TITLE: THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION
Focus: The resurrection of Jesus points to God’s power over all the powers.
Function: To move the people to open their eyes of faith to God’s awesome work of raising Christ from the dead.
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Some time in 1991, my wife and I, along with our children, made a trip to the Netherlands, where we visited our family. During our stay there, I received an invitation to preach in the church where my grandfather had professed his faith publicly sometime in the early 1900’s. I was going to preach on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I got up very early that Sunday morning, and since my parents live close to the local cemetery, I decided to take a walk to the cemetery, and there I would pray and ponder the message. It was a beautiful Sunday morning; dead quiet, only the birds were singing. As I reflected upon my message, I noticed a man with a wheelbarrow and a rake. That was a strange sight, I thought. Since when do city workers work on Sundays at this early hour?
At first, I did not recognize the man, but as I walked up to him and introduced myself and told him who I was, he recognized me as a former neighbor. He did not know me well at all (because I had left the Netherlands years ago), but he knew my parents; they were at one time close neighbors.
So, we talked a bit and I asked him what he was doing. Then he told me his story. With sadness in his voice he told me that he cared for the grave of his 21 year old daughter, who had died tragically in a motorcycle accident about a year ago. Every Sunday morning since her funeral, this man would take his wheelbarrow and rake to the cemetery and work through his grief by attending to the grave of his daughter.
In talking with him, it became clear that he did not know the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. For him, the cemetery was a place of loss, a place of grief—not a place of hope. So, I tried to witness to him about the power of Christ’s resurrection. But his heart seemed to be of stone. On that Sunday morning, he could not see beyond his grief and loss.
Death reigns at cemeteries. The power of death is evident as you observe the tombstones and mausoleums neatly closed and shut. It’s no different in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea. A few days ago, Jesus was buried there, just before the Sabbath began. All the powers of the world, of sin, and of the devil had rallied against Jesus. They crucified him on a cross; then, after he died, they buried him in a tomb. Joseph of Arimathea’s brand new tomb swallowed Jesus’ body; and a stone plugged up the entrance. Now death reigns in that tomb.
The powers of sin—the sin of the people, our sins included—led to Jesus’ death; the powers of the world also contributed to Jesus’ death: the Jewish Sanhedrin, the governor of Galilee (King Herod), and the consul of Rome (Pontius Pilate) used their authority to hand Jesus over to death.
And in order to be absolutely sure, these worldly powers came together and decided to secure the tomb of Jesus with a number of soldiers as guards; they even put the seal of the Roman emperor on the stone in front of the tomb. For they weren’t quite sure what to make of Jesus’ words once spoken: “After three days, I will rise again.” They thought that resurrection talk is nonsense. But since you don’t know what Jesus’ disciples may do with his body (to steal it, for example, to make it look like that Jesus was raised from the dead) the rulers decided that Jesus’ tomb must be secured for three days. Just to play it safe.
Death reigns inside the tomb, and the powers of the world wanted to make sure that the status quo remains: Death must reign.
But now it’s the first day of the week. The Sabbath rest is over. A new day is dawning. God is breaking in and overruling the powers. He begins with an earthquake. In Matthew 24 we learn that Jesus speaks of earthquakes as “birth pangs” of a new era—especially that era related to his final coming in glory.
But on this resurrection morning, God makes use of this birth pang called an “earthquake” to announce the victory of Jesus over the powers of death. For the earthquake is the first sign that Jesus—the first-born of the dead—has risen, has conquered death.
Jesus’ resurrection is an earth shaking, heaven- induced event. For we learn that the violent earthquake goes together with the coming of an angel from heaven.
The appearance of the angel is brilliant and frightening to behold. It is like lightning! The glory of heaven reflects from this angel’s appearance as well as from his clothes, for Scripture says that his clothes are “as white as snow.”
Majesty, purity, glory—these heavenly qualities surround and emanate from this angel. The darkness of the tomb can’t stand this light from heaven. The powers of death, including the powers of the world, quake and tremble as God’s messengers speak through the voice of an earthquake and an angel. In fact, the guards are “so afraid of the angel that they shook and became like dead men.”
What does the angel do? He went to the tomb, he rolled back the stone and sat on it. Why?
-So that Jesus could walk out of that tomb? No!
-So that the angel could raise Jesus from the dead? No!
Why did the angel roll away the stone? So that Mary, and the other women, so that the apostles and disciples, so that all who put their trust in Jesus, could see for themselves: Jesus is not there! Jesus is no longer in the claws of death. Jesus has overcome. The tomb is empty. All may see the power of the resurrection.
That power stays with us. Even when we go and bury our loved ones; even when the whole world tries to silence the voice of the Christian faith.
In the early 1920’s Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address a vast anti-God rally. For an hour he abused and ridiculed the Christian faith until it seemed as if the whole structure of belief was in ruins. Questions were invited. A priest of the orthodox church rose and asked permission to speak. He faced the people and gave them the ancient Easter greeting, “Christ is risen,” Instantly the whole vast assembly rose to its feet, and the reply came back like a crash of breakers against the cliff, “He is risen indeed.” (taken from Great Quotes)
And that’s why we can sing: “Low in the Grave Christ Lay.”