Easter - The Resurrection
I have not always been a follower of Jesus. I grew up Catholic. I was an altar boy. I said the rosary. I knew the prayers. I believed in Jesus. But I was not a Christian. I believed in Jesus. But I was not following Him. I was eighteen in 1991 when I became a follower of Jesus.
And it may surprise you to know - after Jesus was brutally murdered on the cross and rose from the dead - His friends struggled to believe he was really alive.
Luke 24:1-12 (NLT2)
But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. 5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.
It makes sense to me that if anybody ever wanted Jesus to be alive, it would have been the men who followed him for three years of their lives. When somebody you love dies tragically and suddenly, you miss them and want them to be alive.
Jesus did not die of a long, drawn-out battle with cancer or disease. One moment, Jesus was healthy and enjoying dinner with his closest friends; the next moment, he was arrested and murdered.
The disciples had seen him work miracles and change lives. They ate with him, learned from him, and saw the hope he brought to people. They wanted Jesus to be alive more than anybody. And their initial response reminds us that when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus…
SOME WILL ALWAYS STRUGGLE TO BELIEVE
The disciple's first response was not “Jesus is alive!” Their first reaction was that they believed the women were nuts! Their story sounded like nonsense to them. They refused to believe Jesus was alive.
That may be where you are today. You believe Jesus existed. You believe he did good things. You believe that he was put to death by execution on the cross…But just like the disciples, you struggle to believe He rose from the dead.
Let me say this. I am glad you are here today.
You came because you love someone who kept inviting you to church. Maybe you said yes after being asked five or six times. Maybe it was your mom, your wife, or your friend. And you finally said, “Fine. I will go.” That says something about you. That says you care about them. So, thanks for accepting their invitation.
Now, it is important to note that the disciples changed their minds. They went from refusing to believe to fully surrendering their lives to Him. How did they get there?
Well, in between verses 12 and 36, Jesus made a few special appearances. Jesus appeared to a couple of his disciples walking down a road and talked with them. Then he appeared to Peter. Then he appeared to his disciples, to show them the nails in his hands and feet.
And the disciples got together, and they were talking about it.
“Jesus appeared to me!” “Me too!”
“He showed us his hands and feet…”
“We had an entire conversation with him…”
And right in the middle of those conversations…
Luke 24:36-41A (NLT2)
And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! 38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? 39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” 40 As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder…
This was a moment when the disciples could not believe their eyes. Jesus, who had suffered and died on the cross, was now standing in front of them. And they still stood there in disbelief. They looked Him in the eye. They saw the wounds in His hands and feet. But their minds could not accept what they were seeing. His body was supposed to be decomposing. Not standing. Not speaking. Not alive.
They wanted to believe he was alive, but they had watched him die. Their resistance reinforces the suffering and brutality of the cross they witnessed. The fact of his suffering left no room for hope.
Before Jesus was arrested in the Garden, he had been pleading with God to find another way to bring forgiveness to mankind rather than face the brutality of the cross.
Luke 22:42 (NLT2)
“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
We do not understand the phrase “cup of suffering” the way the Jewish people did back then. In the Old Testament “the cup” is often used as a metaphor for the wrath of God.
Isaiah 51:17 (NLT)
Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the LORD’s fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.
Jeremiah 25:15 (NLT)This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
Habakkuk 2:16 (NLT)
But soon it will be your turn to be disgraced. Come, drink and be exposed! Drink from the cup of the LORD’s judgment, and all your glory will be turned to shame.
Isaiah called it a cup of terror. Jeremiah called it a cup filled to the brim with God’s anger. Habakkuk called it a cup of the Lord’s Judgement. In the Garden, Jesus asked God to let the CUP OF SUFFERING PASS.
We have seen God’s wrath in other places in the Bible…In the flood that covered the earth. In the fire that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. In the ten plagues that crushed Egypt.
But on the cross, God’s wrath over sin would fall on Jesus. That is what Jesus feared. That is what He faced. And the disciples saw every bit of it. They saw His back ripped open by the scourging. They heard His final breath. They watched Him die. And they knew, nobody could possibly be alive after that.
If you have heard the message that JESUS is ALIVE over and over again, yet walk away with doubt, understand so did the very same men that followed Jesus!
Jesus stood in the same room. He looked these men eye to eye…yet they STILL had their doubts! They wanted to believe – but because of the punishment Jesus paid for our sin, they just couldn’t.
Is that you? Maybe you really would like to believe that Jesus is alive, but you have your doubts. If the disciples - who talked with Jesus face to face - struggled to believe, it makes sense that some still struggle today. But Jesus did not give up on the disciples. He kept showing up.
And then we read in verse 45 that everything began to change…
Luke 24:45 (NLT2)
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
JESUS STILL OPENS MINDS TO BELIEVE
So if you want to believe - ask Him. Right now. In your own words, say, “God, open my mind to understand Jesus.”
After Jesus opened their minds to understand, He taught them...
LUKE 24:46b-47 (NLT)
…it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’
If you asked God to open up your mind, the first thing Jesus wants you to understand is WHY he suffered, why he died, and why he rose from the dead. Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead, for YOU to receive forgiveness for your sin, and repent.
1 Peter 3:18 (NLT2)
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
Jesus rose from the dead to bring you safely home to God.
Maybe today God has opened your mind to understand Jesus. Maybe something has clicked, and you understand why Jesus paid the price for your sin. In verse 47, Jesus said, “There is forgiveness of sin for all who repent.”
There is forgiveness of sin for all who repent. The word repent simply means, to change your direction. It’s a U-turn. Repentance changes your direction.
REPENTANCE LAUNCHES A NEW LIFE
When Jesus opened their minds, the disciples chose to believe that Jesus was alive, that he had died for their sins, and they fully believed by surrendering their lives to him through repentance.
In order to be forgiven for your sins, you too must repent. In order to experience a brand new life, in order to start over, you must first repent.
PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
“God,
I BELIEVE that Jesus paid my penalty for sin on the cross.
I BELIEVE he died and rose from the dead.
I BELIEVE he is now with you in Heaven, and one day he will return.
I CHANGE MY DIRECTION and SURRENDER my life to you to be my SAVIOR…
THANK YOU for forgiving me and changing my life.
AMEN.”
If God has been speaking to you today, apply it to your life, invite a friend, and I will see you back here next week. Let’s keep loving God with all our heart, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.