Today is Easter Sunday - Resurrection Day. And I think that a day like today is a perfect opportunity to remember Jesus.
But not His sacrifice. Of course, it's important to not forget His sacrifice. Jesus did what almost no one else in history would ever do - gave up His innocent life so that the guilty might live. And not only did He die; He died one of the most excruciating, horrible deaths ever conceived by man's evil mind. He suffered shame and humiliation, and unbearable, unfathomable pain. But not only that - He did all of this as the Son of God. He voluntarily gave up His omnipotence, and became a man - with all of the fleshly, carnal desires and trials thereof. His sacrifice was the greatest thing that anyone has ever given, period, in the history of the entire world.
So of course, His sacrifice is important to remember. But today, I want to remember His resurrection. If Jesus had stayed in that tomb, in the end all of His pain, His suffering, His humiliation, it would have all been for naught. He would have been at best a martyr, at worst an insane blasphemer. Our faith would have been one that was placed in a dead god, in a being that has no more power to help us than the rocks or trees have.
But Jesus did not stay in the tomb. He rose again. He lives. Let me say that again....He lives! He is alive right now! The empty tomb is the only reason that we can believe what we believe. The only reason that our faith, and Jesus' death, mean anything at all is because He is no longer dead. He is no longer dead!! This Easter, don't just remember His death - remember His life!
But not His sacrifice. Of course, it's important to not forget His sacrifice. Jesus did what almost no one else in history would ever do - gave up His innocent life so that the guilty might live. And not only did He die; He died one of the most excruciating, horrible deaths ever conceived by man's evil mind. He suffered shame and humiliation, and unbearable, unfathomable pain. But not only that - He did all of this as the Son of God. He voluntarily gave up His omnipotence, and became a man - with all of the fleshly, carnal desires and trials thereof. His sacrifice was the greatest thing that anyone has ever given, period, in the history of the entire world.
So of course, His sacrifice is important to remember. But today, I want to remember His resurrection. If Jesus had stayed in that tomb, in the end all of His pain, His suffering, His humiliation, it would have all been for naught. He would have been at best a martyr, at worst an insane blasphemer. Our faith would have been one that was placed in a dead god, in a being that has no more power to help us than the rocks or trees have.
But Jesus did not stay in the tomb. He rose again. He lives. Let me say that again....He lives! He is alive right now! The empty tomb is the only reason that we can believe what we believe. The only reason that our faith, and Jesus' death, mean anything at all is because He is no longer dead. He is no longer dead!! This Easter, don't just remember His death - remember His life!
John 20:1-18
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
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