“Are You Looking for the Living or the Dead?”
[Luke 24:1-12]
March 31, 2013 Second Reformed Church
Jesus had to be buried quickly. (Jews understand days as going from sunset to
sunset, not sunrise to sunrise, like Westerners do.) The sun was setting. It was Friday night. Jesus would have to remain in the grave until
Sunday when they could fully prepare Him for burial. They took Him to Joseph’s grave – generously
donated – and they lay Him in it.
The Sanhedrin – the ruling Jews –
were concerned that Jesus’ body would be stolen – there was a rumor going
around that Jesus would rise from the dead.
They were not going to allow any to believe that nonsense. They asked Pilate to have a stone rolled in
front of the grave and have wax poured on it to seal it and to have him press
his ring into the wax, so it would be a crime to break the seal. And they asked Pilate for a guard to be
placed at the tomb. Pilate
acquiesced: the stone was rolled in
place, wax sealed the stone, his ring marked the wax, and he posted a minimum
of sixteen centurions – possibly many more – to guard the tomb.
They kept the Sabbath, and while the
apostles were hiding, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Salome, Joanna, and a number of
other women made their way to Jesus’ tomb to finish the embalming preparations
– it was early morning of the first day of the week – Sunday. They carried with them the spices they had
prepared to anoint Jesus’ body.
When they arrived at the tomb,
Pilate’s seal was broken, the stone was rolled up and out of the way, and the centurions
were either gone or lying on the ground – passed out. So they went into the tomb and looked
around. They found the burial clothes,
but the body of the Lord Jesus was gone.
They began to discuss what could
have happened – who could have moved the stone – who could have removed the
guards – who could have taken Jesus’ body.
They just wanted to anoint His body for burial – so He would be buried
appropriately. Jesus was dead. Mary’s Son was dead. Their rabbi was dead. Their Savior was dead. Why had someone taken His body?
Suddenly, two men appeared – they
were angels in human form – and their clothes were blindingly white. So the women fell on their faces, being
frightened – and they waited for what would happen.
And the men said to them, “Why do
you seek the living among the dead?”
Today is Easter Sunday – why are you
here? We ought to ask ourselves that
every Sunday when we come to worship, but, especially today, as we emphasize
the historical event of the first Easter – early that first Easter Sunday
morning.
This is Resurrection Sunday – that
is, it is socially acceptable to believe in the resurrection whatever you
personally chose to believe that means day as long as you don’t offend anyone
and especially not me.
“Why
do you seek the living among the dead?”
What
happened to Jesus’ body? Does it matter?
“No,
what matters is that we remember that Jesus is one of many great teachers who
leads us to everlasting peace.”
Jesus
said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV).
“I
and the Father are one” (John 10:30, ESV).
“What
really matters is that we live out the spirit of love of Jesus and follow His
moral teaching.”
Jesus
said, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the
kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow
those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he
becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
“Woe
to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing,
but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You
blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the
gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if
anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You
blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift
sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And
whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon
it.
“Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and
cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy
and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
“Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup
and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind
Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside
also may be clean.
“Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs,
which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones
and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but
within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
“Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the
prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived
in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding
the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are
sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your
fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being
sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some
of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues
and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous
blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah
the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (Matthew
23:13-36, ESV).
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall
not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with
lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your
right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better
that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into
hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go
into hell” (Matthew 5:27-30, ESV).
This
kind of thinking is looking for the living among the dead – it makes no
sense. We can’t say Jesus was one of
many great teachers Who leads to everlasting peace, because He said He is the
Only Way to God. And we can’t just say
Jesus was a loving teacher and to follow His moral teachings, because Jesus had
some very harsh things to say. And I
would hope none of us would give our children or grandchildren a knife and tell
them, “Have a good day, honey, and remember, if anything causes you to sin, cut
it off.”
“Why
do you seek the living among the dead?”
If
you’re looking for some kind of truth or great way of living from Jesus, but
believe that Jesus is dead – just give it up.
It doesn’t work. What Jesus did
and said is meaningless if He is dead – no, it’s worse than meaningless – it is
a lie.
Paul
explains this to the Corinthians – some of whom were saying there was no
resurrection from the dead – they were looking for the living among the dead –
they were trying to make something of Jesus, but deny the resurrection.
“Now
if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the
dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised,
then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to
be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ,
whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the
dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not
been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those
also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope
in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19,
ESV).
Do
you get Paul’s argument?
If
you are preaching that Jesus is risen from the dead, how can you say there is
no resurrection from the dead?
If
there is no resurrection from the dead, then Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.
If
Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, our preaching has no value.
Worse
– if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, our faith has no value.
Even
worse – if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we have been lying about God.
And
we are still dead in our sins, damned, and of all people most to be pitied.
That’s
what you’re left with if you have been seeking the living among the dead – if
you have been satisfied with something less than a physically risen Jesus – if
you have looked to Christianity to be about being a good and loving person. If that’s where you are, you are stuck in the
tomb and there is no way out – because the living do not abide with the dead.
The
angels said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” That could only mean one thing – Jesus is
alive. And so you don’t get confused and
think, “Well, good thing they came back, they almost buried a live man – Jesus
must have just fainted from being tortured and crucified – happens all the
time.” No! The angels said, “He is not here, but has
risen.” Jesus was dead, but now He is
alive. Jesus did die on the cross, but a
resurrection occurred, and Jesus is alive again – that’s why He’s not in the
tomb.
So
we go back to Paul’s argument:
If
you are preaching that Jesus is risen from the dead, we must believe that there
is a resurrection from the dead.
If
there is a resurrection from the dead, then Jesus did rise from the dead.
If
Jesus did rise from the dead, our preaching is of great value.
Better
– if Jesus did rise from the dead, our faith has great value.
Even
better – if Jesus did rise from the dead, we have been telling the truth about
God.
And
we are alive – having been forgiven of sins and of all people most to be joy-filled.
Are
you seeking the living among the dead?
Or are you seeking life among the living?
The
very reason we gather together – every Sunday to worship – not just Easter – is
because Jesus was stone cold dead and He stood up – resurrected – alive – and
walked out of the tomb. If that is not
true, then this is all bad for you. But
if it’s true, then this is the greatest news there is – and this news – the
Gospel – is what the Church should be about.
Whatever else we may do, we are to be about reading the Bible, teaching
the Bible, and preaching the Bible.
Where is your Bible this morning?
Did you have to dust it off? What
was the last thing you read in it?
The
women had gone to look for a dead man, but He wasn’t there. The angels told them that Jesus was alive –
look for Him among the living! “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.”
Multiple
times, Jesus told His disciples that this was the way He would bring salvation:
“Now
it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he
asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the
Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old
has risen.’ Then he said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter
answered, ‘The Christ of God.’
“And
he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, ‘The Son
of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised’” (Luke 9:18-22,
ESV).
“For
as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so
will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be
rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:24-25, ESV).
“And
he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer’” (Luke 22:15, ESV).
“Was
it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his
glory?” (Luke 24:26, ESV).
“Then
he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it
is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the
dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his
name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:45-47, ESV).
“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.”
The
women return to the apostles and all the other men who were hiding, but they
didn’t believe them – they were still looking for the dead – they thought the
living – Jesus – should be with the dead.
They still did not understand what Jesus said about this being
absolutely necessary for salvation: if
the Incarnate God did not suffer and die for the sins of everyone who would
ever believe, we could not be forgiven.
And if the Incarnate God did not physically rise from the dead in His
body, then we would not have His righteousness – His perfect keeping of the Law
– credited to our accounts, and the whole of His Work would not be proven
victorious. If Jesus remained dead in
the ground – at best, His Work would be half done.
But
Jesus did physically rise from the dead in His body – the angels told the
women, and the women told the men who were hiding, but they didn’t believe
them, because they were women.
What
excuses have you heard not to believe?
How many people have you told that the Living is not among the dead,
only to have them laugh in your face?
Tell them again. If you believe
that Jesus has risen, tell them again.
And
if you are the one who doesn’t believe, have you considered them evidence? Where is His body? The tomb was well-guarded; His body wasn’t
stolen. He stood up – alive – and walked
out of the tomb.
“Why
do you seek the living among the dead?”
“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.”
Are
you marveling this morning? If you are
not, I charge you to seriously consider why not, and to consider if you believe
that Jesus is not among the dead, but among the living.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, it is sometimes difficult for us to believe that the dead can rise from
the dead in their bodies. Help us to
believe and to see that our whole faith and hope is based on the Resurrection. Keep us from believing that Jesus is dead and
from believing that following His teachings is enough. Show us how that does not make sense at
all. Help us to open our mouths and be
prepared with words to say the Jesus is risen in His body, and therein lies the
truth of what we believe. For it is in
Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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