When the Stone is Moved… and Life is Opened
Brad Bailey – Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023
Today we gather around the event that opened up life as we know it.
An event which shook every life around it... and broke out through the region...and ultimately across the whole world.
And today... I want to encourage us to allow our souls to take this in afresh.
Once a holy day becomes a holiday ... a cultural holiday… we have to sift through the sentiments to engage the profound substance.
The problem isn’t with having cultural traditions... our family has always enjoyed Easter Egg hunts... and I can enjoy rabbits as much as anyone.
The issue that we need to face...is that of allowing the events of the death and resurrection of Christ to be lost in some kind of merely symbolic meaning... to lose the transforming power of that which is rooted in history.
These events are rooted in PROPHETIC PREDICTION.
We can read what God spoke through the prophet Isaiah... of the one who ... spoke thousands of years before these events... with specific facts that no one else could have fulfilled. All of which was clearly written over 700 years before being fulfilled in Christ.
These events are rooted in HISTORY.
It’s not uncommon today for people to claim that we can’t really trust that these accounts of Jesus are true because they were written long after his life. While many seem to WANT to accept that...it simply isn’t true.
We can read of how the resurrection of Christ was at the forefront of the belief of the people within the very first years after Christ was crucified....not something that emerged as some later account.
As the Apostle himself explains... not only was the risen Christ seen by many before ascending to heaven...but they are still alive when he is writing these accounts.
These events are rooted in their PROFOUND IMPACT.
We can read of the accounts of those who were there....whose testimony would cost them their lives.
Jesus said...
Matthew 24:14 (GW)
This Good News about the kingdom will be spread throughout the world as a testimony to all nations.
For someone... who had a small group of socially powerless followers... living under the oppressive reign of the Roman Empire.... who knew they would soon be killed...to say such a thing.... is either worth mocking...or worth sitting up and listening to. [1]
And here we are...at the ends of the earth...joining by 2.2 billion people around the world celebrating.
There is far more that we could explore.... [2]...but my hope is that if we are carrying some idea that this is perhaps mere myth... that arose long after the actual events... I believe we do well to shake ourselves free from that idea.
And from the Gospel account of Mark... this is just such an account...
MARK 16:1-3
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
It was now the third day... Jewish days were defined as being from sunset to sunset. Jesus had died on that fateful Friday. Friday evening to Saturday was the second day... the Sabbath day when no one was to travel about... they obeyed the law... and now it was early on the third day.
Mark says it’s very early... John’s account says they began “while it was still dark” these women headed out.
This day begins in a darkness on so many levels.
We can only begin to imagine how the profound experience of what was so clearly God’s power and love at work... was just crushed in the most horrific and tragic ways.
In Jesus, they had seen the power God that transcended this world...they had seen the love of God that that transcended this world.
But then... the powers of this world had seized him... he was beaten..... mocked... and the people turned with hate.
The great Roman Empire now did what it did... it silenced the problem...but crucifying him... for all to see.
And they were there...They saw his body... ripped open by flogging...now nailed...bleeding.
They experienced the mid-day darkness (vv. 44-45a). They heard that terrible scream: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). And they watched him breathe His last breath (v. 49).
“Were you there when they crucified my Lord” ...wasn’t just a song to them. They were there when they crucified our Lord.
They knew Joseph of Aramathea had requested the body and prepared a tomb. They saw his body placed in the tomb...and sealed shut.
There had been no time to prepare his body in the proper way he deserved.
Saturday had passed...the Sabbath Day...their minds no doubt replayed the scenes all day long. Their hearts grieved over and over again. With nothing to do to distract them, they probably found no rest for their souls.
So, on the third day, the first day of the week, Sunday, they rose very early in the morning and walked to the tomb.
Sorrow was in their steps. And nothing but spices to more properly wrap his body in.
And they had just one question on their minds:
“Who will roll away the stone for us?”
That stone represented so much.
The stones that would seal such tombs are huge...they are sealing that which a human body can enter...and could easily weigh a ton.
When that stone was set in place... it represented the cold hard facts of nature.
Perhaps you know how cold and hard those facts can be.
They would be rolled into a trench that would set them in place.
And if they become deep... make it harder to move....
You may have stones stuck in deep ruts at the entrance of your heart.
And perhaps it still seems just too impossible to imagine such a rising with new life... too outside nature as usual....
> But of course... that is the very point.
It is outside the current nature of life. In this current state of the created world... there is entropy... aging...and dying... and no exceptions.
The whole point is that this was outside the current nature of life... because It’s was the current nature of life that needs to be overcome.
The whole of creation and life as we know it has been subjected to a state that is no longer aligned with it’s source.
Perhaps that is why we read of the earth shaking both at the moment of Christ’s death...and his resurrection. We read...
Matthew 27:50-51
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment .... The earth shook, the rocks split
And he notes that when the stone was rolled away from the tomb... the earth shook again. (Matthew 28:2)
We are told that the ground itself shook at the moment of Christ’s death... and when he rose.
Perhaps this was a sign of God responding to the powers that have ruled...
We know that such quakes were part of the groundwork of this region…for history has shown that indeed the temple has been struck by such quakes just as described... and in this moment In fact the effects of a major earthquake have been found within these years. [3]
And perhaps with this shaking of the earth...God was unleashing a reminder that the whole of creation was not as it should be.
Perhaps it reflects that the whole of creation, as the Scriptures describes, are groaning for restoration.
As the Scriptures tell us...
Romans 8:22, 20
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration... creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
All creation “groans” ....; that is, all created things suffer a state of pain and disorder. The “groaning” is awaiting new life... “as in the pains of childbirth.”
God was bringing a sign of a new creation... signs of the age to come when the whole creation will be restored to it’s eternal nature.
In the death and resurrection... there is a reminder that this world is not as it should be....and not as it will be. It has been separated from it’s original nature... but it will be restored.
To a creation that had no longer been bound to it’s eternal source... God was affirming His reign.
The whole of creation will one day be restored to life eternal.
The Scriptures tell of a New heaven and earth [4]...” in which...
Revelation 21:3-4; 22:3
God himself will be with them... There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.... No longer will there be any curse.
God was giving notice that the whole of creation will be restored.
But this stone also represented the powers of this world.
These women had watched what the religious leaders did... they held onto their power...and they used the power of the Roman empire to do it.
They were women...and I imagine they had a good sense about how power can be abused.
The Roman empire is deemed to not only have been unlike any the world HAD seen... but even more than the world HAS ever seen.... in it’s reach and dominance.
And just to make sure there would be no problems... the local Roman Ruler (Pilate)... had directed them to place a Roman seal on the stone and place guards outside the tomb. (Matthew 27:65-66)
> That stone represented that the powers of this world... had declared they were in control.
And so the women wonder...who would move the stone?
If the Roman guards were still posted there... would they move the stone and allow them to enter? And if they weren’t then who would move the stone?
MARK 16:4
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
The stone has been moved.
There is no doubt that they couldn’t begin to realize the scope of what was at hand.
What they hadn’t realized...is that God works in the darkness.
We may see the powers of this world as ruling... but God is at work.
There is more than we as infinite beings can see and understand.
God is not bound by the powers of this world.
But what of the power of the corrupt religious leaders?
... God was at work.
But what of the power of all the hate and violence that was filling the people?
... God was at work.
But what of the power of the empire that could declare a man to such shame and suffering?
... God was at work.
Some of us need to take this in today.
Some of us lost our hearts...by the way in which the whole of political rulers act... from cultural wars to military wars... from Ulvade to Ukraine... and Tennessee to Tel Aviv.
We can lose heart.
But today we can realize... they are no different than the religious leaders who turned those who loved Jesus against him... no different than the seal of Rome placed upon a tomb....so that it would not be opened.
God is not bound by the powers of this world.
Mark’s account continues...
MARK 16:5-6
5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Luke records a question which the messenger from heaven asks:
Luke 24:5-7 "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 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 into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" 8Then they remembered his words.
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (v. 5)
It’s clear from the angel’s question that they won’t find Jesus among the dead. The Lord is not to be thought of as dead. ”He is not here; He is risen!” He is not dead; He is alive!
That itself is staggering...but they need to understand this is part of something so much larger.
They are told that he is risen...just as he told you. And expounds...
“The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
And one word that shouldn’t be missed...it is the word “must.”
These things MUST happen.
Verse 7...”Then they remembered his words.” This is what Jesus had been telling them.
When we read of all that Jesus did and said...we find there was one thing that no one ever grasped... and that one thing was that of his coming death.... of the suffering and sacrifice.
The people had been waiting for vindication... for most it was vindication against the Gentile nations... including the Roman empire...for some...against the religious leaders ... so they were waiting to see him defeat them.
And while he ultimately did... they are not the enemy of our souls.
Evil is not limited to such sources... the truth is that we have all gone astray... there is something defiant in the disposition of us all.
Why MUST Christ bear such shame... such separation from God the Father in heaven?
To provide a way for us to reconcile us.
Christ comes to represent humanity... but fully united with God... and then as the one who has not gone astray...has not created separation... he bears that separation. In so doing he has atoned... provided for the consequences we should have faced.
—'Sin, being an infinite offence against God, required a satisfaction equally infinite. As no finite being could offer such satisfaction, it was necessary that an infinite being, i.e. God Himself, should take the place of man and by His death make complete satisfaction to divine justice.” (Source of this statement missing)
And just as God had spoken through the prophets...he was then raised up... and now makes new life with him possible.
The power of death... separation from God... has been defeated.
1 Corinthians 15:26, 36-37, 42-44, 55
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death... What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed...
42 ...The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body...55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
There is no fighting the fact that these bodies themselves will die.
There is no anti-aging cream or scheme that is going to change that ultimate fact.
But if the beings within the bodies are united with God...with His Sprit... we will be united forever...but in new bodies that will not perish.
Our spiritual nature is not a secondary lesser reality.
God is spirit... and we could say... of greater substance than the temporal world He created.
The material world came into existence from the non-material Spirit of God.
So it is indeed our spiritual nature that endures and will do so with new bodies that are themselves enduring... unperishing.
So death has lost the power to separate us from life.
That is death’s victory and sting... it is it’s finality... it’s separation from life.
Death...where is your sting
A story is shared of... a little boy and his father who were driving down a country road on a beautiful spring afternoon. Suddenly out of nowhere a bumblebee flew in the car window. Since the little boy was deathly allergic to bee stings he became petrified. but the father quickly reached out, grabbed the bee, squeezed it in his hand, and then released it. But as soon as he let it go, the young son became frantic once again as it buzzed by the little boy. His father saw his panic-stricken face. Once again the father reached out his hand, but this time he pointed to his hand. There still stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. "Do you see this? "he said. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you."
And that is what God has done in Christ.
Today Christ reminds us: “I've Taken Your Sting”
If we receive his death for us... we can be united in his everlasting life.
Now life’s terminal is no longer death but life–everlasting, resurrection life.
1 Peter 1:3-4
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.
If we are united with his life...we have a new birth...not into the temporal world separated from eternal life...but into a future that can never spoil...and never fade.
It is a living hope ...an anchor for the soul.
> But it isn’t about waiting to die.
We now have a new life with a new purpose.
And so those at the grave of Christ are told...
MARK 16:7
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
That stone had cut them off... from that relationship...from that purpose.
But now Jesus is loose in the world.
And with those words...their future begins.
And Jesus would explain it is taking on a new dimension.
No longer incarnate... but now his indwelling presence.
This is the impact of Christ upon the original disciples… as he revisioned their lives… even renamed some…. And at the resurrection, they got it. “We really are a part of his purpose… a divine purpose.
He calls us to be united with him... and in doing so... we receive his right standing.. and he helps us and leads us in living the new life...and purpose.
The Bible says this… 2 Cor. 5:15 (NLT)
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.” - 2 Cor. 5:15
It was just the beginning of a new life.
And God has a new beginning...a new future for each of us.
When Christ rose from death, the reality of a new life under a new power began. As members of the new humanity.
And is that is precisely what we will begin to engage in a new series and focus that we will begin next week... drawing on the Biblical Book of Colossians ...we discover that no part of human existence remains untouched by the loving and liberating rule of Jesus. All of life - hardship, temptation, character, and relationships - are transformed.
And it begins with realizing that
God is providing a new life with a new purpose.
In my youth I had a rather idyllic life... worked at the beach... surfed every day... but when I looked at Jesus... I saw everything that this world needed.
I saw a purpose worth giving my whole to.
There is one union that can be with is when we pass from the state into the next...and that is our union with Christ. But that union starts now.
It that union that is with us always... and that union that unites our lives with purpose.
You weren’t made to live for yourself. We will never be happy living for ourselves. We were created by God.
In Disney's animated movie Toy Story, Woody (a plush toy cowboy) confronts Buzz Lightyear (a toy astronaut) with the fact that he is only an action figure and not really a space hero. Early in the movie Woody shouts, "You're not a space ranger! You're an action figure—a child's plaything."
Only after failing to fly, Buzz realizes the truth of Woody's statement. Grief-stricken and disillusioned, Buzz hangs his head in resignation, declaring, "I'm just a stupid, little, insignificant toy."
Woody later seeks to comfort his friend by underscoring the love of the boy who owns them both. "You must not be thinking clearly. Look, over in that house, there's a kid who thinks you're the greatest, and it's not because you're a space ranger; it's because you're his."
As Buzz lifts his foot, he sees a label affixed to the bottom of his little shoe. There in black permanent ink is the name of the little boy to whom he belongs. Seeing the image of his owner, Buzz breaks into a smile and takes on a new determination.
> God wants you to know a life of purpose in him… to give up trying to be the action heroes of this world…. and discover the ultimate and true purpose of being His.
Invitation / Prayer
Notes:
1. Rodney Stark in The Rise of Christianity estimates 1,000 members of the Jesus Sect in 40 AD and projects a growth rate of 40% per decade up to the fourth century. (here: https://kyleorton.co.uk/2021/06/11/how-many-christians-were-there-in-the-roman-empire/). It’s been noted, that initially, to most, “Christianity ... was regarded as a minority religion of such little importance than it didn’t seem worth the effort to reign in.” (Here in "facts and Details": https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat55/sub352/entry-5764.html) Christ’s prophetic words were recorded into the written Gospel accounts between 60 and 70AD...at which time the primary missionary was Paul, whose conversion is known to have been supernatural in nature. Paul did bring the Gospel into Asia Minor...but would soon be imprisoned. A group had begun to grow in Rome, but were soon being killed as scapegoats, following the great fire of 64AD. A large portion of those in Jerusalem fled when the Temple was destroyed by Roman armies in 70AD. All of this puts into perspective, the prophetic words of Jesus regarding how what he began would reach the whole world.
2. Expanding this point, the resurrection is...
Rooted in historical TIME
The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ takes place in 30 AD… Paul’s encounter and conversion takes place about 34 AD… and his first meeting in Jerusalem was between 34 and 37 A.D …at which point, as he refers to here…he receives here to what many suggest is now a summary creed of the facts… …which themselves capture what was being accepted and shared long before being written into such a form.
So the time between the event of Christ's crucifixion and Paul receiving the information about His death, burial, and resurrection (in Jerusalem) would be as short as seven years…and reflect what has been proclaimed before being summarized in a formal creed…from the very start.
That is why Paul makes it very clear… that what was being declared in Jerusalem… was known to those who were still alive at the time of the events. If Jesus’ tomb was not empty, the early Christian community could not have possibly preached the resurrection in Jerusalem where Jesus was buried.
We have no record at all of any corrections or challenges to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ from anyone… neither religious leaders nor the rulers of Rome.
Rooted in recorded PREDICTION
Paul had come to realize that what he had been attacking…was actually what God had predicted. As he wrote…
“Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said he would. 4 He was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said he would be.” - 1 Corinthians 15:4 (NIRV)
Through the prophets, God had been establishing the promise of a Messiah… a savior who would overcome the powers of injustice and evil. These messianic prophecies were made hundreds, sometimes thousands of years before….and Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever walked this earth to fulfill them. [5] If you want an extra way to enjoy this afternoon… sit down…relax…and read what God spoke to the prophet Isaiah in the Book of Isaiah chapters 52 and 53.
Finally we can note that the power of the resurrection is…
Rooted in it’s unprecedented IMPACT
One has to consider the impact of this event and how it went forward… and how clear it is that something really happened.
Let me offer a few thoughts to consider.
Those who declare the reality of the resurrection choose the same worst fate of tortuous death that both their religious community and the Roman Empire would bring.
The disciples weren’t the heroic type. They were just common uneducated working guys who Jesus called…to their own surprise. And in their own accounts…they were slow learners…and not very heroic in their courage. They were afraid to even be associated with him as their religious leaders turned to silence him. And the Roman government made sure no one defied them. So there is some real impact here.
Most of the disciples were martyred for their faith. But none of them recanted their affirmation in order to save their lives. They crucified Peter upside down, and he doesn't break. Every one of the disciples dies a brutal, horrific death. Some had wives and families at stake.
What happened on that day was never denied…as they were slaughtered one by one and as other men and women by the hundreds were slaughtered. That’s the power of the resurrection’s impact.
Perhaps John, the disciple and apostle closest to Jesus, said it best….
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” - 1 John 1:1
Adding to this...C.S. Lewis came into a life changing understanding when he realized that what the Gospels are telling was the “myth become fact.” This can be explored more at C. S. Lewis, Myth, and Fact: https://pursuingveritas.com/2014/05/07/c-s-lewis-myth-and-fact/
3. Reference: Quake reveals day of Jesus' crucifixion, researchers believe -https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna47555983
May 24, 2012; Source: Discovery Channel, by Jennifer Viegas
For an extensive study on the earthquakes in these event, see: The Earthquakes of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-earthquakes-of-the-crucifixion-and-resurrection-of-jesus-christ/
4. The new heaven and new earth are also mentioned in Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, and 2 Peter 3:13. Peter tells us that the new heaven and new earth will be “where righteousness dwells.” Isaiah says that “the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” Things will be completely new, and the old order of things, with the accompanying sorrow and tragedy, will be gone. God describes the current state of the earth in Jeremiah 12:4 and 11. See more on Romans 8 here: https://www.gotquestions.org/all-creation-groans.html and on the “new heavens and earth” here: https://www.gotquestions.org/new-heavens-earth.html
