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Conflict and Community:

Wondering About the Resurrection

Luke 24:1-12

Introduction

      We all wonder when it comes to issues of faith, we wonder about God.  Some of us wonder if God really exists.  Others of us wonder if Jesus really rose from the dead.  Still others of us wonder what does the resurrection mean? 

      These verses are the beginning of the resurrection story in Luke.  And I love this passage because it shows how honest the Bible is.  All of Christianity is based on the resurrection of Jesus.  Yet when the news of the resurrection first gets out—no one believes it!

      Even the people who knew Jesus and lived with him were driven to wonder.  They didn’t have all the answers.  This is good for us, because even as Christians, we struggle and wonder how the resurrection affects our lives. 

      And this text makes room for us in the church.  Whether or not you’re a believer in Jesus, if you’ve ever wondered about God or about Christianity, or if you’re a Christian and you wonder why life still has so many problems, or what it means to believe that Jesus rose from the dead… you’re not alone.  You’re in good company. 

      We’re going to see three points today from these verses:  I. Wonder Comes Before Faith, II. Some Wonder Creates Faith, III. Your Life Creates Wonder for Others

1. Wonder Comes Before Faith

      V1—The women came.  They came with spices to care for Jesus’ body. They came, v2-3 expecting to find the body, but they found the stone rolled away.  They found that the body of Jesus was gone.  This creates obvious tension in the story.  What’s going on? If these—his followers—don’t know what’s going on, how are we supposed to know? 

      V4—2 Men appeared in clothes that gleamed like lightning.  Their clothing shows that they are messengers sent from heaven, and they resolve the tension.  V6.  He’s risen!

      And he reminds them, “Remember as he spoke to you while he was in Galilee, saying, ‘the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”

      And they remembered his words.  Is that odd?  They hadn’t been thinking about them.  It’s like when you’re sitting at a restaurant, waiting for your date to show up.  You’ve can’t wait because you’ve had the most incredible day.  And they’re late. 5 minutes late, 10 minutes late, 15 minutes late.  You’re starting to take it personally.  Then you call them.  “Are you almost here?”  “I’m sorry, what are you talking about?”  “Our date!”  “Don’t you remember, we talked yesterday and I needed to change it to tomorrow.”  And you think, “Wow, you’re right.  I remember having that conversation.”  You remembered, but had lost track because of circumstances of your day.  Same with women. V9—The women went back to tell the 11 and the rest of the disciples. 

But the Disciples didn’t believe it either!

      V11—their words seemed to them like nonsense.  “A silly fantasy, the kind of thing that a few women who were crazy with grief and lack of sleep would make up.”  NTW  What about you?  Are you in this place with the 11?  You’ve heard things about Jesus and the resurrection, but it all sounds crazy?  Not just for non-Xns.  Maybe you’re a believer, and you’ve heard that Jesus can make a difference in your struggles, but you just can’t believe it.  In the first century, there was no room for this idea in peoples’ minds. 

      In the non-Jewish world, there was absolutely no such thing as a bodily resurrection.  Of those religions that believed in an afterlife, no one thought that life after death would have a body. In the Jewish world, resurrection was something that was going to happen to all of the righteous at the end of time.  “This wasn’t just lack of faith, no one dreamed that one person would experience the resurrection in the middle of time while the rest of the world would go on as normal.”

      I want to make sure that things are clear:  the resurrection didn’t mean simply that Jesus had come back to life as he knew it before he was crucified.  Resurrection meant that Jesus had passed through death and out the other side.  He died, and then he came out the other end.  This wasn’t allegorical, it was a metaphor. In the bible, there were other people who were brought back to life. But they continued their earthly existence and died later. 

      This resurrection of Jesus meant that Jesus was alive in a way that was a different kind of life, a different quality of life than he had before.  It was a life beyond the grave, a life free from suffering and hardship, a life free from temptation or any of the brokenness of this life, a life free from any of the power of death.  And it was forever.  That is what Jesus’ resurrection meant.  The problems of the world had been solved for Jesus.  He had passed through. 

      Can you imagine Democrats and Republicans loving each other in the political process, and working together to love the people of this country and to serve them first?  Doesn’t compute, does it?  Maybe in eternity, but certainly not in the middle of time?  We can’t even conceive of this. 

      Yet, they are being confronted with it.  How about you?  You’ve heard that Jesus rose from the dead, but have you ever grappled with what it means?  That Jesus has conquered death and now is more powerful than the things that are broken in the world… more powerful than the things that are broken in your life? in my life?

      The news of the resurrection leaves them wondering.  And no one believed it!  What a scene!  And no one believes… except for Peter.  That’s Point 2…

2. Some Wonder Creates Faith

      Peter.  Good ol’ Peter.  V12.  Peter was first to make the connection.  Probably because he was so desperate.  Could there be hope?  Peter was the one who failed Jesus, he was the one who denied Jesus three times.  He was the one who had lost all hope. 

      But then Peter heard the women.  And thought, “Could Jesus have risen from the dead?  Could he have conquered death?  It’s impossible.  But if Jesus was risen, maybe the impossible was possible?  Maybe the unforgivable could be forgiven?”

      YOU:  What do you wish was possible?  What do you need to be possible?  Do you have a relationship in your life that needs the impossible to be possible?  Do you have an addiction that needs the impossible to be possible?  Maybe it’s your relationship with God that needs the impossible to be possible?  You are just like Peter. The Bible teaches that if you believe in Jesus, then his resurrection gives you new power, new life, and a new perspective.   If the resurrection is true, it promises that you can you pass from death to life, that you will experience the end of all sin and effects, that everything broken or sad in your life will come untrue.

      Part of the joy of Easter is that our resurrection isn’t just future, but it’s also true today! It will be true for the end of time, but it begins to be true today!  You have to understand, this isn’t just about non-Christians.  If you’re a Christian this morning, your life is a mixture of resurrection and death.  There are areas of life that are still producing death and darkness.  There are parts of your life that need to be resurrected, where you need to go from darkness to light. Opening mood of Easter:  surprise, astonishment, fear, confusion.  Our experience of resurrection is too!  It’s a mystery to us, but we find that we come to have more power, resolve, freedom to put off sin and death and experience new life.

      If you could be free from everything that weighs you down, if you could be completely the way you know you should be, if that was a future hope, wouldn’t you want to begin to experience that today?

      V12—PETER rises (good word).  And he goes to check it out.  This kind of news must searched out.  So Peter goes, and he ends in wonder.  Could it be true?  You wonder, could it be true? 

      Jesus is a no show in this text.  Just the testimony of 2 witnesses.  Then the women.  Witnesses and an empty tomb… that’s what we have today too. 

      The testimony is enough to get you wondering.  As you pursue it, Jesus will show up to confirm it to you. 

      All the wonder is answered in next week’s passage.  This testimony was enough to get the disciples talking, seeking, it was enough to cause them to think of things they’d heard in new ways.  Next week, you’ll see Jesus show up. 

      But embrace the hope of Peter.  Realize that if you’re a Christian—there is still more of the resurrection for you to experience in your life today.  If you’re not a Christian, the impossible can begin to be possible for you today.  You just need to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

3. Your Life Creates Wonder for Others

      When you believe, the wonder doesn’t stop.  It continues.  It calls you to live this resurrection and create wonder in others.

Commit to a Deeper understanding of the resurrection

      Let the truth stop you and make you think.  Christianity isn’t just one religion among many.  Jesus alone in history has conquered death.  He alone has come out the other side.  He now has authority over all.

      Learn the impact—not just life after death, but life conquered death.  Where is death manifested in your life?  Where is darkness in control?  Where is your life broken, not what it should be?  Believe that the resurrection will raise new life in you today.  You take this new power into your life.  New attitudes, new relationships. 

      Frances Greenspan, a San Diegan, was deceived by a real estate con man.  The con completely destroyed her credit, and cost her $30,000.  Here’s what she said to the press:  Honestly, I don't regret doing this, because I believe everything in life happens for a reason, said Greenspan. “And the reason is so I can expose him and bring him to justice.”

      That is an example of resurrection.  Her perspective is renewed and she is seeing how God can redeem this in her life and in the life of the community.  She is thankful that at least the man has been exposed, so he won’t be a further blight on society.

      We all need to keep exploring the resurrection.  We need to continue to plumb its depths.  I’m still exploring how the resurrection changes my attitude with my kids, how it keeps me from not panicking when work gets crazy busy, how it gives me more patience. 

      To explore, you need to read the Bible. Ask questions about it.  Keep asking until you’re satisfied, “How does the resurrection affect this part of my life?”

      Keep coming back—especially next week.  The folks in this passage didn’t believe right away.  You’ll need to come back next week to see the next step of their exploration.

      Join a Community Group.  Get with others. Our mid week groups  are designed so we can talk together about how to experience more of the resurrection in more of our lives.

      This is a call to come and wonder. Ask questions, find out.  Do you think the evidence doesn’t point to Jesus?  Come check it out.  There is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than ANY other event in human history.  Even for Christians, there is evidence that his power can help you grow in all areas of life.  Explore.

Live Out the Resurrection

      Trust Jesus—make him your king (or make him your king in another area of your life), and he’ll give you the power of his resurrection.  When you hope it’s true and begin to act as if it’s true, your life will change.  Your change will influence others—it will create wonder for them. Radically the same, radically different.  They need to see the difference Jesus makes in your life.

      When plagues struck cities in the first centuries, Pagans and Christians responded in radically different ways.  Dionysius describes this in the year 260:  “At the first outset of the disease, pagans pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing htem into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”  Most fled the cities when the plagues hit.

      “But Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another.  Heedless of danger, [they entered the infected cities.] they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing upon themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.  Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.” 

      You go create wonder in others with love, with your new life.  Love people so much that when they find out you’re a Christian, it’ll make them wonder, because they see something real about Jesus in you.  You don’t have to have all the answers.  You just need to have a life that produces wonder in others. 

      Matthew Parris is writer who is an atheist.  He’s convinced that Africa needs Christianity because he has been moved to wonder.  Here is what he says: 

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it.

Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.

In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.

It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.

      The question for us is—how can we show love to our neighbors and our city in a way that will create wonder in them?

      Finally, be the community for each other.  We can’t do this alone.  This week—I know people who have supported folks dealing with drug addiction, spousal abuse, hopelessness, and depression.  Can you support a friend who is struggling?  This is the community we’re called to be.  Our wonder and confusion is often answered by the friends we have who are also exploring and seeking Jesus. 

This is Jesus call.  The call of the resurrection.  Will you respond?