Capture the Meaning of Easter
[Easter family pictures illustration.]
You see without meaning a picture is just a picture. But with meaning a picture turns into a moment that you treasure.
[2] The Easter holiday is much like pictures on someone else’s camera. You know what the pictures represent, but there just isn’t much meaning behind it. And after all, there are so many different things people do on the Easter holiday.
- Easter egg hunts - Sunrise church services
- Easter bunny - Musical church services, dramas
- Family gatherings - Crosses with Jesus on them, empty crosses
There seems to be a lot of activity on this day. But often people celebrate it with little attention paid to Jesus’ resurrection, the reason for the holiday in the first place.
But did you know that for a time even the disciples didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus? As a matter of fact, it took them totally by surprise. You see:
[3] Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t anticipated.
When Jesus died on the cross His followers fell apart. How could their Lord have died like that. Such a horrible death. Such an injustice. I mean, what a sudden, tragic ending to a relatively short life and ministry.
When Jesus died it was like someone had just kicked the disciples in the stomach and knocked the wind right out of them. When Jesus was crucified the disciples thought it was over. Jesus was dead and that was it. Luke 24 shows the disciple’s hopelessness.
[Read Luke 24:1-8.]
They remembered how Jesus had talked about His own death, but they still wondered what was going on. They had come to help keep Jesus’ dead body from smelling worse than it needed to as it decomposed in the tomb. But His body wasn’t there! A couple angels appeared to them to let them know that He wasn’t dead any more. That He was actually alive! Not what they expected to see when they set out to visit Jesus’ grave that day. They thought He was dead, but could He have risen from the dead? They just had to go back and tell the disciples.
[Read Luke 24:9-12.]
They just didn’t get it! Peter “wondered” what was going on. Could Jesus have risen from the dead? Could this really be happening?
Well during the next few weeks before Jesus ascended back to Heaven He appeared to all of His disciples and many, many more people. You see, even though Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t anticipated [4] Jesus’ resurrection would be affirmed.
He showed Himself to many people so they could affirm His resurrection to the masses. These many witnesses are recorded in Scripture so that we can know that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.
The Bible records Jesus appearing in bodily resurrected form to: [5]
- Mary Magdalene, John 20:11-18
- Other women, Matthew 28:8-10
- Peter, Luke 24:34
- Ten of the disciples, John 20:19-25
- All eleven disciples, John 20:26-29
- Those in Galilee, John 21:1-24
- 500 people at once, I Corinthians 15:6
- James and the apostles, I Corinthians 15:6
- Those at His ascension, Acts 1:4-12
- Paul on the road to Damascus, Acts 9:1-6
[6] Jesus’ resurrection was affirmed.
And by the way, when these accounts of resurrection sightings were published in book form, many of these witnesses were still alive and could verify these written accounts. If the accounts would have been false, they would have been discredited almost immediately. But they weren’t refuted. They were accepted as eyewitness accounts of Jesus risen from the dead.
We see another account of Jesus appearing to His followers further in our passage.
[Read Luke 24:13-32.]
Isn’t that amazing! They’re walking and talking with Jesus for miles yet didn’t know it was Him. He’s explaining the Scriptures to them and how the Messiah did need to die but then rise again. As they sat down to eat Jesus shared a meal with them that greatly resembled the last supper that He shared with His disciples right before His death. At that meal the light went on and they recognized that it was indeed Jesus Himself sitting before them.
Without hesitation, they left dinner and ran back to Jerusalem some seven miles to tell the disciples what had happened. Jesus was alive and they had seen Him! As they’re telling the disciples what happened, Jesus shows up on the scene.
[Read Luke 24:33-43.]
Jesus appears to His disciples in bodily, resurrected form and they still didn’t understand what was going on. He shows them the scars in His hands and feet from the nails that hung Him on the cross. He even eats some fish right there in front of them. But their joy, their amazement, the emotion of the moment kept them from grasping the reality of the moment.
You know, there’s experiences in life that just do that to a person. Things that are so heavy that they take a while to sink in.
[Grand Canyon illustration.]
Well, Jesus appearing to the disciples had shocked them so that they still didn’t quite believe that He had really risen from the dead. What they needed were answers. How could this be possible? So:
[7] Jesus’ resurrection was explained.
[Read Luke 24:44-49.]
So just like Jesus did with the men that He walked with to Jerusalem, He opened up the Old Testament and showed the disciples how it was predicted hundreds of years before that He would come, preach, heal, suffer, die and rise again. Listen as I read just a few verses from the Old Testament that would help the disciples to understand what was going on with Jesus.
[Read Deuteronomy 18:15, Psalm 22:14-18, Isaiah 53:4-6.]
Jesus showed them that it was God’s plan all along that He would die. It wasn’t something that just happened. It was something that was planned to happen because it was the only way to pay for the sins of humanity.
All of us had turned to our own ways in one way or another. Nobody is perfect and nobody could be good enough to earn their way into Heaven. It just isn’t possible. You see, we have to answer for the way we live to the One who gave us life in the first place! Our Creator God will hold us accountable for what we’ve done with our lives. So to stand before Him with all of our sin means certain judgment.
So to make salvation possible sin’s price had to be paid. And the only One who had the ability to satisfy the debt was the sinless Son of God. He took our place. He satisfied the debt. And that was the plan all along.
That timeless plan also included His resurrection. A resurrection that proved to the world that He is exactly who He said He is – the Savior.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ had always been the plan for God to make it possible for us to have a relationship with Him. The Old Testament predicted what Jesus lived and died and lived again for all to see.
Finally the disciples saw what they should have seen before – Jesus was alive!
[8] Jesus’ resurrection was believed.
[Read Luke 24:50-53.]
They got it! They understood! They understood that since Jesus had paid the price for their sins they could be forgiven. And one day they would join Him in His heavenly home. And you can tell that they truly believed in the resurrection of Jesus because they oriented their lives around that fact
- Worshipped Him
- Joy
- Temple
- Rocked the world for Jesus
These disciples were the missionaries and pastors and preachers of the New Testament
that lived their lives to tell others about the risen Lord. Even when it cost them their freedom and eventually their lives. But nothing could shut them up when it came to Jesus. He was alive, they had seen it with their own eyes, they understood why it had to happen that way, and they wanted everyone to know the truth.
And so here we are today, some 2,000 years later, still talking about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But are we so different from the people we’ve read about today?
We can see the risen Lord. We can see Him in the changed lives of His people and in the pages of His Book full of eye witness accounts.
We can understand His plan for the redemption of mankind if we’ll just open up our hearts to His Truth.
And we can believe in the risen Lord Jesus and orient our lives around that reality.
Oh how living within the reality of the risen Lord would radically change our lives for the better. I mean, to take that step of faith and turn your life over to Jesus Christ means you would gain forgiveness of sins, the presence of the Spirit within your heart, prayers answered, purpose in life, eternal life!
But listen, don’t believe in Jesus for what you can get. Believe in Jesus because He is real! He is alive and one day we’ll stand before Him. We’ll see the scars in His hands and feet. We’ll have to answer for the lives we’ve lived.
Will He recognize us as His children who believed in Him? Or will He know that we chose to turn away from His reality?
Capture the true meaning of Easter with a heart of belief in the risen Lord. Then this day will be about more than just candy and traditions. Then Easter will be about life. Jesus’ life after death, and your new life in Him. The life He created you to live. [9]
