Dr. Glen A. Thorp April 24, 2011
John 20:1-18, 11:21-27
“RESURRECTION AND LIFE”
(Easter Sunday)
INTRODUCTION: The music played and sung on the day, we call Easter,
is joyful and celebrant. If you attend worship, today, you will hear praise bands and choirs singing up-lifting songs with a message of hope and importance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to Christian Faith. Each Christian Creed: Apostle’s, Nicene up to contemporary Confessions of Faith state:
Jesus Christ ... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead,
and buried; ... on the third day he rose again from the dead.
This affirmation of faith is foundational to what Christians believe. Without the assurance of the resurrection of Jesus, there would be no hope and expectancy of life after death extinguished. The reasons Christians worship on the First Day of the Week (Sunday) is that they are commemorating and celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. Every Sunday is a time of affirming the hope of Jesus’ victory over death. The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:14-15 and Romans 10:9 (NIV)
If Christ had not been raised, our preaching is useless and so
is your faith. More than that, we are then to be false witnesses
about God, for we testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If you have attended a Christian Funeral or Memorial Service you heard: Jesus said: "I Am the resurrection and the life;
the one who believes in me will live."
If you read my Lenten Devotional for April 10-16, you will recognize Jesus’ words are recorded in John 11:25 and are a response to a woman in anguish and pain. John 20:1-18 tells of another, Mary, in anguish and pain. Martha, Lazurus’ sister cries: "If you had been here, my brother would have not died." Mary, speaking to one she thought was a gardener: "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him" To Martha Jesus speaks the most powerful words in the New Testament:
"I Am the resurrection and the life." To Mary: "Mary."
Those believing in Jesus will live even if they die and
everyone who believes in him will never die. (John 11:25)
What did Jesus mean?
1. Jesus was speaking of more than physical death.
True, Lazarus was raised from the dead. Yet, all of Jesus’ disciples died. Even Lazarus died a second time. At least, I am not aware he is still alive here on earth.
Death of Sin. On the cross Jesus took upon himself all the sin of the world. No life is beyond Jesus’ restorative power. In Jesus’s resurrection, Sin and Death were conquered.
A story of a Tockichi Ishii is an example of what Jesus meant.
“Ishii had an almost unparalleled criminal record. He had murdered men, women and children in the most brutal way. Anyone who stood in his way was pitilessly eliminated. He was in prison awaiting death. While in prison he was visited by two Canadian women who had tried to talk to him through the bars, but he only glowered at them like a caged and salvage animal. In the end they abandoned the attempt to speak to him; but they gave him a Bible, hoping it might succeed where they had failed. He began to read it, and having started, he could not stop. He read it, until he came to the words: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do' and these words broke him. ‘I stopped,’ he said. ‘I was stabbed to the heart, as if pierced by a five-inch nail. Shall I call it the love of Christ? Shall I call it His compassion? I do not know what to call it.
I only know that I believed, and my hardness of heart was changed.’
Later, when the jailer came to lead the doomed man to the scaffold,
he found, not a hardened, surly brute he had expected, but a smiling radiant man, for the murderer had been born again. Literally Christ brought Tockidhi Ishii to life.” ( Barclay, Gospel of John Vol.2,109)
Spiritual life can not be destroyed by death. When we fully realize Jesus’ power and how wonderful his offer truly is, how can we but commit our lives to him? He said: "Because I live you will live also."
Jesus’ resurrection confirmed:
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved" Rm10:9
2. Jesus was speaking of life here on earth.
a. Our Relationship with God. Believing in Jesus Christ is accepting that what Jesus said of himself is true. I AM. It is staking our lives on what Jesus said and did. Jesus said: "I AM the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to the Father except through me."
Following Jesus means entering into a new relationship with God the Father.
b. Our Relationship with Others. When we accept Jesus,
we commit to following what he taught and commanded us to do:
Loving one another as he loved us. (John 13:34)
Serving one another as he modeled for us. (John 13:15)
Forgiving one another as he forgave us. (Ephesians 4:32)
I often hear from guest attending a memorial service:
“I was impressed the way the members of the church surrounded and supported the one who had lost a family member through death.
I was amazed that there was not a lot weeping and wailing.”
It is because they are living and supporting one another in what Paul wrote:
"We do not grieve as those who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with
him those who have died ... Therefor encourage one
one another with these words." (I Thessalonians 4:13,14,18)
When we believe in Jesus and accept what he says, we enter new relationships with God and life.
When we stake everything on that belief, we are freed from fear of sin, death or futility of life.
We receive Life in it fulness! An Abundant Life! Jesus said:
"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)
3. Jesus was speaking of life to come. (Life after death.)
Physical Death is not the end for us who believe in Jesus.
Jesus commissioned Mary to tell the disciples: Go to my brothers and tell them, "I AM returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Earlier he had said: "Where I AM you will be also." (John 14:3)
We are assured of our own resurrection Jesus because Jesus was raised.
As Christians faced death in the Roman Coliseums for their refusal to
worship the Emperors as gods, they did so with joy and smiles on their face. Years later, Edward the Confessor said: “Weep not, I shall not die. I leave the land of the dying, I trust, to see the blessings of the Lord in the lannd of the living.” Most of us call this earth the “Land of the Living; but it is more correctly called the “the land of the dying.” Through Jesus Christ, we know when death comes, we do not pass from the land of the living; we pass into the land of the living.
Through Jesus, we journey not into the sunset, but into the sonrise.
Not on way to death, but way to life.
CONCLUSION: Some of us have staked on our lives on Jesus Christ and
the Gospel of John’s Account of What Jesus said and did. If the stories, and especially those studied today, are myth or false, We of all people are to most pitied as the Apostle Paul wrote, for we have placed our whole faith in the belief that Jesus was raised from the dead. If the story is made up, it seems highly unlikely that John would have selected a woman as the First Eye Witness of the risen Jesus. It would have been more logical having Jesus appear first to Peter, John or the other disciples. In all the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, women were the first to receive the good news: "He is not here! He is risen just as he said!"
John ends his Gospel:
"These are written that you my believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
Like the disciples, you may be going through a series of stages of belief.
1.) Thinking the story is a fabrication. (Luke 24:11)
2.) Checking out the facts and still remain puzzled. (Luke 24:12,Jn 20:9)
3.) Encountering Jesus personally. (John 20:14-17)
4.) Committing yourself to the Risen Lord and understanding
the reality of his presence with you. (John 20:18, 19-29)
The Stone rolled away from the front of the tomb was Not to let Jesus out, but to allow others to see that Jesus was not there. The graveclothes were left in such a way, like an empty cocoon, that it would have been impossible to set up and after moving the body. Peter and John were surprised Jesus was not in the tomb. (Jn 20:9) They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus was to rise from the dead.
Mary in so much pain and grief was weeping and didn’t recognize Jesus, until he called her by name: "Mary."
Have you responded to the Risen Jesus’ invitation to believe and follow him? Have you staked your life on the belief that Jesus’ death and resurrection was to bring you into a right relationship with God and promising you life in all its meaning:
A realization that life is more than just your physical body.
An appreciation of your new relationships with God and with others.
An assurance of life beyond this earthly one, eternal in God’s presence.
For me, when I believed the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection was true, I staked my life and career on it. I tell you Good News of Easter because Jesus, through the Church, has commissioned me to do so. The resurrection is the basis for our (churches’) telling that Good News to the whole world.
The divine power that brought Jesus back from the dead is available to us.
It has the power to bring the spiritually dead to life.
Do you believe that Jesus lived in Nazareth and Jerusalem, Judah?
Do you believe that Jesus was crucified and buried?
If so, do you believe Jesus is still in a tomb or
that he was raised from the dead?
If Jesus was raised, what are the implications for your life?
You don’t need to wait until the next Easter to celebrate the hope of the resurrection. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available every day of your life.
Live in the hope of Jesus who said:
"I Am the Resurrection and the Life
Those who believe in me, ... will live ... Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)
