He Has Risen
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Just this past Friday we celebrated a day that we call Good Friday. If you were with us Friday night for our Good Friday service, you heard me mention about the irony of us calling a day Good Friday as we remember the darkness of the day, the day in which Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to a wooden cross. A tree where his blood was poured out for the guilt of our sins. The innocent became shamed, so the shamed could be declared innocent.
And yet, without this dark and bloody day at Calvary, the Christian faith is for nothing. For without the cross, our sins still stand. Without the cross, we are still guilty of our sin and forbidden access to a Holy God. The cross enables us to enter in by Jesus’ finished work on the cross and our trusting in it. We can enter because he bleed and died the death we deserved, the traitor’s death.
Yet, as central as the cross is, if Jesus died and remained in the tomb, then our preaching is in vain as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.
If Jesus was not raised, we have no hope of resurrected life in the life to come. So while the cross is central to the message of the gospel, so is the resurrection. Therefore let us rejoice this morning that we can say, HE HAS RISEN…
And because of this, we want to take sometime this morning to pause on our study through the gospel of Matthew, which we will pick back up next week, and shift to Mark 16:1-8 where we will reflect on the Resurrection of Jesus.
Therefore, I invite you to take out your Bible and turn with me to Mark 16:1-8. If you are newer to the Bible and unfamiliar with it, that first number is what we call the chapter number, it is the big number there on the page. The second set of numbers is what is called verse numbers. These are the smaller numbers there on the page. Knowing this will help you this morning to follow along with us.
And if you don’t have a Bible, please take one of those Red Bibles in front of you to use this morning. You can find our passage there on page #1014.
While you are getting there, let’s do a flyover of the gospel according to Mark. The gospel begins in Mark 1:1 “1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
This is the very thing that Mark aims to do in his very fast paced gospel account, prove that Jesus is the Son of God. And in doing so, Mark leans heavily upon the Apostle Peter’s retelling of these events, for Mark was not an original eyewitness, but is recounting Peter’s accounts of this gospel message.
As Mark’s gospel beginning account nears the end, we see that an unlikely centurion came to the place of belief that Jesus truly was the Son of God there in Mark 15:39. But this morning, we see that Mark’s account of this gospel is just the beginning, but even with our reading the ending this morning, that this good news, this gospel message is to continue to be made known so all may hear. Therefore let us hear these closing words to the end of Mark’s gospel account.
Here is what I think to be the main idea of Mark 16:1-8, and Lord willing, the main idea of this sermon, The tomb of Jesus who was crucified and buried now lies empty, therefore let us not fear but go and proclaim this news.
We are going to unfold this in 3 points: (1) The eye-witnesses account(v.1-2), (2) the empty tomb (v.3-6), and (3) the gospel continues (v.7-8).
Point #1: The Eye-Witnesses Account (Mark 16:1-2)
Point #1: The Eye-Witnesses Account (Mark 16:1-2)
Mark 16:1…
Three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome are the only noted eyewitnesses here in Mark’s gospel. Now, from the other gospel accounts, we know that Mary Magdalene ran to tell Peter and John, and the two raced to the tomb to find it empty and become additional eyewitnesses. That is not to discount Mark’s account here of these three. In fact, this eye-witness account of these three women is even more spectacular.
For it is these three women who not only were eyewitnesses of the empty tomb, they were eyewitnesses of the entire events of the weekend. If you were with us on Friday night, we heard this read, but lets read again Mark 15:40–41 “40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.”
These women saw Jesus crucified where the majority of the disciples had fled at the moment of Jesus’ arrest. John, the beloved disciple, is the only one recorded as present at Jesus’ crucifixion of the twelve. But these women, they were there. They saw Jesus hung, mocked, and breath his last.
But not only that, it is added there in Mark 15:47 “47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.”
It is these three women who have been continued eyewitnesses of all that has taken place. And it is these three who set out to go to the tomb out of their love and devotion for the savior. A love that has lead them to stick by his side and follow, even when the disciples had run. A love that seeks to now honor Jesus even in his death by seeking to anoint his body where it lay.
And they do this as soon as legally possible following the Sabbath, a day where work was prohibited. Mark 16:2…
They set out early and at sun-up they were making way to the tomb where Jesus had been laid three days earlier on that dark Friday. But now, Sunday had come, the first day of the week.
Friends, the event of that Resurrection Sunday morning were not without eyewitness accounts. These were not just any eyewitnesses, these are those who followed and saw all that took place. And it is they that bear witness to what happened. And what did happen?
Point #2: The Empty Tomb (Mark 16:3-6)
Point #2: The Empty Tomb (Mark 16:3-6)
As the three women were making way to the tomb, they remembered something from the day that Jesus died and was buried, that a large stone was rolled and put in front of the tomb to close it up. A stone too big for them to move themselves. And so, Mark 16:3…
The women expect the tomb to be still sealed, they expect the stone to still be there, but before they get to the tomb, in the midst of asking this question about how they will get in and anoint the body, they look up. Mark 16:4…
The large stone had already been rolled away, the problem they thought they had has been resolved. But this leads to another problem, what has happened here at the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid?
The three women press on, they arrive at the tomb, and then. Mark 16:5…
The man they see here dressed in white is none other than an angel, a messenger of the Lord Almighty. For the word angel means messenger. And seeing an empty tomb and this messenger sends fear and alarm to the three women. For again, they had expected a filled, not an empty tomb. They are in shock at what has come about.
They are fearful as we know from the other resurrection accounts, at what has happened to the body of Jesus, they knew not where the body of their Lord had been taken.
It must be noted here, that it is unlikely that the women themselves had heard that Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection. But the disciples of Jesus had been. The twelve that Jesus had poured into the last three years had heard three times that he would be handed over, mocked, and put to death, and then rise three days later.
We can find these three teachings in Mark 8:27-9:1, Mark 9:30-32, and Mark 10:32-34. Again, that is Mark 8:27-9:1, Mark 9:30-32, and Mark 10:32-34.
Each time Jesus teaches them that he must die, but that he will rise again. However, with each of these teachings, the disciples fail to understand. In fact, in the first teaching, on the heel of his confession that Jesus is the Christ, Peter rebukes Jesus for saying he must die. And then he is immediately called Satan and told to get behind Jesus.
The cross was necessary for Jesus to bear, he had to be handed over and die to take away the sins of his people. But as necessary as his death on the cross was, so was the promise of his resurrection.
But if we fail to grasp the necessity of the suffering servant, the resurrection will be a struggle as well, just like that of the disciples. For in their failing to grasp what Jesus taught about the necessity of his being handed over and killed on a tree, they failed to take in his promise that he would rise again. And in so doing, none of them encouraged the other followers that he promised he would rise.
The point here for us is not to shame the disciples for failing to grasp this, the point though friend, is that you who struggle to believe in what is found, what is witnessed here in the resurrection, maybe in part is because you have yet to deal with your great need in a suffering servant to lay down his life in order to rescue you from your sins.
You see, it is not just that you struggle to believe that this Jesus died and rose from the grave, you struggle with grasping your need in such a savior who would lay down his life as a sacrificial lamb on your behalf.
Our sin is so heinous that we haven’t just done a little wrong before God. No, our sin is so vile because we have committed treason against God, our King. We have rejected and rebelled against his commands, his authority over us as our creator. God is not made in our image, we are made in his. And therefore when we go about our own ways, when we try and determine what is right and wrong, we continue our rebellion.
Yet, despite our high treason against the King, the King has sent his beloved Son, Jesus, to rescue us from ourselves. Jesus came and lived the sinless life, but then died the death of a criminal, the death we deserved. He bore the weight of our sin, he was pierced for our transgressions and he died there on that dark Friday, and was then buried in this tomb. But that’s not the end. By no means. For as the women entered and alarm filled their hearts, the angel, the messenger speaks. Mark 16:6…
The messenger starts by easing their alarmed hearts in telling them not to be alarmed, that they need not fear. The scene would have been shocking, to come prepared to anoint the dead body of Jesus to finding the stone rolled back and this warrior angel messenger inside.
But then he tells them the reason that they should not be alarmed. He knows the one they are seeking, Jesus of Nazareth. He knows that this Jesus was crucified and assures them of such knowledge. But then he tells them, this one they seek, the one they know too was crucified has risen. He has risen from the dead. That he is no longer dead and therefore he is not here and he points them to where it was he had been laid that is now empty.
It cannot be denied by any that the tomb is empty. Even the greatest skeptics of the Christian faith do not deny that Jesus’ tomb was empty. For even the early opponents could not explain this, so they created a story as noted in Matthew’s gospel account. Matthew 28:11-15
11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.
12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers
13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’
14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
If any here this morning doubt the resurrection, you must ask yourself then, what happened to the body of Jesus, where did it go? For the tomb is empty, and this must be explained if you are to have validation with your doubt and your unbelief. For the tomb is empty, the body of Jesus is not there.
And it is here in this resurrection of the Lord Jesus that he takes on immortality in his flesh. For while others had been raised from the dead, they would later die again, including that of Lazarus. But not the Lord Jesus. He rose from the grave, walked among his disciples, and would then later ascend into heaven in bodily form where he is now seated next to the Father, reigning, advancing his kingdom even now.
But this immortal body is not all that is won in Jesus’ resurrection. In his resurrection, Jesus signifies the crushing of Satan’s head. For Satan had struck the heal of Jesus in his being crucified, but now in his resurrection, Jesus comes to crush the head of the serpent once and for all fulfilling that promised long ago in Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””
This is why the this message is called the gospel, literally the good news of Jesus. To quote one commentator, “The announcement of the angel is literally the gospel, good news, and the place from which the gospel is first preached is the empty tomb that both received and gave up the Crucified One.” (1)
The kingdom of God has come with great power here in the resurrection. The grave has given up Jesus in his sinlessness. The curse of sin and death are being overturned in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Friends, this is the importance of the Resurrection. This is why we proclaim that the the tomb is empty and that He has risen…
For the power of the gospel is revealed in the empty tomb.
Point #3: The Gospel Continues (Mark 16:7-8)
Point #3: The Gospel Continues (Mark 16:7-8)
This is the beginning of the gospel, but it is not where it ends. Mark 16:7…
As we saw in the introduction, Mark 1:1 “1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
It is important to recognize that the whole of Mark’s gospel account is the beginning, the start of the gospel. The gospel and its implications are continuing to be made known and revealed.
And one such implication of the gospel is that in the gospel, in the good news we learn that though we are unfaithful, though we at times abandon Jesus, he doesn’t abandon those who are his. We see this in the women being told by the messenger to go and tell Jesus’ disciples and Peter that he has risen and is going before them to Galilee and they will see them.
For 11 of the 12 disciples were thought to have been absent from the crucifixion of Jesus. Judas had already departed and hung himself following his betrayal, the other 11 had scattered when Jesus was arrested, but John and Peter show up at the trial. But Peter goes onto deny Jesus three times and leaves weeping in sorrow. Only John, the beloved disciple appears in the crucifixion narrative there in John 19.
Therefore in these instructions to go and tell the disciples and Peter about the risen Savior and his going before them with the aim of them seeing Jesus and Jesus meeting with them is good news. It is good news because though they abandoned Jesus and denied Jesus, in Peter’s case, the LORD Jesus has not abandoned them.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we at times will stumble and fall along the way as we seek to follow Jesus. But here we must take heart, our King Jesus will not abandon us though we stumble and fall. He will continue to draw us nearer to him, he will continue to care for us. On this Resurrection Sunday where the gospel was first fully declared, let us take heart dear Christian at this wonderful good news!
This is also continued good news in that the three women are instructed to go and tell of what they have now witnessed in the empty tomb. They are told to go and tell others that Jesus whom was crucified has now risen. And though we read the following, Mark 16:8…
The women did not stay silent for long. In the moment of seeing and hearing the gospel, they were left in fear and astonished at the power of the resurrection. But quickly Mary Magdalene runs to tell the disciples. Peter and John would come raising to the tomb themselves to see and marvel. And the gospel would be proclaimed so that others may hear and believe.
And the expectation is though this is the beginning of the gospel, it is to continue to be spread and made known. For this is the reason for Mark’s abrupt halt here to his gospel account. For although you may see that there is Mark 16:9-20, you hopefully also see it in brackets and with notes that these parts were not found in the earliest manuscripts. And while these accounts are thought to be accurate, they were not there by Mark. Mark’s account ends as best understood by the best and earliest manuscripts to end abruptly here in Mark 16:8. And the reason is that we as readers of this gospel account are to understand that we are to be those helping this gospel to continue, to continue spreading to the far corners of the world.
We my dear brothers and sisters are to continue to go and take this gospel, this good news that Jesus the one crucified for our sins has risen so that all may hear and believe. We are to declare this gospel as we go. As we go into the workplace this week, as we go and do our shopping, as we go and sit in public places, we are to declare the good news of the Risen Savior who defeated sin in his death and defeated death in rising. And therefore giving all the hope of resurrection if they would be united to Jesus by faith.
But I must turn again in closing to those skeptics, to those who still refuse to believe. This morning friend, you have heard the message of the gospel….
Endnotes
Edwards, James R. The Gospel according to Mark. (B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2002.) 494.
