Are you looking for Christ among the dead?
Imagine if you will…. Go back 2000+ years ago. You have
spent 3 years following a man who preached some pretty radical ideas. He told
you that you could come to God without need of a priest. He told you to love
one another the same as you love yourself. You have given up your own life to
follow him, you believed He was the long
awaited Messiah…. And yet two days ago, you watched as the authorities of the
time executed him in the most humiliating way possible…… you watched him breath
his last, you watched as his body was taken and laid in a tomb…..
What would you be feeling? Sorrow of course. Maybe even a
little betrayed? Now them imagine you are a female follower…. You are not
allowed to be in the room with the men who are talking about what to do next… what do you do? Well you do the only thing
you can. After resting on the Sabbath (Saturday), you go to the tomb first
thing in the morning with the spices and fragrances to anoint the body. But what
you find there is not what you expect……
Luke 24:1-3
Now upon the first day
of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing
the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
And they found the stone rolled away from the
sepulchre.
And they entered in, and found not the body of
the Lord Jesus.
Imagine how these women felt. These women, including His mother,
not only see the stone that had covered the tomb rolled away, but when they went
in his body was not there. Imagine the
confusion, the anger… Thinking that
someone could not even leave Him alone once they had killed him. The had to
further humiliate Him be desecrating His body….
But what happens next is the cornerstone of our Faith……..
Luke 24:4-5
4 And it came to pass, as they were much
perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were
afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
This question is one that we need to ask ourselves today.
Are we still looking for a dead body when we go to Church? Are we still seeking
the living among the dead?
My friends Jesus Christ IS NOT hanging on a cross. He is
alive and well and living at the right hand of the Father and also living
within us… Just like the Disciples, we sometimes forget that fact. When the
Angels asked the women this question and they had no answer they had to remind
them….
Luke 24:6
Luke 24:6
He is not here, but is
risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
When the Angels told them what had happen they remembered
what Jesus told them and ran back to the other Disciples and told them that it
had come to pass. What happened? They didn’t believe them of course… Peter ran
down to see what was going on but still didn’t believe. Even after seeing the
burial clothes laying there and the tomb empty he was still trying to figure
out what happened….
Luke 24:7
Luke 24:7
Then arose Peter, and
ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by
themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
It wasn’t until Jesus appeared in to them that they finally believed……
Luke 24:36
And as they thus
spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be
unto you.
Today we celebrate the rising of The Lord from the dead. My friends
He is no longer hanging on that cross…. He is alive and well. That cross is
nothing but pieces of wood that I am sure have rotted away. It served it
purpose and is no longer needed. Just as the veil is no longer needed…..
Yes we use the symbol of the cross to show our Faith, but
that piece of wood has no power. Because He is no longer on it..
this sermon over the airwaves, don’t go expecting Jesus to
be hanging on the cross. Go expecting Him to be risen and in all of His Glory…..
I leave you with the wonderful song “Arise My Love” by Newsong. Listen to the words and let the power of the Risen
Lord flow in………..
God Bless you all and Happy Easter.
Pastor Brian
