reconciling the resurrection…

Saturday’s silence is broken… and the good news of Sunday… begins to spread…

“…They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” –Peter

Acts 10:39-43 ESV

The first day of the week… the women who saw Jesus hastily buried… went early… to do the job properly… but they could not… for things were not as they expected…

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 

Luke 24:2-9 ESV

Remember how He told you…?

The women remembered… clearly something they didn’t understand before… and I doubt they did when they told the eleven what they had seen and heard…

Jesus had told His disciples in advance…

“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Matthew 20:18-19 ESV

But what He said… could not be reconciled to what they expected Messiah to do… so they did not comprehend…

Now they faced the unexpected… the dead Messiah… resurrected… to make the way for life eternal… for those who believe…

The lesson to second-graders last week was an empty plastic egg… the perfect symbol of Easter…

We talked about His rising from the dead… what happened on the cross while He hung there… and how it is good news for us that He lives…

I asked… What does it mean for us that His tomb was empty…? 

One in the class said it as clear as day… If Jesus wasn’t alive we would all be dead…

Out of the mouths of babes… and second graders…

But honestly… like the women at the tomb… I don’t think he fully understood the truth that flowed from his mouth…

If Jesus wasn’t alive… we would all be dead…

This is the punchline of the cross… the joy of the empty grave… a Savior who died… so we might live… His death… our death… His resurrection… our guarantee of life… for those who believe…

The gospel writers tell the story of the good news… they witness to the truth… and I wonder… Do I understand it as I should…? do you…?

Spend time contemplating the message of the empty tomb… reconciling the resurrection… what it means… let it stir afresh the joy it should…

Then be prepared… to clearly share the good news of His resurrection with others…