Absurd but True - Jesus is Risen!

Heavenly Father, give us faith to receive your word, understanding to know what it means,

and the will to put it into practice.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Some claims are absurd.

You hear them, you write them off.

For example, the claim that toothpaste made of your hair can fix tooth cavities sounds

far-fetched.

You grab your hairbrush, grab some hair, and just...

Sounds like it's probably not real.

But actually, you'd be wrong.

In a journal article titled, with the roll-off-the-tongue name, Biomimetic Mineralization of Keratin

Scaffolds for Enamel Regeneration, scientists have actually shown that keratin, which is

an ingredient found in our hair, can replace enamel, which does protect against cavities.

They're creating a hair-based toothpaste.

Absurd, but true.

Jesus is risen.

Now this is where you get involved.

Jesus is risen.

Well now, that's quite the claim, isn't it?

That this person, Jesus of Nazareth, has risen.

Yet, this is what was declared 2,000 years ago on that first Easter Sunday, what Christians

through the ages have been declaring ever since, what today billions of people across

the world will declare, that Jesus is risen.

Why do we make this claim?

This claim can sound a little absurd, a man has come back from the dead, who is our saviour

and our lord.

But like the hair toothpaste scenario, what we will see as we look at Matthew 28 today,

is it's true.

The first thing we see in Matthew 28 is that the stone is rolled away.

Jesus on Good Friday declared it is finished, he gave up his last breath, he was dead.

The Roman governor Pilate, to check that Jesus was dead, had his soldiers pierce his side.

Jesus was declared dead by the masters of death, the Roman soldiers.

Then he was buried in his grave, a cave belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, where he lay, lifeless.

And even though Jesus said it would end this way, no one believed him, not really.

He said on at least three occasions that he would die and on the third day he would come

back to life.

Jesus died on the Friday, day one.

Saturday passed, day two.

Then Sunday, day three, the third day.

At dawn, if the disciples had believed Jesus, that he would rise again, it would not have

just been Mary and Mary going to the tomb that morning.

It would have been Mary and Mary and the disciples and a whole crowd of people with high hopes

and expectations expecting to see Jesus alive.

But it's just Mary and Mary.

We pick up the account, Matthew chapter 28, the two Marys are on their way to the tomb.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

The supernatural starts to occur.

There is an earthquake, not a natural earthquake, but a supernatural one.

It was in verse two, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, a divine messenger

to deliver a divine message.

The angel goes to the tomb, rolls the huge stone away, the angel shining bright as lightning

across the sky, his clothes whiter than white, and then having done his job, just sits on

top of the stone.

It would have been something to see, wouldn't it?

Meanwhile, the guards charged with guarding the tomb to ensure that Jesus' disciples don't

come and steal the body, witness this angel and they are scared stiff, or more accurately

in verse four, they shook and became like dead men, hardened Roman soldiers, afraid

of the divine messenger.

They couldn't respond.

They definitely had no power to be able to stop the divine messenger from opening the

tomb.

And then Mary and Mary arrive.

You can imagine that the first thing they see is the bright supernatural messenger perched

on the stone that has been rolled away.

On second look, they see the guards lying down as dead in a state of shock.

And they see that Jesus' tomb is opened.

This is not what Mary and Mary expected to see this Sunday morning.

And they too are afraid and scared.

So the angel declares in verse five, he says, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking

for Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here.

He is risen just as he said.

What an announcement.

The man Mary and Mary are looking for Jesus who died is not where he is meant to be.

But he's risen alive, breathing back from the dead.

And I love that the angel points to Jesus' words as he says this.

He says he is risen just as he said, just as Jesus knew would happen.

Jesus knew he was going to die and on the third day be raised to life.

And this was always God's plan.

A resurrected king, a resurrected saviour.

So then we come to the empty tomb.

The angel invites Mary and Mary in to see the empty tomb.

And after they've gone into the empty tomb, they see that Jesus is not there.

They're told in verse seven, go quickly and tell his disciples, he has risen from the

dead and he's going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him.

As the angel declares it, so it will happen.

Mary and Mary are tasked with declaring the resurrection.

They get to go and tell the disciples.

And that's how we hear about the resurrection of Jesus, isn't it?

It is declared to us.

It is told to us.

And then we hear it and believe it.

It's been declared to us in the Gospels.

It's been declared to us by his followers for 2000 years.

Now like the Marys, we can explore the evidence for the resurrection.

They were invited to go in and see the empty grave.

We too can investigate and see.

And when we do, we find that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming.

The evidence stacks up.

One small piece of evidence is here in our Gospel reading.

And the evidence is actually that it was women, Mary and Mary, who saw the angels, who saw

the empty tomb, who heard first declared that Jesus is risen.

It is women who, on their way to telling the disciples, see the risen Jesus first.

And it's evidence because in first century Rome, such as it was, if you wanted people

to take notice of something that happened, you would not have recorded that it was women

who witnessed this.

The fact that the Gospel writers did record it as women witnessing this testifies to the

fact that this is what happened.

The scholar N.T. Wright, he's written a nice big thick book called Resurrection and the

Son of God.

He writes,

The proposal that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead possesses a personal and historical

probability so high that it can be called certain, in the same sense that we are certain

of other major historical events.

The gold rush in the 1850s Australia, we're pretty certain that happened.

None of us was there though.

We can have similar certainty that the resurrection of Jesus, it happened as it was declared to

us in the Gospels.

We can look at the evidence and the evidence points to what the angels say, that Jesus

is risen.

Now Mary and Mary, they're obedient to the angel.

In verse eight, they hurry away from the tomb with mixed emotions.

They are afraid, but they're filled with joy.

Imagine what must be going through their minds, angels, divine messengers, Jesus being alive,

the excitement, the elation, the questions, why is the tomb empty?

Maybe Jesus really is the long awaited King who will save his people from their sin.

And so then we come to the living Jesus.

As they're rushing to declare to the disciples that Jesus is risen, they meet Jesus himself.

Verse nine, suddenly Jesus met them and greetings he said.

Now they really have seen the evidence, Jesus alive, breathing, speaking, welcoming them.

And their response is beautiful.

They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.

They recognize that Jesus in his resurrection is the son of God.

It's not, oh, we're so glad you're back, Jesus.

How was being dead?

Is there life at the end of the tunnel?

No, it's not a trivial event.

They worship him.

And that is what the resurrected Jesus requires of us all.

We all ought to respond to Jesus with worship.

The worship is knowing that Jesus is Lord and living with Jesus as Lord.

It's not just about coming to church.

It's not just about singing praise.

It's not just about sharing in the Lord's supper, although all those things are important.

But worship is an everyday affair.

It's living knowing that Jesus is our risen king and living for him.

I think of it just as a bit of an example.

We went to Emu Park yesterday, went to the beach, it was really nice.

But I didn't go for a swim, but I did get my feet wet.

I put my feet in and the water was a bit cold and I went, no, I'm not going in.

Lots of people treat worship of Jesus like that.

They'll come and they'll dip their toes in every now and again.

But actually, worship of Jesus is more like when you're jumping into a pool.

You jump in, you commit, you're all in and there's no backing out.

And it requires 100% knowing Jesus is Lord and living with him as Lord.

See worshipping Jesus is not simply looking at the evidence and then concluding that Jesus

is risen and then leaving it at that.

But it's recognising that Jesus is the living Lord whom we owe our life to.

Now you might have walked in today and you're thinking, well, maybe Jesus did rise from

the dead.

But this idea of worshipping him, of being all in, that's a little full on.

And that's when we need to remember why Jesus died.

See when Jesus died, he died for our sin.

On the cross he declared divine forgiveness, Father forgive them.

Right at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is declared as the one who is God with

us who has come to forgive our sin, to make us right with God.

Sin separates us from God.

Sin is us choosing not to worship God, to do things our own way instead of God's way.

And what sin does is it puts a chasm between us and God, one that we can't jump across

no matter how hard we try.

Imagine trying to jump from one side of the Fitzroy River to the other side of the Fitzroy

River without getting wet.

You couldn't do it.

Same with us and God.

Sin separates us from God and you might be thinking, well, so what?

God is real and sin deserves punishment.

God is offended when we sin.

And God will punish our sinful rebellion because he's a God of justice.

It is good that God is a God of justice.

It means that the evil that we see in our world will one day be brought to account.

But it also means the evil in us will be brought to account.

But God sent his son Jesus to die for our sin.

Jesus took our place before God, took the punishment we deserve so he can offer us divine

forgiveness.

And when we turn to him and believe in him and worship him, that forgiveness Jesus offers

becomes ours.

And the resurrection proves it.

If Jesus stayed dead, his death would be no good to us.

But Jesus has risen and in rising he showed us that his death achieved exactly what he

said it would.

Forgiven sin, defeated death, but more than that, life with God forever.

We too now have the promise of resurrection if our faith is in Jesus.

See if we were to read to the end of Matthew, we would have read how Jesus has been given

all authority in heaven and on earth.

He's the risen Lord, the King.

The King we need to worship.

The King that bridges that gap between us and God so that we can be in relationship

with him and have new life.

Jesus is alive.

That's the reality.

As we spend time here this morning in church, maybe as we go off and do something this afternoon,

have lunch, dinner, do exercise, I complain about the price of petrol.

In the midst of that, Jesus is alive.

He's risen.

And one day Jesus will return and set everything right.

It's as certain as the resurrection from the dead.

And so we need to be all in like Mary and Mary and worship Jesus.

And lastly, we need to declare that Jesus is alive.

After Mary and Mary worship Jesus, Jesus reminds them of the task given to them by the

angel.

He says, verse 10, do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me.

Go, go and announce that Jesus is alive.

Don't go and tell them to go to the tomb, that'd be a waste of time, but go to Galilee

because that's where they'll see him alive.

Declare the truth, declare the message.

And the disciples will see him.

He appeared to the disciples and over 500 other followers in the period of 40 days.

And their job then was to declare the truth of the resurrection.

And that's the message that we Christians have to share with the world.

Our King Jesus is alive forever.

We do not make disciples of a dead King, but disciples of a living risen one, Jesus.

And one day, like the disciples, we will see him.

One day, Jesus will honour those who recognise him as King and welcome us into his kingdom.

And so we declare with boldness, we declare without shame, we declare with urgency that

Jesus is risen, that Jesus is alive, for we want more people to join with us in worshipping

Jesus so that they too can have their sins forgiven, so they too can be brought into

relationship with God.

That's what Rockhampton needs more than anything else.

To know that salvation is found in Jesus, our risen King.

And so we will make the claim.

To some it might sound absurd, but we are absolutely confident that it is true.

Jesus is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you that this morning we can declare that Jesus is risen, that we

can worship him as the one with all authority over heaven and earth.

We praise you that through believing in Jesus and his death and resurrection, that he gives

us new life.

Give us boldness to declare this message in our world, that more than anything needs to

be brought back into relationship with you.

We praise you that Jesus is alive, and in his name we pray, amen.