Easter Sunday (Luke 24:36-49)

And we are in Luke chapter 24 and Luke's accounts of the

Luke 24 · chapter mention

resurrection of Jesus. And as those sheets just get

handed out, I want us to see this morning, I think Luke

wanted to see this morning, that the message of the first Easter

is a message of peace and a message of hope.

It's a message of peace because at the resurrection, Jesus has

one peace with God for everyone who puts their faith in him.

And it's a message of hope because the resurrection proves

to us that for everyone who puts their faith in Jesus, death and

sorrow and sadness will not have the last word in our lives.

The last word belongs to the crucified and risen Jesus, and

people often refer to Easter as a real time of hope in people's

lives. But it's it's it's helpful to

get a definition of hope because hope really matters.

We thought about this bit on Good Friday actually, that it's

hope that keeps us going. Hope can get us out of bed in

the morning. Hope is what makes life worth

living. If we don't have any hope, we

struggle so much in our lives. But hope is often pretty vague

in our worlds. We say that like, I hope it

doesn't rain today, but we kind of know it might.

Or. Or you going to come?

Yeah, I hope I can come. Which kind of easy code going.

I'm not really planning to, but I might.

Or I hope things work out for you.

But in a sense, we just have no guarantee that they will.

But we need to see this morning when when Christians talk about

hope rooted in the Bible, God's word, hope is something solid

that we can build our lives upon.

It's kind of a definition of hope.

Things may be difficult now, but we know the future is going to

be so much better. The future waiting for us makes

the hard things now worthwhile as a massive statement to say.

We know the future is going to be so much better.

But the reasons Christians kind of confidence in that is because

our hope rests on something solid, on someone solid.

Our hope rests on the crucified and risen Jesus.

So a few days ago, if you were at Knighton for the joint

service, we looked at Luke's account of the death of Jesus.

And for any other person, that should have been the end of the

story. We last saw Jesus kneel to a

cross, forgiving his enemies, forgiving and welcoming a

criminal into his Kingdom, and then breathing his last.

His dead body was taken down from the cross and buried in a

tomb, a gift from a wealthy man called Joseph of Arimathea.

And that should have been it. That should have been the end of

Jesus story. Of course, the good news of

Easter is that isn't the end of Jesus story.

Jesus didn't stay dead. Three days after he died, he

rose again from the dead. And as a result, Christians

don't just follow the teachings of a great man in history.

No, Jesus is alive today. We believe the risen Jesus is

present with us right now by his Spirit, and he offers us new

life, peace with God, and a glorious hope as we put our

faith in Him. One church historian once put it

like this. Without the resurrection, we'd

never have heard of Jesus. It's funny you put it like that.

Without the resurrection, we'd never heard of Jesus.

The Romans crucified thousands of people.

Jesus would probably just have been another failed Messiah who

a few people remembered and then everyone forgot.

But instead, because of the resurrection, we're still

talking about Jesus today. We're still worshipping Jesus

today. We sing songs about Jesus today.

People put their faith in Jesus today.

So let's look at this account from Luke of the resurrection

and see what the resurrection means for us.

Because here we have Luke recording the risen Jesus

appearing to his disciples. Here we see future hope breaking

into the world we all live in. And what does the risen Jesus

offer us? He offers us peace and he offers

us hope. More specifically, he offers us

peace with God now and a glorious future hope in the

future. So let's think about those two

things for the next few minutes. So the risen Jesus offers us

peace with God. Look at how Jesus greets his

disciples in verse 36. He says while they were still

talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and

said to them, peace be with you. Peace be with you.

That is the risen Jesus favorite way of greeting his friends

across all four gospels. Peace be with you.

And why does he say that? Because he knows he has won

peace with God for everyone who follows him.

See, before Jesus death on the cross followed by his

resurrection, we were all naturally enemies of God.

We have all rejected God or just simply ignored God in the world

he made. We've all refused to thank God

or worship God as he deserves. And the Bible says because of

that we're all naturally enemies of God.

We don't love God the way we should.

We don't love the people around us the way we should.

We don't love God's world the way we should.

And as a result, it's like we're at war with God and we're all

destined to face his judgement for the things we have done.

We're naturally enemies of God, but along comes the risen Jesus

and he says peace be with you because God has sent his son

Jesus into the world. To be our mediator, to be the

peacemaker, we need Jesus. He's fully God.

He's the eternal Son of God, and he's fully human, born of Mary,

born of a woman. And Jesus came to make peace

with God. How do you do that?

Because Jesus lived the life we should have lived, a life of

love for God and love for people.

Jesus died the death we deserve to die on that cross.

And then Jesus rose again to win new life and share that new life

with anyone and everyone who puts their faith in him.

Thanks to Jesus saving work, his life, death and resurrection, we

now have peace with God. Jesus says peace be with you.

That is the risen Jesus words to each one of us if we will just

receive it today. Instead of declaring war against

his enemies, God declares peace towards us because of Jesus.

Thanks to Jesus, we can be fully forgiven, fully accepted, not

because of things we have done, because of what Jesus has done

for us. And we need to see in the

account of the first Easter that the disciples, it takes them a

while to get what's happening. The disciples were not gullible

people. That's really important to see.

Look at verse 37. Luke tells us they were startled

and frightened thinking they saw a ghost or, or verse 41, they

still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.

They needed convincing that this was the risen Jesus standing in

front of them. Again, the disciples weren't

naive. They weren't simple people who

just believe anything. Some ways we can think that oh,

they lived 2000 years ago. Everyone believed crazy stuff

back then. But actually in the 1st century,

people were a lot more familiar with death than we are today.

Actually, in the 21st century, death can be hidden more in in

hospitals or mortuaries or crematoriums.

Back in the 1st century, you couldn't hide from death.

People didn't live very long. People would die of diseases

easily cured today. Everyone would have known

someone close to them who had died when he turned out.

The disciples weren't gullible people.

They knew that if someone dies on a cross, they do not come

back three days later to say peace be with you.

And yet here was Jesus standing in front of him.

And how did Jesus prove he was really alive?

Well, amazingly, he invited them to touch him as verse 38.

He said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts rise

in your mind? Look at my hands and my feet.

It is I myself. Touch me and see.

A ghost doesn't have flesh and bones as you see.

I have, he says, disciples. I'm not a ghost.

You might think I am, but I'm not.

Touch me. I have a physical body.

Look at the marks on my hands and my feet.

And when they still struggle to believe it, will Jesus eat

something to prove it again? If I had just triumphed over sin

and death and the devil, I'd probably choose a really nice

burger. Something like that.

Jesus went for broiled fish, not boiled broiled.

But it still doesn't sound that appealing.

But he's proving to them he is physically risen.

He has defeated death. The same Jesus who died in a

cross three days earlier is now risen and standing in front of

them. I love the detail.

Look records for us. The risen Jesus still has scars.

Look at my hands and my feet, he says to disciples.

The wounds from the cross are still there.

The marks from the nails are still there.

The wounds of love that Jesus bears are still there.

He's reassuring his disciples. It's really me.

I'm really alive. But also he's showing them.

He still carries the scars that he was willing to endure to

rescue each and every one of us. The risen Jesus still has scars

today. Why is that good news for us?

Well, it's good news because it reminds us Jesus is the same

today as he always has been. Jesus knows what it's like to

suffer. It's not that Jesus was a human

for a little while and then he went up to heaven and he doesn't

understand us anymore. Jesus still understands us and

that's why he has compassion on us when we suffer.

He's able to help us when we suffer.

Christians don't worship a distant God.

He doesn't understand things like struggle and pain and

grief. We worship the God who draws

near to us in Jesus, familiar with suffering, familiar with

grief and with rejection. The risen Jesus still has scars

today. He understands us, He knows us.

He's gentle and kind with us when we suffer.

It's another reminder what a beautiful saviour we have in

Jesus. So in these verses, Jesus, he's

reassuring his disciples. He really is alive.

He really has risen. And because Jesus has risen, the

risen Jesus offers us hope for the future, eternal life in a

new creation with the God who loves us perfectly.

And one of the great things about Easter is it just pictures

for us what our future hope is as Christians.

Because I wonder if you ever think about that word heaven, if

you ever think what would heaven be like?

That's meant to be a really good thing.

You meant to want to go there. But actually the conventional

way our culture talks about heaven just doesn't make it

sound very appealing. When I was a kid, I thought

heaven would be totally boring. It was sitting on a cloud

wearing white, playing a harp. There was possibly soft cheese

involved from an advert I saw as a kid, but it was just boring.

I thought, who wants to go to heaven?

Just sit in white clouds all day.

But actually, we need to see the good news of Easter.

The resurrection of Jesus shows Christiano isn't ultimately just

about the immortality of the soul.

It's about the resurrection of the body.

Because Jesus rose from the dead physically on the first Easter,

everyone who trusts in him will be raised from the dead

physically at the end of time. And our home will not be a cloud

in the sky. Our home will be the new

creation, the new heavens and the new earth.

Here's how another bit of the New Testament puts it.

In one Corinthians 15, verse 20, the apostle Paul says Christ has

indeed been raised from the dead.

The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, those who

have fallen asleep, that's a reference of those who have

died. Jesus, we're told, is the first

fruits of the dead. What are first fruits?

Well, they're the they're the first signs that the harvest is

coming, like your first ripe tomato of the season.

So the other fruits aren't ready for eating yet, but the first

fruits are a tangible sign, a proof that the harvest is on its

way. And in a similar way, Paul says

here, the resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday is a

trailer for our future. If we trust in him.

We look at the resurrection body of Jesus.

That's a picture of the resurrection body each and every

one of us will have if our faith is in Jesus.

And you look at the Easter accounts and it's kind of

interesting that the risen Jesus, the body of the risen

Jesus, it's the same as it was before death, but it's also

different to the way it was before death.

So Jesus body is the same. He's still physical, we saw

that. He still eats food, He still

bears the scars of the crucifixion.

The disciples still recognise him.

But it's also different. There are times when the

disciples don't recognize him straight away, like Mary at the

tomb or the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

There's there's something different about Jesus.

Jesus can walk through locked doors, we're told.

He can appear and disappear with the disciples.

He's just utterly full of life in a way that they've not seen

before. And a similar way, our

resurrected life in the new creation will be glorious.

The Bible tells us a new creation will be physical.

It's not just a spiritual existence.

It's a new heaven and a new earth, a physical place free

from sin and death and mourning and pain, filled with physical

people, with resurrection bodies like Jesus.

When you think about it, it's just breathtaking.

You think about the most beautiful places you've ever

visited in the world. I once saw Mount Kilimanjaro in

Tanzania. I'd love to see the Grand

Canyon, think about the Pacific Ocean, think about Victoria Park

on a sunny day. And now I imagine those places

perfected by God in the new creation, free from decay and

ugliness and litter and death. Free to be beautiful, perfect

displays of God's glory, free to be enjoyed and explored by God's

people in the new creation that is the future home that awaits

everyone because of Jesus resurrection.

The new Chris will be physical and we will be physical again.

Jesus body, he can be touched. He can eat and enjoy food.

He's present with his disciples. That's the picture we get in

scripture. We'll be able to eat and drink

with God and with each other. We'll be able to explore the new

creation. We'll be able to worship God

together in community with one another.

It will be astonishing, amazing. That is our future hope and we

will be free from sin and from death.

Just imagine it. Remember an older Christian once

saying to me once, actually just remember one day you will be

whole and you will be healthy and you will be satisfied

forever because of Jesus. Your body will work perfectly.

Your mind will think clearly. Your heart will be filled with

love for God and love for other people.

That is the hope set before us, the hope won for us by Jesus at

the cross and the resurrection. And the the far, far best thing

about it is that God will be there.

We'll be with the God who loves us perfectly.

We'll see him face to face. We'll eat with him.

We'll talk with him. We'll finally discover just how

deeply he has loved us all the way through our lives.

Those times when we thought we knew that.

Those times when we didn't know it.

That is our future hope. That is what we celebrate at

Easter. That is what keeps us going in

our lives. You don't need me to tell you

this morning. Life can be hard here and now.

If you hear last week we saw the words of the Apostle Paul.

We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom

of God. But that is why hope matters so

much. As Christians, thanks to Jesus,

the future waiting for us makes the hard things now worthwhile.

So how should we respond to the resurrection of Jesus today?

If you're not a Christian here this morning, if you don't yet

trust in Jesus, what difference does the resurrection of Jesus

make to you? Well, a friend of mine used to

always put it like this. He said if you're not a

Christian here today, then this life is as good as it gets.

It's as good as it gets here. But if you are a Christian, this

life is as bad as it gets. The future is glorious.

Your future is secure. Your future will be with the God

who loves you because he's made sure of that through sending

Jesus to live and die and rise again.

How will we respond to that? What has the risen Jesus offer

us today? He offers us peace with God, and

he offers us hope for the future.

He offers us full forgiveness, complete acceptance with God,

and he offers us a hope, a future that will transform our

present. That's what the crucified and

risen Jesus offers us this Easter.

He only asks us to receive this gift by faith and ask for him.

Let me pray for us. Let's let's pray.

Father God, we want to thank you for the message of Easter.

Thank you that it is a message that can stand up to the

brutality and the cruelty and the hardships of Good Friday.

That Lord Jesus went to a cross before the resurrection.

Some some ways we would love the whole of our lives just to be 1

long resurrection. But Lord, we thank you that

you're honest with us that there are hardships here, there are

struggles, and Lord, we need you and your strength in the midst

of those struggles. But Lord, we do ask that this

Easter Sunday you would open our eyes to the future.

Hope you have won for us. And not just to hold on to that

as if we're on our own until we get there, but to know that

you're with us here and now. That you, Lord Jesus, still bear

the scars of your suffering for us.

You are with us. You are compassionate towards

us. And Father, we ask that you

would keep us until that day when we get to that new

creation, when Jesus comes again and we get to celebrate your

saving, lavish love of us in the community of your people from

across every tribe, people, language, nation.

Thank you for the hope we have. Thank you that it depends on

you, not on us. Keep us trusting in you until

the day we see you face to face, for we ask it in Jesus name,

Amen.