CSI Jerusalem
Our earthly death is not the end, there is a future life, a future no one can logically dispute.
CSI Jerusalem
(John 20: 1-18)
The followers of Jesus Christ, the self-professed Messiah, had just witnessed his death. It was not a peaceful death where Jesus passed quietly in his sleep surrounded by family and loving friends. It was without a doubt one of the most horrific and excruciating ways a person could be put to death. Like many of you, I never gave the manner of Jesus’ death much thought and grew up looking at paintings of him hanging on a cross relatively unscathed but for a trickle or two of blood running down his face from the crown of thorns and maybe the wound on his side where he was pierced by the Roman sword. I won’t go into the gory details because this is a celebration of His victory over death, but if you read any of the accounts of his trial and crucifixion you will be reminded that after Pilate found Jesus had done nothing wrong, he caved to the insistence of the Jewish hierarchy that Jesus be crucified. So, Pilate ordered that Jesus be flogged and then led off to be crucified. Jesus was beaten and mocked by the Roman soldiers and then was whipped unmercifully causing extreme damage to his physical body. He was then forced to carry his cross to Golgotha where he was nailed to the cross and forced to hang there in the hot sun with no way to support his body. Death on the cross was excruciating and often it took a long time to die, but mercifully Jesus passed thereafter avoiding the leg breaking that usually hastened the lingering death of the crucified. His horribly abused corpse was taken down, prepared for burial, and placed in an unused tomb. There was no doubt in the minds of any who observed Jesus’s execution that he was indeed dead and there is no record of anyone saying anything about Jesus’ promise to rise from the dead and live, to just wait and see. They all went home that evening deeply sorrowful at the humiliating death of their savior. As Jesus said just before he died: it was finished.
And that’s where we pick up today. Is Jesus really dead? Nobody could have possibly survived such a punishment and execution. In John’s gospel account we are told that early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to grieve and found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb where Jesus’ body had been laid, and saw that he was gone. She ran back and found John and Simon Peter exclaiming: They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him. Neither Peter nor John, two of Jesus’ most devoted and trusted disciples said: “Mary, don’t you remember what Jesus said about being crucified and rising from the dead on the third day? Surely, He has arisen and lives again!” No, they couldn’t believe what they were hearing and ran to the tomb to see for themselves. When they got to the tomb, they too saw that it was empty. John tells us that the linen cloths, the burial shroud, that Jesus had been wrapped in were laying there along with the face cloth that had been placed on Jesus’ head was folded up and laying separate from the other cloths. We’re told that they didn’t yet understand the scripture stating that Jesus must rise from the dead. They returned to where they were staying trying to get their heads around what they had just seen, or not seen. Mary Magdalene was just devastated, staying behind, not knowing what to do or where to go. When she looked into the tomb, she saw two angels dressed in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her: Woman, why are you crying? She replied, They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him. As soon as she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t recognize him. Jesus asked her, Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for? Thinking she was speaking to the gardener, she replied, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him. Jesus said to her, Mary, and she immediately recognized him exclaiming: Rabbouni, which means Teacher. Jesus told her not to hold on to him as he had not yet gone up to his Father and he instructed her to go and tell the others that she had seen him and to say: I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. I can just picture Mary running as fast as she could with tears of joy streaming down her face as she burst through the door and exclaimed: I’ve seen the Lord, and then telling them all she had seen and had been told.
The Jerusalem crime scene had miraculously been transformed into a reason to believe and celebrate. John, knew that there would be attempts to explain away this disappearance of the body, conspiracy theories advancing the possibility that Jesus’s body had been either stolen by grave robbers or had secretly been removed by the disciples to advance this belief that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. From a crime scene perspective, if you were going to steal the body why would you undress it and leave the burial shroud behind? Why would you carefully fold up the face cloth and place it separately from the other linens? The stone was not rolled away so Jesus could get out, but so others could go in and see for themselves. As further proof that the disciples did not fabricate this story, we find that Peter and John were surprised that Jesus was not in the tomb. They expected him to be there but ran as fast as they could to verify what Mary had told them. And when John saw the grave clothes looking like an empty cocoon from which Jesus had emerged, he believed that Jesus had risen. It wasn’t until after they had seen the empty tomb that they remembered what the Scriptures and Jesus had said: he would die, but he would also rise again.
In light of all that had happened in one short week, the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the preaching and teaching, the last supper, the betrayal, the sham trial, the brutal execution, the missing body, it’s no wonder that the disciples were slow to put it all together, and they saw it all with their own eyes. That’s why it may be so difficult for people today to wrap their heads around such an amazing story, especially when they are hearing it for the first time. Like Mary and the disciples, they too may pass through four stages of belief. At first, they may think the story is a fabrication, impossible to believe. They, like Peter, may then check out the facts and still be puzzled about what happened. Third, only when they encounter Jesus personally are they able to accept the fact of the resurrection. And, finally, as they commit themselves to the risen Lord and devote their lives to serving him, they begin to understand fully the reality of his living presence with them.
And that’s why we’re here today and every Easter until Jesus’ promised return. His resurrection is the key to our Christian faith. But why? Did there really have to be a crucifixion and a resurrection? What if they just set Jesus free rather than releasing the criminal Barabas? Couldn’t he still have accomplished all he set out to do? Well, just as he said, Jesus rose from the dead. And, we have eyewitnesses whose testimony has not and will not be refuted. We can be confident, therefore, that He will accomplish all that he has promised in His time. Second, Jesus’ bodily resurrection shows us that the living Christ, the one who left the tomb on his own accord, is not a false prophet or imposter. He is the chosen ruler of God’s eternal kingdom. Because of this we can be certain of our own resurrection because Jesus was resurrected. Our earthly death is not the end, there is a future life, a future no one can logically dispute. And the divine power that brought Jesus back to life is now available to us to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life as we go about our daily lives living and serving God as he always intended. And finally, the resurrection is the basis for the church’s witness to the world. No other religion in the world lays claim to a risen Savior and we have the evidence to prove it.
Let us pray.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way! While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Yes, gracious and loving God, we trust in your Word and your promise. Unlike those who were at the tomb and saw with their own eyes we believe in what we have not seen. We believe because we have faith in your promise, and we marvel at your works as we serve you in all that we do. We do what we do because we trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
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