The Resurrection story of Jesus is full of confusion…just read it…a lot of people not understanding what was happening:
…how is it that the stone was rolled away from in front of the tomb?
…Mary thinks Jesus’ body has been stolen
…the disciples aren’t accepting Jesus’ resurrection
…when Mary realizes who Jesus is and reaches out to touch Him, she is told not to.
You couldn’t find a more jumbled-up…mixed up…story in a couple of paragraphs if you tried…even the name ‘Easter’ is confusing.
One of the holiest days of the year is named after a Babylonian goddess Ishtar… that’s where the name Easter comes from…we are referring to the day Jesus rose from the grave by the name of a Babylonian idol who later was known as Queen of the Universe.
So…Jesus’ Resurrection day is named after a Babylonian idol…appropriately symbolized by a bunny…which has become a prominent symbol of Christianity’s most important holiday.
As a side note…in 1964 the Second Vatican Council proclaimed Mary the mother of Jesus also as the Queen of the Universe…giving her the same title as an idol who was known as keeper of the prostitutes…and the day of His birth isn’t much better…symbolized by Santa Claus and Christmas trees.
A Barna poll showed that only 42 percent of Americans said the meaning of Easter was Jesus’ resurrection…we have put so much emphasis on the name Easter that almost half of America doesn’t even know what the real meaning is…credit that to the rabbit.
See how Satan works to destroy anything associated with Christianity? …just 2 percent of Americans identify it as the most important holiday of their faith.
Maybe that’s why the confusion regarding the Resurrection strains our credibility with the rest of the world…and even with Christians.
It’s actually the confusion surrounding the Resurrection of Jesus that gives creditably to the story…it’s how I know the Resurrection of Jesus must be true…think about it.
If someone had been wanting to make this all up…as many have suggested… wouldn’t you think it would be written as a nice bedtime story you could tell your children…no conflict…no flaws…no irregularities.
If you were wanting to make up a story about the Resurrection why would you put so much confusion in it?
First of all…no first-century writer would have put the women at the tomb first because women weren’t considered reliable witnesses…so right up front Mary’s testimony regarding Jesus’ body being gone would have been unreliable.
Second…nobody would put so much detail about the cloth around Jesus’ head being folded up in a place by itself…it’s insignificant…what does it matter?
Third…if this is a story about Jesus coming back from the dead…in the same body…why was He not immediately recognized…what’s up with that confusion?
All four gospels agree on the fact that no one was prepared for what had happened … nobody had the slightest idea of what had occurred…not even those closest to Jesus ever expected to see Him alive again…they weren’t looking for a resurrection.
Not one of the disciples were expecting Jesus to be raised from the dead. Mark’s Gospel makes a point of telling us of the repeated unbelief of the disciples:
Mark 16: 11: ”they would not believe”
Mark 16: 13: ”they did not believe”;
Mark 16: 14: ”they had not believed.”
BUT…here’s what’s interesting to note…all the witnesses did agree that the tomb was empty…there’s no confusion on that…the disciples…the Jews…the temple guards…the Romans…all knew that the tomb was empty.
Each group viewed the facts differently, but no one disputed the basic assertion that on that first Resurrection Sunday morning Jesus was no longer in the tomb.
It’s an historical fact…whether He walked out…or His body was stolen…one thing was for certain… His body was not in the tomb…the whole city of Jerusalem and the whole Roman Empire knew about it…it’s an historical reality.
There are historical references to Jesus meeting people after His Resurrection… talking with people… eating with them… after His Resurrection He appeared to as many as 500 people proving that He was indeed alive.
The authenticity of the Resurrection is crucial to the Christian faith…our eternal future hinges on this story…Paul writes: (1 Corinthians 15:14-15, 17, 19)
if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…If only in this life we have hope in Christ, (then) we are to be pitied more than all men.
During the time in our study of John we looked at the most important countdown in the history of the world—the final 94 hours that led to the empty tomb…94 hours that changed the world.
During the countdown we followed Jesus through the Last Supper…to the Garden of Gethsemane…through His trial and torture…the six hours He hung on the Cross …then His death…His three days and three nights in the tomb…then to His Resurrection on Sunday morning.
The four gospel writers describe the resurrection morning with each one providing a different detail…John’s account starting in John 20:10…
“Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, Woman, why are you crying? she said, they have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put Him.
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize it was Jesus. 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. Jesus said to her, Mary.
She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabbi.’ 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.”
“Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’
Mary had to answer two questions that day.
- Why Are You Crying? [John 20:13]
Inside the tomb are two angels…so deep was her grief that even the appearance of two angels couldn’t shake her out of her distraught state…the angels ask Mary a question that seems totally unnecessary… “Why are you weeping?”
You can tell these angels never took a course in Christian counseling, because you’re never supposed to ask someone who is crying… ‘Why they are crying.’
The angels probably asked the question out of curiosity…possibly thinking… “This earthly creature should surely know Jesus is alive, so why is she crying?”
Mary didn’t respond to the angel by saying, “How dare you ask me that question, can’t you see what I’m going through?” …Instead, she simply said, “They’ve taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they’ve laid Him.”
Then Mary turned around and saw a Man she assumed was the gardener. This stranger asked the same questions the angels had asked, “Woman, why are you crying?”
Jesus asked the question out of compassion…He loved Mary, and His heart was moved by her tears. “Why are you crying?” He knew the answer.
What about you this morning…when you think about your own life situations there could be as many different answers to “Why are you crying?” as there are people seated here today.
While there is plenty to grieve in the headlines, the deepest kind of pain is always personal…you may be familiar with this rating scale.
Depending on what is occurring in our life at any given time…we can put ourselves in one of those circles.
Maybe like Mary you may still be stinging from the death of a loved one.
Maybe you’ve made some terrible mistakes in the past and the pain of those mistakes has blurred your vision so you can’t imagine the possibility of living a resurrected life with Jesus…feeling God hasn’t forgiven you.
Maybe you’re hurting because of a recent diagnosis you or someone you love has received…you may be hurting because of problems with your children. The list is endless.
Even for those of us who know the Lord, tears are part of our existence. None of us are immune to tears.
But just like with Mary…if you listen you will hear a familiar voice…at that point Jesus couldn’t conceal His identity any longer…when He saw the love Mary had for Him…He simply spoke her name “Mary Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Jesus knows your name, too. He knows everything about you. You could easily imagine Him calling your name right now.
Jesus then asks Mary the second question…one that every person who has ever lived has asked themselves at one time or another.
- For Whom Are You Searching?
Now…that question was never put to Mary in that form…it was always in the indicative as a statement of fact… you are looking for Jesus…but it could have very well been an Interrogative clause.
Bewildered by what she’s discovered, Mary quickly takes off running…she finds Simon Peter and the other disciple and tells them what she has found…they race to the tomb and Mary follows.
Luke adds that when the women came and told the apostles what the angel had said, They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” [Luke 24:11
…the two disciples see the body of Jesus is missing and do nothing…they return to their homes while Mary remains in the garden crying.
Is that not a sad situation? … the disciples went away to their own homes… [John 20:10] and Mary’s left there alone crying… sympathy was not a strong point.
Not completely recognizing Jesus…thinking Him to be the gardener, Mary said, Sir, if you have carried Him away, please show me where you put Him and I will get him.
Really? …Mary maybe weighed 110 pounds…let’s assume Jesus weighed 165 plus He was wrapped in an additional 75 pounds of spices…so this woman was going to lift 250 pounds and carry it back inside the tomb…don’t know how realistic that may be…but…Mary’s actions showed the deep love she had for Jesus.
Problem was…Mary was seeking a dead Jesus …her hopes were shattered…her faith was wavering…lost her passion for life…Marys like the countless people today who are in the same situation…everybody is searching for someone or something that they don’t know.
Fundamentally that reflects a lack of meaning in life…a lack of purpose…a deeper sense of meaningfulness…possibly possessing everything I need but still being unsatisfied…never finding what they’re looking for.
So many people are like the Billy Joel song…River of Dreams…everybody is looking for someone or something.
In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep
now I’m tired and I don’t want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn’t take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I’ve been looking for
For some these are more than words to a song…for those young people who were raised in the faith but are ready to walk away from their faith because of a cynical professor or friend who asked them questions for which they have no answers for…never finding what they’re looking for.
Some have gone through tragedies that have caused them to question everything and so they hopelessly walk away never finding what they’re looking for.
Some, in their intellectual development, have come seeking questions for which they can’t find answers for…they hopelessly walk away not finding what they’re looking for…want to share with you two contrasting preachers who emphasize this idea.
Charles Templeton…a friend of Billy Graham whose peaching was on a par with his… he spoke regularly to stadium crowds of up to thirty thousand people…but he doubted his faith and the validity of the Bible…eventually he walked away from his church…his calling…his ministry…and from God.
As opposed to Billy Graham, who also struggled early in his ministry with his theology and the validity of the Bible…here’s the difference…Graham confessed his lack of understanding but professed he was going to allow faith to go before his intellectual questions and doubts by trusting the Bible as God’s inspired Word.
For some who for years have been nominal, cultural Christians, attending church because that is what you did where they were raised…everybody went to church… and every Wednesday was visitation to talk to new prospects…but for many, going to church was an exercise…you did it because most everybody else did.
They claim a “born-again” experience with Jesus but always thought that church attendance was on a level of joining a service club, like the…Lions…or the PTA.
Subsequently…they never made a commitment…never finding what they’re looking for.
There are those who have totally dropped out of church; they don’t have time for religious organizations…never finding what they’re looking for.
Jesus’ question to Mary is the same one God asks everyone…but for us the question takes on a different application… both for those who claim to seek Him and for those who are just stumbling through life … ‘what are you looking for?’ …what is your goal in life?
So, what does His resurrection mean? It means three things:
(1) Jesus is who He claimed to be;
(2) Jesus has the power He claimed to have; and
(3) Jesus did what He promised He would do.
Resurrection Sunday is important…without the resurrection there is no hope… without the resurrection, there would be no reason for us to be here today or any other day.
Jesus’ teachings and life would be nothing more than just a bunch of inspirational ideas on how to live a better life…even more, Jesus’ death would have been in vain.
Resurrection Sunday is God’s promise that not only has Christ risen from the dead, but that we, through His power, shall also rise victorious from the grave.
Here’s what the Easter Bunny won’t tell you:
Only in the Christian religion is our belief based on the actual physical resurrection of its founder [Acts 1:3].
Only in Christianity does its spiritual leader rise from the dead—something only God could do.
…Buddha was cremated, and his ashes spread among seven cities.
…Muhammad’s tomb is in Medina.
…Jesus’s tomb in Jerusalem is empty.
All this adds to the legitimacy and credibility of Christianity above all other religions–all based on the person of Jesus.
Either Jesus is true and all other religions…cults…sects…are false, or other religions are just as true as Christianity…and Jesus is false. There are no other options. I choose to follow the risen Jesus.