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Good morning dear “Walking with Jesus” friends, all over the world;
Today is EASTER Sunday and the life of every person in the world has great potential because of the miracle resurrection of Jesus on this day! Do you agree?
No person need live their life in despair, and no person need spend their eternity in hell, because the resurrection of Jesus defeated the stronghold of sin, and the schemes and the kingdom of Satan, and power of death! Do you believe that my friends?
But this Easter is different from any in our lifetime. Church buildings are closed across our world due to a global health pandemic. However, more people may actually be participating in celebration of the RISEN Jesus Christ today through technology, than any Easter in history! More people may experience the rescue of Jesus today than any day in history, as all over the world, people reach out to Jesus as Savior! At the end of our study today I have a glorious YouTube song of Easter celebration.
2 millennia ago for the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem, this Sunday dawned with great anxiety. They’d done all they could to assure that the tomb where Jesus’ badly torn body was laid on Friday afternoon, was as secure as possible. But still they were haunted, by His statements that death would not hold Him. The tomb had been sealed, a guard posted… but no Roman seal and no guard could prevent the power of God from raising Jesus out of that tomb! (Matt. 27:62-66)
In fact, these guards were the first to know of the miraculous Easter resurrection! Matthew writes: “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…the guards were so afraid of the angel that they shook and became like dead men….some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests what had happened.” (Matt. 28:2-4,11)
Thousands of pilgrims in and around Jerusalem, welcomed this Sunday morning as another wonderful day of the prolonged Passover festival. Some of them had been part of the Palm Sunday crowd celebrating Jesus as king,only one week ago. Some of them had been part of the Friday crowd calling for His crucifixion, three days ago. Most all of the Passover pilgrims were now focused on preparations to return to their homes all over Palestine. It had been a memorable Passover week for sure! But whoever he was, whatever his purpose, the unusual teacher, the amazing miracle worker Jesus was dead, and the hopes he had aroused in Israel had died with him. And so, for many of the pilgrims, this Sunday was a confusing packing day, preparing to head home.
For the disciples and close friends of Jesus, there had been little sleep over the weekend. Their hearts were broken and occasionally they wrestled with anger rising up within them, as they thought about what they had witnessed. What had been done to Jesus was wrong, especially considering how compassionate, loving and helpful He had been to so many people through His miracles and His teachings. His death seemed to counter so much of His life. Why? Why would God allow Jesus to be killed? What was the purpose of Jesus’ life, His teachings, if it all ended this way? And for each of them, this deep question haunted them… ‘what would the rest of their lives be, without Jesus’?
Early that Sunday morning some of the women who had watched Him die, went to the tomb, hoping they might give further attention to properly wrapping Jesus torn body for burial. Please don’t let the differences in the 4 Gospel writer accounts concern you. They are reporting on the dramatic events of that Easter Sunday, each with a different focus.
Matthew writes primarily to the Jews. Matthew wants Jews all over the world to know the guards who had been placed at the tomb by the Jewish Religious leaders, were actually eyewitnesses of an angel from heaven opening the tomb! (Matt. 28:1-15) Mathew also reports a cover-up plot was devised, that morning by the religious leaders, as quickly as they heard the shocking resurrection report from the guards. Money was given to the guards and a false report of disciples coming in the night as grave robbers to steal the body was widely circulated, primarily among the Jews.
Mark makes no mention of the guards, but focuses on the women and the message of the angel that they were to go and tell the disciples, especially Peter. From history we know Mark traveled with Peter several years later, and we presume Mark heard Peter explain all about the events of this weekend from Peter’s unusual, personal perspective.
Luke wrote his account primarily for the Gentile audience all across the Empire. He tells about how the disciples responded when they first heard the shocking report from the women who had seen the angel and the empty tomb. He writes, “They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away wondering to himself what had happened.” (Luke 24:11,12)
Luke also gives us the account of two followers of Jesus, who were walking that Sunday morning from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, about 7 miles away. “They were talking with each other about everything that had happened, when suddenly Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing Him.” (Luke 24:13-35)
In the verses which follow Luke recounts the incredible story of how Jesus and these men walked along and discussed the reports of the resurrection, for quite some time, “and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” But all the while, these men had no idea they were actually walking with the resurrected Jesus!!
Luke writes that as they approached the village, the men were so engaged with Jesus’ explanation from Scripture of the resurrection reports, that they invited him to stay and have dinner with them, even though they had no idea who he was! He did, and it was as He was giving thanks for the meal they suddenly recognized Him, the resurrected Jesus, the one they’d been talking about for several miles! Then suddenly Jesus disappeared. The men said to each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.” (Luke 24:32)
John and Jesus had a very special friendship. John had been seated right next to Jesus through that wonderful upper room Passover evening. John had followed Jesus from the garden as He was arrested, and through the night John witnessed His trials. John was the only disciple who stood at the cross with Mary, Jesus’ mother and Mary Magdalene, and John watched Him die. John followed Nicodemus and Joseph as they carried Jesus’ body from the cross to the tomb, and John may have even helped them roll the large stone in front of the tomb cave on Friday, late afternoon.
John tells us Mary Magdalene was the first to shock him with the early Sunday morning news of an empty tomb! John writes “She came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put Him! So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.” (John 20:1-9)
John was so overwhelmed by God’s love for our broken world, and that God would send Jesus His Son to experience all the agony of this Passover weekend so John and all of us could be ransomed from our sin, that 5 times John referred to himself not by name, but by the little phrase “the disciple Jesus loved” as he wrote his account of Passover weekend. (John 13:23 / 19:26 / 20:2 /21:7 /21:20) May I ask, are you overwhelmed by the love of God poured out for you and the whole world through the events of this weekend? Do you see yourself as a ‘disciple Jesus loves’?
John tells us both he and Peter raced to the tomb and stepped into the empty cave. They saw the burial clothes lying where Jesus had left them, and after a while they left wondering what it all meant. John writes “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” Oh, Jesus had told them on several occasions, but hearing, believing, and understanding through experience are different things, aren’t they? Do you believe Jesus is resurrected, my friends? What has convinced you it is true?
John tells us he and Peter returned to the city, but Mary Magdalene lingered at the cave. Two angels appeared, “They asked her, ‘Woman why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.’ she said. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize it was Jesus. Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him. Jesus said to her ‘Mary’.” (John 20:10-16)
It was a defining moment for Mary, one she would never forget for the rest of her life. There’s something about your name when spoken by someone you love deeply, isn’t there? We’ve all had the experience. An unexpected phone call from a friend far away. A surprise visit from a dear loved one who shows up at your door unannounced. Or your name spoken by a loved one who should be dead, but they miraculously recovered from a terminal illness or perhaps even they had been reported killed in action in war, but they weren’t, and you are reunited.
Instantly the sound of His voice saying her name, opened both Mary’s eyes and her heart. It was Jesus…alive! She must have nearly collapsed in amazement and grasped Jesus to keep from falling, for He said “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet returned to My Father. Go instead to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’ (John 20:16-18)
In one brief statement the resurrected Jesus said so much! YES the unthinkable was true. Jesus was alive, resurrected from the dead by the power of Almighty God! His torn and beaten body healed from the torture He had suffered. And, now, with His redemption mission accomplished, Jesus was now preparing to return to heaven from which God had sent Him to earth!
And there’s more… the resurrected Jesus wanted His friends to know that the result of this Passover weekend was that His heavenly Father, Almighty God, could now be their heavenly Father! And His God, the only true and living, all powerful God, could be their God… in the personal, love relationship for which God had created and designed them!
Everything had changed. All the barriers between God and man were broken down by what Jesus had accomplished in His death and His resurrection. The unimaginable was now possible. . .a normal, sinful person, could have a forgiven, loving, eternal relationship with Almighty, Holy God as their heavenly Father, because of Jesus! Sin, Satan and even Death had been defeated by the resurrected Jesus!
Mary rushed back to town, and to the amazed disciples who by this time had heard Peter and John’s report of an empty tomb. The words Mary blurted out to them, became life changing for them, and these words stand as the greatest news the world has ever heard: “I have seen the Lord!”
My friends, I invite you to spend this Easter contemplating what those words mean to you? Which of all the Easter Sunday people are you most like? Jewish leaders trying to disregard or distort the news of a resurrected Jesus? Busy pilgrims going about your day wondering who Jesus was and what his life was about, but too busy to spend much time considering it? Travelers to Emmaus who have experienced Jesus’ touch in your life but you never realized it was Jesus? Followers of Jesus who have read the stories, seen the amazing things, but still are confused by it all?
Or are you like Mary who can say…”I have seen the Lord Jesus, He is my alive, resurrected Savior and He has changed my life!” And I invite you to consider what it means for our world, as hundreds of millions of redeemed followers of Jesus Christ celebrate the RISEN, Victorious King Jesus, today! The powerful song I’ve chosen for us today will move you to worship I’m sure. The link is below.
I urge you to read the Gospel accounts today, and ask the resurrected Jesus to make Himself very real to you today. If I may be of any help to you in discovering Jesus, please write me in the response page of “Walking with Jesus”, I’d be delighted to help you.
Oh God we are overwhelmed by all YOU accomplished this Passover weekend 2 millennia ago. Jesus we celebrate YOU today, our alive Savior! We want to honor you with our lives!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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