Remembering the Victory

Text: Luke 24:13-24

It is so good to be together with everybody on this first day of the week as we go back in time to the dusty streets of a city called Jerusalem and place ourselves in the positions of the eyewitnesses who experienced the most earth-shaking, mind-boggling & world-changing events of all time. The exact moment where heaven intervened in the affairs of men and offered freedom & hope to all.

The apostle Peter wrote about this some time later and said…1 Peter 1:3

The past two weeks we looked very quickly at the first two days of that remarkable weekend where Jesus of Nazareth a man that was so special to all who really got to know him simply was cruelly executed and laid in the ground. Why?
Why did this man have to suffer so much?
His crimes included healing people, offering sinners hope & giving meaning to so many people who felt they lived meaningless lives. There were other reasons though:

It was the only way for our wrongs to be forgiven- Jesus had to shed his blood and took our sins and made them his own.

As we saw last week- someone had to go into the grave and take away the power of the evil one!
So, Peter says to us all that as bad as we might be, as bad off as our lives might seem through Jesus & his rising from the dead we are born again to a living hope!
We looked at the cross, we looked at the tomb and now it is time to look at the victory!

Now, one of the things that stands out when I read the gospels is the amount of times Jesus told his followers that he was going to die & be raised again! That he wasn’t going to stay dead!
Matt.12:39,40, Matt.16:21, Matt.17:9, 17:22,23, 20:18,19 and then even the night before he dies- Matt.26:32- just 3 nights earlier!

Now, for those of us who know the full story the message from Jesus is clear- don’t look for me in a grave come Sunday! I won’t be there- because live men don’t dwell in graves!

But, what about the reverse of that?
dead men don’t walk out either!

So, Jesus promised repeatedly over and over again I will rise from the dead.
But all that they saw and heard on Friday:
the breathing of Jesus as it got less and less, the struggle under the pain of the cross, the blood that flowed from his body, the cries that spoke of his helplessness and his loneliness and then there is the fact that he went into a tomb- he is really dead.
After all that I saw and all that I heard, I know what he said, but I just don’t know if anyone could ever recover from all that!

One thing becomes clear as Saturday evening gives way to Sunday morning so long ago- there was one thing that none of his followers expected to happen. You ever wonder why in all of those challenges that people cried out to him on the cross- “you who saved others save yourself- let’s see if Elijah will come and rescue him’ why wasn’t one of them let him die & let’s see if he will rise again on the 3rd day?

It would be one thing to survive the cross and come down in a mighty way- it’s quite another to die such a horrible death and walk out of the grave.
But, after all of his suffering on that cross- even if you could remember his promises- how could anyone come through that?
What happened on Sunday in a little country in the mid-east at a much different time that changed the world and made Jesus the sweetest word in the human language even 2000 years later?
Luke 24:1-12- we cannot possible explain everything that happened this day but we find an amazing tale when the four gospels give us the record of that magnificent morning. Luke tells us that the women go to the tomb early Sunday morning. Now, the last at the cross were the first at the tomb. Why were they going?
They wanted to some kind act for the body of Jesus. A body they believe is still dead. From what we know, their #1 concern this day is how are they going to get at the body?
The huge stone is there! They find out two facts:

the stone is moved away! Immediately the question has to be asked why is this stone moved?

The body of Jesus is not there!
What is their reaction to this news?
Great joy?
Great peace?
Great hope?
NO, Great fear! But, the men who were there simply ask ‘why do you seek the living among the dead?’
Don’t you remember, he himself said I’m not going to be in the grave on Sunday!
What do you do with this news?
Go to his closest friends- they’ll know what to do! The apostles don’t believe! Peter himself goes to the grave & sees the empty tomb & marvels.
John 20:1-13- John expands for us this visit by Peter to the tomb. Mary Magdalene apparently left quickly to get the apostles, what does she say?
Jesus has risen from the dead? No!
Does she scream rejoice, rejoice, for Christ the Lord has risen today? No!
They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have laid him! She still believes Jesus is dead.
She sits there and weeps and the question is asked of her: woman why are you crying?
You see, she is not looking for Jesus among the living!
So, we have great fear & great sorrow at the empty tomb of Jesus!

Luke 24:13-24- a little while later we find news has started to spread but it is not news of great joy yet is it?
Two disciples are talking away & Jesus joins them but the one thing they don’t dare trust:
that Jesus is out there alive somewhere. Instead what are they feeling?
Great hopelessness! (vs.21)
Why isn’t anyone jumping for joy yet?
Why isn’t anyone seeing the empty tomb for what it really means?
It means no more fear, no more sorrow & certainly no more hopeless days. The empty tomb means Jesus took on all the forces of evil and came out with just a few scars!
A key is given in vs.24- they admit the story is going around- but him they did not see!

John 20:14-18- We have fear, sorrow & hopelessness all being expressed at the place where Jesus dead body once laid!
Notice how thrilling this scene is:
She turns and sees Jesus but doesn’t know it yet! This is the woman who Jesus rescued from the demons- this is the woman that Jesus took in and didn’t care about all her sins- this is the woman that saw Jesus whipped & beaten, this is the woman that wept as Jesus breathed his last, this is the woman that saw his dead body get lowered into the grave!
Listen, ‘woman why are you crying? What are you looking for?’ She says ‘the dead body of my Lord.’
‘MARY”!
Here it is- the woman in her darkest hour is spoken to in a way that only Jesus could- she simply says ‘Oh Teacher’!
Look at her message to the others- ‘not I have seen an empty tomb- I have seen the Lord!’

He’s alive, He’s alive! Praise God Almighty He’s alive. My fear is swayed, my sorrow is cared for & my hope if full.

Later on- the apostles go through the same thing and lastly Thomas- will not believe unless he sees and sure enough Jesus comes and Thomas declares My Lord and My God!

But what about you? John 20:29
What do you believe this morning?
He who was once a carpenter has been declared to be the Saviour of the world.
He who died on our behalf and rose from it has shown us all that our deaths are no longer our final moment. If this is true- Jesus truly does hold the power of life & death.

If he just died- we would acknowledge his sacrifice and even thank God for it- but what would we hope for?
If he just lived- we would acknowledge his wisdom and his teaching but what would we hope for?
He’s lived, died & lived again- now that we have come to believe this fact- our question might be- what has he done for us?
Yes, I see the suffering on the cross- the defeat of death, but what does Jesus give me for my pain?
I feel so lost, I feel helpless, I feel stained with a bad reputation, I feel broken down, I feel weak, I feel sick what does Jesus do for me?

After everything has been said & done. After our pain reaches it’s maximum. After our suffering appears to be here for the long haul- one truth still remains:
Christ dies for us all & he is risen indeed! Yes, we are born again to a living hope!
One day- he who defeated death, hell & the grave will come for me (John 14:1-3)

All he says- don’t be troubled trust in me.
Come this morning as we stand and sing…

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