If Not Here, Where?
Today is Easter. It is a day that we celebrate not His death but His resurrection.
Mark 16:1-7
I don’t want to trivialize the trials Jesus went through, or the beating He endured and by no means the horrible death on a Roman cross, but Jesus was not the first one ever to go through such agony.
If you read the history of the Roman cross, you would discover that the Romans would line both sides of a road with their crosses as they crucified hundreds of criminals.
Jesus went through this ordeal without crying out or pleading for mercy. He went just as a Lamb to the slaughter. Just as the prophet Isaiah prophesied in chapter 53:7, He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Jesus’ only words of agony were when His Father could not look upon Him. Jesus felt abandoned and alone in His last moments. The sins of the world were on His soul.
Matthew recorded this in chapter 27:45-46 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
The Father could not bear to see the sins of the world on His Son.
Jesus cried out when His Father turned away from Him. The disciples and followers cried as Jesus was going through the trials, the beatings and the crucifixion.
That is the horrible, sad and devastating part of this Easter story. The good news, the good part of this story is what happened three days later. And it has only happened ONCE.
In your bulletin, you have some facts that the Sermon Central’s staff gathered.
ALL THE DIFFERENCE
All but four of the major world religions are based on mere philosophical propositions. Of the four that are based on personalities rather than philosophies, only Christianity claims an empty tomb for its founder.
In 1900 B.C. Judaism’s Father Abraham died.
In 483 B.C. Buddhist writings say Buddha died “with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind.”
June 6, 632 A.D. Mohammed died.
In 33 A.D. Jesus died but came back to life appearing to 500 people over a period of 40 days.
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (I Corinthians, 15:14).
What do you think about these facts?
I believe that they confirm the reason for us to celebrate. Today is a day to celebrate, because our Jesus is alive. He has defeated death, hell and the grave.
AMEN
I want to concentrate on verses 6 and 7 of our text this morning.
Mark 16:6-7 "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. 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.'"
If He is not here, - - - where?
As the followers came to accept His death, they came to prepare His body for burial on the morning of the first day of the week; they find that He is not there. He was not where they thought His body would be.
If He is not here, then where is He? If He is not in your life, then where is He?
Is Jesus always where you expect Him to be?
Sometimes He has gone ahead of you, to prepare the way.
If He is not here, where is He? Jesus had told them where He would be and in their grief, they forgot or even doubted His words.
They were told where to find Him. How do we find Him? Follow the simple instructions. Just ask and obey.
I have a license plate in my office that says: “If all else fails, follow directions.”
They were told to go into Galilee and they would see Him there. If they did not go to Galilee, would they have seen Him?
Thomas was not there when Jesus first appeared to the disciples but Jesus did return to show Thomas his wounds and then question Thomas’ faith in what he heard, and not what he could see.
If you remember, Lazarus was the first person the disciples saw resurrected from the grave and Jesus did that. Now it is Jesus’ body they are dealing with and they can’t find it. Who was going to raise Him from the grave?
We know that dead people are dead and death is inevitable for all of us eventually, in one way or other.
If we are not here, where are we?
General Superintendent David A. Busic writes of Easter and the resurrection of the body. And I quote: “This means that while death is inevitable for the Christian, it is not a permanent situation. By His teaching, miracles, and even by His own resurrection, Jesus clearly taught the resurrection of the human body. He made it clear that while death is real, there is life after death and that our bodies will one day be raised by the power of God.
The promise of eternal life means nothing without power to make it happen. There is power in Christ’s promise of eternal life because He himself was raised from the dead. Those who die in Christ will be bodily resurrected and have eternal life through Him.
We must not lose the wonder of that beautiful truth. It is our Easter hope.” Close quote.
The surprise to those who don’t know, and the blessings of those who do, is that our Lord is not dead. He is alive and not only is He the source of our salvation; He holds the key to the door of eternal life.
If not here, where? When and where are you going to start following His instructions?
The disciples didn’t followed the directions that Jesus had given them earlier, but the Angel reminded them where they were to go. Go to Galilee. There they found what they had lost touch of, Jesus.
They lost touch because they did nothing. Does that remind you of anything or anyone?
Hebrews 10: 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
If we don’t stay in contact with people, we lose track of them. If we don’t follow His instructions, we will lose Him. One or two trips to church a year, is not staying in touch. Just dusting the bible off each week does not make contact with Him.
You’ve seen the TV commercial about life is too short for cheap jewelry. Well life is too short to gamble on whether we have time to go our own way and find Jesus later.
When you are going your way, you are not putting God first and Jesus said in Mark 12 when asked what commandment was the most important.
Mark 12:29-31 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
If not now, when?
If not here, where?
If He is not in you, where is He and where are you?
Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV) Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
“If all else fails, follow directions.”
If not now, when?
If not here, where?
If He is not in you, where is He and where are you?
This is Easter, it was a day of new beginnings for the church and it can be a new beginning for you also. If you need to do some business with Jesus, today is the day.
