Meeting Jesus - The RESURRECTION
We have different responses to almost everything, including the most incredible event in history, the resurrection of Jesus.
Some people respond with belief.
Some people respond in disbelief.
Some may not care one way or another.
Today, we celebrate Easter, and I think people respond to the resurrection of Jesus the exact same way. Some refuse to believe. Some have doubts. Some fully believe. That is exactly how it was at the time of the resurrection. We are going to look at the journey to belief that the friends of Jesus had. So, Let’s read about the events that happened three days after Jesus had been killed on the cross and buried in a tomb.
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 that followed him for three years of their lives. When somebody you loves dies tragically and suddenly, you miss them and want them to be alive. The disciples aren’t any different. This wasn’t 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.
They saw him work miracles and change lives. They ate with him, learned from him, and saw the hope he brought to people.
I am certain they wanted Jesus to be alive more than anybody. Yet,
THE DISCIPLES REFUSED TO BELIEVE.
The word Luke used in verse 11 that describes where the friends of Jesus were on their journey to belief was:
Apisteo (aw pis tay o:)
to have no belief, to disbelieve
The disciples first response was not “Hurray! He is alive!”
Their first response was “No way! That’s not possible!”
They thought the women were nuts! 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 may even appreciate what he taught about forgiving others, loving those who do not deserve it, and the kindness and compassion he showed.
You believe that he was put to death by execution on the cross…
But like the disciple’s early response, you refuse to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
But seriously, it does demonstrate that you love them, appreciate them, and value them, so thank you for putting them first today and honoring their invitation.
It is important to note, that the disciples changed. Their minds were changed. They went from “refusing to believe” to fully surrendering to Jesus.
How did they get there?
Well, in between verses 12 and 36, Jesus made a few special appearances.
Jesus appeared to a couple of men 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.
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…
Luke 24:36-41 shows us that the disciples moved from refusing to believe that Jesus was alive…they conceded a little ground…
And now…
THE DISCIPLES DESIRED TO BELIEVE
Luke 24:36-41A (NLT2)
36 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…
When Jesus said, “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?” He used the word:
Dialogismos (dē-ä-lo-gē-smoss):
the thinking of a man deliberating with himself. A deliberating, questioning about what is true. Hesitation, doubting, disputing, arguing.
They desired to believe. They made eye contact with Jesus. They saw the wounds on his hands and feet. They wanted to believe, but they were torn with what they saw happened to Jesus at the cross. Their resistance to embrace the TRUTH of Jesus being alive, reinforces the suffering and brutality of the cross. 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 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
…And throughout the Bible we see glimpses of God’s Wrath:
God’s Anger over sin is seen in the great flood that destroyed the earth…
God’s wrath destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone.
God’s wrath is seen in the 10 Plagues upon Egypt.
It was not the physical agony of the beatings, the scourging and the crucifixion that Jesus dreaded. It was the spiritual agony He would experience as he drank every last drop of God’s wrath that we deserved. The Disciples watched the physical brutality of the cross. They watched the flesh ripped from his back through the scourging. They heard his final words and watched him breathe his final breath. They saw his dead body.
They knew NO MAN was going to come back from that.
If you are somebody that has 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 eyeball to eyeball…yet they STILL had their doubts!
They wanted to believe – but because of what they had already seen, they just couldn’t.
Is that you? Maybe you really would like to believe that Jesus is alive – but because of troubles, difficulties, and emptiness you have experienced in this world, you struggle with believing. If the disciples who walked and talked with Jesus after he resurrected struggled with believing – it is understandable that 2,000 years later men and women struggle with fully believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Let’s look one more time in Luke 24 and we will discover that…
THE DISCIPLES FULLY BELIEVED AND THEIR LIVES WERE CHANGED
Luke 24:45-47 (NLT2)
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said, “Yes, 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.’
What did it take for these men to have the faith to believe? The same thing still required today. In order for us to believe in JESUS as SAVIOR – it requires God opening our minds to believe. If you have heard about Jesus’ death and resurrection over and over again, yet still have your doubts, or think “So what? That is not going to change anything about my life...”
I want you to understand why you think that way.
The Apostle Paul tells us why some people do not believe:
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT2)
4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ...
So, if you desire to believe, ask God to open your mind to believe. Ask God to remove the blindfold that is preventing you from becoming a follower of Jesus. You can ask him right now.
“God, please remove the blindfold on my mind. If Jesus did rise from the dead, that changes everything. I would like to believe, but I need you to open my mind.”
Take a moment right now. In your own words, simply say, “ God, open my mind to understand Jesus.”
Then, in verse 46 Jesus taught them that the Savior of the World would have to suffer and die. God opened their minds and they understood now that Jesus was the Savior endured the “cup of suffering for all people” so that that mankind might never have to experience God’s wrath again.
They understood the words that Jesus told them in John 3:16:
John 3:16 (NLT2)
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Maybe in this this moment, God has opened your mind to understand Jesus. Maybe something has clicked and you understand how much God loves you.
In verse 47, Jesus said, “There is forgiveness of sin for all who repent.”
The word that Jesus used for “repent” communicates a journey or shift or change in thinking.
The Disciples SHIFTED their thoughts about Jesus. In this moment, they put their DISBELIEF behind them – they 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 repent – you too, must have that SHIFT in your thinking.
If you would like to repent, be forgiven for your sins, and become a follower of Jesus today, pray this with me:
“God, I have asked you to open my mind. I have heard the words of Jesus.
I BELIEVE that Jesus endured my penalty for disobedience 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 REPENT and COMMIT my life to you as MY SAVIOR…
THANK YOU for giving me forgiveness and changing my life.
In Jesus name, AMEN.”
If you just surrendered your life to Jesus today, would you fill out the connect card and indicate that you gave your life to Jesus today? You can complete the Beach Church app connect card, or you can complete the card you were given when you entered the worship center. Let’s keep loving God with all our heart, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Our world needs followers of Jesus to prove he has resurrected by living out lives filled with His love for them.