It is Necessary - Luke 24:1-12

Chad Richard Bresson

The Table of Los Fresnos

Sermons • Sermon • Submitted 25 days ago • Presented 25 days ago

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Decoding the Stone

You ever have a moment where something you’ve seen or heard many times before finally clicks into place? The history of this stone is an example of one such aha moment. In 1799, Napoleon’s army discovered this stone in Egypt. What makes this stone remarkable is that it has three texts in three languages carved into the stone. For years, no one was able to decipher what the Egyptian words were. In 1808, an 18-year-old by the name of Champollian began studying the texts. He travelled across Europe and Egypt in an attempt to crack the code. in 1814, he wrote a friend and joked that he was now sleeping with a copy of the stone’s text. 8 years later… 14 years into his study of the stone, Champollian had one of those moments. For years, researchers inlucing himself, had been studying the stone as if the 3 texts in the 3 languages were unrelated. Till one day in 1822… Champollian asked the question… what if they’re the same text written in 3 different languages? He tested his theory, and realizing he had cracked the code for the Rosetta Stone, Champolian was so excited, he ran down the street from his office shouting “I’ve got it”, and collapsed in exhaustion. His discovery completely unlocked thousands of years of Egyptian history, making it possible to read thousands of artifacts from that ancient world. The “aha moment”… had been right in front of him for 14 years.

Shock, sadness, and spices

Our story today has an aha moment. At the center of this aha moment is the greatest event in the history of the world. But even this moment is filled with all sorts of angst. We celebrate the resurrection in joy and laughter and merriment, much like we’ve seen in the video. But the initial reactions were anything but joy and celebration. In fact it is more like shock. In fact, Luke’s account of the resurrection doesn’t really have all the warm fuzzies. Of the 4 biographers of Jesus, Luke isn’t our first pick for telling this story.

Luke opens chapter 24 by telling us

Luke 24:1 “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.”

Immediately we want to know who “they” is. “They” is referring to women who had seen their best friend, a Jewish rabbi by the name of Jesus, executed on a cross. Luke tells us they were at the execution site, and then these same women accompanied the body to its burial site and watched as the body was laid to rest. Some of these women were family members. Some, were part of his traveling companions. They saw their best friend die. They saw him buried. And now they return to the tomb to finish the task of anointing the dead body with burial spices.

It’s been less than 72 hours since they saw their friend die. Think about the trauma you feel when a loved one dies. Everything is surreal. You feel like you’re in a tunnel. The lives of these ladies and Jesus’ followers have been turned upside down in the space of 3 days. It’s why there is so much fear here. A shocking arrest. A trial in which Jesus was railroaded. The crowd who days ago was waving palm branches now shouting crucify him. Merciless beatings. A horrific execution. This was their friend. The one who had loved them and rescued them from God-forsaken lives. And these women have the added trauma of having hopes and dreams absolutely smashed. They had hoped that he was the Messiah. the One to save them from Rome and religious oppression. Things didn’t turn out the way they were expecting. And so they show up to do the only thing left to do for a dead body… anoint the body with burial spices.

Spices as the typical narrative

The spices that they had prepared. This is a tip-off that these women are still operating with a narrative in which there is nothing left to hope for. This is status quo. Crucified people die. Dead people get buried. And the world moves on. And as the world moves on, those in grief are left to ponder all the “what ifs.” How did all of this go so terribly wrong? Is there anything more we should have done? Did we do enough to protect our friend? How did we get from the crowd going wild in shouting Hosanna, celebrating the ride on a donkey to this… a quiet morning where there’s nothing left to do except pay final respects with spices? The religious leaders proved too devious and Rome proved too powerful. Their friend is dead. And now we face life without our friend.

That is their world. That is the world that they can explain. It’s the way their world has been for as long as they’ve lived in it. That’s the world the way it has been for thousands of years. You live. You find a place in this world. You find some friends. You raise a family. In at least one instance here… you struggle with demon possession and you meet a rabbi who seems more than the typical rabbi.. he frees you from your demons, you’ve never seen anyone with more grace and love and compassion and healing. But his enemies prove to be too much. And now he’s gone. That is their world. That’s their narrative. It’s just how the world is.

Finding two surprises

Until it isn’t. The next two verses begin to shake that narrative a bit.

Luke 24:2–3 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

They found the stone rolled away. What they didn’t find was the body of Jesus. Finding the stone rolled away and not finding the body they were there to anoint with spices… leads us to the first emotion Luke notes here:

Luke 24:4 While they were perplexed about this

They were perplexed. This isn’t what they were expecting. at the very least, this day is going to be longer than they thought it would be. We have a missing body. You can begin to feel the anxiety kick in. The sham trial. The crucifixion. The burial. It is all so surreal. And now the body is not where it is supposed to be. Can it get any worse? And for a moment… they probably do expect the worst

Luke 24:4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified.

There’s the second emotional word. They go from being confused and perplexed to being absolutely terrified. The dazzling clothes are a tipoff to these women that these men are not of this world. This is not normal. The normal narrative is now out the window. And when sinful and fallen people are confronted with those who are not of this world in the Old Testament, terror is the typical response. Fear all the way to the core of the inner being.

Men with questions

And these men have something to say. Luke tells us these women bowed down to the ground they were so terrified… so what they men have to say most likely is the two of them talking to the tops of the women’s heads. In fact, Luke records more of what these two men, identified as angels later, than any of the other biographers. And none of what they have to say is total celebration. Again, we come to this text with a bit of bias because we know how it turns out. But these women are there with burial spices in their hands. The first thing the men have to say is a question:

Luke 24:5 “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men.

Ouch. That’s not a question that is being asked in jubilation. That’s a question aimed at their unbelief. It’s the first clue that the spices they carry are indicative of more than just the normal narrative of the world. That’s a question that is chiding them. Why are you looking for the living among the dead? I can’t imagine what went through Mary Magdalene’s head when she heard the question. More shock. The question attacks the very foundation of how they think the world to be. The angel is questioning why they are here where dead people are buried with spices in their hands? And the question begs them to consider the possibility that they indeed have it all wrong. Why would you come here?

Confronting unbelief

And the only statement of fact they speak is the very next sentence.

Luke 24:6 “He is not here, but he has risen!”

There it is. Again, this is less of a celebration moment and more of a “what were you thinking?” moment. It’s as if the angel has to spell it out for the women. Yes, we have repeated that sentence over and over and over again for 2000 years now as a statement of fact to be joyful about and to be celebrated. But in that moment, that statement of fact is challenging everything those women believed to be true. In fact, it is challenging their control of the narrative. At some point, they will get their heads around the death of a friend. At some point, they’ll figure out the sham trial and learn to cope with the burial. These things they can control. They can control the spices. The spices they know to be true. But those spices betray unbelief. He isn’t here. He has risen. What’s with the spices? You don’t go looking for the living where they bury dead people.

And before the women can answer, the two men have another question that is meant to get them to answer their own trauma and their own grief and their pain and their broken narrative. The question is probing. The question is meant for them to do their own soul searching… and it is meant to force them to see and admit that their answer to their grief has been in front of them this entire time.

Remember… it is necessary

Luke 24:6–7 “Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day?’”

It was there all along. In fact, Luke has it for us in his biography over and over. The phrase “it is necessary” occurs multiple times in Luke. But at least 5 of those times, Jesus is telling his friends, his disciples, these women that it is necessary for the Son of Man to be betrayed, to suffer, to die, AND to rise again. Jesus said it multiple times. It is necessary. It is necessary. It is necessary. And for whatever reason, it never clicked. Until now. It didn’t compute. In fact, if you look at all the instances of Jesus saying “it is necessary” in Luke’s biography, Jesus is saying something that is shocking and hard to believe. On at least one occasion, Peter challenged the statement, as if to say… “no… that’s not necessary. It’s not necessary for you to die.” Nobody believed it was necessary. Nobody believed it was necessary for Jesus to die. And certainly nobody believed that it was necessary for Jesus to rise again.

The “aha” moment

So much so… they didn’t even remember that he said it, until the two men point it out… and Luke tells us this:

Luke 24:8 And they remembered Jesus’ words.

That is their “aha moment”. They have had that promise for at least over a year. And now it clicks. The word “remember” strongly suggests that the unbelief has become belief. Because the next thing you know, they are telling the story. The narrative has been turned upside down. “He is not here he is risen. It is necessary.” These women, who were the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death, eyewitnesses to his burial, are now eyewitnesses to his resurrection. What’s funny is that they run and tell the disciples and the disciples say “it’s fake news.” They didn’t believe the women. Peter runs to the tomb and finds it empty.. and he is “amazed”. Again, reinforcing the fact that this event is challenging what people believe to be true.

One fascinating thing about this initial account written down by Luke: Jesus is not part of the story. Yet. Beginning in verse 13 he makes an appearance to two of his disciples. But in these first 12 verse… the opening events of that Sunday morning? He’s absent. All we have are the angels’ words:

He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how he said “It is necessary”?

That’s the point. And it’s not just that He has risen. It is necessary that Jesus rise from the dead. This isn’t the best way. This isn’t Jesus proving his divinity, though it does do that. This isn’t even Jesus giving us an example of his love. It is that. But his resurrection is necessary. Necessary for what? What is it that the women missed?

At one point Jesus says people must

Luke 5:24 "know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”

And then later the says

Luke 19:10 “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

The resurrection is necessary for all that. Necessary for Jesus and his authority to forgive. Necessary for those of us who are lost. Necessary for salvation. Necessary for life. Necessary for becoming a new creation. Things really are out of my control.

We spend a lot of time holding on to our spices, as if sin, death, decay, anger, sadness, grief, hate, and chaos are the true narrative of the world, as if those are realities that define us. They don’t. The resurrection changed everything. Everything you and I think we know to be true has been turned on its head. I do not control the ultimate narrative of resurrection.

He is not here, but he has risen. It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed, be crucified, and rise on the third day.

Once you see, once you hear, once you begin to believe that the physical Resurrection of Jesus is necessary for all of life… that’s when the celebration begins. This is a day to celebrate. This is a day for joy. This is a day when the narrative is overturned. The world doesn’t get the last say. Death doesn’t get the last say. The way things are right now.. is not the way it will always be. Healing. restoration. Reconciliation. Renewal. Regeneration. Pick your new life word. That’s Jesus’ doing in His resurrection. The risen Jesus has the last say.

Let’s pray

The Table

This Table is necessary for life, salvation, and forgiveness. Jesus death and his resurrection is necessary to provide you will all the good things of His new creation. Jesus came to give us life in all of its abundance. And it’s here for us at this Table because of his death and resurrection.

Benediction

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