The King's Victory

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Today's reading is from the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 28, verses 1 through 20.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going

to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who

was crucified.

He is not here.

He has risen, just as he said.

Come and see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples, he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of

you into Galilee.

There you will see him.

Now I have told you.

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid, yet filled with joy, and ran to tell the disciples.

Suddenly Jesus met them.

Greetings, he said.

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

Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid.

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

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests

everything that had happened.

When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money,

telling them, you are to say, his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.

If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep out of trouble.

So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.

And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.

Then Jesus came to them and said,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Thank you, Lord Christ.

Good morning, Christ Church, and happy Easter.

I'm going to do the hardest thing that I have to do all day today,

which is to take a picture of you right now,

so that I can remember you.

Now, some of you have your Presbyterian face,

but I want you to act like you're happy that it's Easter Sunday.

So, all right, that's great.

That'll be something I can draw on through the rest of this year.

So, we've already heard this ancient Easter greeting in Greek.

It's Christos Sonesti, Alithos Sonesti, which means Christ has risen.

He's risen indeed.

But what we haven't done yet is what many churches call the great noise.

And that is when churches get together,

people would bring pots and pans and horns and tambourines.

And we don't have those today, but you can maybe pull out your keys.

You can use your hands to clap, or you can bang on your pews.

And in a moment, I'm going to say Christ has risen.

You'll say he's risen indeed.

And we're going to practice this ancient Christian practice called the great noise.

You ready?

Christ has risen.

He has risen indeed.

He is risen indeed.

All right, now don't get too excited.

Some of you are here, and you're like, okay, Christians are weird.

And you're right.

But why are we so excited?

We have people here every Sunday who are exploring Christianity.

For some of us, Easter's a day where we come to church with our family

because it's the thing to do, trying to make our mom happy or whatnot.

Some of us, we used to be a part of church,

or maybe we identified as a Christian at some point in the past.

And for some of us today, this may be your first time in a church.

Wherever you're coming from, we're so glad that you're here.

And maybe you're asking the question,

what actually happened on that first Easter Sunday morning?

And I want to acknowledge up front that this is just an odd and outlandish thing,

unimagined and unheard of, really.

And it's so unlikely, so improbable that it's astonishing

this story was ever even told in the first place,

that one person in the middle of history, in the middle of the night,

walked out of his grave alive with an indestructible body that would never die again.

And that's crazy. That's crazy.

But what I want to help you to do today is to examine the historical record,

to take a deeper look at this event that energizes the irrepressible enthusiasm of the church

and the unshakable joy of Christians.

And we're looking at that today in the Gospel of Matthew.

We've been here since Christmas Eve,

and we've now reached the climax.

And Matthew recounts for us what happened after Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday.

And what he tells us is this.

He says,

Jesus' resurrection leads to joy, worship, mission, and grace.

That Jesus' resurrection leads to joy, worship, mission, and grace.

I want to talk first about Jesus' resurrection,

and then try to apply the meaning of that resurrection,

the significance for our lives.

But Jesus' resurrection, first of all, verse 1,

says that after the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

And these women were not outside the tomb,

counting down 10, 9, 8, 7, cue the sunrise, 6, 5, 4, cue the hallelujah chorus, 3.

No, they weren't doing that at all.

They were not saying,

I'm so excited to see a resurrection today.

And isn't Easter brunch going to be so delicious later on?

No.

What were they expecting?

They were expecting Jesus to do what deceased people do,

and that is to be dead.

The gospel of Mark, the gospel of Luke,

tells us that these women brought spices to embalm the corpse of Jesus

because they knew what we know, that dead people stay dead.

Well, what happens while they're on the way to this tomb?

We're told in verse 2 that there was a violent earthquake,

for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven,

and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone, and sat on it.

What in the world?

Well, in the Old Testament, when God was on the move to save people,

the earth would tremble.

You see this in the Exodus and at Mount Sinai,

where God's giving the moral law.

He's giving the first parts of his Bible, the mountain shakes,

and something like that's going on here.

Reality is shifting, and so people feel some shaking.

And what's up with this angel?

Well, I understand that people are skeptical of these spiritual, non-human beings,

and we don't really have time today to talk about the metaphysics

of these heavenly warrior messengers.

But I will just say this.

If angels do exist,

and if God in this moment is putting the universe back on its axis

and saving the human race from certain ruin,

wouldn't we expect God to get at least a few of these angels involved in the process,

involved in these great nerve centers and turning points of history,

like God becoming a human being,

and this human being being raised from the dead by God.

I think that's what's happening here.

And Matthew 27 tells us that there's this great stone over the tomb,

and the seal of the Roman Empire has been put on that stone,

and a Roman guard, a large Roman guard,

has been put there to ensure that no one comes to steal the body.

And these women come to the tomb.

They don't have any idea, really,

how they're going to get into the tomb to embalm this corpse.

They just come out of love and loyalty to Jesus to try.

And the text tells us that the Lord God rolled the stone away.

Why?

Why did he do that?

Well, it wasn't to let Jesus out.

Right?

It's not like Jesus was inside the tomb banging and saying,

hey, somebody come let me out,

because the Gospels tell us in other places that Jesus' glorified body was so amazing,

it could walk through locked doors,

that he has this new spiritualized physicality.

Jesus can just appear wherever he wants to appear.

So the stone is not removed to let Jesus out.

The stone is removed to let the eyewitnesses in

so that they can see that God has emptied this tomb.

And this angel, in a dramatic fashion,

sits on the stone to let us know that the grave has been conquered by Jesus

and that our enemy, Death, has been defeated by Jesus.

And look at what it says in verse 3.

His appearance, the appearance of this angel was like lightning,

and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

And this is incredible because these are Roman soldiers who've seen it all.

They're hardened men.

They are fearless people,

and yet they encounter the power of the Lord God Almighty,

and it completely wrecks them and undoes them.

And, you know, you sort of have to ask,

like, why doesn't that happen to the women?

Well, these are fierce women.

They've been with Jesus for three years.

They've been exposed.

They've developed some capacity.

They're incredibly courageous and brave women.

And what does God say to them?

What's his word of divine revelation to these disciples and then to us?

It says in verse 5 that the angel said to the women,

Do not be afraid,

for I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here.

He has risen, just as he said.

Come and see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead

and is going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him.

Now, I have to kind of pause here

because our culture says that miracles and things like resurrection

are not scientifically possible.

But we also say that these biblical documents are not historically reliable.

And the common line of thinking is this,

that, you know, many people believe that Jesus was a good man,

he was a teacher of love,

and that he died.

And later on, people began to develop higher and higher views of Jesus,

that Jesus was maybe divine,

that he was perhaps the son of God.

And they invented this story of the resurrection.

And centuries went by.

They wrote these stories down.

And the results are these gospels,

these pious legends that we should not trust.

But I want to point you to a few clues

that this gospel, these gospels are reliable history

and not merely legend.

One of the major clues is that all four gospels,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

the first eyewitnesses of Jesus' resurrection were women.

And you may know that in the first century,

women had low status.

They were not full citizens.

Their testimony was not admissible in a court of law.

So if you're making up this kind of story,

you're doing a really bad job.

Like, why would you put them in the story?

You'd have a very high incentive not to even mention women

and just jump straight to the men,

Peter, Andrew, James, John.

Make them your witnesses.

But Matthew names these women,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

who we learned in the previous chapters,

Mary, the mother of James and Joseph.

And why does he name these women?

Well, Matthew is writing 30 years after the resurrection

within the lifetime of these eyewitnesses.

And he's basically saying,

look, these are well-known, respected members of the church,

and you can go talk to them,

and you can go cross-examine them,

and ask them what they saw at that tomb.

The Apostle Paul is doing something very similar.

He's writing 20 years after the resurrection.

And he gives us a whole list of witnesses,

people who saw the risen Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15.

And he says,

at one point there were 500 people all at the same time

who saw Jesus.

Most of them are still alive.

And again, you have access to them.

You can go, and you can talk to them

and figure it out for yourself.

So what if this is not a legend?

What if this is established fact and reliable history?

Well, then that means that God's word

to these female disciples and to us is simply this.

In verse 7,

he has been raised from the dead.

That Jesus' corpse is not here

because he's no longer a corpse.

He's gone into death,

and he's come out the other side somehow alive.

You know, that God, in some mysterious way,

has raised Jesus from death into a new life

that's incorruptible and indestructible.

And I want to mention here

that this does not erase what happened on Good Friday.

Far from it.

This does not render the death of Jesus meaningless,

but rather it shows us how meaningful his death actually was.

In verse 5, they hear these words,

I know you're looking for Jesus who was crucified.

And Jesus will be eternally known as Christ crucified.

The other gospels tell us that Jesus' glorified body still bears the marks of his crucifixion.

And this means for us that the resurrection means that Jesus...

This is not a reversal of Jesus' defeat.

The resurrection is the proclamation of his victory on Good Friday.

The resurrection tells us that Jesus' death on the cross was not a defeat,

but that it was, in fact, God's victory over sin and the wages of sin, which is death.

This news that's being announced here at this empty tomb,

that quote-unquote,

Jesus who was crucified has been raised from the dead,

means that his Good Friday sacrifice for us was sufficient.

And that his substitution of himself in our place to atone for our sins was effective.

And the resurrection confirms to them, these women,

and it confirms to us that the finished work of salvation,

wrought by Jesus Christ on his cross,

has been accepted and approved by God.

Now, if you're here exploring Christianity,

I want to ask you,

have you considered that this same Jesus who was crucified,

this same Jesus who prayed from his cross,

Father, forgive them?

The same Jesus who cried out at the very end,

it is finished, the work of salvation is finished.

This Jesus who went through such bitter agony,

did it all out of love for you.

And have you considered that God raised him from the dead for your sake,

so that your sins might be wiped away,

and that you too might share in his victory in his life?

Friends, this crucified yet resurrected Jesus is alive.

He's here with us even now,

through his scriptures, through his sacraments,

through his spirit,

and he's inviting you today.

He wants to welcome you today into his kingdom,

if you would just simply not lean on your own understanding,

but acknowledge him as the one who has been raised from the dead.

And perhaps you're here,

and you're just beginning this process of exploring Christianity today,

and I want to extend to you the same invitation that these women received in verse 6,

where it says,

come and see,

come and observe,

come and open-mindedly research,

and investigate,

and examine all the evidence.

And I invite you to take two practical steps today.

The first is that we have a lovely new website,

and if you go on our website,

you'll scroll down,

and you'll see questions welcomed.

And if you click on questions,

you'll see a whole list of some resources

that address some very common doubts,

and very common concerns for people who are exploring Christianity.

I invite you to look at those,

and maybe explore one of those.

The second thing I want to invite you to do

is come to our Ask Me Anything lunch next Sunday with myself and Pastor Andrew.

It's a free lunch for people who just have questions about Jesus,

and about the Gospels.

But I hope that today,

I've at least demonstrated to you

that it's not possible for these eyewitness accounts to be legends.

And as Sherlock Holmes once said,

when you have eliminated the impossible,

whatever remains, however improbable,

must be the truth.

C.S. Lewis, who was an Oxford professor

and described himself as one of the most reluctant converts in all of England,

he said,

however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem,

I have to accept the view that he, Jesus, was and is God.

And that's what the resurrection's all about.

Jesus' resurrection from the dead leads to joy,

leads to worship, leads to mission, and it leads to grace.

I want to press out some of the implications of the resurrection for a minute

and apply it to our lives.

Jesus' resurrection leads to joy, worship, mission, and grace.

Look at verse 8.

It says,

The word in that text in Greek is they had a mega joy, mega gladness.

Being reunited with those we love is one of the happiest experiences on the earth.

When we see that familiar face and we hear that reassuring voice

and we feel that comforting embrace,

imagine what it would be like to be reunited with someone you never thought you'd see again.

Somebody you thought you'd lost forever.

They didn't just change jobs.

They didn't just move away.

But somebody you thought you would never, ever see again.

Some of us today, we think about family we've lost.

We think about friends that we've lost.

And it's devastating to think that they're gone.

However hard we try,

no medical, no industrial advance can stop death from winning.

It's going to happen to you.

It's going to happen to me.

Our bodies are going to fall apart.

It's the destiny of every person we love.

And yet this tells us that there's one man in history

who demonstrated absolute power and authority over death.

And that, if it's true, leads to mega joy.

These women had not yet met the resurrected Jesus.

That's going to happen in a minute.

But the very news of a possible reunion with Jesus

fills them with a mixture of fear and joy.

Fear because they're real people like us

and it'd be strange

if they weren't trembling with some awe in this moment.

But joy because if their lives are somehow reunited

to the life of this conquering Christ,

then how can they not gratefully and joyfully participate

in his victory over death?

And so their hearts are filled with gladness

and the delight of the living God himself.

And friends, do you know what this means for us?

If Jesus is alive,

if death has been defeated,

if the uncreated energies of God

have been unleashed in the resurrected Jesus,

then our circumstances,

no matter how difficult,

can be transcended by this unshakable

and unflappable joy of the Lord.

And that does not deny our tragedies.

That does not erase our pain or our sadness.

It just says that we can have joy

even within these experiences.

Some of us in this church have been studying Philippians,

which is an epistle in the New Testament

written from a prison cell.

The Apostle Paul is chained to a Roman guard.

He's being treated as a criminal.

And you can imagine the conditions of an ancient prison cell.

But this is called his letter of joy.

It's the happiest epistle he wrote.

And he says there, he says,

rejoice in the Lord.

And I'll say it again,

rejoice always.

What's happening with this man?

The joy of the resurrected Jesus

is filling his prison cell.

The joy of the resurrected Lord

is filling all of his pain.

And friends, the joy of the Lord

can fill your sorrow too.

The joy of the Lord can be your strength.

The joy of the Lord

can point you to that future joy.

When all of us are going to be raised up

and we're going to be reunited with this one

we thought we'd never see again,

it's just a matter of time, my friends.

Jesus' resurrection leads to joy.

But Jesus' resurrection also leads to worship.

It leads to worship.

Look at verse 9.

It says that suddenly Jesus met them.

And you've got to watch out now

because Jesus is out there.

He's loose.

Suddenly he'll come and meet you.

Suddenly he came and met them

and greetings he said.

They came to him, clasped his feet

and worshipped him.

Can you imagine Jesus coming up to you

and saying,

Shalom.

Morning.

And what do they do?

They fall down before him.

They grab his nail-scarred feet

and they worship him.

And you say,

well of course they did.

They're gullible.

They're primitive,

pre-scientific,

supernaturalistic people

who are prone to be duped

by a quote-unquote miracle.

But I have to remind you today

that these are Jews.

These are Jews

and Jews in the first century

believed in a general resurrection

to come at the end of time.

But absolutely no Jew

but Jesus in the first century

believed that one individual

in the middle of history

would rise up from the dead.

Jews also were the last people

on the planet to believe

that a human being could be divine.

And a human being is somebody

who should be worshipped.

This was just impossible.

It was blasphemy

in their worldview.

But look at verse 16.

Then the eleven disciples came

to Galilee

to the mountain

where Jesus had told them to go.

And when they saw him

they worshipped him

but some doubted.

Again, if you're making up this story

why would you write that in?

This is just bad storytelling.

To say that the founders

of the church

were full of skepticism.

Well how strong

would the evidence

have had to have been

to blow away

all their doubts

and their skepticism.

It must have been

incredibly strong

for them to develop

a whole new worldview

overnight.

And this tells us

that these women

and these men

when they encountered Jesus

it says they proskuneoed.

And I had to look up

that word this week

and here's what it means.

It says proskuneo means

to fall on your knees

put your forehead

on the ground

and express reverence

before a person

of superior rank.

Now how does that

definition of worship

compare with our

definition of worship?

If you're a Christian

have you bowed yourself

down in reverence

and adoration

at the feet

of the resurrected Jesus

today?

It's what these women

and these men do

instinctively

in the presence

of this living Lord.

He doesn't command

them to do it

they just know

it's the natural

and right

and good thing

to do.

When you're in the

presence of this

death-defeating

life-giving

Jesus

you just fall down.

And if you're

a disciple of Jesus

I want to encourage

you to make this

a daily habit

in your life.

When you wake up

in the morning

when you go

to bed at night

when you gather

to pray

with your family

or friends

fall on your knees

put your forehead

on the ground

and express reverence

before this person

of superior rank

because

he's alive

and he's worthy

of our worship.

Amen?

The resurrection

Jesus' resurrection

leads to joy

it leads to worship

it also leads

to mission.

Two times

in verses 7 and 10

these women hear

this message

go and tell

go and tell

and next week

Andrew's going to

unpack the great

commission

at the end

of this text

in verses 18 to 20

but they're given

a mission

aren't they?

Your eyes

have seen

the empty tomb

your ears

have heard

the word

of God

the word

of this gospel

your hands

have touched

the resurrected

body

of Jesus

you've done

your investigation

you've done

careful observation

you've applied

rigorous criticism

you've gathered

up this empirical

data

and now

what do you do

when you have

the data

scientists

you publish

the data

you go and

report the data

that you've

discovered

and who are they

sent to reach

well they're not

sent to reach

the ends of the

earth

not yet

Jesus says

I'm sending you

out to my

disciples

because if the

church doesn't

believe in the

resurrection

how will the

rest of the

world believe

in the

resurrection

and so

they're to go

and tell

that he

Jesus

has been

raised from

the dead

and these

wonderful

beautiful women

they go

and evangelize

the apostles

and why

does Jesus

tell these

apostles to

come meet

him in

Galilee

because Galilee

is Gentile

territory

Galilee is

the place

that it all

began but

it's the place

where they're

going to take

this news

of the

resurrected

Jesus west

to Italy

and east

to India

and south

to Ethiopia

and north

to the

peoples

of Eurasia

you can read

the acts

of the

apostles

the letters

in the

new testament

early

Christian

history

and you

can read

about these

men and

women who

endured

great

persecution

they endured

beatings

they endured

executions

to go out

and share

this incredible

news

would they

have done

that

if this

tomb

were empty

would they

have risked

their lives

if Jesus

were not

alive

why

in the

world

would you

go out

and live

these kind

of lives

of courage

and compassion

and sacrifice

and to die

for a fantasy

for a fraud

no threat

no torture

could cause

these women

and these men

to deny

what they had

seen

with their

eyes

and for them

because they

had seen

it

death no

longer had

any

power

over them

whatsoever

I love

this text

from Michael

Green

he wrote

a book

called

evangelism

through the

local

church

he says

the church

armed

with such

an improbable

claim

and beginning

from a

handful

of uneducated

fishermen

and tax

gatherers

swept across

the whole

known world

in the first

the next

300 years

it's a perfectly

amazing story

of peaceful

revolution

that no

parallel

that has no

parallel

in the history

of the world

it came about

because Christians

were able to say

to inquire

Jesus

did not only

die for you

he is alive

you can meet

him and discover

for yourself

the reality

that we're

talking about

they did

and joined

the church

and the church

born from that

Easter grave

spread

everywhere

and I pray

it will keep

spreading

in Berkeley

and Oakland

and throughout

the San Francisco

Bay Area

through us

the resurrection

of Jesus

leads to

joy

it leads

to worship

it leads

to mission

and the last

thing I want

to say

is that it

leads to grace

it leads

to grace

Jesus says

in verse 10

do not be afraid

go and tell

my brothers

to go to

Galilee

there they

will see

me

the one

that they

thought

was lost

to them

the one

they thought

they'd never

see again

is waiting

for them

in Galilee

the place

where they

first met

him

the place

where everything

started

he says

go to

Galilee

and there

you will

see me

but friends

it's not

only the

disciples

who will

see

the risen

Jesus

you will

see him

too

you're going

to see

him too

the apostle

Paul says

in Acts

Acts 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17

he's preaching

to Athens

the intellectual

center of the

Roman Empire

and he says

in Acts

17

31

for God

has set

a day

when he

will judge

the world

with justice

by the man

he has

appointed

he has

given proof

of this

to everyone

by raising

him

from the

dead

in other

words

there will

be a day

of judgment

for all

of us

the resurrected

Jesus

guarantees

that one

day we

too

will be

raised

physically

and

when we're

raised up

from the

dead

Jesus

is going

to be

our judge

on that

day

and the

only question

is are we

ready to

meet him

are you

ready

to meet

him

and you know

who was not

ready to meet

the resurrected

Jesus

these disciples

these disciples

who disowned

him

these disciples

who abandoned

Jesus in his

hour of greatest

need

these were

big time

screw ups

you think

you're a

screw up

these guys

were big time

screw ups

spectacular

failures

but what does

Jesus say

he says

go tell

my brothers

and isn't that

a beautiful

detail

that having

died to pay

for sin

and having

risen from

death

to prove

that sin

was truly

paid for

Jesus

wants these

disciples to

know that by

the grace

of God

they can be

his brothers

if only they

would trust

in Jesus

then all of

their sin

all their

denials

all their

abandonment

all of their

betrayals

every failure

to love

God as they

should would

be fully

and finally

forgiven

and friends

that could be

the case

for you

and me

that by

grace

we can be

reunited with

Jesus as

his brothers

and as

his sisters

don't you

want to know

this Jesus

that's gone

ahead and is

waiting for

you

don't you

want to know

that familiar

face

that reassuring

voice

that comforting

embrace

Christ

church

Jesus

is risen

from the

dead

he's

launched

a new

creation

where all

is forgiven

all is

remade

all is

reborn

and so I

invite you

let's join

in his

project

let's be

a resurrection

people

let's be a

joyful people

of life

in a world

that's still

in death

let's be a

worshiping

people that

celebrate

God's

victory over

death

let's be a

missionary people

to this world

that Jesus

loves so much

he gave his

life

and let's

commit ourselves

today to

follow this

Jesus who

gives grace

to the

undeserving

undeserving

people like

you

and undeserving

people like

me

who he wants

to know

as brothers

and as

sisters

in the name

of the Father

Son and Holy

Spirit

Amen

Amen