Easter and Resurrection Faith

by Pastor Ed Evans

          I want to begin by sharing with you a verse that has been important to me from the first moment I came to Christ in 1958, Galatians 2:20.  It’s even more important this Easter morning: “I am crucified with Christ.  Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.  And the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

          Twenty-one years ago I preached my first sermon, so I’m very aware that not everyone agrees with my approach.  But I continue to stand in awe of His gift of Easter and ask, “How could it be that this insignificant blip on the human radar screen, can stand with arms outstretched and shout that on my worst day I'm Jesus Christ in Ed Evans.” 

Our Lesson today is titled Resurrection Faith, from Mark 16: 1-8

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Him.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”  And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.  And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.  And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.   But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”  And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

          Today’s lesson is entitled “Resurrection Faith.”  The resurrection of Jesus was frightening for the women who first discovered the empty tomb, and it was unsettling and challenging for Jesus’ first followers – and even for us.  Because of Jesus’ resurrection, things will never be the same.

          Some have raised the question of the three women’s motives in going to Jesus’ tomb that morning.  Were they going because of their love for Him, because it was just another task for the women, why them?  In that part of the world, caring for the body is the responsibility of the oldest son.  Since Jesus had no oldest son, I would have thought the disciples would have taken that on.  And maybe they did, because these women all had connections to the disciples, and they had nothing better to do than what they were told.  In that culture and time, that’s what women did.

          In this case, the women made no excuses for not doing what they came to do.  The stone had already been rolled away for them, but the body they were to anoint was gone.  What they found, instead, was a young man who is described in Matthew 28:3-4, as “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.  And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.”

          Note that this young man is found sitting on the right side, the place of authority.  He also demonstrates divine prescience in knowing why they have come.  With the legitimate right, then, to command them, he tells them, “Go, tell His disciples, especially Peter, that He is going ahead of you to Galilee.”

          Don’t miss the fact that an angel has been dispatched to call Jesus’ disciples back into action.  Jesus is not ashamed of failed disciples, and now He leads them to Galilee where His message has been widely accepted, unlike Jerusalem.

          There is also a great irony here in Mark, that these women who were strong enough to attend Jesus’ passion, brave and courageous enough to go to Joseph of Aramathea’s tomb, the place of burial, and enter a tomb not knowing what they would find – now, even they fail.  Mark’s last words of them are “they were afraid,” and this in a gospel in which fear signals a lack of faith.  Mark’s gospel ends on the chord it has struck throughout.  One note is the call to discipleship, the other is the fear of what it will mean.  And yet, we see God’s word of promise prevailing despite human failure.

          But this young man says they are “especially” to tell Peter.  Why especially Peter?  

Probably because Jesus and Peter still had something to resolve by the Sea of Tiberius; three questions Jesus was to ask Peter. 

          This incident has always touched me, deeply.  For just as Peter denied Him three times, Jesus gave Peter three opportunities to restate his love for Jesus.  But look here, if you study the Hebrew wording, it goes even deeper.  The word for “love” first used is agapao – Peter really likes Him -- and only in answer to the last question does Peter finally use the word “phileo” – a love that values and esteems, an unselfish love ready to serve, cherishing the object above all else.  It’s the difference between liking someone very much and genuine love.

          Remember, God’s love for us unshakeable; in the most desperate situations He will be there for us.  And His Son, Jesus, loved us first, before we ever knew Him.  But what He wants from us is that same unconditional love with which He loves us.  Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?”  But most likely at that moment Peter no longer trusted himself to admit his love for his master.  Three times Peter denied Him after assuring his Lord that he would never do that.  Peter is embarrassed, humiliated, and so sadly sorry for his weakness, but Jesus won’t leave Peter there.

          Our Lord persists, perhaps because He knows Peter’s heart better than Peter does.  And at last, Peter answers the resurrected Jesus, as we read in John 21, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”  It was more important to the faith of Peter that Peter admit this, than it was for Jesus to hear it.

          Some followers think Jesus is concerned about giving us a ticket to stay out of hell, when what He wants is that we understand His depth of love that He shares with us so freely, and that we share it with others.  It’s our faith in that love, demonstrated on the cross, that opens the gates of heaven for us.

          D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe joined together to write a book entitled “What if Jesus had Never Been Born?”  They say of their book, “We live in a cynical age in which only one prejudice is tolerated -- anti-Christian bigotry. Yet despite the unbridled slanders and attacks against the faith, one powerful truth is undeniable: if Christ had never been born, nearly every facet of human life would be much more miserable than it is today.”

          Interestingly enough, there has been no book written titled “What If Jesus Had Never Been Crucified?”, and yet if you search that on the Internet, you will find 527,000 entries to read.  It certainly has been discussed.  Fact is, if Jesus had not been crucified, then there would have been no resurrection. If there had been no resurrection, we would still be bringing sacrifices for the atonement of our sins. Religion would still be based on our efforts to amend or atone for our sins. There would be no Christianity because there would no Christ the Redeemer to look for as our Savior. We would still be looking for the Messiah. So, yes, the world would be totally different. 

          Sometimes perhaps we wonder, why did Jesus have to die?  Was there no better way for God to accomplish our salvation?  The answer to that must be that if there were any other way, God, being God would have known it and accomplished it without His Son’s agonizing death on the cross. 

          Remember, Jesus did not become God’s Son when He was born in Bethlehem.  He was God’s Son all the way through.  He was there at creation.  God loved Him all the way through it.  There was no other way.

          Now, back for a moment to those 527,000 Internet entries, there are many which claim He was not crucified, after all.  For one thing, the Islamic religion claims Jesus was never crucified, but was merely a human prophet and was spirited away by His followers.  Their god, Allah, says there was no risen Christ.

However, we also know that Jesus was seen by more than 300 people after His death.  And that is more people than those who witnessed the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and yet no one doubts that.

Perhaps the most compelling reasons to believe in Jesus' resurrection are the lives of His disciples. Josh McDowell says it better than I can: "We must ask ourselves: What caused them to go everywhere telling the message of the risen Christ in the face of non-believing Judaism? 
         “Had there been any visible benefits accrued to them from their efforts -- prestige, wealth, increased social status or material benefits -- we might logically attempt to account for their actions, for their whole-hearted and total allegiance to this risen Christ. 
         “As a reward for their efforts, however, those early Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to the lions, tortured and crucified. Every conceivable method was used to stop them from talking. 
        “Yet, they laid down their lives as the ultimate proof of their complete confidence in the truth of their message." 
        [Historic writings show that eight of the disciples were martyred, with Peter and Andrew being crucified.]
        “Now think about it...If you were living at that time and weren't totally convinced of His divinity would you go out in a hostile community and talk about the resurrection?”  If you would like to know more about this, get on your computer and Google: “Evidence for the resurrection" and read what scholars have to say. Many of them were atheists prior to their studies. 

Often, life’s hardships are the greatest and most effective ways of learning. God blesses us when we understand that the pain in our lives can (with a little bit of internal and external listening to God) be transformed into a blessing. Not all blessings are easy to come by, and in fact, probably most come with scars. Scars serve as reminders that life was difficult, but there is life on the other side of the pain.  I think of the song by Fanny Crosby, “I Will Know Him by the Nail Prints In His Hand”, scars my Jesus endured for me, for you.

          The first stanza and chorus read:

“When my lifework is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see;
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
And His smile will be the first to welcome me.

Refrain:
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
And redeemed by His side I shall stand,
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
By the print of the nails in His hand.

In the midst of the pain and the loss, the tears and the grave are a paradox. What was final is simply not final.  The grave is empty.  Death has indeed lost its sting.

THAT is why the day death died is called “good”; Good Friday.

Amazingly, we find Easter inside the cross!

It’s on Good Friday that we need to look deeper within our own brokenness and search for the “good” in our life. You and I, we’re beautiful – not despite our scars, but because of them. You should have been blessed this Good Friday, and may you find the beauty with all of who you are.

For we find that who we are is intrinsically tied to our relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and our Savior.  How blessed we are, and yet in this day and age Jesus is currently the center of a great controversy in the Christian world, and you and I are right there with Him.  For some who desire peace with the Islamic jihadist terrorists are willing to agree that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.  But Muslim worship does not recognize the Holy Spirit or the Son of God.

Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton, at the 2006 Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, said, “When we sacrifice truth for unity, we end up with neither.”

Although I have been to the Middle East twice – once in Beirut where in 1983 Iranian Muslim terrorists bombed the Marine Barracks, killing 263 of my Marine brothers; and in Iraq during 2003-2004 – I don’t speak Arabic.  So when it became obvious several years ago that I needed to know more about Islam, I had to depend upon others for information regarding the Islamic faith.  Among the many books and articles which compare and contrast Islam and Christianity, two by Ergun and Emir Caner stand out in my mind: “Unveiling Islam” and “More Than a Prophet”. 

These two brothers, raised in a strict Muslim family were, with a third brother, disowned by their father when they became Christians. They put their faith in the resurrected Christ, and they were fortunate.  For a strict interpretation of Hadith 9.57, calls for them to be killed. They state plainly that they did not “switch religions” but they were saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, and, they add, on page 16 of their first book, “Christianity is not about religion; it is about a relationship with the Savior. It must be understood that orthodox, Biblical Christianity assumes the existence of truth. Truth implies the existence of error, and mutually exclusive claims of truth cannot both be correct. Such is the case with Islam and Christianity. Either Islam is correct in the assumption that ‘there is only One God, Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet,’ or Christianity is correct when Jesus says, in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’.  They cannot both be correct”.

I hasten to add that it is not my desire to belittle the beliefs of another faith, nor to try and prove someone right in order to prove someone else wrong.  And it certainly does no good to add fuel to the fires of controversy that rage around the general discussion of beliefs of different religions.

However, I have seen the incredible works of God, I have experienced His presence, His love, His faithfulness, His healing and His saving grace.

I feel, honestly, that if I did not speak out, as scripture tells us, the very rocks would cry out, for I consider it an egregious offense to equate with any other deity the Holy God we serve, the One who said, in Isaiah 42:8: “I am the Lord.  That is My name, and My glory I will not give to another.”

In his book, “Jesus Among Other Gods, the Absolute Claims of the Christian Message,” a man who grew up a Hindu in India, Ravi Zacharias wrote: “All religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life’s purpose... Every religion at its core is exclusive.”  And exclusive is what Jesus is, for He did say in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by Me.”  For anyone who cannot believe that, no amount of “living a righteous life” will get them into heaven.  In the vernacular of the 1950’s, it’s either Jesus’ way or the highway.

I saw a quote the other day that applies here.  It read, “The idea that there is a highway to hell and a staircase to heaven indicates the kind of traffic we can expect.”

I begin to close by reminding you, it is Easter.  We are a forgiven people!  We live in the promise that we, too, shall be resurrected, made new, by the power of God’s perfect love for us.

We need not fear; we need not make excuses; we need not tremble before the cross, for the cross is empty!  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!

          Join me in praying: “Almighty God, You came to earth to prove Your love for us once and for all in and through the empty tomb.  We, like Peter and the apostles, hasten to follow You in the confidence that the power of the Resurrection still lives in and through us by Your grace and forgiveness.  We offer this prayer in the name of the risen Christ, even Jesus our Lord.  Amen.”