In-Between Cross and Tomb
Notes
Transcript
For the first time in all history, the sacrifice is resurrected from the dead. Why “Black Saturday?” Why were the disciples so sure this couldn’t or wouldn’t happen? It is the Resurrection of Jesus that transforms the Cross into glory, that validates the Truth of His Word, and that gives us certain hope of Resurrection. Here we stand between the Death and Resurrection. Between the Cross and the Empty Tomb. Between Jesus Crucified and King Jesus Glorified. Here we live… for now. We know who we are and where we going: people of the cross headed for glory.
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
No, not the band. They can’t have the name.
Holy Saturday, Sabbatum Sanctum, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Easter Eve, Joyous Saturday, the Saturday of Light, Mega Sabbatun, Black Saturday, or Sábado de Gloria
The names reflect all the various understandings of this day. What it meant then… and what it means now.
Names like “Great Sabbath”, from Eastern Orthodoxy, reflect Jesus “resting” physically in the tomb.
In Eastern Orthodoxy this day, known as Holy and Great Saturday, is also called The Great Sabbath since it is on this day that Christ "rested" physically in the tomb.
In the Coptic, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, this day is known as Joyous Saturday, otherwise known as the night of light and joy.
Some believe this is the day where Jesus accomplished the “Harrowing of Hell.” As Peter mentions him making a proclamation to the “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-19, 4:6).
We understand a lot now, as we look back. But what were the disciples, all of them, what were they thinking and feeling in that moment?
I think there are two Sabbaths, the feast Sabbath for the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and then the weekly Sabbath, there is early church. The 11 remaining apostles, some other disciples, including woman waiting to be able to minister to the body of Jesus.
We begin with the cross.
For surely, that all the disciples are thinking about. That night, the next days and nights… considering the cross of Jesus. Replaying the events again and again.
Consider the Cross
Consider the Cross
First, let us consider the cross, the story of Jesus’ death on the cross:
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”
48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.
49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
An eclipse or some form of darkness for 3 hours, noon to 3pm.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,
53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him,
56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Mary, Mother of James the Lesser, not James the brother of Jesus.
John calls out that Mary, the mother of Jesus was there too, and her sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25).
John also notes that he was there, perhaps the only disciple to be anywhere nearby.
Mark calls one of the woman “Salome” and some posit that is the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
Hours later, at least, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus come to help. Pharisees, members of the Sanhedrin, but still no word about the rest of his disciples.
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.
58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud
60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.
61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
Which “other Mary”? Don’t know, but presumably an odd way to refer to Jesus’ mother so probably not that Mary.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’
64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Where are the Disciples?
Where are the Disciples?
And there we are. For two days. After the initial moment.
And one more glimpse we have, one tiny mention, the only picture we possibly have of the emotional state of the disciples in the in-between:
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews…
To be clear, this is after the women had seen the empty tomb and the angels, Peter and John had raced to the tomb and seen it empty, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus had already returned with testimony of seeing Jesus…
And if at that point, with all they had seen, they were still “locked up for fear of the Jews.”
I think that says everything about the headspace and heart-space of the disciples in the days between the Cross and the moment to come, the full realization of Resurrection.
Faint-hearted and Fear-full
Faint-hearted and Fear-full
What was Jesus’ affectionate pet name for the disciples? O, you little-faiths.
How many times did Jesus foretell his own resurrection after three days, in metaphor with the temple, and clear as day at times. One coming up in Matt 16 we will read next week. It appears he told his disciples flat out.
But there is no picture here of faith-filled followers eagerly anticipating the return of Jesus, even in the hours after he has resurrected and they have heard eyewitness testimonies to the joyous good news.
It is shocking to me that none of the disciples say something afterwards like “Oh, Peter and them were scared… but I knew the whole time, I never doubted.” There’s always one! But not here. The picture we get is a bunch of terrified and lost men.
The women are courageous, they keep going out, they sit by the tomb, they go before dawn while it’s still dark to the graveyard… while the men still seem to be hiding.
But they are starting to hear the testimony. Perhaps they are starting to believe, maybe afraid to believe, maybe, as Thomas will soon show, wanting to see and touch for themselves before they can bring themselves to belief.
But everything is about to change. Because here comes Jesus.
Backing up to just before dawn on Sunday morning. The story we will hear tomorrow at sunrise up at camp:
1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
They run and they say, then Peter and John run back and check it out, then Mary encounters Jesus himself and she runs to tell them:
Picking up the story with Mary’s testimony running to the room where all the disciples gathered.
And here, finally, is the turning point. The climactic moment for the disciples. The turning point of their lives. From despair and grief, to sure and certain hope. From death to resurrection.
A professor once called this the “Mystery of History” and it forever stuck with me. because it rhymes.
The Mystery of History
The Mystery of History
You will hear this from me again and again. Not just because it is the foundation of our faith, but because this truth is the foundation of my own faith.
I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for all the ways He has shown up in power, in worship, in quiet times, in fellowship, all of those experiences since He saved me.
But if there is one “proof”, one piece of historical evidence, one line of apologetic argument I can offer others, this is the most persuasive to me.
Even after the women gave their report. After Peter and John had raced to the tomb and found it empty, they have seen the empty tomb.
And, apparently, after the two men on the road to Emmaus had rushed back to say they saw Jesus…
Even now, they are locked up in a room for “fear of the Jews.”
They are going to call Thomas “Doubting Thomas” because he wants to see and touch Jesus himself… but Thomas just missed the moment they all had. It was the in-person witness of Jesus’ Resurrection that changed all of them.
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
And he commissions them
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
It is this, in a moment, they are transformed, equipped sent. There is more coming, for sure. Jesus continues to appear, appearing to them during forty days, teaching them the Kingdom. He sends His Spirit in mighty wind and tongues of fire on Pentecost, 50 days after, all of it building.
And every one of them goes to there death, some very soon like James in Jerusalem soon, all the rest martyred but John, but every one of them goes to their death proclaiming Jesus’ Resurrection.
But it all comes back to this: the Resurrected Jesus. The empty tomb.
Who We Are: Where We Are Going
Who We Are: Where We Are Going
We are a people of the cross. We hear that again and again, from Jesus first, then his disciples after him.
Jesus told us to “take up our cross” and follow Him. That to follow Him was and would be the “way of the cross.”
As Paul, deciding to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified.
Deciding to boast in nothing else but the cross of Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world.
We take up our cross and follow Jesus.
We are a people of the cross.
But the cross, a symbol of shameful criminal death, sin and suffering, is transformed by the Resurrection into a path of glory.
We do not mourn the death of Jesus. It is not with foreboding, with morbid solidarity we take up the cross. It is with joy, pinning all our hopes on the sure certainty of the Risen Jesus:
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
… and we are lying, misrepresenting God
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
People of the cross, without the tomb, that would be pathetic and morbid, and sad and painful… and 100% not worth it!
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
In fact.
And that changes everything. The “Mystery of History” continues in us. Transformed from fear, from shame, from suffering, into glory.
It is the Resurrection of Jesus that transforms the Cross into glory, that validates the Truth of His Word, and that gives us certain hope of Resurrection.
Here we stand between the Death and Resurrection.
Not locked in a room for fear of the Jews… but boldly and knowingly treading the Path of Glory. Through Death, His Death, to Resurrection, His first and then ours.
Between the Cross and the Empty Tomb. Between Jesus Crucified and King Jesus Glorified. Here we live… for now. We know who we are and where we going: people of the cross headed for glory.
Communion Proclaiming Death
Communion Proclaiming Death
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
We proclaim His death, eyes on the cross, because we know what lies beyond the cross, beyond the tomb, beyond the grave.
Here we stand between the Death and Resurrection.
It is the total and absolute and forever Victory of Resurrection.
Victory
Victory
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
