jesus’ footsteps.”

That’s the definition of stupid.

“Embrace suffering and failure?”

Inconceivable!!!

Paul threw away an illustrious career, religious authority and status as a Pharisee among Pharisee’s, a disciple of the most respected member of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel.

Wayne, what are you doing here?

Go build your business, why are you wasting time here?

Kelly, Arvella, why waste your talents leading people in worship?

Go… be a STAR!

Logan, don’t waste your time here, go to a track meet or something.

(Oh wait… Logan is at a track meet.

Sinner).

What are you doing here???

Why are any of you in this place on a Saturday morning?

If Christ is not raised, we are, of all people, most to be pitied.

But in Fact

The resurrection of Jesus changes everything.

It is the revelation of resurrection that makes the cross glorious.

It is our confidence in the resurrection that makes the cross bearable.

It is our anticipation of resurrection that makes the cross attractive.

If I told you to go run a lap around this building and I’d give you a high five, most of you would tell me to forget it.

Drew would do it, because he’s cool like that.

If I told you to go run a lap around this building and I’d give you a million dollars… and you believed me… and then you saw me handing other folks briefcases full of legit cash… it’d be a race!

You couldn’t wait to do the hard part, disciplining your body, suffering for a moment for the GLORIOUS reward.

The resurrection validates everything Jesus said, and now his disciples see what’s on the other side of the cross.

The resurrection and glorification of Jesus transforms pain and failure of the cross to reveal the glory of the Lamb of God.

Sin and Shame, Death and Darkness forever defeated.

It is the glory of resurrection that transforms our understanding of "popularity, greatness and success" and send us running to take up our cross and follow.

The "Way of the Cross" looks like foolishness to men, but it is the glory of God and our own resurrection and glory.

He is Risen!!!

We are cross-bearers in this life, cross centered disciples of the crucified Jesus.

With Jesus in the Way of the Cross, with Jesus in the Resurrection, with Jesus in glory!

We anticipate His resurrection today.

What the disciples didn’t know they were waiting for… we know in part.

We anticipate the celebration of His resurrection tomorrow.

We anticipate our own resurrection.

Resurrection is Coming

This is true in every sense: in the spiritual sense, in the metaphorical sense, in the absolutely literal sense.

You are called in this life to take up your cross and follow Jesus in the Way of the Cross - embracing suffering and failure.