Easter Sunday Rev. Dr. M. Taylor Bach

I Corinthians 15:20-33 John 20:1-8

I started something last week that I promised I would continue this week and that is letting one of the apostles speak through me in an eye-witness account of the things that happened 2,000 years ago that we celebrated with Good Friday and today. So if you will bear with me a moment, I'll bring that apostle present&

My name is John. You may have read my Gospel. I list myself in that Gospel as the disciple whom Jesus loved because He frequently showed me great attention that felt so comforting and warm and quite frankly, forgiving. So I loved Jesus very much and knew He loved me. I told you last week, those of you who were here, about the fact of His being scourged, beaten to the edge of His death and then nailed to a cross. Only Mary Magdalene, His mother Mary and I stood at the foot of the cross and witnessed His death. Shortly after His death, just to prove that He was dead, one of the centurions on guard, members of the Roman army, ran a spear through His side. Ordinarily, the custom is to break the legs of prisoners hanging from the cross so that their bodies drop and they suffocate more rapidly. But Jesus had already suffocated. He had told the Father, “Into your hands I commend my spirit” and He had died. So just to make certain of that, they stabbed Him with a spear. Blood and water ran out of His side. It was heart-breaking to all of us standing at the foot of the cross. Two people came forward in courage at that time. Joseph of Arimathea had a gravesite, a brand new tomb. It was for his family but it had never been used and he offered it for the body of Jesus. The other person who came forward was Nicodemus. Maybe some of you remember him. Jesus had a conversation about baptism of the Holy Spirit with Nicodemus long before His death. Both were Jewish leaders. Coming forward was done at great risk. Nicodemus brought seventy five pounds of spices and cloth to wrap Jesus' body for burial. With the help of soldiers, the two men took Him down. They allowed Mary, His mother, to hold His body for a few moments. It nearly broke her heart. In fact, when I reflect on it, I still feel overwhelmed with emotion. Our hopes were crushed. This wasn't supposed to happen. We knew He was the Messiah, but dead? There was no Messianic army. There were no angels present to save Him. He was dead. So they took Him and put Him in the tomb. They rolled a gigantic stone in front of the door. Pilate was fearful that we apostles might steal His body and claim that He had risen from the dead because he knew the Pharisees believed in a resurrection. Therefore he ordered that two guards be posted at the entrance of the tomb. We left and went to our homes feeling utterly defeated.

On the third day, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James decided they would go to the tomb. They hoped to add some more spices to Christ's body. They were talking among themselves, “Who are we going to get to remove that stone door? Do you think the centurions would do it for us and allow us to go in to the tomb?” When they got there, they discovered no centurions. The stone was rolled back. They went in and the tomb was empty. The first thing that flooded their mind was, “His body has been stolen.” They immediately came running to both my house and Peter's house and told us about it. We immediately ran to the tomb to see what they were talking about and when we got there, (I am younger so I outran Peter and I got there first!) I looked in but I decided that he had a little more seniority on me so I waited for him and he went in first. Besides, I was afraid. We discovered when we got in there that the cloth that Jesus had been wrapped in was simply laid on a stone slab and the covering of His head was neatly folded. I couldn't help but think, “That's just like Jesus.” He had a sense of order about Him. “If He had arisen from the dead, it wouldn't surprise me at all if He had folded up this cloth for His head. If His body had been stolen, the thieves would not have taken the time to fold the head cloth.” But that thought was fleeting. I didn't hang onto it very long because I just figured somebody had stolen His body. Then I mentioned it to Peter and both of us became overwhelmed with fear. “They are going to blame us. They are going to say we stole His body and we are going to claim that He rose from the dead. We are in deep trouble.” So we ran back to our homes and hid there. Mary Magdalene had accompanied us. She stayed at the tomb and reported to us later what went on as she stayed there. There was a garden in front of it. She was weeping silently, sitting on a stone bench in the garden. Suddenly she turned around and thought she saw a gardener. Through her tears, she couldn't quite make out the figure but then the figure said, “Mary.” She knew it was Jesus. She recognized His voice. Her heart leapt inside her. She said, “Raboni” which is the word for teacher. She jumped up to give Him a hug and He said, “Don't touch me yet. I've not yet ascended to my Father.” So she put her hands down and just looked upon Him with amazement and wonder. He instructed her to go tell the disciples that He was alive. She came back to us and said, “You are not going to believe this but I have seen the Lord! He lives!” We did have trouble believing that. We did. However we had seen the empty tomb. So we ran to the upper room where we had the last supper and where the other disciples were gathered. We began to pray and talk, “What does this all mean? What is this going on? Could He possibly live or was His body stolen by someone? Who would it be that wanted to frame us and get us into trouble?” What was going on here? How much danger are we in?” “Do we dare believe Mary Magdalene?” We had this enormous discussion with the other disciples about all this. While we were doing so, Jesus came right through the walls and appeared among us! He held out His hands and showed us the nail wounds in them. He said, “Shalom lecha.” “Peace be with you.” We were stunned. We stood there in silence. We didn't know what to say. How could it be? We were seeing Him with our own eyes. He comforted us. He instructed us. Then He left the same way He appeared. He left simply by going through the wall.

Later that day, Thomas came because He wasn't with us at that time. We told Thomas about it. We were so excited about Jesus' visitation. We were bubbling over with joy. “We've seen the Lord. He came and stood right among us. We saw His body.” Thomas, skeptic that He was, doubted that He was there and said, “Yeah, right guys. I won't believe this unless I see the wounds and can place my fingers in the nail holes in His hands. I am not going to believe you. You are delusional.” Eight days later, we were still in that upper room praying. We had slept in that room. We had eaten together but we were terrified because we knew we were going to be blamed for stealing Christ's body. Jesus appeared again, the same way He did before. He simply passed through the wall. His body appeared solid. Thomas was with us and immediately, Jesus came to Thomas and said, “Thomas, put your fingers in my wounds.” His body was solid, as solid as yours and mine. Thomas fell to the ground but Jesus insisted, “Touch me. Put your fingers in my hands. Place your hand in my side where I was run through with the spear.” Thomas did it and all he could say was “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are those who believe and haven't seen.” That is all of you because you are required to believe these witnesses and you haven't seen. But there were a lot of witnesses. As time went on, I counted 519 people who witnessed Jesus, saw Him in His risen body.

Let me tell you about another occasion. Shortly after Jesus left this room, Andrew, Thomas, Peter and I went fishing. We do that sometimes to clear our minds. My father owned a fishing company. It was quite large. He had multiple boats on the Sea of Galilee. It was easy for us to get one. That had been our previous occupation before Jesus called us. So we went out and spent a whole night on a fishing boat. It was comforting to feel the rocking of the seas and we could discuss all that we had just experienced. Sometimes, it didn't feel as if it was real and yet we knew it was real. We knew Thomas had actually physically touched the Lord. We had no luck fishing. We caught nothing. As we were coming to shore, dawn was breaking. We saw a figure there on the beach. We were about 100 yards out still on the Sea of Galilee. The voice from this figure yelled, “What have you caught?” Peter yelled back, “We have been fishing all night. We haven't caught a thing.” The figure said, “Cast your nets on the right side of the boat.” And we did. Suddenly the nets were filled with fish. We tugged and pulled. We couldn't even get them into the boat so we just thought, we'll get this boat back to shore and drag the net with us filled with the fish. We ended up counting them. There were 153 large fish in this catch. As we got closer to shore, we recognized that it was Jesus Christ on the shore. Peter got so excited, he jumped out of the boat and he started swimming not waiting for the boat to get to the land. The rest of us rowed the daggone thing as far as we could. We got to the shore and Jesus was there sitting at a campfire. He said, “Bring your fish over. He had prepared breakfast for us. I guess it was to show us once again that this was a real physical resurrection of His because we ate with Him. He had fixed us a meal. He pulled the fish apart, put it in His mouth and chewed it just like we did. He was physically present. He was really there! The excitement that ran through us was just amazing! Now, we couldn't doubt. We totally believed. And we want to pass that on to you so you totally believe.

The last time we saw Jesus physically on the earth was at the Mount of Olives. Once again, He was present with us and was instructing us, “Go therefore, baptize all people, teaching them to obey all that I have taught you, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And I will be with you all the days of your life, even to the end of time.” He instructed us to go to the upper room and prepare for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He would send the Holy Spirit to us in a very powerful way. He forgave Peter who had denied Him. He told Peter to feed His lambs, to feed you. He told us that we had the power to forgive sins. Then He disappeared into the clouds. Oh my gosh! What we have witnessed. It is as fresh in my mind today as it was then because now that I live in heaven, there is no time. We re-experience the resurrection any time we want to. We re-experience these historical events whenever we need to. It is right here. He is alive. He is with us.

What are the consequences? Jesus wants us to tell you to love Him with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, to give your life to following His way. He forgives you of your sins. He teaches you how to love one another as He loved us. He may even demand that some of you give your life for Him. At least give it in sacrificial living. This is His message. Don't get in your own way. Open your eyes and see  He Lives! And so can we.

It is time now for our prayer and I ask you to follow this prayer after me. I will say a line and ask you to repeat the line after me. We call this the salvation prayer. It is a prayer of dedication to Jesus Christ.

“Dear Lord, We believe with all of our heart that you died and rose and that we celebrate your resurrection on this day. We recognize you as our Lord and Savior. We love you with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. We ask you for the forgiveness of our sins. We repent of any evil that we have done and make a commitment to follow your ways. We ask you to live in our hearts through the power of your Holy Spirit. So Lord, we offer you this prayer. You who taught us to say together&Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen