3/31/24 -Easter Matt. 28:1-10 “He Is Alive!”

28 Mar 3/31/24 -Easter Matt. 28:1-10 “He Is Alive!”

3/31/24 -Easter    Matt. 28:1-10        “He Is Alive!”

I would like to thank everyone for tuning in to our Easter service.  This is my favorite holiday.  There is just something about this Good News that really makes me very happy.  As I was preparing for this sermon, I got to thinking about how many people demand proof of things, especially that Jesus is who He said He is and that He is God.  I love to listen to people who are way smarter than me explain the proof that exists for this.  Ravi Zacharias was really good at this.  However, as much as we explain the evidence for Jesus, many people will just say that it is ‘interesting’ and nothing happens.  I don’t think that many people come to know Jesus by knowing this proof alone.  Knowing Jesus Christ is all about our relationship with Him and not the proof that He went willingly to the cross, died there for our sins and was raised up again on the third day.  These things are very important but they don’t seem as important when you are down and out.  When you have lost your job and there is no money coming in, you are more interested in someone who will help you back on your feet.  You want someone to help you shake that bad habit that is destroying you.  You want someone to love you when you are unlovable.  Jesus does all of these things and more as He saves lives.  This is the most important aspect of Easter.  Jesus rose from the dead so that He could help you along in every, every step of your life.  Today, we are going to look at some of the wonder of that first Easter morning and how it will help you in your relationship to Jesus.

I would like to begin today with a little observation I have made about life.  I remember when I was in high school it was always kind of a running joke that we might not get our diplomas signed for graduation.  I don’t think anyone in my high school class had this problem but we had known of others who had gone before us who got blank diplomas.  Most of my classmates and I had spent 12 years together.  We all did the same things and took almost all the same classes.  Then at graduation, there was the chance that some would get signed diplomas and some wouldn’t.  If you think about this, it is the same way with Jesus Christ.  We all live life and whatever it throws at us.  Yet in the end, some will get to heaven and some won’t.  I hope that when you leave this broadcast today, that you will all have your diplomas signed by Jesus Christ.

This is Easter, a time of new beginnings.  This is scriptural.  Look at verse 1 and it says that it is dawn on the first day of the week, after the Sabbath.  These people had just had their day of rest.  They should have been rejuvenated so they could get to the next Sabbath.  This is what we try to do every week.  This service is just to try to get you to next Sunday.  The only thing that I can do for you is to get you to next Sunday.  That is all any pastor can do.  These people were no different.  However, this was going to be hard because their leader, Jesus, had been executed on Friday.  This would be a long week for them.

We are to remember that when Matthew wrote this Gospel, he, like all writers of the time, had to be very conservative with his words because their writing paper or parchment was at a premium.  So why would Matthew even say that it was the day after the Sabbath unless it was important.  It is important because it shows us that we are at the starting point, a new week, a new beginning.  Jesus had to rise up on Sunday because it was the first day of the week, a day of new beginnings.

This is especially important for us today.  How many of us here today need a new beginning?  Or better yet, how many of our neighbors need a new beginning?  You know people who have gone through divorce.  You know people who are out of a job or are in some sort of financial difficulties.  You know young people who are looking for the meaning of life.  We all know these people or maybe we are these people.

Jesus Christ rose on the first day of the week so you could have a new beginning.  Jesus Christ has promised you that He will help you every step of the way.  All you have to do is confess your sins to Him and ask Him to live in your life as Lord.  If you aren’t sure as to how to do this, grab me or someone else after this broadcast.  I will gladly stop and help you at any time with this.  Jesus wants us all to have a new beginning.  Do I hear an ‘Amen?’

Another thing that is happening in this first verse is that we have Mary Magdalene and the other Mary coming to the tomb.  When they got there, God sent a violent earthquake to the area.  I love how God announces important happenings with things like earthquakes, wind and lightning.  Anyway, this is the second earthquake in 3 days.  Scientists might say that this is only an aftershock and not to worry.  In this case, I might disagree a little.  This is God announcing something big.

God makes the announcement to two women.  Remember that women weren’t exactly at the top of the social ladder in those days.  As a matter of fact, they had little ‘standing’ at all.  This is just the way it was in those days.  So, God sends two people with no social standing to the tomb of Jesus.  Then God makes a violent earthquake as an angel appears on the rock that covered the entrance that has now been rolled away.  The rock is rolled away so that these women and soon others could see that Jesus was gone.  The rock wasn’t rolled away so Jesus could come out but it was rolled away so we could look in.  They put Him in this tomb on Friday night and now He is gone.

Not only is Jesus gone but this angel is so bright that they can hardly look at him.  Have you ever tried to look at something really bright for more than a moment?  You can’t because it is too hard on our eyes.  It is like trying to look at the sun or look at a weld when someone is welding.  It is too bright for us.  All of these things were too much for the guards who were guarding the tomb so Jesus’ body couldn’t be taken away.  So, they just froze in their tracks.  This is a scene of high drama.  This is not something to be read over lightly.  Then the angel tells the women not to be afraid.  It would be very human for anyone to be afraid in this situation.

This beginning is also very important for us today.  We not only have a chance at a new beginning but this is for everyone.  It was for these two lowly people of ancient times and it is for the lowly ones of us also.  Not only that but it is for all people, whether rich or poor or high or low.  I think that we can relate better to the lowly because I don’t see many Presidents or kings or CEOs attending our worship on any Sunday.  Jesus is for them too and in the same way.  But Jesus isn’t just for the rich.  There isn’t a person who is too bad, there isn’t a person who is too far beyond hope, there isn’t a person who is too anything that cannot come to the tomb of Jesus.  Jesus loves you so much that He will be there for anyone, anywhere, at any time.  We are all able to come to Him.  Then He will forgive you and offer you the best grace that you can have.

I want you to notice something else here.  When Jesus comes into your life, you know it.  There may not be an earthquake.  There may not be bright lights and lightning.  However, you will know if He is there or not.  He will let you know, whether it be rather quietly like many of you or more dramatically like when He came into my life.  And when this happens, there is nothing to be afraid of.  When Jesus comes into your life, you may have calmness for the first time in your life.  You may feel liberated as Jesus takes away your sin and your body relaxes for the first time ever.  There are many things that might happen and they are all good.  Jesus only does good!  He will never do bad.

So now we have these women running back to tell the disciples that the tomb is empty.  They have this great news and they are to tell the disciples so they too can come and see.  They were afraid but yet they were filled with joy.  I really couldn’t think an example of this that really captures fear and joy.  The only thing I could think of was the first time I gave a sermon.  Many of you have heard this story before.  I was so scared before I went into that sanctuary that I was shaking like a leaf in the wind.  I stopped and prayed, asking Jesus to help me deliver the message.  I was afraid but He gave me a peace that took all fear away.  I ended up having great joy as I did those two services without a hitch, without a shake.  This is what Jesus does with your fears.  He turns them into joys.

Also, as these women are running to tell the disciples, who should be standing there but Jesus himself!  They are so excited to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead, that they are running to tell them.  On the way they meet Jesus and He says, “Greetings” in this translation.  In other translations He says, “Rejoice” which is what I’m going to go with.     Here is the reason that I think rejoice is a better word.  I don’t think that Jesus would be talking to them in a nonchalant way by saying ‘greetings’ or ‘hello’ or ‘what’s up.’  This is the biggest point in the history of the world and I don’t think Jesus says, ‘sup.’  I would say that He might be a lot more demonstrative than even, ‘rejoice.’  But rejoice works for me.

Anyway, Jesus presents himself to the women and tells them once again ‘do not be afraid.’  I think that this is rather self-explanatory.  Even in the modern world, if we saw someone die on Friday, we might be a little frightened if we saw them alive and well on Sunday.  Jesus is looking out for their well-being as He always does.  Then He tells them to go to the others and tell them as these women become the first missionaries for Jesus.

Now we have quickly gone through these verses and I would like to go back to the most important part of this passage.  As a matter of fact, it is the most important part of the whole Bible.  If we don’t have this one little piece of the story, there would be no story at all.  We would be like all the other religions of the world.  We would be false!

There have been some great leaders in the world that have changed the way things happen.  We can name Marx, Roosevelt, Washington, Gandhi, Hitler, Stalin and many others who changed the world.  But none of these came close to Jesus.  We can name Abraham, Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad and others who founded some of the great religions of the world and none of these people come close to what Jesus did.  Jesus did what none of these people could do.  Jesus did what no one can do and that was that Jesus was raised from the dead.  All these people I just mentioned are dead.  But Jesus Christ is alive today.  He will be alive forever.  That is why Easter is such a great celebration.

Not only is He our risen Savior, but He had witnesses who saw Him.  We begin with these two women, then we have the disciples and in the end we have over 500 people who saw the risen Christ.  There are so many witnesses that our adversaries can’t refute it.  No one in the world has ever or will ever be able to do something like this.  Jesus Christ is alive and well today as I speak.  No one else can say this.

Jesus did this because 1. He is God.  2.  He is now able to forgive our sins and we have a home with Him in heaven.  This is the love that God has for you.  God sent Jesus to this world that He would die in your place.  Jesus made the sacrifice that paid the price for your sins 2000 years later.  God loves you far, far beyond your comprehension.  God loves you more than He loves anything else.

Remember this love as we celebrate Easter.  Remember how Satan could not defeat Jesus.  The kings of the world could not rule Jesus.  The very cross He hung on could not kill Jesus.  The tomb with the massive boulder over the entrance could not contain Jesus.  There is nothing in this world that will ever stop Jesus from loving you more than you deserve.  Nothing will stop Him from pouring out His love for you in a style that is beyond lavish.  Nothing, nothing, nothing will separate you from the love of Jesus and I praise the Lord for that.

I would like you all to go now and celebrate Easter in some way that is special not only to you but to Jesus.  Also, if you gave something up for Lent, enjoy it now as you remember how much Jesus gave for you.  He gave everything He had, His life.  I praise the Lord that He loves us this much.  Let’s go to Him now in a prayer of thanksgiving.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.