Another Easter, another Holy Week, another season of remembrance and reflection upon the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, another season of candy and new clothes, pastels and Peeps. As at Christmas, sacred and secular mix at Easter. For many churches Easter is one of a handful of Sundays in the year where attendance spikes, whether from peer pressure, keeping up appearances, an earnest desire to reignite one’s spiritual life, or from a genuine curiosity about Christians and Christianity on the part of a non-Christian. Whatever your motive for being here today, you aren’t here by accident. You could be plenty of other places today: restaurants, stores, hotels, state parks, movie theaters, etc. are all open. You could be in bed catching up on sleep, or on the Internet catching up on shows. Just being here suggests you’re after something none of those other things can offer, yet you may be unsure of what you’ll find here today.
If so, you have something in common with two women named Mary who, according to Matthew, arrived first at the garden tomb that morning—the borrowed tomb in which Jesus’ body had been placed two evenings earlier. They weren’t sure what they would find, but they wanted something that hiding in an upper room couldn’t offer, something that returning to the routines of daily life (as if the betrayal and murder of their Lord never happened) couldn’t offer. They wanted hope. They wanted Jesus! They knew what He’d said. They had their hopes, but they also had their expectations. Whether your hopes or expectations are met, unmet, or exceeded today, my hope is that you have a fresh and life-changing encounter with the resurrection and with the risen One as we look to God’s Word!
Fact, Fiction & Future
In Matthew 28 I see three broad themes: Fact, Fiction, and the Future. In vv. 1-10 we have the material of resurrection fact: the women go to the tomb and meet an angel who tells them the tomb is empty; they look and see for themselves that Jesus isn’t there; they’re sent by the angel to tell the disciples, and then are greeted by Jesus Himself as they leave. In vv. 11-15, we find resurrection fiction: the story of Jesus’ body being secreted away by His disciples in the middle of the night—a story concocted and spread by the Jews to discredit Jesus and His followers. And in vv. 16-20 we find what I call ‘resurrection future’: the risen Jesus’ commissioning and sending His disciples on a disciple-making mission to all the peoples of the world. But for resurrection fact to destroy resurrection fiction as Christianity moves into its Christ-intended future the key element is resurrection faithfulness. And so my thesis today is this: Resurrection fact overcomes resurrection fiction only in a future shaped by resurrection faithfulness.
Christians, we mustn’t let the resurrection be to us a mere fact of the past, but a force shaping our present and our future. And non-Christians, unless the resurrection becomes a fact of your past and present by putting your faith in Christ, you mustn’t assume that you have any future—at least not a desirable future in any way graced by the loving presence of a forgiving God. As we look not so much at the primary facts of the resurrection (like the grave opening, Jesus coming out, etc.) but at secondary facts involving those present, I hope God will help us locate ourselves in the story and also plant the resurrection more deeply in our lives.
Resurrection Facts
Resurrection Fact #1: Women were first to the empty tomb! Matthew says in v. 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.” Matthew names two Marys; Mark adds a third woman named Salome; Luke names two Marys and a Joanna; and John only mentions Mary Magdalene; but all four gospels are clear: women were first to the tomb; women were the only ones to encounter angels or Jesus in the garden—not men! Why is this an important resurrection fact? Because a lot of people want to paint the biblical Christianity as patriarchal and demeaning to women when nothing could be further from the truth. Fact is, apart from the courage and testimony of these women, news of the resurrection may never have reached the disciples. In a day and in a culture where women were treated with contempt and distrust, Jesus saw fit to entrust the most gloriously scandalous news ever—word of His resurrection—to these faithful women. Oh how precious to the heavenly Father are His daughters! The eyes that first gazed into that vacant cave were feminine, an important fact, don’t you think, given the church’s feminine identity as Bride of Christ and wife of the Lamb! In the hope of the fact of the resurrection may we always look longingly, hopefully, faithfully forward to the return of our glorious Groom—an eager bride awaiting her husband!
Resurrection Fact #2: The guards trembled. Matthew says in vv. 2-4, “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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.” That’s the upside-down nature of Christ’s kingdom: women are emboldened and entrusted while hardened soldiers tremble in terror. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:27, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…[and] what is weak in the world to shame the strong…” Fancy yourself strong? The women didn’t, and the fact of the resurrection made them strong. The guards did, and the fact of the resurrection made them weak. The resurrection emboldens the weak and humble, but it weakens and humbles those who are strong and proud in themselves. And whether you admit it or not, to be weakened and humbled by the resurrection is your only shot at hope beyond the grave!
Resurrection Fact #3: The women are sent on a mission with a message. Apart from the shock of the earthquake, the angel, the trembling guards, the stone rolled back, really, when you think about it, an empty tomb is kind of a boring place to hang out. Expecting to find a dead Jesus, they instead find no Jesus. In v. 6 the angel verifies Jesus’ promise to rise again: “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” Then, so they can see it with their eyes, the angel says, “Come, see the place where He lay.” Then in v. 7 he says, “Go quickly and tell his disciples that He’s risen from the dead.”
Come and see—Go and tell. Ever notice how the kid who doesn’t share his toy grows disenchanted with that toy fairly quickly? The toy loses some of its wonder when it’s kept from others. We aren’t rightly seeing the fact of the resurrection until we’re sharing the fact of the resurrection. If, unlike those women, you’ve seen the empty tomb for yourself by faith but aren’t saying anything about it to others, you’re not just living a disobedient Christian life, you’re settling for a boring Christian life! To hang out at an empty tomb is to embrace a fact with no future, and pretty soon that fact will become a fiction.
Resurrection Fiction
Even with the earthquake, the angel’s testimony, and the trembling guards, had the women stayed there marveling at the tomb once the angel instructed them to go tell the disciples, they soon would’ve encountered those telling a very different resurrection story. We read in vv. 11-15,
While they [the women] were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
The angel spoke to the women with the authority of God, and they obeyed him. Notice when they encounter Jesus—not while they’re standing there gawking at the tomb or the angel but while they’re on their way to tell the disciples—it’s when they’re busy obediently going on mission with their message of hope! “So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.” To have true intimacy with Jesus we can’t just believe in the resurrection, we need to tell people about it!
Over the centuries numerous theories have emerged trying to explain away the resurrection. The Resuscitation Theory says that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross but rather fell into a coma of sorts, and that in the coolness of the tomb he revived and in three days reemerged. When I get a cold I don’t want to lift a Kleenex! I’m just guessing that moving a four-ton boulder might be a bit much to expect of a recently crucified person. The Hallucination Theory says that Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances were actually hallucinations and thus should be dismissed. Five hundred people hallucinating at once; really? The Impersonation Theory says that it wasn’t Jesus but an impersonator who appeared to the disciples (which supposedly explains the fact that in some encounters the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus at first). But what about those nail and spear holes? That’s a pretty devoted impersonator! The Spiritual Resurrection Theory says Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t physical but spiritual in nature—that though Jesus died He lives on through those who follow His teachings. But it doesn’t account for the fact that a body went missing from a Jerusalem tomb—and is still missing. Finally the Theft Theory is the original theory fabricated by the Jewish leaders: the disciples evaded the Roman guards, moved the boulder, snuck into the tomb and carried off Jesus’ body, all while one of the disciples folded the grave clothes and laid them neatly on the slab. –I don’t think so!
Ironically those who invent theories to discredit the resurrection and the Christian faith demonstrate a high degree of faith themselves. I don’t care how you look at it—scientifically, spiritually, historically—it takes more faith to buy into resurrection fiction than it does to believe in resurrection fact. When the guards come the Jewish leaders don’t offer to form a search party; they don’t offer to help them find Jesus; they offer them money and an alternate story. Why? Because they know the truth. Resurrection fiction isn’t the product of those who doubt or disbelieve the resurrection; it’s the product of those who want to deny the resurrection and want others to deny it. And why would anyone want to deny the resurrection? Because the resurrection demands a change in worship. As if raising numerous people from the dead during His ministry wasn’t enough to demonstrate His power over life and death, when Jesus of His own will and power walks out of the tomb He makes the choice clear for each of us: I can keep worshiping myself, or I can worship Him. Which one do you think has a future?
Resurrection Future
Everything I achieve, acquire and accumulate in this world will one day belong to someone else, and my body will take its place in the ground with everybody who’s gone before me. But that’s okay with me, because by God’s grace I’ve been born again by the Spirit of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. I don’t put my hope in worldly achievement or attainments; and I certainly don’t hope in my grave. I’ve staked my future—my hopes—on His grave, which is empty and promises me that mine will one day be empty too. I’ve got a resurrection future! And not just a future waiting for me beyond the grave but a future waiting for me beyond grief and guilt, beyond sadness and shame—beyond the circumstances good or bad—of today! I’ve got a resurrection future waiting for me when, Lord willing, I wake up tomorrow morning. Friends, God will not have His children defined by failures of the past or frustrations of the present but by a future of resurrection faithfulness.
Resurrection Faithfulness
And how convenient that we get a picture of what a resurrection future shaped by resurrection faithfulness looks like right here moments after Jesus arose. It looks like the women coming and seeing. It looks like the women going and telling and having a worshipful encounter with the risen Christ along the way. It looks like the disciples receiving the women’s message by faith and obediently going to Galilee to meet Jesus themselves. In v. 16 Matthew says, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. Your resurrection faithfulness in your resurrection future will not be immune to occasional doubts and discouragement. But that’s where community comes in. Jesus doesn’t commission the disciples to go and make more disciples on their own isolated from each other; He commissions them as a group. Resurrection faithfulness in your resurrection future isn’t just faithfulness to Christ; it’s faithfulness to other Christ-followers. Resurrection fiction gains the most traction in our lives when we cut ourselves off from other believers.
But the greatest resurrection faithfulness in our resurrection future isn’t the Church’s; it’s Christ’s. Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Resurrection fact overcomes resurrection fiction only in a future shaped by the resurrection faithfulness of the resurrected One!