Easter "Hard to Believe"

Happy Easter! We’re here to celebrate the resurrection. The day Jesus rose from the dead. Right? You think that’s something people find hard to believe? Resurrection of the dead? Dead people coming back to life? People in other churches this morning are like, “it doesn’t really matter if it was literal or not—it’s the idea of resurrection that matters.” Spiritual resurrection. New life. New hope. Another chance. Isn’t that the real message of Easter?

Isn’t it?

If Jesus “spiritually” rose from the dead, I don’t know—like a ghost or an inspirational idea—isn’t that just as good?

I didn’t grow up going to church on Easter. We just got up in the morning and hunted for eggs in the backyard. My mom would grab our cat, dip his little paw in some green ink and make Easter Bunny prints all over the driveway and sidewalk. You know, to prove he was the one who actually hid all those tye-dyed eggs.

Fun fact, you know what treat was waiting for us inside those brightly colored treasures once we found them? Egg. The manual labor of peeling hard-boiled eggs. Kids love a nice boiled egg that’s been sitting in the sun all morning. I’d eat two or three—with chocolate.

Because there were plastic eggs with little foil-covered chocolate eggs in them, too. And we all got one of those big chocolate bunnies—the ones that were hollow with the creepy candy eyes. Most people would eat the ears first but sometimes I would bite the face off like a psycho. Just to show it who was boss. Almost break my teeth on the hard candy eyes.

It’s a pretty flimsy connection between the resurrection of Jesus and chocolate bunnies. We’ll have an Easter egg hunt for the YoungOnes after the service because it’s fun. But, every year, I get the full wrath of some very serious Christians who want to educate me on the demonic dangers of dressing my daughter up as a bunny and giving candy to children at church. Every. Year.

I always say the same thing. You know, there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun, encouraging our children to worship the false gods of fertility and the spring equinox. That always puts their minds at ease.

No, I always say that Christianity, Easter in particular, is all about the redemption of the world. The salvation of the world. Taking everything back from the darkness and putting it under the rule and reign and light of Christ.

Easter is the holiday, which means holy day, when we celebrate the once and for all final blow to the world, the flesh and the devil. The resurrection of Jesus, which actually happened, for real, of His dead body, it’s the day when all us godless pagans were redeemed. The cross bought our freedom and the resurrection gave us the promise of new life and new hope. There is nothing in this world that doesn’t belong to Jesus now. That certainly includes bunnies, eggs and candy.

Let’s pray as we get started today: Lord God, our loving heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for the glorious resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Your Son, the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. On that first Easter morning, Your Son met the women at the tomb and told them to tell the disciples about his resurrection. Guide us to also speak about the resurrection and the hope it gives us for our life. Jesus conquered death by his death and won the victory by his resurrection. Be with us and lead us to life with you forever. AMEN.

We’ve been slowly walking through the Gospel of Luke since November. Because it’s Easter, resurrection day, I’m going to jump to the last chapter. Warning, Spoilers ahead!

This isn’t going to be the full verse-by-verse treatment, I’m just going to tell the story of that first Easter and point out a few things along the way. But this is the very amazing, historically accurate, account of the resurrection from the Gospel of Luke. 

At the end of chapter 23, the mangled corpse of Jesus was given to a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, it was given to a secret follower of Jesus named Joseph. This means he was in all the meetings where they plotted how they were going to kill Him. Pretty weird, right? It took some courage to ask for the body to give Him a proper burial, though. Most of the disciples, all of the Twelve, had run away and were in hiding. A few of the women had actually watched the crucifixion—can you even imagine how heartbreaking that must have been? Those women followed Joseph and watched the body of Jesus being placed inside the fancy tomb of a rich man. They watched the stone rolled in front of the entrance. They had to be in shock. They went home and prepared the spices and perfumes for His body. It was late on the day before the Sabbath. Luke tells us they rested on Saturday in obedience to the Commandment.

Chapter 24, verse one:

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 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 wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. Luke 24:1-12

These women had been with Jesus for a long time—part of His ministry since Galilee. They watched the crucifixion, followed Joseph to see which tomb Jesus was put in so they could return after the Sabbath to anoint His body. They’ll be the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They’ll be key members of the church throughout the book of Acts. They’re going to be the ones to tell the apostles that Jesus came back from the dead.

Luke is very careful with names and details but I’ll bet he had a lot of pressure to leave out this part of the story. At the time, women were not allowed to be legal witnesses. The only reason he would have included this detail of the story is because it’s true. If he was trying to con the ancient world, he wouldn’t have invented a story with women being the first eye-witnesses. 

As you sit here, Easter Sunday, about 2,022 years later. You need to understand that it’s the Gospel of Jesus and the work of the church that has changed things—creating a world where there is equality between men and women and people of different races. Christianity did that. I know our culture has a lot of dumb ideas about what Jesus and His church are all about but you should know all these modern concepts about equality were born with Jesus, brought to life by His resurrection, and the world was changed by His followers, the church. Starting with those women.

The women see the two angels who say the most quotable thing. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” They’re in a cemetery looking for the Lord of Life. The Living One. The angels say, “He is not here, He is risen!” … unlike you, they didn’t know the proper response. The angels are like, “Come on, ladies, don’t you remember all the times He said this was going to happen? Son of Man, delivered to the hands of sinners, be crucified, on the third day be raised to life? Does any of that ring a bell?” They were like, “Oh yeah! He did say all that, didn’t He? We thought it was a metaphor. Like one of His little stories.”

No. The cross and the resurrection were God’s plan of salvation the whole time. This is the primary thing Jesus came to do. The angels speak to the women, they remember Jesus’ words, and the Word of God creates faith in them. Maybe you’ve heard all this before. I’m hoping the Word of God creates faith in you today, too.

So they ran to the Eleven. Used to be the Twelve but Judas had hung himself in shame. There were a bunch of other disciples hiding out trying to make sense of this tragedy.

On the way back to the house, we’re told Jesus met them on the road, but we’re not told anything about the conversation. When they arrive, the men think the women are out of their gourds. They didn’t believe a word of it.

Everyone’s going to make fun of Thomas for doing this later—he wasn’t there on the first Easter. The women told the men about the angels and Jesus being alive again. They were skeptical. Maybe like some of us here this morning. It’s hard to believe in this resurrection thing. Maybe some “spiritual” resurrection but not a dead body actually coming back to life.

Peter took off running to the tomb anyway. We know from the Gospel of John that another disciple went with him. When they got there, they found an empty tomb with discarded grave clothes just like the women had said. 

On the way back to the house, we’re told that Jesus met Peter on the road. Luke doesn’t tell us anything about that conversation but he does tell us about the Easter adventures of a couple of other disciples who decided to get the heck out of Jerusalem. Verse 13:

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24:13-16

This is a really good story. Jesus shows up and starts walking them but He doesn’t allow them to recognize Him. Not yet. He asks what they’re talking about. One of them is named Cleopas and he says, “You must be the only person in town who hasn’t heard the news.”

Jesus plays dumb, “What news?”

They’re like, “How have you not heard of Jesus? He’s the only One people have been talking about all year. We were hoping He was the Messiah but the Chief Priests got the Romans to crucify Him last Friday. So much for that hope. Just now we were talking about how some of the women said they went to His grave and saw angels—that He’s alive again. Some of the guys went to check out the story but—anyway, that’s why we’re getting out of town—they keep talking that kind of nonsense and they’ll get the rest of us killed.” 

It’s kind of funny that they’re saying all this to Jesus, but He’s not amused. Verse 25:

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27

All of a sudden this stranger is all up in their business, calls them idiots—and then gives them a Bible study I’d sure like to have heard. We don’t get all the details here but Jesus makes it really clear: all the Scriptures are about Him. The cross and the resurrection was always the plan for how God was going to save the world. Always.

So they get to Emmaus and Jesus acts like He’s going to keep going. Interesting detail. He wanted them to invite Him to stay. It’s the same with you: He finds you wherever you are, but He wants you to invite Him to stay. So they invited Him to their house.

They still don’t know it’s Jesus. They sit down for supper. Verse 30:

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. 
Luke 24:30-33

Sounds like Communion doesn’t it? Table fellowship. Eating and drinking with Jesus. It’s been a major theme throughout the whole book of Luke. This is where Jesus reveals Himself to them, and it’s where Jesus reveals Himself to us, too. 

They’re like, “Makes a lot more sense now why His teaching was so familiar.”

As soon as Jesus handed them the bread, their eyes were opened, they recognized Him, and He just vanished. (sound effect) Jesus can do whatever He wants with His post-resurrection body. 

What would you do? They ran all the way back to their friends in Jerusalem to tell them what happened. Seven miles later. Verse 33:

There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” (They already knew, Jesus had met Peter on the road, too) Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. While they were still talking about this, (sound effect) Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (Which is the standard Jewish greeting, “Shalom.” But at the same time, Jesus actually gives them what the Word says: perfect harmony and peace between God and man. That’s what “shalom” means.) They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. (This is the same thing that’s going to happen a week later with Thomas, but he’s going to bow down and worship Jesus when he sees Him—not these guys, the ones we don’t call Doubting Thomas…) And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. (Jesus magically materializes into the room like a phantom, which freaks everyone out, then He’s like, “I’m kinda hungry, you got anything to eat?” Then they all just stare at Him in amazement watching Him eat like a bunch of dogs. He’s not a ghost. It wasn’t just a spiritual resurrection. This whole thing shows us that Jesus is completely divine and completely human. Fully God. Fully flesh and bone—scars and all. And He can do whatever He wants with His resurrected body.)  He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:33-45

Once again. All of the Scriptures point to Jesus. All of them. The Law. The Prophets. The Psalms. All of it. Why do we read the Old Testament? Because we believe in Jesus and He said it’s about Him. Lord, open our minds so we can understand, too! 

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Third time in this chapter alone. This is the Gospel. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The cross and the resurrection has been God’s plan for saving the world since the beginning of time. Stop doubting. Start believing. You’re witnesses of these things now. You know these things, too. You need to turn away from your doubt and turn toward faith in Jesus. You need to let other people know About these things. The ones who aren’t here this morning. You need to run toward that empty tomb and run to let the people you care about know this good news. 

The resurrection of Jesus really happened. Which, good for Him, right? But here’s why it matters to you and the people you love—when you die, you’re going to be brought back to life, too. That’s the whole point. That’s how God saves the world. That’s your hope. 

1 Corinthians 15:51–57

Listen, I tell you a mystery: …

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 

“Where, O death, is your victory? 

Where, O death, is your sting?” 

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You might still think this is hard to believe. You might still be skeptical of the resurrection.

Look at it this way: You’ve seen evidence of the resurrection all around you. It’s built right into creation. A seed goes into the ground and dies, then it grows into a new life. A plant, a tree. Every year most of the trees go dormant. They seem to die. Every spring they come back to life with leaves and fruit. Every night you go to bed, lay down and appear to die. Every morning you are resurrected. This is going to happen over and over until the one day you don’t wake up—when you appear to be permanently dead.

Don’t lose hope. This is what every springtime and every sunrise has been screaming at you your entire life. This is the message of Easter and the resurrection. Death doesn’t get the final word.

But maybe you’re still skeptical. Well, here’s a historical fact that’s not disputed by anyone. The followers of Jesus came to believe He rose from the dead. Something had to have happened to make them think this. It’s a fact that requires a good explanation. There had been a lot of want-to-be messiahs that were killed by the Jewish leaders and Romans. Their death was always the end of their little revolutions. Why would the followers of Jesus be so convinced He rose from the dead that they were willing to risk their life to tell people? Why did it change the world? Here we are 2,000 years later still talking about it.

I can only think of one plausible explanation. It really happened. Jesus really came back from the dead and it really matters. Believe.

Because Jesus died for you, your sins are forgiven, you will die but you will not die in your sin.

This is really good news because since Jesus rose from the grave, you will also rise.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!