Road to Redemption - A Timeless Trip - 3/16/08
Date: 3/16/08
Sermon Series: Road To Redemption
Sermon Title: A Timeless Trip
Text: Matt. 28:1-10
Theme: The darkness and dread of the night has passed away and a new day has dawned for all of mankind with Jesus’ appearance to the saints on Resurrection morning. There were different kinds of proofs for different believers that morning. This message will focus on making the resurrection and person of Christ real and genuine to us as believers in the 21st century.
Introduction: Have you ever had to relate an event where all of the details were important. Share the story of the time that we had some guys drop drugs out of there truck.
Transition: The morning of the resurrection is one of the most difficult places to take all of the accounts and mesh them together. The events in all of the Gospels are compressed into short encounters by different people and as we look back it is difficult for us to take these related experiences and place them in a cohesive timeline. But in order to share the complete narrative I will attempt to place the events in order for you.
Early Sun. morning a group of women that included – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and probably a couple of others, went to the tomb to further minister to Jesus’ body.
This visit would have been “very early”, “while it was still dark,” on Sunday, “after the Sabbath,” the “first day of the week.”
As they approached the tomb they are discussing the difficulty presented by the stone which will have to be rolled away.
When they arrived an incredible sight awaited them. The stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. In Matthew’s account we are told that an earthquake had already occurred and the guards had been confronted by an angel which rolled the stone away and displayed the empty grave; he then sat on it until the guards, not knowing what to do ran away and to report the empty tomb to the chief priests after they got over their shock (where they are bribed to keep their mouths shut and apparently didn’t). I suspect that the guards ran to tell the Jews rather than Pilate because they didn’t want the punishment which Pilate would have handed out to them.
At this point the narrative gets a little bit harder to clearly put together. Either Mary M. ran ahead of the other women and found the empty tomb or she took off running as soon as she ascertained it was empty, either way she does not seem to carry with her the good news that Jesus has resurrected himself.
At this point a couple of angels fill up the garden with their radiant presence and deliver the good news to the women with Mary absent after inviting them into the grave to make sure they know it is empty.
Mary in the meantime runs to Peter and John delivers the news about the rolled away stone and empty grave, they run quickly and verify the story Mary Magdalene comes along after them and finds herself all alone at the garden tomb another look in the grave shows that the angels who spoke to the women have come back (or made themselves visible) to deliver the same good news to Mary that has been already delivered to the rest of the women.
Mary then turns to exit the tomb and comes face to face with the risen Lord (Mark verifies that Mary is the first person that Jesus appears to).
Meanwhile the other women are on their way back into town, along the way Jesus appears to them, (they apparently had not acquiesced to the command of the angels and their mission of reporting to the disciples is reiterated by Jesus.
Just like the participants in this narrative most of us have found out that there are steps where we come into a face to face encounter with Jesus. In the text this morning I want to highlight the significant steps that took place for people to be confronted by Jesus.
1. Step One: Announcement
a. Whenever a person comes into an encounter with Jesus as Lord and Savior, that relationship is preceded by an announcement of Good News.
i. On this Sunday morning God sent His angels to be the first beings that ever announced the good news.
1. They announced the resurrection to the women
2. To Mary Magdalene
ii. There were also several people that began making the announcement as soon as they heard it.
1. Mary Mag. Ran back and announced it to everyone would listen starting with the disciples.
2. Jesus, himself, announced the good news to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
3. John declares that this is the purpose of writing his narrative of the events. – John 20:30
iii. I bet most of you have an impression of who announced this good news to you.
1. I remember clearly when Doral Campbell announced the message of good news and it took root in my heart.
iv. Who have you been a messenger to?
1. The job of announcing the Good News is not limited to clergy, thank God, it is instead the commission that each of us carries as we enjoy the grace which we live in.
2. Step Two: A sign
a. The Resurrection narrative is full of signs or evidence that accompanies the story of Jesus’ redemptive victory over sin and death, before any of the participants comes face to face with Jesus.
i. Earthquake
ii. Rolled back stone
iii. Angelic Appearances
iv. Empty grave
v. Rolled up grave clothes
b. For the New Covenant Christian there are signs that precede our faith walk with Jesus.
i. There is the evidence of God working in the lives of other believers. This highlights how incredibly important it is that we live out our faith in front of others.
ii. There is the divine message of the word. The Bible has an incredible impact on people because it is the divinely inspired word of God.
3. Step Three: Mission
a. Generally when Jesus met with someone when he left them he left them with a mission.
i. The Mission given to Mary – Go tell the brethren – John – 20:17
ii. The mission given to the other women – Go tell my brethren. – Matt. 28:10
iii. The mission given to Peter – John 21:15-17
b. The mission given to us
i. Matt. 28:19-20
Conclusion: Do you remember what it was like when you were a child and given a responsibility that you took very seriously?
The story that we have been telling you for the past several weeks is a story that is intended to be shared. It is not something that you can hear and place back up on your shelf.
