Pastor Sherry’s message for March 31, 2024

Scriptures: Acts 10:34-42; Ps 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Mk 16:1-14

The story is told of a woman hurrying to church on Easter Sunday morning, when her car broke down: 

Not wanting to be late for the Easter service, she ordered an Uber to pick her up. The car arrived, and she quickly jumped in the back. 

Halfway through the ride, she asked the driver a question, but the driver didn’t respond. So she leaned forward and tapped [him] on the arm. The driver let out a loud scream, swerved into the other lane, almost hit another car, slammed on the brakes, and skidded over to the shoulder. 

The woman and driver sat in silence for a minute from the shock of what just happened. Finally, she said apologetically, “Wow, I’m so sorry. I had no idea that tapping your shoulder would alarm you like that.” 

“No, you really didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just that it’s my first day driving an Uber. You see, for the past 25 years, I’ve been driving a hearse.” 

(Borrowed from Subsplash.com, a blog, dated February 3, 2024.)

I’ll bet the poor driver thought he had witnessed a resurrection!  He was clearly shocked. He, and the woman trying to get to Easter Sunday services, were fortunate to escape injury.  It’s just a story—I don’t even know if it’s true—but it’s a reminder, isn’t it, of how fragile life is and of how amazingly our God looks after us.  I hope before they resumed their drive, they both took the time to thank the Lord for seeing them through a close call.

I think our responses to Easter Sunday must be belief and incredible gratitude.  Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplished for us what we could not do for ourselves.  He saved us from the penalty for our sin.  He dismantled the barriers between us and God the Father.  He demonstrated God’s life-giving, resurrection power.  And He grafted us into His Father’s family as adopted sons and daughters.

A. Mark gives us what is probably Peter’s account of what happened at the first Easter or Resurrection Sunday:  He shares that 3 women—who had all been at the foot of the Cross, grieving what had been done to Jesus—hurried to the tomb to complete the Jewish burial customs.

He had been hastily buried because of the Sabbath was scant hours away and the Sabbath prohibition from doing any work on that day.

None of the men accompanied them.  They may have been afraid they would be captured and crucified too.  Given the brutality of the Romans, this was all too likely, so the 11 disciples were in hiding.

No doubt the women wondered as they neared the tomb, “How will we roll back the rock covering the entrance?”  But they quickly observed that the tomb was standing open!  Moreover, it was empty!  Except for an angel who said (v.6)”Don’t be alarmed, …You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid Him.  But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” 

What an astonishing greeting!  I’ve never seen an angel, but my friends who have say they are about 9 feet tall and shine brightly.  No wonder they always tell those to whom they appear to not be afraid.  The three ladies, who are no doubt in shock, run off.  According to Mark, they say nothing to anyone, at first.  Matthew and Luke tell us they did go and tell the 11 apostles.  John says Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first and told her to tell the 11.

So there are a few discrepancies about timing and order—which is often true with eye-witnesses as they process their own shock and surprise—but the main narrative is the same: (1) The tomb is open and empty.  (2) The angel announces the Jesus is alive again!  Alleluia!  He is risen!  (3) Whoever encounters the angel is told take that Good News to Jesus’ closest friends:  Jesus has done what He said He would do!  Alleluia!  He is risen indeed!

B. As Paul makes clear in our 1st Corinthians 15:1-11 lesson,we are to understand 2 facts:

First, Jesus’ resurrection was not just a spiritual truth but a bodily phenomenon.  The words he uses in the Koine Greek (the language in which the New Testament was written) are anastasis nekron, which means the standing up of a corpse.   Jesus appeared to His followers in a real body.  One that had been alive, but was then executed, and then miraculously came back to life!

Second, He appeared (post-resurrection), Paul tells us, to over 500 witnesses.  This is no myth!  This is no baseless narrative that has been spun to deceive.   No, Jesus’ resurrection is a fact!

1.) Peter and John saw Him;

2.) Mary Magdalene and the other faithful women saw Him; 

3.) His mother saw Him;

4.) His brother James saw Him;

5.) The 10 Apostles in the upper room saw Him;

6.) Later, the Apostle Thomas also saw Him;

7.) The two disciples on the road to Emmaus saw Him;

8.) Paul encountered Him on the road to Damascus;

9.) And Paul adds (verse 6) that >500 persons saw Him, at various times, during the 40 days between His Resurrection and Ascension.

You might be able to dismiss the testimonies of a few wild-eyed zealots.

But add to this over 500 “normal people?”   How about the fact that Jesus fulfilled over 325 Messianic prophesies from the OT?  Or the fact that He is probably the most influential person who has ever lived?  Still worshipped today, 2000 years later; still proclaimed as Lord, for 2 millennia. Or that thousands of His followers have met martyr’s’ deaths rather than renounce Him.  Scholars say there is more evidence of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection than there is of the life of Julius Caesar.  These very strong proofs of the reality of Jesus’ resurrection should strengthen our faith in Him.

But let’s also consider what our other passages today have to say about why His resurrection should also result in our tremendous gratitude:

A.  King David who wrote Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 as an ode to joy!  He invites us to focus on heavenly realities–not the frustrations and disappointments of this life.  Because of the mighty things Jesus has done—including demonstrating His power over death—we can gratefully rejoice in the Lord and praise Him for our deliverance, provision, and protection.

We are thankful to Him because…

(1) Verse 1—The Lord is good; His love endures forever.

(2) Verse 14—The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.

(3) Verse 17—Prophesying Jesus’s resurrection, David wrote, I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.

(4) Verse 24—This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

(5) We are also grateful for the fact that (v.22)—The stone the builders rejected [Jesus] has become the capstone.  The capstone was either a large rectangular stone used as a lintel in a doorway, or a large square or rectangular stone used to anchor or align the corner of a wall.  It might also be the keystone or middlemost stone in an arch.  The capstone (building corner or doorway lintel) or keystone (arch) kept the building from collapsing by supporting what existed beside and above it.  Considering this metaphor for Jesus, who holds all things together for us, no wonder we call Him our Rock and our Redeemer.

B. Peter is certainly fired up as he boldly preaches to Cornelius and his household in Acts 10:34-43).  He saw the empty tomb, the discarded grave clothes, and the resurrected Christ!  Filled with the Holy Spirit (back in Acts 2), he preaches with fiery conviction.  Peter reviews for the Cornelius household the salient points of Jesus’ life and ministry, emphasizing the resurrection (vv.39b-41)—They [the Jewish religious authorities and the  Roman civil authorities] killed him [Jesus] by hanging Him on a tree, but God raised Him from the dead on the third day and caused Him to be seen.  He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.  Peter says they hanged Him on a tree—remember, Hebrews considered any piece of wood a “tree.”   They hear this and the Holy Spirit falls upon them all with the result that they praised God and spoke in tongues.  Wow! Powerful preaching, Peter!  Then Peter declares, “let’s baptize them with water.”

Here’s Peter-–not so long ago, cowering and ashamed—now boldly proclaiming Christ and baptizing Gentiles into “The Way,” as it was called in the 1st century.  Jesus has restored Peter.  And I think we can safely surmise Peter is so grateful for Jesus’ forgiveness, love, and trust in him, that he will go anywhere and preach to anyone willing to listen.

  Some of you may have seen or read Tolkien’s Trilogy of the Rings.  After accompanying Frodo on a often terrifying, always challenging, and truly exhausting mission to destroy the evil ring, Samwise Gamchee, Frodo’s faithful companion, collapses.  When he comes to, the first thing he sees is the good wizard Gandalf, who Sam had thought was dead.  At that moment, he asks a question (perhaps one of the best lines from the movies or the book, “Is everything sad going to come untrue?”  Jesus entered the river of death and came out victorious on the other side, making the sad of His death come untrue.  Because He did this for us, we too share in His resurrection victory—and all of its benefits. Yes, the world is still broken and people are still hurting, but because of Jesus, we have this promise.  At His 2nd Coming, everything sad will come untrue!!

Alleluia, He is risen!  The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

©️2024 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams