Rev. Deacon Allen J. Batchelder
†
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
March 31, 2013 – The Day of Resurrection – Easter Sunday

Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; I Corinthians 15:19-26, John 20:1-18

From the book of Acts:
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

From St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

And from the Gospel of St. John:
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I not yet ascended to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!

Easter Sunday: where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The resurrection is an essential part of the Gospel message and a key doctrine of our Christian faith. It proves that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that His atoning work on the cross has been completed and is effective. The empty cross and the empty tomb are God’s “receipts” telling us that the debt has been paid. Jesus Christ is not only the Saviour, but He is also the Sanctifier (Rom. 6:4-10) and the Intercessor (Rom. 8:34). One day He shall return to judge both the living and the dead.

From the beginning, the enemies of the Lord tried to deny the historic fact of the Resurrection. The Jewish leaders claimed that the Lord’s body had been stolen from the tomb. This belief was absurd, because how would they have done it? The tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers and the stone sealed by an official Roman seal.

When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb the next day and found the stone rolled away and the body gone, she also thought someone had stolen the body. Even Jesus’ closest followers, including His disciples, did not understand that Jesus was to be raised from the dead, even though He had told them.

As Jesus began appearing to people, first to Mary, then to the Disciples and then to others; it gradually dawned on these grieving people that their Master was not dead, but alive! And what a difference it made when the full realization of His resurrection took hold of them! For Mary Magdalene it meant moving from tears to joy (John 20:1-18); for the ten disciples it meant going from fear to courage (John 20:19-23); and for Thomas it meant moving from doubt to assurance (John 20:24-31). With Mary, the emphasis is on love; with the ten, the emphasis is on hope; and with Thomas, the emphasis is on faith.

When Jesus first appeared to Mary in the garden, she thought He was the gardener. She asked him: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Then Jesus called out her name, “Mary.” Then she immediately recognized Him, and the realization of the resurrection was revealed and she believed. She turned and said, “Rabboni” My Master, my teacher. She then ran to tell the others as Jesus had instructed her to do.

Did they believe her? No. They had to go see for themselves. They wanted proof. Peter and John ran to the tomb. John arrived first and looked into the burial chamber. What did John see? He saw the grave clothes lying on the stone shelf without any evidence of violence or crime. They lay there like an empty cocoon, still retaining the shape of Jesus’ body.

Peter arrived and went into the chamber. The only way that those linen clothes could be left in that condition would be if Jesus passed through them as He arose from the dead. Then John entered the chamber and looked at the evidence. They both saw and believed!

It seems incredible that the followers of Jesus did not expect Him to come out of the tomb alive. After all, He had told them many times that He would be raised from the dead. Did He not raise Lazarus from the dead?

What kind of faith did Peter and John have at that stage in their spiritual experience? They had faith based on evidence. They could see the grave clothes; they knew that the body of Jesus was not there. However, as good as evidence is to convince the mind, it can never change the life. I sometimes think that the disciple Thomas was given a bad rap. He was the last disciple to see Jesus risen, and thus the last disciple to believe. The fact is, they all didn’t believe until they had physical proof and yet it was Thomas who was given the name of “doubting Thomas.”

Those of us who live centuries later cannot examine the evidence, for the material evidence (the empty tomb, the grave clothes) is no longer there for us to inspect. We probably can’t go down to the local cemetery and see our Risen Lord like Mary did; I am somewhat sure that Jesus is not going to appear before us this morning. But we have the record in the Word of God (John 20:9) and that record is true. In fact, it is faith in the Word that the Lord really wanted to cultivate in His disciples. Peter made it clear that the Word of God, not personal experiences, should be the basis for our faith (1 Peter 1:12-21).

After His resurrection, our Lord did not reveal Himself to everyone, but only to selected witnesses who would share the good news with others (Acts 10:39-43). This witness is now found in Scripture, the New Testament; and both the Old Testament and the New Testament agree in their witness. The Law, the Psalms, the Prophets, and the Apostles together bear witness that Jesus Christ is alive!

Mary not only shared the fact of His resurrection and that she had seen Him personally, but she also reported the words that Jesus had spoken to her. Again, we see the importance of the Word of God. Mary could not transfer her experience over to them, but she could share the Word; and it is the Word that generates faith (Rom. 10:17).

It is good to have faith that is based on solid evidence, but the evidence should lead us to the Word, and the Word should lead us to the Saviour. It is one thing to accept a doctrine and defend it; it is something else to have a personal relationship to the living Lord. Peter and John believed that Jesus was alive, but it was not until that evening that they met the risen Christ in person along with the other disciples.

What is the greatest miracle that God can do for us? Some would call the healing of the body God’s greatest miracle, while others would vote for the raising of the dead. However, the greatest miracle of all is the salvation of a lost sinner. Why? Because salvation costs the greatest price, it produces the greatest results, and it brings the greatest glory to God.

Many of you know that I grew up in the Methodist Church on Moody Street in Waltham. John Wesley was the founder of this Protestant denomination. John was a religious man, a church member, a minister, and the son of a minister. He belonged to a “religious club” at Oxford, England, the purpose of which was the perfecting of the Christian life. Wesley served as a foreign missionary, but even as he preached to others, he had no assurance of his own personal salvation.

On May 24, 1738, Wesley reluctantly attended a small meeting in London where someone was reading aloud from Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans. “About a quarter before nine.” Wesley wrote in his journal, “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed, I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” The result was the great Wesleyan revival that not only swept many into the kingdom, but also helped transform British society through the Christian faith.

Jesus left His disciples, and with us, the great commission: “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 lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

It was a three stage process for the disciples: first bring the news of Jesus’ resurrection and salvation to the Jews, then to the Samaritans, then to the Gentiles. Jesus died for everyone; He took on the sins of the whole world by His sacrifice on the cross. The third day He rose again for our salvation. Salvation is offered to everyone. But then God, allows us to choose: to believe in Him or reject Him; to choose salvation or death.

I found an article in a Leadership magazine that I would like to share with you:

Little Philip, born with Down’s syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully. The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought in some Leggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion.

After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether flower, butterfly, or leaf: the class would ooh and ah. Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.” Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.” “Philip, you don’t ever do anything right!” one student retorted. “There’s nothing there!” “I did so do it.” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty, the tomb was empty!” Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class.

Philip died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg. The tomb is empty!
Jesus Christ Lives! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Let us pray:
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
AMEN †