A lot happened in the week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark, Mark mentions 36 different actions that took place from Sunday through Friday leading up to the crucifixion. Today’s sermon will pick up on what happened once the Sabbath was over. What proof would you have needed to believe Jesus had risen from the dead? Probably the same evidence Jesus’ disciples needed, to see Him, talk with Him, and to touch Him.

Where would we be if the resurrection didn’t happen?

1 Co 15:12-19 the Apostle Paul addresses the issue of no resurrection.

12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

With out the resurrection of Jesus, we would still be in our sinful condition, unless, of course, God had a backup plan. God did not have a backup plan, Jesus was God’s plan. We find multiple accounts in scripture of people being raised from the dead, Lazarus, Dorcas, and Jairus’ daughter to name a few. However, these all died again. Jesus was raised from the dead never to die again.

From our text Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. They expected Jesus’ body to be in the tomb. They were even concerned who would roll the stone that secured the tomb away. Mark just tells us the stone had been rolled away. In the Gospel of Matthew, we get a more detailed account of what happened.

Mt 28:1-3

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

The angel conversed with the Marys. The angel said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

We read in John 20:11-18

11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb

12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Imagine what you would have thought if you had put your trust in Jesus only to see him crucified and buried, then for someone to come and tell you Jesus is alive because they saw him and talked with him, and He gave them a message to give to you. Would you believe them, or would you be skeptical? Jesus told his disciples on three different occasions He was going to die but after three days rise from the dead. They still didn’t get it.

The first sermon I preached at Hillview, almost 40 years ago, shook the fabric of this congregation. I had been attending this church for a month, not long enough for the congregation to know and trust me. I got called on the carpet by the pastor for preaching a sermon on three sins prevalent in our city and present within this congregation. People accept criticism better from familiar sources, I wasn’t it. If you never come to church and get your toes stepped on figuratively, I’m guilty of preaching feel good messages and avoiding your sinfulness. That message I preached caused one member to stew over it for ten years. He finally came to me and told me after ten years he finally was able to accept what I had said, the Word of God. The disciples hadn’t received the Holy Spirit yet, and they still had a lot to learn about the Jesus they spent 3 years learning about.

Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and talked with Him. She went to the disciples and told them what Jesus had said. Two disciples while walking home had an encounter with the risen Jesus.

Luke 24:13-21

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.

16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.

18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.

21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

Here we have two of Jesus’ disciples walking home discussing what they had hoped Jesus was going to do and what happened to Jesus. When Jesus met up with them, they did not recognize him. Jesus acted like He didn’t know what had happened to Jesus. Continuing in this 24^th chapter of Luke, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

The men approached the village where they lived and invited Jesus to stay with them because it was late in the day. Jesus agreed and stayed with them. At dinner, “Jesus 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.”

What would you have done if you were in these men’s situations with news, worthy of telling somebody? These men, “Got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them assembled. “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

Finally, Jesus appears to the disciples, once when Thomas was absent and again when Thomas was present.

John 20:19-25

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

Can you imagine the excitement of the disciples except for Thomas. Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” So, Thomas had to wait a week.

John 26:26-29

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Of course, our situation is different from the disciples. We have never seen the physical Jesus, but we believe in Him. So, yes, we are blessed.

Jesus didn’t lose hope with his disciples, but I’m sure they frustrated Him. He was getting ready to return to the Father, but He had to give them some final instructions.

Mark 16:14-20

14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

In the book of Acts 1 we see another accounting of the time leading up to Jesus’ ascension.

Acts 1:1-11

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Jesus’ birth was miraculous. At about thirty years of age, He began His earthly ministry. He appointed 12 men as Apostles. One of the 12 was a traitor. Jesus’ ministry was so powerful, He had enemies in religious high places. What the people didn’t understand was, Jesus had to die to pay our sin debt. He was the perfect sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned to die at the hands of the Romans. Though it looked like He was helpless to defend himself, He is recorded as saying, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life– only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Jesus didn’t stay dead. On the first day of the week after his crucifixion, He arose from the dead. After being seen alive by His disciples, He ascended back into Heaven and was seated at the right hand of his Father. He didn’t leave us comfortless; the Holy Spirit came to dwell in us and to lead and guide us into all truth. We receive the Holy Spirit when we get saved. The angels told his disciples and us that He is coming back again. We need to be ready when He comes. Are you ready for Jesus to come back for you? If you are not ready, get ready.

Invitation:

Closing song:

Benediction:

 

Study Questions

1. Do you understand why we celebrate Easter? Can you separate out the spiritual aspects of Easter from earthly aspects?
2. What proof did you need to believe in the resurrection of Jesus?
3. Do you understand what our spiritual condition would have been without the resurrection?
4. Have you ever expected to find one situation, but found something totally different? (Jesus’ body in a tomb vs His resurrected body)
5. Are you accepting of the disciple’s doubts and unbelief about Jesus? (Jesus told them what was going to happen, but they didn’t believe Him)
6. Can you explain the story of Jesus to someone else?
7. Jesus showed up but Thomas wasn’t there, can you identify with his reaction?
8. The second time Jesus showed up and Thomas was there. How do you feel about what Jesus told him?
9. What is supposed to happen to us when the Holy Spirit comes on us?
10. What is Jesus doing now?