Today we are celebrating Resurrection Sunday - the day that Jesus conquered sin and death and made it possible for us to have a relationship with a holy, righteous, loving God. Our passage is from Luke 24:1-48. The writer of the Gospel of Luke was a medical doctor who carefully investigated the accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection by interviewing multiple eyewitnesses.
Why do you think Luke conducted such a careful investigation of Christ’s life? Luke states the reason for this at the very beginning of his writing -
It is so we can know the exact truth, to be certain about the things we have been taught about the history and doctrine of the Christian faith.
This Easter Sunday, we are going to look at three scenes, three groups of witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection on the day He rose from the dead.
3 groups of witnesses:
Women at the tomb
Two on the way to Emmaus
Disciples
The women at the tomb
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened (Luke 24:1-12, NIV).
Everyone knew where Jesus was buried, including the religious council and the governor who had it sealed and guarded (anywhere from 4-12 Roman guards) to protect it in case someone would attempt to steal the body. When the women arrived at the tomb Sunday morning and looked in, they were shocked, confused, dumbfounded to find the empty tomb.
Why? Because just three days prior, they and a multitude of people witnessed Him being beaten beyond recognition and then watched Him die a gruesome death on a cross. It would seem that all hope in the Savior, the Messiah, in all that God promised died that dark Friday.
Then they witnessed two men in dazzling clothes who told them,
““Why are you looking for someone living among the dead? He isn’t here, He is Risen!”
Don’t you remember how many times Jesus told you what would happen?
After remembering what Jesus had said they ran back to the disciples and many others to witness to all they saw and heard. As absurd as it sounded to everyone, Peter ran to the tomb to check things out for himself. Peter didn’t know what to think and I think this is the same for many people today when they hear about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. What are we to think? How can we explain this supernatural event?
Over 1500 scholars and historians (both Christian and secular) agree that Jesus was a real person and that he suffered death by crucifixion. These 1500 scholars all agree that Jesus’ tomb was found empty but what is hard for some to accept is that He was literally resurrected.
Many look for the natural explanations - someone must have stolen the body, maybe Jesus didn’t really die, maybe it wasn't Jesus on the cross, maybe Jesus woke up in the tomb and escaped, maybe they went to the wrong tomb, maybe all the witnesses (500 or more) had the same hallucination of a living Savior for 40 days.
If the witness of the women and the others were accurate, if it was factual, it would mean that Jesus is more than just a religious sage, a moral example, or some revolutionary in ancient history.
It would mean He was a Person that had done something that no one in human history had ever done.
Scene 2: The two on the way to Emmaus
Recognizing Jesus (Luke 24:13-36)
This is the story of the two disciples who go to a small village outside of Jerusalem on the first Easter Sunday and meet Jesus along the way.
The question they wrestled with, along with the other disciples, and maybe us too is this: How do we recognize Jesus Christ as He really is?
Recognizing our own current evaluation of Jesus:
The disciples, not knowing it was Jesus, said He a teacher and miracle worker, all true facts. But they were sad that He was crucified and so could not be the Christ.
But they had to realize their evaluation of Jesus was not adequate so it was not correct. They were missing something and were confused by the reports of His body missing at the tomb.
Recognizing who Jesus really is:
From the teaching of the Last Supper, they now understood that not only had Jesus died and rose again, they understood it was done for them. Now it all snapped into focus and Jesus disappeared.
Responding appropriately to this truth:
As the disciples return to Jerusalem, they tell the other disciples what happened. The others went through the same process. They heard who Jesus really was and then how His death and resurrection was for their sake.
Scene 3: The witness of the disciples
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:37-48, NIV).
In this 3rd scene, the disciples are all gathered together, listening to the witness of the two men and how they had talked with Jesus on the road. Then out of the blue, Jesus appears to all of them and says, “Peace be to you.”
He shows them the wounds in His hands and feet, lets them touch him, and because they are still in shock and think He’s a ghost, He eats in front of them.
Jesus wanted to assure them there is truly a resurrection of the whole person and He reaffirms the importance of knowing His Word.
If Jesus wasn’t resurrected, then He is the same as the rest that came before and after Him. The Apostle Paul said it this way - if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our preaching is useless, amounting to nothing, and your faith is unfounded, devoid of any value or benefit and based on a lie.
He said, we also would be discovered to be false witnesses, misrepresenting God, because we testified that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. If Christ has not been raised, our faith is worthless and powerless (a delusion) and our sins would remain unforgiven.
“The resurrection is a witness of God’s immense, invincible power.”
The resurrection is a witness to the truth found in the scriptures: That Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who conquered sin, death, and hell and who has the power to forgive sin and heal. It is a witness to the promises of God fulfilled through Jesus Christ. It is a promise that one day we will experience life free from evil, free from all pain, suffering, sorrow, and death.
Jesus said “You are my witnesses. You witnessed my life, miracles, you heard my word and followed my teaching, you watched me die and saw the risen Jesus.” Those witnesses who followed the risen Lord for 40 days were transformed. They were witnesses of the fulfillment of the prophesies concerning Christ.
We are here today because of the witnesses who came before us. If you are a child of God, Jesus calls you to be a witness to the truth of the gospel. Now we are witnesses, and our life witnesses to the reality of a risen Savior.
