The Difference Easter Makes

Wow. Let's talk about what happened in that moment. Good morning. Christ is risen. He is. And the risen Jesus still captivates the imaginations of people to this day. My name is René. I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. And the other day, I'm at one of the local grocery stores looking at the magazine rack. Now, this is not like a Christian bookstore or anything, just like a regular grocery store. And I saw four magazines that immediately drew me to them, because they're about somebody that I love very much.

At this regular magazine rack, check this out. It shows you how interested people are in this. First magazine—the whole magazine is called Jesus. Second magazine on the rack—Time Life magazine, special edition, Jesus. Third magazine, Newsweek special edition, Jesus. I mean, guess what the fourth one was about? No, Leonard Nimoy. But you know, I'm not only interested in Jesus, but I don't want to talk about Leonard Nimoy today. I want to talk about Jesus, because people still find him so interesting.

On TV, too, Killing Jesus on the National Geographic Network got the highest ratings in the history of that network. Finding Jesus on CNN tonight, AD is starting what happened after Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus still just is riveting people today. And so this morning, very quickly, I want to talk about what the people who knew him best said was the most riveting fact about him. And it starts in John 20:1. I'm going to put the verse on the screen, and I want us all to read this out loud together. Here's where Easter started. Here we go. "Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance."

Andy Stanley is a great author and pastor, and I'm indebted to him for much of the insights in this message. And he points out that Mary Magdalene was Jesus Christ's most famous female disciple, I mean, by far. And like the rest of the disciples, she had strong faith. In fact, like many people in the world, like many of the authors of these articles, and maybe like many of you, she believed Jesus taught amazing things. She believed that Jesus was in some way sent by God. She believed that Jesus was a history changer. She even believed that Jesus was a miracle worker. She believed that Jesus brought a brand of compassion that was unlike anything the world had ever seen.

But on Easter morning, Mary Magdalene believed that Jesus was dead and was not coming back ever. You see, why do you say that? Well, you probably know the story. On Friday, Jesus was arrested and tried and crucified. And generally, they would just leave a body hanging there for days and sometimes even weeks. But the Bible says that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, two wealthy, well-connected followers of Jesus Christ, went to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and requested Jesus's body. "Before he would give it to them," Pilate said, "of the Roman soldiers, make sure he's dead, and they speared his side, and he was dead."

So Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down his body probably with some other disciples. And they put him in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, and they roll a stone over the entrance. And they leave more sad than they have ever been in their lives because their teacher, their best friend, was dead. Here's the way it worked in those days. The body would be put in a tomb a lot like this one. This is an actual tomb from the first century, the time of Christ. We saw this in February, just a few weeks ago, when a church group from Twin Lakes was in Israel. They discovered this one when they were widening a road a few years ago. And it's just like the Bible describes with a rolling stone and so on.

What they would do is they would put the body inside the tomb on a slab like this. And they would leave the body inside the tomb if we can walk inside the tomb and see the slab. And there they would leave it until there was nothing left but the bones. And in that part of the world, that took about a year. And then they would go back into the tomb, and they would put the bones into a bone box that looks exactly like this. In fact, this particular picture is an ossuary, a bone box, from the time of Christ. And there's usually a name inscribed on it. And the name inscribed on this one is Joseph, son of the high priest Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the high priest who was one of the conspirators against Jesus Christ. And in fact, this person whose bones were in this box, Joseph Caiaphas, is also mentioned in the Bible.

Now, Luke, who says he investigated by interviewing all kinds of eyewitnesses, adds some more detail to this scene. He says that they were friends with Mary and that they are going to the tomb to re-embalm the body. You see, they knew that Joseph and Nicodemus had hastily prepared the body right before Sabbath started on Friday. So my figuring is that Mary and her friends went—they're guys, they probably did not do a very good job. So let's go do it right. And one thing this detail tells me, they believed Jesus was dead. Because Luke says they go with embalming spices. They didn't have, like, energy drinks and healthy snacks.

In fact, the scripture says when Mary found the stone rolled away from the tomb, she came running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said—now, press pause on that for just a second. Because this is kind of weird. The other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, who's that? Well, it's John who's apparently the author of the Gospel of John. But it's funny because he's got some kind of an ego thing going on here. We would call it a humble brag, right? Because he's like, well, of course, in the Gospel I write, I put my name, I'll just refer to myself as the one Jesus loved. Do you know? And so that's how he writes it down.

But one thing this detail tells us is that when Mary was at the tomb and the tomb was empty, she had to go running to get to Peter and John and the other disciples. So this tells us that there was one place where they were not. Where was that? They were not at the tomb because they were not expecting anything to happen because nothing happens to someone who's dead. A few verses later, John tells us the disciples were together with a door locked for fear. You know what they're thinking? They're thinking, now that they've got Jesus, they're coming for us. And they're terrified. They're hiding. They're secretive. And they're probably in that same locked room when Mary comes knocking, let me in, let me in, let me in. And they do.

And she tells them, Jesus is what? No, she doesn't say that. Because if you found a grave empty, if you want to visit somebody's grave and it was empty, would you think they came back to life? Of course not. Mary Magdalene rushes into this room and she says, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb. And we don't know where they put him. They stole him. First they kill him and now they steal him. They took the body away. She's distraught. This is not a hopeful moment for her.

Now Luke, who says in the gospel he wrote, at some point on this day, the other women who were with Mary, the women saw two angels. And the angels tell them that Jesus has risen. And so these women come in and they interrupt the conversation. They broadcast this. And Luke says, but they, the men, did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. And that's an important word for us to see right there. Because if honest to goodness, if you sometimes go, you know, I love a lot of the things about Jesus, I'd be interested in these magazines. He was a great teacher, but the resurrection seems to me honestly like nonsense. You know what? The very first disciples of Jesus Christ thought it was nonsense.

Luke says, Peter did go up. I mean, the grave was empty, so he's going to investigate. He ran to the tomb, bending over. He saw the strips of linen lying by themselves. And he went away finally realizing Jesus had risen from the dead. No. Wondering to himself, what happened? What happened? What could have happened? I don't know. What happened? He did not go, maybe he rose from the dead. He's like, what in the world happened? John says they still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. In other words, even when they saw an empty tomb, nobody thought—resurrection's a possibility here. No one.

See, what I'm saying is that the people who knew Jesus best, who loved Jesus most, who believed in Jesus the most, the people who'd sat at campfires, whether the people who'd heard his teaching, the people who'd seen him do miracles, not a single one of them was standing outside that tomb waiting for him to come back to life. Nobody was going, guys, guys, guys, remember what he said about the morning of the third day? His son's about to break. Everybody count down. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—resurrection! Why not? They believed that. He was a great teacher. They believed that he'd done some amazing things, like these articles say. They believed that he was a revolutionary. They believed that he was a messiah in some political sense. They believed he was the most impactful communicator they'd ever heard, but they believed he was dead. Because when people die in the real world, they stay dead.

Andy Stanley points out an interesting fact that's so strange about all these accounts that made their way into the Bible. And it's this. The first century followers of Jesus documented their disbelief. And here's why this is such a big deal. If you want to fabricate a story where the authority, the leadership of your movement transfers to you and your friends so you can keep your movement going, what you want to do is establish a story that gives you some credibility, right? You don't make up a big lie that makes you look incompetent. But they documented the fact that they were cowards. They documented the fact that they lost faith. They documented the fact that while Jesus was arrested, every single one of them took off. They documented the fact that their purported next leader, Peter, denies Jesus three times. And not like at the tip of a spear of a Roman guard. It gets to the detail. It was a middle school aged girl around a campfire who looked at Peter, said, you know, aren't you—now I know middle school aged girls can't be intimidating, right? We could all agree with that. But still, weren't you with Jesus? No. You were with Jesus. No. I think we all agree you were with Jesus. No, no, bleeping no. The Bible says the third time with a curse, an oath, while his best friend is being tortured yards away. That is not really very good for like your resume if you're the next leader.

I mean, if you're going to make up a story to preserve your authority, what you want to do is make up something like this. Yeah, nobody believed except me. They all ran and hid. But I stayed by Jesus at the foot of the cross. And I did not abandon him. And I remembered what he said about rising from the dead. And so I went—I found everybody who was hiding. And I gathered them all around the tomb. And I said, sunrise, you wouldn't believe what's going to happen. But I know, I know, because I believe Jesus. I remember what he said. And I found an Easter choir. And Trent Smith led the first sunrise service in history. And we counted down 10, 9, 8. And as the sun broke, the tomb just bounced off of the tomb, the stone. And Jesus came walking out of the grave. And I said, welcome, Jesus. And he came walking over to me. And he put his hands on my shoulders. And he said, because of your great faith, I transfer leadership to you. So follow me. That's the kind of story you want to make up.

If you're making up a story, you don't want to go, well, I was a coward the whole time. Yeah. First sign of trouble took off. And guess what? Even when the tomb was empty, I was clueless. Clueless the entire time. That's me. Andy Stanley puts it this way. Do you know why all four gospel writers portray Jesus' closest followers as bewildered, confused, and afraid? Because they were bewildered, confused, and afraid. But something happened. They saw Jesus alive. And days later—and that's important, not like 100 years later or months later, 50 days later at the Feast of Pentecost, these same scared, cowardly people come pouring into the streets of Jerusalem. And their message is not, let us share with you some stories about a great friend of mine and I really loved. And these are some great anecdotes. Their message is not once upon a time Jesus lived. Their message is Jesus lives. He's alive right now.

And the book of Acts says that every single sermon that they preached in the years following this, the central theme was Jesus has risen. He's alive right now. I want you to just check this out. Peter, that same guy, right, intimidated by the middle schooler, that preaches in front of the very mob who put Jesus to death. And they're back in town for the Feast of Pentecost. And he says, watch this. You killed the author of life. But God raised him from the dead. We're witnesses of this. Talk about boldness all of a sudden. And do you see their witnesses? He's saying, we know it seems outrageous, but we're witnesses of this. And you can tell from this wording, he's not talking about a metaphor. This is not metaphor. This is reporting.

In the next chapter, the leaders are upset because Peter and John have healed a lame man on the Sabbath and so they call him into the council. Now these are the same exact people, Caiaphas, his son Joseph Caiaphas, as mentioned, the guy whose ossuary I just showed you on screen. And they're all there. These are the same people who conspired with the Romans to put Jesus Christ to death just days before. And Peter stands before them and says, it is in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified—he's 10 feet away from these guys. Talk about courage—but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed. And it says, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus. Something happened that changed these people. They had seen Jesus alive.

Now I want you to think of this. Because they were so motivated by this, they started spreading that news. And when people started becoming believers, they started writing on stories of some of the other amazing things Jesus did and said and claimed and taught. And to this day, every single thing you know about Jesus came through those people. Why is that important? Because listen, today everybody's got stuff that they love about Jesus. I mean, everybody. Everybody does. I love how Jesus said, do not judge. Wouldn't it be great if we lived in a world where nobody judged? I love that part. I love how Jesus said, love your neighbor. And everybody's your neighbor, by the way. Love that part. You know what I love? I love when Jesus said, love your enemy. That would really change the world if we all followed that. But that resurrection part, I don't know about that. That's kind of like probably extra stuff that got added on later.

But follow me here. The very people who brought you the Jesus you respect are the ones who claim he rose from the dead. So if you believe anything about Jesus, why not believe what they said was the most important thing about him? They loved all the teaching too, but in every single thing they ever wrote, they said, but Jesus is risen is the most important thing. Why? Because they said, well, first it validates everything else he ever said, right? I mean, all these things that he taught that make it into all of these books and magazines, they're great, but they're great ideas. How do we know they're true? They said, God proved this by raising him from the dead. Talk about the ultimate stamp of credibility.

But it goes even further than that. The fact that Jesus was physically resurrected in a physical body, they taught meant that they too, all who trust in him, would be resurrected physically. It means that my eternal future is a physical future. You know, Jesus' resurrection does not mean that when you die you float around as disembodied souls kind of absorbed into the collective consciousness. It means that you get a new resurrected body like Christ's and you'll live in a new physical heaven and earth where you will eat and drink and laugh and sing and dance and hug each other. I saw this picture posted the other day. I love this. A street sign says Cemetery Street, dead end. That's a little harsh, don't you think? But the resurrection says, actually, no, not a dead end. It means the best is yet to come. It means you haven't peaked. It means the best you will ever feel is at the resurrection.

Can you see how this just galvanizes people? Because every single one of these witnesses was threatened with death if they wouldn't shut up about this risen Jesus. And they all said, we can't shut up because we've seen this and it changes everything. And almost every single one of them was killed. But they died with this hope. And the same thing happens today. Check this out. New York Times, just this week, did a follow-up story on the horrible tale of those Egyptian Christians who were all killed by ISIS on the beach in Libya. And what they did was they went back to their families, their Christian families in Egypt. And they said, how are you doing? The testimony of what the hope and resurrection does is just amazing.

Look at just three of these. One wife says, ISIS thought the killing of our relatives would destroy us. It did not. It revived us. One daughter says, may God forgive the killers? We don't have hatred toward them. This is Christianity. God forgives the sinners, so shall we. And a mother says, my son always wanted to be a bishop, but he's even better now. That's amazing. That's the hope of the resurrection. Now, you might say, well, I mean, that's pretty extreme. God willing, I'll never be in that circumstance. Let's bring it closer to home. We'll all face our own mortality one of these days.

Dave Dravecki, famous San Francisco Giants pitcher, world-class athlete, at the top of his game when doctors tell him, cancer, your pitching arm's going to have to be amputated. And even when we do, you still might die. We don't know if we're going to get it all. How do you face the loss of your career, everything you've ever worked for, and possibly the loss of your life? Well, Dravecki, as he's being wheeled into surgery, says, there's no guarantee I'll overcome cancer or even live another 10 minutes. But Jesus Christ was crucified, and three days later, rose from the dead, conquering death forever more. I trust him.

And by the way, Dave Dravecki will be here, live on this stage on Father's Day. We're going to give him the whole sermon time for him to share his story. It is going to be powerful. It's going to be the best Father's Day ever. So invite all of your friends for that. But here's the point. Andy Stanley puts it this way. The resurrection takes people from I believe that kind of faith. I believe that Jesus was a great man. I believe that Jesus was a great teacher. I believe that Jesus' ethical teachings were fantastic. It takes people from I believe that to I trust in the risen Jesus. And people are still crossing this line to this day.

Let me close with this amazing story. It's a story you may not know about a man you might have thought you knew a lot about, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a very sharp guy at the age of 13. He announced he no longer believed in the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ. At 15, he started college. At 20, he was in grad school. And he wrote papers for a theology class where he reaffirmed Jesus' ethical teachings were great. But he is not actually alive and with us. That's just an encouraging metaphor. But when he was in his mid-30s, shortly before he was killed, as a pastor, something happened. He crossed this line.

And every word I'm going to read you is from the close of one of his sermons. And I'll close with this. These are all his words. Now, of course, that was religious. He says, I grew up in the church. My father's a preacher. My grandfather was a preacher. His daddy's a preacher. So I guess I didn't have any choice. And while church meant something to me, it was kind of an inherited religion. But I'll never forget one night, very late, around midnight. The phone rang. I picked it up. An ugly voice said, we are tired of you and your mess now. We're going to blow up your house. And I was scared. And something said to me, you can't call on your daddy now. He is 175 miles away. You've got to call on that person that your daddy used to tell you about, that power that can make a way when there is no way.

And I bowed down over a cup of coffee. I never will forget it. And I prayed a prayer. I said, Lord, I'm so weak now. I'm losing my confidence. I can't do this. And then in my heart, I heard the voice of Jesus. And he promised never to leave me alone. No, never alone. Never alone. He promised never to leave me alone. No, never, never, never to leave me alone. And I experienced the presence of the divine as I had never experienced him before. And my uncertainty disappeared. And I was ready to face anything. And I'm going to go on believing him. And you'd better know him. And you'd better know his name and call on his name. And he closes this, don't be a fool. Jesus stands at the door of our hearts if we are willing to admit him.

And I say to you this morning, this is the personal faith that has kept me going. You see what happened in that moment? He moved from I believe that to I trust in Jesus. And on this Easter morning, how about you? Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me? With our eyes closed, maybe like Dr. King or like the first disciples, you've thought of Jesus kind of as a good teacher and maybe even a prophet. But today you want to say, I choose to move from I believe that to I trust in. Or maybe just to say, Jesus, if you're real, will you make yourself real to me? Just tell him words like this in your heart. The words don't matter, it's the attitude of your heart. Lord, today I move from I believe that to I trust in the living Jesus. I don't understand it all, but neither did those first disciples, apparently. So thank you for your love that you were crucified, buried, raised from the dead. God, thank you.

And Lord, if there's anybody right now who's going through a time of grief or sorrow or uncertainty, I especially pray that they would know the hope of the resurrection, that they'd know death does not have the final say, the grave does not have the victory because you, Lord, have risen from the dead and you're with us now, telling us you'll never leave us alone. We will never be alone. No, never, never, never alone. And in the name of the risen Jesus, we pray, thank you. Amen.