Why should you care about the resurrection?

"Risen"

(Matthew 28:1-15, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 7, 2008)

Matthew 28:1-15 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. ⁹ And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." ¹¹ While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' ¹⁴ And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Introduction – When did the New Testament begin?

If I were to ask you to think about a natural way to divide your Bible into two sensible parts, I am sure that many of you would decide to split it up into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament ends with these words in Malachi 4:5-6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." The message of the end of Old Testament Israel and the end of the Old Covenant era is picked up some 400 or so years later in the opening chapters of all four gospels, as we hear of the one we call "John the Baptist," the Elijah-like figure who prepared the way for the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.

We have been following the story of this Jesus through Matthew's gospel for some time now. We have seen that story unfolding in an environment that is a distinctly Old Testament environment. Even though the gospels are in the section of the Bible that we call the New Testament, a strong case can be made that New Testament life had not yet fully begun when Jesus was alive. The Old Testament is the covenant document for the Age of the Law. The New Testament together with the Old rightly understood through the lens of Christ and the resurrection is the covenant document for the New Testament era, the Age of the Gospel. But when did that New Testament era begin? There is a sense that we need to wait all the way to Matthew 28 to see the dawning of that new day.

A new dawn (1)

It is fitting that the account of this event comes as the sun is about to rise on the first day of the week. All of the other Sundays before this have been the day after the Sabbath. Now the Jewish Sabbath will be part of an old way of doing things under the age of the Law. In this age of the gospel, our week begins with our gathering together in covenant assembly. The fact that we worship on Sundays has everything to do with what happened so long ago on that first new Sabbath, when the God/Man who was the Passover Lamb became the Firstfruits of the Resurrection.

The women that are mentioned in connection with this event are the same ones who were witnesses to the cross, the death, and the burial of our Lord. These women went out to complete their care for the deceased body of a man they greatly loved. They expected to come to a place of death. What they found was something very different.

An angel of the Lord: "He has risen!" (2-7)

Matthew writes of an earthquake. There had been one at the time of the death of Jesus. Now there is another one at the time of His resurrection. Something major is happening in these events that God will not let us miss. Matthew's gospel has an angelic visitor in the first chapter, and now we have another one in the final chapter. This shining heavenly creature does something and says something. He rolls away the stone, and he gives the women who are witnesses there the news of the resurrection.

There's lots of news in these verses. We have news about the guards. They are completely overwhelmed by the events that they have beheld. We have news about the tomb. You can look in and see the place where Jesus was laying. We know from John's gospel that there was a story to tell just from the placement of the grave clothes. We have news about the immediate future concerning a meeting in Galilee. Of course the coming of an angel, a messenger from heavenly realms is itself amazing news. Jesus has talked about angels on several occasions throughout this gospel, particularly when speaking of the coming end of the age when the Son of Man returns. Angels appeared to Joseph, the husband of Mary, to direct him in the early years. Angels strengthened Jesus after He was tempted in the desert. But now an angel is speaking to some special women about an empty tomb.

And that's the biggest news – not just of this passage, but the biggest news since Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that fruit about which God had warned that if he ate it, he would surely die. The biggest news of all time is this: "He has risen." This resurrection is a sign of something. Back in the beginning of this gospel, when an angel spoke to Joseph, it was revealed that the name of the child should be Jesus. There was a reason attached to the instruction: "He will save His people from their sins." But how do you see the forgiveness of sins? In chapter 9 the Lord healed a paralytic that some people brought to him. Remember before He healed him, He said, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." Who says? How would anyone know? Some people took offense, so Jesus said, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" Then He said, "Rise and walk." Still we could only take His word for it that sins could actually be forgiven until this very moment. If sins are forgiven, then there will be resurrection. Death came through sin. Truly forgive sin, and you have life. Jesus was our Sin-Bearer. What He did has brought us forgiveness. The big news is, "He has risen." Your sins are forgiven. And it appears that He rose on the Old Testament feast of Firstfruits. We know without doubt that He is the firstfruits of a larger resurrection from the dead. We also shall rise. Our sins are forgiven.

Jesus met them (8-10)

If an angel from heaven tells you to go and give a message to some people about the resurrection of the Christ, then you go. They departed quickly. But who met them as they were running? He met them. "Greetings!" "Rejoice!" Remember all the bad things that happened to His body before, the beating, the scourging, and the cross? Remember that they saw Him when He was put in the grave. He could not have looked good. Now He looks good. Now He is alive, and they fall down at His feet and worship Him. He has done what He said He would do. He has accomplished what no one thought He could do. He has laid down His life as the Sin-Bearer, and He has picked it up again as the One who declares sins forgiven, and as the source of life extending way beyond the curse of Adam.

This is a life beyond fear. This is a life beyond leprosy. This is a life beyond a woman who has been bleeding for years, or another one who has been bent over for years and can't get up, or another one whose daughter is dying and all she wants is a crumb from His table. This is a life where you stand up again, where demons are gone and people are in their right mind, and where we finally know what it is to have complete victory over sin.

The story of man and the story of God (11-15)

That's the real story. That's the resurrection and that's what happened on the first Sunday of the New Testament era, the gospel age. That's why an angel told Joseph to name Him Jesus. He has saved His people from their sins. Do you believe that story? It's the story of God with us. There is another story for those who do not like the story of the resurrection. It is the story that desperate men made up, the chief priests, the guard, the elders, the soldiers, that His disciples had stolen the body at night while the soldiers were sleeping. There is a problem with this story. How do those soldiers know who stole the body if they were sleeping? When did they wake up? Did they see them all running away with a dead body, but they could not catch up with them?

The story does not work very well, but with a little bit of money and enough people saying the same lie, some people who don't think very hard about it might believe it. It is somewhat amusing that this is the best thing they could come up with. The elders took counsel regarding this, and this was their decision? Before you and I are too critical of their solution, you have to ask yourself whether there is any better story that you could invent. What possible reasonable explanation is there for an empty tomb that had been guarded by soldiers? The disciples were all afraid. Why would they want to take away the dead body of Jesus? Wouldn't it just remind them that the whole thing was over, and that Jesus was not the Christ after all? They had nothing to gain in any earthly sense from an empty tomb. I have tried to think of what the reason might be for that empty tomb. I have read things in the past that others have suggested. Nothing makes any sense. The story of God is the true story. He has risen.

There is another question that needs to be asked. Why would anyone not like the story of the resurrection? We need to realize that the root of unbelief in us is very strong. Jesus said in one of His parables that if we won't believe Moses and the prophets then we will not believe even if someone comes back from the dead to tell us the truth. Not only that, but the additional problem with the resurrection that people would rather not admit is that the resurrection of Jesus demands our complete surrender, and most people are looking for a more manageable savior, where they still get to be king. But if you do believe in Jesus and the resurrection, then your sins truly are forgiven. Your own destiny is resurrection life, and you really must surrender to His love.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What are some of the important facts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ presented in Matthew's gospel?

2. What are the various problems with the false story that was circulated among the Jews?

3. Why would anyone want to deny the resurrection?

4. What is the connection between Christ's resurrection and our resurrection? Consider the links between these truths in 1 Corinthians 15.