The Pressure A Pastor on Easter

I thought that this week I would post my sermon from Sunday. Some of the scripture reading is assumed because when I gave the sermon people had their bibles open but i think you will get the bulk of the content of it. Hope you enjoy as we let His resurrection impact us like it did the disciples! It's a long post but one I think yo will enjoy if you take the time.

Luke 24
The pressure is on this Easter because of the increasing need in our culture to see something new. We don't like to watch the same movies twice or hear the same song on the radio more than once every hour. This day carries more pressure than any other day for Pastors. If there was a superbowl for pastors this would be the day. It is the one day out of the year when people who don't normally attend church will dress up in their Sunday best and make the effort. Many family and friends who don't think of themselves as religious and therefore don't participate in what Nacho Libre calls "churchy opportunities", will be dragged by guilt, coercion, or curiosity to accompany believing friends to church. But will the pastor have some new thing to say? Will the pastor have some new insight that will make the story come alive?


Also the pressure is on because of the bible. The apostle Paul says that this single event in history is the hinge pin upon which the door of all of Christianity swings. I cor 15:14 says, " If Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." and then he even takes it a step further and says that we then, "are misrepresenting God...you are still in your sins...those who have died in Christ have perished...and we are the most pitiful people on the planet." Wow! Thanks Paul! No Pressure.

So we have before us two things that will be our guide and one thing that makes up the lack. I will use words to try to convey the reality of what happened outside the gates of Jerusalem 2000 years ago. The bible, written by eyewitnesses will be our tour guide in seeing how these events unfolded and looking at what it meant to people in the days when Jesus lived. And, the Holy Spirit will breath life into what I am saying so that the words don't just penetrate the mind but assault the heart.

Lets set the stage a little. Jesus, considered a celebrity prophet by some, and a menace by others, has been brutally killed. Some people want to argue this point but the evidence from early resources is enough to really give us a picture of how dead Jesus really was. Jesus was kept up for 36 hours beaten by fists, rods, and a Roman whip called the cat of nine tails. This would have caused major trauma and bleeding to the body. He was then forced on a death march, carrying the cross arm of the cross called the "Patibulum", outside the city and up a stone quarry hill that the locals called "Golgatha" or skull mountain. He was so weakened that physical strength failed the maker of the universe, so that He collapsed under the weight of a wooden beam He had created. Another was forced to carry His cross and Jesus was forced to the top of the hill. His hands were then nailed with hammer and nail to the cross arm that had been carried from the city. He was then either raised by the patibulum or fastened with the patibulum to a tree or a pole (called the stipe) that was planted firmly in the ground by the Romans. His feet were then nailed to the cross to give Him something to stand on. And there the He hung. For six hours he endured unthinkable pain and suffering and then He died. Now because of the feast of Passover the Jews who had Him killed wanted both Him and the two thieves that were crucified with Him to be taken down from the cross because there was a law from Deut 21:22-23 that prevented bodies from being hung on a tree over night. The death of the two thieves was expedited by breaking their legs which would keep them from being able to stand on the nails through their feet to breathe and respirate themselves. But when they came to Jesus they found Him to be dead already. Just for confirmation they took a spear and pierced His chest cavity on the side. When the soldiers did this, blood mixed with water came out. This indicates that bag of water that surrounds the heart, called the pericardium, had been ruptured by the point of the spear. When that happens, if you weren't dead already, you are now. So, Jesus died.

Now, when you think of Jesus death try to avoid thinking of it in the story book way, or the Hollywood way. This is the very real and tangible death of a person. I don't know if you have ever watched someone you love die or been around a family shortly after a death but it is a surreal experience. When you see a dead body there and the life has gone your mind can begin to play tricks on you. You look at the lifeless body and think that you see movement or you keep waiting to see the chest expand as though the body were taking in a breath. It is a strange experience seeing the body of a lifeless person. Jesus died. There was no expanding of His chest. There was no slight movement. 3 hours after the death of a person "rigor mortis" begins to set in reaching it's peak at 12 hours after death. Jesus was dead. And He needed to be placed in a tomb quickly before the Sabbath began at sundown. By the time the sun went down His body was already beginning to stiffen.


Now, pause for just a moment and consider what finality this brought to the disciples and those that followed Jesus. You see, for us, death brings with it an inescapable conclusion. Whatever plans we had, are gone. Whatever hopes we had for the relationship, are dashed into pieces. Whatever was left unsaid will forever be left undone. Death is final.


This explains the actions of the disciples. The Romans had crushed their hopes and now the leaders of Israel could easily dissuade anyone from following the disciples and their messianic movement. The disciples had left everything to follow this man they thought was messiah. Some had left their business, some their families but all had put their life on the line and all were wondering what the next step was. It has not even entered their minds that Jesus could be raised from the dead. Not only that, but these guys are struggling with an even more deadly internal battle than the ones without. They most likely feel deceived or like they had made some sort of mistake by thinking that He was the messiah. "How come I couldn't see this coming? How did I miss it?" Luke gives us their state of mind as they hid together wondering how they could go back to their normal lives. When the two Marys and Joanna come in to tell the disciples that the tomb was empty. In Luke 24:11 The bible tells us that they thought the idea of Jesus being raised from the dead "seemed to them as an idle tale" and that they "did not believe them". In the room that was filled with disciples only two, Peter and John went to the tomb to even check it out. The rest were unbelieving or indifferent. After hearing that the tomb was indeed empty two of the disciples decided to leave town. They were making their way to a small village outside of Jerusalem, about 7 miles away. These disciples believe that this chapter of their lives has closed like some sort of bad dream. To them, Jesus was dead. Listen to how they talked with Jesus on the road.


24:21 "But we HAD hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel"


Even after the two men encountered Jesus on the way to Emmaus, Jesus appeared again to some of his disciples while they were talking about what had happened on the road and Peter's encounter with Him. But when Jesus appears they think it is the Spirit of Jesus not actually a resurrected Jesus. Jesus actually has to comfort them that He isn't just a ghost.


24:37-40


Then the bible says that they were still trying to wrap their minds around a physical resurrection and struggling. Then Jesus did something to prove to them He wasn't just a ghost. He did what they saw Him do on many occasions before. He ate.


24:42-43


Can you put yourself in their shoes? Can you feel the finality of the death of Jesus? So Jesus has to explain that this was always the plan that God had for mankind. He had to explain that the scriptures from thousands of years previously had been pointing to this one moment in history. It was written in the Torah, in the prophets, and even in the Psalms. Then Jesus enabled them to see the Old Testament scriptures through a different lens and told them what the rest of God's plan was. He told them;


vs 47- That repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in Jesus' name to all the nations.

vs 48- That they were the witnesses to the world (which implies that they needed to take this message to the world and record it for those around them)

vs 49- That the Holy Spirit would clothe them with power from on high.



Now, the fact of the resurrection did something in the hearts of the disciples. Their reasoning went something like this...

"If this is true, then this changes everything!"

And one by one all the hopes they had for a messiah were alive again.


It meant for them...

...That all that they had given up to follow Jesus was now worth it.


...That everything that He had taught them wasn't just good advice, it was the word of God


...That their lives had a great purpose not just the occupying of space.


...That the relationship between God and man just became more intimate and the God could be known personally.


...That the God of the Old Testament was REALLY a God of love.


...It meant that God loves those that don't know Him personally.


...That heaven is real, and so is hell.


...That God was calling all the world to repent and receive the forgiveness of their sins by allowing Jesus' punishment on the cross to be the substitute for theirs.


...That God had now made Himself available through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to all men who let Jesus pay for their sins.


...That prayers really do get heard, the sick do get healed, the lame do walk, the blind do see, and the dead are raised.


...That He is ruling on a throne in heaven!!!


...That He is coming back to take up His throne on earth.


...That the king who died on Friday was alive for evermore!!!


...That there will one day be a new heaven and a new earth and we will live happily ever after!!!


...That if you don't know Him, He is calling to you today saying, "Change your mind about your sin, let Me pay for it for you, receive My love and forgiveness, and know me personally."

I wish I had something new to say. But this is the good news that has been reaching the world one soul at a time since the first Easter 2000 years ago!