He Is Risen!

Matthew 28:1 – 15

 

I started doing tractor field work on my own when I was about 12. My dad didn’t ask me to; I just took it upon myself to do it. (Tell the story). But I still had a lot to learn even after he gave me the green light to go ahead and keep going.

 

There was this one instance where I got myself in quite the pickle. You see, our disc was what is called an offset disc, meaning the two rows of disc blades are not parallel, but offset from each other. That meant, on one side of the rig, the disc blades were much closer to the rear wheels of the tractor than the other.

 

This meant that as a rule, you really only turned one direction if you needed to make a sharp turn. Queue the pickle. I got the tractor and disc into a tight spot and my only seemingly apparent option at that moment was to turn to the side I wasn’t supposed to.

 

When I finally gave up and went and sought my dad out for help, I had that tractor pretty much stuck with the disc blades mere inches from cutting up the back right tires of the John Deere. My dad’s response? “What did you expect would happen? Didn’t I tell you this would happen?”

 

Now, as a parent of teenagers myself, I now understand that feeling. The number of times I’ve found myself having to ask my kids that same question is astounding. But I don’t believe that situation is limited to just teenage boys like I was. In fact, I know that many grown men and women still find themselves in situations that beg the question, “What did you expect would happen?”

 

That’s exactly what we find at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s easy enough for us to celebrate Christ’s resurrection today, we have the gift of hindsight. But for everyone who knew Jesus and knew of Him, they couldn’t see it. Even though Jesus told them multiple times exactly what would happen, they still did not expect His resurrection.

 

So when they find the empty tomb, the question is “what did they expect to find? What did they expect would happen?”

I can tell you they did NOT expect to find it empty. Let’s read about Christ’s resurrection on that glorious first day of the week almost 2,000 years ago. Let’s read God’s Word together: Matthew 28:1 – 15.

 

Our passage begins rather quietly. The Sabbath had passed. Jesus was crucified, died, and was laid in a tomb all before sundown on Friday because the Sabbath, the day of rest, was coming. But while this particular Sabbath was a day of rest, it was also a day of silence.

 

To all of Jesus’ followers, disciples and apostles alike, it seemed like defeat. Jesus was dead. God was again silent. The darkness that covered the earth when Christ died was lingering in the hearts of His disciples. It seemed that darkness had won.

 

But as Matthew writes, it was dawn on the first day of the week. The original phrasing in Greek is much more literal, “as it began to dawn toward the first day.” One of the blessings of growing up and working in farming were the opportunities to witness the dawn.

 

The air gets a little more crisp as the night sky on the eastern horizon starts to lighten just a little. And as time passes, it lightens up more and more until the first orange rays of the sun start to peak over the Sierra Nevada’s. Before long the bright sun is shining and it is light all around and the darkness of night has become a just memory.

 

Now understand that here in our passage, the phrase “as it began to dawn toward the first day” is not just marking the passing of time, it’s pointing to light breaking in and shining in the darkness of Christ’s death on the cross. I love the line in the song, In Christ Alone, where we sing, “bursting forth in glorious day…” As dawn broke, light had overcome.

 

And as it dawned, who should show up? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Matthew doesn’t tell us why they were there, but Mark does. They went that morning after the Sabbath to anoint Jesus’ dead body with spices and oil that was customary to do for the dead. Because of how close it was to sundown when Jesus was buried, He wasn’t anointed properly.

 

They expected to find Roman soldiers guarding the tomb. They expected to find the huge stone that was rolled in front of the opening in its place. They expected to find Jesus’ dead body lying in that tomb.

They certainly did not expect what happened instead. Instead, the women will become the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is a fact that seemingly guarantees the credibility of the resurrection. You see, in their culture, a woman’s testimony was usually not accepted as legal fact.

 

If this story were fake, as you’ll see later some tried to make it out to be, no one of that day and age would have chosen women to be their fake witnesses. They would have chosen men instead. It was indeed the dawn of a new age in Christ. God is already overturning expectations even before the resurrection is even revealed.

 

And then heaven breaks in. We read that there was a great earthquake. This is actually the second earthquake surrounding Christ’s death. In chapter 27, when Jesus cried out for the last time with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit, we can see what happened.

 

Remember from last week that the word used to describe the city and crowd upon Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was used for describing earthquakes and apocalyptic chaos. The city may have been metaphorically shook by His arrival, but it was physically and spiritually shaken by His death and His resurrection.

 

Earthquakes are mentioned in many OT prophecies, and later in Revelation, about the “Day of the Lord,” or what we call the end times, the last days, or that new holiday Jesus is going to bring to us, Judgement Day. This earthquake further connects the resurrection to the crucifixion, and both add to the evidence that Jesus’ death and resurrection have ushered in a new age. Certainly the scene in the city marked that new age.

 

And then we read that an angel had come down from heaven, rolled away the stone and then sat down on top of it. His clothing was white as snow and his appearance was like lightning. He’s sitting down on the stone because his work is done, the stone had been dislodged and moved out of the way, revealing an empty tomb.

 

Christ’s resurrection itself is never described anywhere in Scripture, because no one ever actually witnessed Jesus leaving the tomb. Jesus didn’t need the stone to be rolled away to be raised from the dead. No stone ever stopped the Rock of Ages, God, from accomplishing His purpose.

No, the stone was rolled away entirely for your benefit! The stone is not rolled away to let Jesus out, but to let witnesses in. The revelation of the empty tomb was to show everyone, that Christ is indeed risen from the dead, to reveal that the grave could not hold Him.

 

The earthquake, the stone being rolled away, and the presence of the angel that looked as bright as lightning with clothes as white as snow, caused the guards to tremble, to shake, to be shook and fall over like dead men.

 

Now talk about irony here. The women came to the tomb expecting living roman soldiers and a dead Jesus. Instead the living soldiers became like dead men, and the dead Jesus is now alive and not in the tomb.

 

When I think of all of the mighty works and signs in the Bible, especially the ones Jesus performed, and as great as they were, none of them hold a candle to the resurrection. This is not a quiet miracle, this is an earthshaking, sovereign act of God overturning death itself.

 

So the women approach the tomb, and like every other angelic and divine appearance recorded in Scripture, fear grips the heart of those who interact with the angel. And like all the other times, the angel’s first words are “Do not be afraid.”

 

The angel reveals his understanding of their mission. They’re looking for the body of Jesus who was crucified. The angel anchors Christ’s identity in the crucifixion, underlining the reality of Jesus’ death because the resurrection doesn’t nullify the cross, it doesn’t make His crucifixion void, rather Christ’s resurrection validates the cross.

 

They’re looking for a dead body, but no body remains in the tomb. Jesus is resurrected, not just spiritually alive but physically alive, and the tomb is empty, amen!

 

The angel announces that Jesus is not there, he has risen. In fact, that verb is passive. Jesus hasn’t just risen, He was raised. He was raised from the dead by God. Scripture consistently shows us that it is the Father one who raises the Son.

 

The resurrection is the Father’s public vindication of the Son.

It is God declaring that Christ’s sacrifice is accepted. His payment for your sin has cleared. It is God declaring that the Son is indeed righteous, and not guilty of the things He was accused of. And it is God declaring like Jesus did on the cross, that the work is finished, the work is complete.

 

And then the angel adds, “as he said.” Oh my. There it is. What did the women expect to find at the tomb? What did the disciples, the apostles, the closest of them, Peter, James, and John expect to find on the morning of the third day?

 

Jesus’ own predictions have come true. From Caesarea Philippi in chapter 16 to His death on the cross, Matthew records Jesus predicting His death and resurrection three times. And they have now come true.

 

What would you have expected to find at the tomb of Christ that morning if you walked with Him like they did? Though they missed it, the resurrection is not unexpected, it is not accidental, and it is not symbolic.

 

It is a fulfilled promise, with the purpose of proving the acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and proving exactly who Jesus Christ is. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, fully man and fully God and He came down from heaven and took on flesh so that He could pay the price for your sin, suffer and die in your place.

 

And to demonstrate that His sacrifice was accepted, God raised Him from the dead on the third day. That’s who Jesus is, your risen Savior and your risen Lord.

 

And the angel tells the ladies to come and see where His body lay, to see for themselves that the tomb is indeed empty. He invites them to verify it for themselves.

 

And then he tells them, he commissions them to go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and that He’s going ahead of them to Galilee where they’ll see Him.

 

In defining faith, Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” While that is true, faith is not blind. Faith is grounded in reality; faith is grounded in the reality of Christ’s resurrection and the empty tomb.

And that faith grounded in reality is then sent outward to proclaim the truth. Just because no one witnessed the act of the resurrection doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Just because none of us were alive to see the empty tomb ourselves doesn’t change the reality that the tomb was empty when everyone expected it to contain Jesus’ body.

 

So the women take off both afraid and with great joy. Understandably afraid. If you just saw all of this when you were expecting to find an occupied and sealed tomb, you’d be afraid too!

 

But can you imagine the joy they felt? There seems to be no doubt in their hearts that what the angel has told them is true. Their Lord who they saw buried is alive! It’s not one emotion or the other, it’s both together.

 

This is the emotional world of believing in the resurrection. It’s overwhelming, it’s disorienting, but yet it is life changing and life-giving. And they run to go and tell His disciples. The resurrection creates urgency. Going and telling is the appropriate response to hearing about and believing in Christ’s resurrection.

 

But look, as they’re on their way, Jesus meets them and says Hi. He greets them, and when He greets them there’s no hesitation by the women, they took hold of His feet and they worshipped Him.

 

In their obedience, their response to the news of the empty tomb, Jesus came to them. Ultimately, they didn’t find Jesus, He came to them. They went looking for a dead Jesus, but the living Christ came to them. Jesus Christ always seeks out His people.

 

Christ’s resurrection isn’t merely a spiritual resurrection where His spirit lives on. When we read that God raised Him from the dead that’s not a metaphor, that’s not a figure of speech. The women aren’t hallucinating or having a vision. God truly raised Jesus completely from the dead, He is the embodied and resurrected Christ.

 

And their response is the most appropriate response possible. They worshipped Him. They recognized His divine identity and knew He was worthy of all worship. This passage confirms both the physical reality of Christ’s resurrection and the appropriateness of worshipping Him.

 

“Do not be afraid.” Jesus says, repeating the angel’s reassurance. God works in often overwhelming and mighty ways that strike fear in our hearts, but He also reassures us to not be afraid when we witness it.

 

But even more moving, He tells the women to go and tell His brothers to go to Galilee where they will see Him. His brothers. This is the only place in the Gospels that Jesus directly calls the disciples His brothers.

 

These are the same men who had abandoned Him when He was arrested. The same men who kept their distance during His trial, the same Peter who denied even knowing Jesus three times that night. The same disciple whom Jesus loved who just stood at the foot of the cross silently watching His Lord give His life for Him.

 

And Jesus calls them His brothers, not just showing and revealing Himself as resurrected but showing and revealing Himself as still loving and accepting those who left Him, and even denied Him. The resurrection doesn’t just vindicate Jesus; it restores His people.

 

He restores them to be coworkers with Him in the work of the Father. He’s not lifting them up to His level or minimizing His own deity, rather He’s making it clear that His church, this church and the universal church, are a brotherhood of believers, called to share the gospel and the news and the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection.

 

But the women aren’t the only ones going and telling. While the women were on their way to tell the disciples, so too were the Roman soldiers on their way. They went on their way to report to the chief priests all that had happened.

 

Two reports begin at the same time from the same earth shaking event. One leads to faith, the other leads to suppression of the truth. The soldiers report all that had taken place, meaning they reported on the earthquake, the angel that struck fear in their hearts, and the empty tomb.

 

The chief priests are not ignorant of the truth, they are fully informed, and they deliberately reject the truth. I’ve said a few times from up here that many, many folks miss heaven by 18 inches, and here is evidence of that.

 

They heard Christ’s teachings, they heard Christ’s predictions of what would happen, and then they heard about His resurrection and they rejected it all, they rejected Him. And this isn’t done in a panic, they’re not confused about what happened, this is all a calculated decision on their part. This isn’t a misunderstanding, it’s willful unbelief.

 

They take counsel with each other, they pay off the soldiers, and to calm the soldiers’ fears they even promise to pay off Pontius Pilate if they get into trouble. Understand that as Roman soldiers, if they fell asleep on the job, as the chief priests are telling them to claim, it could cost them their lives.

 

The lie required money, protection, and coordination. It required them to be willing to risk their very lives for the money that came from keeping the lie. Meanwhile, the truth only required God moving. And our Scripture tells us that this story, this lie, has persisted even to this day.

 

Here’s the truth of our passage, in raising Jesus from the dead, God publicly vindicated His Son, He confirmed the full payment for your sin, and secured the salvation of His people. The resurrection is God’s declaration that the cross worked. The same empty tomb that leads many, including us, to worship, leads others to suppress and reject the truth.

 

Because Christ is risen from the dead, you are called to give all of your life and worship to Jesus.

 

Jesus is alive, and the risen King doesn’t just live, but He comes to restore His people. He restores sinners, even those who have abandoned Him, denied Him, and even those who have previously rejected Him.

 

But still some will resist the truth. They will try to explain it away. Many will choose control over surrendering to Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So the question isn’t was He raised from the dead, rather the question you have to ask yourself is, what will you do with that truth? Christ is risen from the grave, and you have to respond.

 

Do you respond by believing the truth in faith, receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, trusting in His work on the cross, His payment for your sin, because He was raised from the grave, and by living your life for Him? Or do you reject the truth of the resurrection, rejecting God and continuing to try to live for yourself?

God moved decisively in the world when Christ came down, took on flesh, humbly taking on the form of a servant, and becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross. God moved decisively in the world when He raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is a real truth with real witnesses, and everyone must respond in this life, or the next.

 

You can respond in faith by running toward obedience in Christ, even when you don’t fully understand. The women were afraid and confused, but they still moved in obedience. So I want you to identify one area in your life where you’re hesitating to obey Christ because it “doesn’t make sense.” Then obey anyway and watch how God works in your life.

 

You can respond to the truth of the resurrection by embracing and receiving the grace of being called “brother.” His disciples failed Him. They ran, denied, and abandoned Him, and still He calls them, “My brothers.” Stop defining yourself by your last failure and start defining yourself by what Christ calls you, and then embrace the calling Christ has on your life.

 

Lastly, you can respond by expecting and encountering a living Christ, not a distant figure or memory. Jesus meets His people where they are, in whatever sin they’re in. He doesn’t shy away; He rescues and saves you instead. So instead of believing that God is distant, embrace Him and worship Him at His feet because He lives.

 

He is risen, and you have to respond. Respond in faith, in belief, in submission, and in worship.