The Resurrection Changes Everything (Luke 24:1-12; Acts 10:34-43)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?

He is not here, but has risen.

Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise.

And they remembered his words.

And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves.

And he went home, marveling at what had happened.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Rise, heart, thy Lord is risen.

Sing his praise without delays, who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise with him mayest rise.

That as death calcen thee to dust, his life may make thee gold and much more just.

Let's pray.

Risen Lord Jesus, give us grace to behold with renewed eyes your risen glory.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Dear sisters and brothers, the resurrection changes everything.

It changes everything.

Easter Sunday celebrates the day that changed everything.

The day that Jesus Christ, crucified on Friday, was raised to new life by the power of God on Sunday.

For the first time ever, the unstoppable march of death was halted.

And not just that, it was reversed.

Death, decay, and corruption have been beaten by new life.

This changes everything.

The resurrection is the very center of our hope, the very essence of our faith as Christians.

Our earliest brothers and sisters didn't gather together to commemorate this late great Jesus Christ.

They didn't get together to reflect on the existential experience of Jesus or comfort one another with quaint sentiments like, you know, if we remember him, it's like he's never really gone.

If Jesus is not bodily raised from the dead, then the Apostle Paul, an eyewitness to the risen Jesus himself, writes, Our preaching is in vain.

It's empty, foolish, useless, futile, and your faith is in vain apart from the resurrection.

A Jesus who stayed in the tomb might leave us with a few memorable catchphrases and a few moral truisms, but Paul concludes: if in Christ we have life or have hope in this life only, we are a people most to be pitied.

No resurrection, no hope.

Jesus died, and you're going to die too.

So it's time to go home, eat, drink, and be merry, watch Netflix and eat potato chips.

Because there is no hope to offer here to those of us living in the valley of the shadow of death.

And we do live in the valley of the shadow of death, don't we?

But in fact, Paul writes, Christ has been raised from the dead.

The first fruits, the down payment, the guarantee of those who have fallen asleep, those who have died themselves.

The resurrection changes everything.

It breaks the power of death and decay that our first parent Adam unleashed upon the world through his disobedience.

And the resurrection promises us that in Christ we too will be raised to new everlasting life.

Isn't this good news?

The resurrection changes everything.

And from generation to generation, Christians have gathered together to celebrate this good news, not just on Easter Sunday, but every Sunday.

Christ is risen indeed.

Hallelujah.

The resurrection certainly changed things for Peter.

He's the guy who stands out in our readings today.

He stands out to me.

He turns up in both our Acts reading and our gospel reading in Luke.

Acts is the sequel to the Gospel of Luke, and it's named after its author, Luke, who's a physician and historian.

I just can't help but like Peter.

It's hard to not like Peter, I think.

See, when I was in grade school, teachers would sometimes say, you know, I need a volunteer.

But before they could finish the sentence, I was the sort of kid whose hand sprung right up and I called, pick me, pick me.

It took me a while to figure out that you generally want to know what you're volunteering for before you shoot up your hand.

Peter's this sort of guy.

He's a I'm all in.

Now what am I doing, kind of guy.

But he's also a man who, like us, knows the depths of hopelessness and despair, of grief and defeat.

But he doesn't stay that way.

Peter is a man changed by the resurrection of Jesus, and because the resurrection can so remarkably change a man like Peter, it might just lead us to think that it can change our lives as well.

Perhaps it can raise our hopelessness to hope, our despair to celebration, our defeat to triumph.

So in our time together, let's have a tour of Peter's discipleship as Luke presents it to us and consider the kind of hope that it brings.

The resurrection changes everything.

So we meet Peter, who is also known as Simon Peter in Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

He's a fisherman, and he's working hard with his brother at the family business.

He's not particularly educated or erudite.

He's certainly not one of the world's movers and shakers, but into his life walks this teacher named Jesus.

Jesus puts out from the shore with Peter and his boat to teach the crowd, following him, and then he tells Peter to let out his nets for a catch.

And the catch they bring in is so big that their nets were breaking apart.

Peter is not prepared for the kind of abundance that Jesus brings.

See, it's at this moment that Peter, surrounded by these stinky and floppy fish, falls to his knees before Jesus and begs him, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

Peter is just starting to understand that this Jesus is the Holy One through whom God is working his kingdom purposes.

Jesus, holy men like you have no reason to be around sinners like me.

Please leave me alone.

But Jesus doesn't.

In fact, he has a commission for Peter.

Do not be afraid, Jesus says to him, from now on, you will be catching men.

Peter, you're used to catching fish.

Now I'm telling you that you are going to spend your life bringing people into the kingdom of God.

So Peter leaves everything to take up this commission.

I'm all in for Jesus, because what else can a disciple say?

So let's fast forward to Jesus' final destination in Jerusalem.

In a quiet upper room, Jesus gathers Peter with his disciples and celebrates a renewed Passover meal, the feast of God's deliverance, on the evening before his crucifixion.

Jesus knows that tomorrow he will be rejected and suffer and die to make atonement for sin.

Peter, always the I'm all in kind of guy, makes his conviction known.

Lord, I am ready to go with you to both prison and to death.

But Jesus makes a disclosure to Peter.

I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny me three times.

So I wonder what Peter thought when he heard that.

Surely not.

I've left everything for you, Jesus.

I wouldn't desert you now.

But we know how the story goes, don't we?

Jesus is betrayed and arrested.

He's put on trial, and any known associates might be subjected to the same.

Three people inquire of Peter, and three times he denies knowing Jesus.

People like him have no reason to be around people like me.

Just leave me alone.

And immediately we read in Scripture, while Peter was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

Imagine that moment where Peter meets eyes with Jesus.

Peter remembers Jesus' words to him in the upper room that he would deny him, words that he dismissed so quickly, so much has changed in a few short hours.

Perhaps Peter is thinking to himself, some fisher of men I turned out to be.

Jesus told me I'd be bringing people into the kingdom of God.

I've done nothing but turn people away.

And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Isn't this where we're left?

If Easter Sunday doesn't follow Good Friday, in defeat and in grief, swallowed up like Peter by the valley of the shadow of death, having failed to live up to our best ideals, devastated and without hope of making right, of being redeemed.

And even still, death keeps marching forward.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, aren't we a people most to be pitied?

So Jesus is crucified.

And Peter slinks back into the city, broken, helpless, and hopeless, doomed to live out the rest of his life in the valley of the shadow of death.

Maybe we know this feeling for ourselves.

And if the gospel ended here, it would be no gospel at all.

Peter would simply have lived and died as the coward who denied following a controversial rabbi.

But the third day comes.

And the women have left Peter and the disciples behind to go and tend to the body of Jesus in the tomb.

I kind of wonder why Peter stayed behind.

I mean, he left it all to follow Jesus, didn't he?

Wouldn't he want to go and tend to the body?

So I wonder if we meet Peter on this third day crushed by the weight of his failure.

Jesus saw me disown me in life.

What right have I to tend to Jesus in death?

But these faithful and jubilant women bring back news that changes everything.

Jesus is alive.

For the disciples, this is unbelievable news.

Literally, they did not believe the women.

First century people weren't gullible.

They knew just as well as we do that dead people don't make a habit of coming back to life.

But Peter rose and ran to the tomb.

I can't imagine this is the most dignified way for Peter to get there.

But I doubt that Peter cared.

He's heard good news.

The first and the most important good news there could be since Friday.

And I imagine the possibilities are swirling in Peter's mind with every pound of every step until he arrives at the tomb.

And stooping and looking in, Peter saw the linen cloths by themselves.

Jesus was wrapped in linen for burial.

And if someone had moved the body, they would have taken the linen as well.

But Peter sees the linen set aside.

It's not needed anymore.

The tomb couldn't hold him.

Jesus is not here.

And Peter went home, marveling at what had happened.

Peter has gone from bitter weeping in the shadow of death to marveling in the light of new life.

He marveled.

Hopelessness and grief have fallen away.

Peter is left with wonder and astonishment and awe.

See, I imagine the world in which Peter walked back from the tomb struck him as an altogether different world than the one he woke up in.

He woke up in a world dominated by death.

Now death is a defeated enemy.

C.S.

Lewis reflects, Jesus has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man.

He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death.

Everything is different because he has done so.

Perhaps Peter, like Samwise Gamge, wonders to himself, is everything sad going to come untrue.

The resurrection changes everything for Peter.

The hopelessness of Jesus crucified is raised to the hope of the empty tomb.

Perhaps denial and tears and death are not how the story ends.

Perhaps the kingdom of God is still at hand.

See, we Christians have the privilege of living in a marvelous world, don't we?

A world in which death does not have the final word.

A word in which, even at our lowest and most despairing moment, hope can't be erased.

Even in the darkest of our moments, it can't help but bleed daylight.

So the journey continues for Peter.

With the disciples is greeted by the risen Jesus at the end of Luke's gospel, who says to them, Where did you go?

No, he doesn't.

Peace to you.

Shalom.

Forgiveness.

Blessing.

Jesus has brought about the reconciliation between sinful humankind and God through his cross and resurrection.

Peter may have disowned Jesus, but the risen Jesus has not disowned him.

Jesus returns to the Father in heaven, but sends his Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of believers as a seal of new life and to empower them for the kingdom work ahead.

It's this message of peace through the risen Jesus that good news of the resurrection goes forward into all the world.

See, in Luke's sequel, Acts, we see Peter quickly becomes one of the central leaders of this fledgling body called the church.

In a few short weeks, Peter goes from denying the arrested Jesus to a lowly servant to publicly proclaiming the risen Jesus to a crowd of thousands on the day of Pentecost.

The resurrection is Peter's hope for new life and redemption, and he is ready to give an answer for the hope that is in him.

And in Acts chapter 10, our reading this morning, Peter's received a vision from God confirming that this good news of peace through the risen Jesus is not just for ethnic Israel, but for all people of every nation.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

And God in his providence has brought Gentiles, non-Jewish people, to Peter at this very moment so that he can share with them the good news of Jesus.

They put Jesus to death by hanging him on a tree.

But God raised him on the third day.

Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, Peter has now truly become a fisher of men.

People are brought into the kingdom of God through his proclamation of the risen Jesus.

Now the Apostle Peter, in light of the resurrection, can write to the church that according to his great mercy, God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept in heaven for you.

The resurrection has changed everything for Peter.

It has brought him from hopelessness to hope, from disowning Jesus to proclaiming him, from the depths of despair to an imperishable heavenly hope.

If the hope of the resurrection can do such a thing for Peter, I would venture to say it can do so for us as well.

Do you wonder what purpose God has in mind for you?

The risen Jesus says to you, like Peter, follow me.

He has an imperishable, heavenly inheritance in store for you.

Do you know the depths of despair?

Do you live in them right now?

The risen Jesus says, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart.

I have overcome the world.

Do you fear the seemingly unstoppable march of death?

The risen Jesus promises that in him everlasting life triumphs over death for us as well.

Because we who by faith and baptism share in a death like his will certainly share in a resurrection like his.

Do you fear that in sin you've denied Jesus and you deserve his rejection?

There isn't Jesus, that this Jesus would finally depart from a sinful person like you.

The risen Jesus says, peace to you.

The resurrection changes everything.

I think Bishop Tom Wright says it best.

The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're invited to belong to it.

So will you take up the risen Jesus invitation?

Will you live in this marvelous new world of hope where Jesus' resurrection, life has defeated death?

Will you make your proclamation?

Alleluia, Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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May God bless you and keep you today and every day.