Message/Messengers
Notes
Transcript
Last week, Resurrection Morning, we looked at Matthew’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. We read about the empty tomb. The women who were the first of Jesus’ followers to see the tomb. Their meeting the Risen Jesus, grabbing His resurrected feet. We read about the women worshipping the Risen Savior.
It’s absolutely the best news in the whole wide world. That Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day rose again—this is our hope, our salvation, our justification. Sins paid for, justification secured, all because of what Jesus has done for us.
This is our joy, our incomparable joy.
I pray you know the joy of a relationship with Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, my prayer, our prayer is that you would repent of your sin and believe in Him who suffered and bled and died for you. My prayer is that you would come to Him today, the Crucified and Risen Savior.
We’re going to look this morning (and for the next few weeks) at the after-effects of the resurrection. We’ll take a look at the events surrounding that first resurrection morning, and see what it means for us, Christ’s Church to live-out the reality of the resurrection.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Matthew chapter 28. If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word. Matthew 28, beginning with verse 11:
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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In these few verses, we glimpse this post-resurrection scenario:
The two women, the first witnesses to the empty tomb, are doing as they’ve been told—they are going to Jesus’ disciples in order to tell them, to report to them that Jesus has been raised from the dead and is going ahead of them into Galilee where they will see Him.
The two women are going, as they’ve been instructed by the angel, and as Jesus told them to.
On the other hand, “some of the guards” are going into the city—into Jerusalem—to tell the chief priests, to report to the chief priests “everything that had happened.”
Both groups—the women and the guards—are taking a report to their respective groups.
The women are hurrying away from the tomb, “afraid yet filled with great joy.”
The guards are hurrying away from the tomb, afraid and confused, scared to report to the chief priests that they found the tomb where Jesus had been, now empty.
The guards have come-to; they’ve picked themselves up and dusted off their uniforms; they’ve recovered themselves from their encounter with the angel of the Lord.
“While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city…”
The opening words of verse 11 invite the readers to compare the two groups hurrying away from the empty tomb.
The Two Groups
Group 1: The women: Mary and the other Mary are just women.
In that day women were lowly, of no repute; they have no power or status. They are women in an ancient, male-dominated culture where women are unimportant, insignificant; they are socially nothing.
Group 2: The guards, the chief priests, and the elders.
These are high-ranking, men with a listening audience; powerful—all of them; as to status, they are the “who’s who” of the Jewish population.
The two groups are (1) the lowly, and (2) the high-ranking and they are telling competing stories.
It doesn’t look good. This isn’t much of a competition.
This is the ’85 Super Bowl—the powerful, dominating, Ditka-coached Chicago Bears versus the Patriots.
So lopsided was the competition in that game, the Bears put in defensive tackle William “the Fridge” Perry as running back. And he scored a touchdown! In fact, “The Fridge” is the only defensive player to score an offensive touchdown in a Super Bowl. (Truthfully, I think I could have scored a touchdown with the '85 Bears).
That was, arguably, the most lopsided Super Bowl of all time.
It doesn’t look good for the women here in Matthew 28. In a power match, the chief priests, elders, and the soldiers would run over the women every single time.
Let me ask: from a human perspective, which group’s message has more chance of success?
If one group’s message is going to fly, it’s certainly not the message from the lowly, insignificant, inconsequential women. Women weren’t allowed to testify, they were property, and that’s about it.
The high ranking, we’re told, “meet…and devise a plan.” They back their plan with “a large sum of money,” sufficient money.
And, and, they have the ability and power and authority to sway opinions, even the governor’s opinion, should the story get back to him—
“Don’t worry about it, fellas. If the report gets back to Pilate, we’ll take care of it; we’ll satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
Do you see the two groups? Compare them. Notice the mismatched competition. This is sure to be domination on the same level as the ’85 Bears.
This is the powerful vs. the unpowerful; those with status against those with no status.
These two groups are markedly different; diametrically opposed and unfairly matched, both reporting the events of that first Easter Day.
Humanly speaking, it’s obvious which messengers should, SHOULD, win out.
However, It’s Not the Power of the Messengers; it’s the Power of the Message.
So conspire and plot as they might, those who try to cover-up Jesus’ resurrection are up against the LORD. They conspire and plot, they devise and plan. And the LORD sits in heaven and laughs.
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
It’s not the power of the MESSENGERS; it’s the power of the MESSAGE
It’s not the power of the MESSENGERS; it’s the power of the MESSAGE
The women—the weak, lowly messengers—have a message of great power.
The strong and powerful and important messengers—the soldiers, the chief priests, and the elders—have a power-less message—a message of lies and falsity and cover-up.
It’s not the power of the messengers that matters; it’s the power of the MESSAGE.
The Weak Message of the Powerful
The Weak Message of the Powerful
The guards run into the city to report to the chief priests. They tell them “everything that happened.”
Of course, their information is limited. They don’t know “everything” that happened.
Remember, they were scared half-to-death by the angel. They were, shall we say, indisposed for quite some time. They had passed out. They shook with fear and “became like dead men.”
All the soldiers were privy to was the earthquake, the angel of the Lord coming down from heaven, and, after they had recovered, the empty tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.
The guards report to the chief priests. The chief priests met with the elders and “devised a plan”—which is laughable in itself. They throw some money at the problem, as they are accustomed to doing. And they think up a story of their own, an explanation for the empty tomb.
And their story goes like this: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’”
Problem solved, right? Wrong.
As far as devised plans are concerned, this one’s a real stinker. As far as plans concocted by powerful men go, this one is pretty lame.
The “stolen-corpse theory”, as it’s called, was widely circulated among the Jewish population. It was told from Resurrection Day to the time Matthew wrote his gospel. This theory was moderately popular even until the mid-2nd century, according to historian Justin Martyr.
This theory has even held on in some circles today: they say, “Jesus wasn’t resurrected. Someone stole His body and hid it away.”
This is improbable for any number of reasons:
For guards to fall asleep, as this theory says they did, was not just a risk to their jobs. They wouldn’t be fired. They’d be executed. To admit to sleeping was to forfeit their lives.
If, if, the guards were asleep, they could testify of nothing. If they slept, how would they know the disciples came and stole His body?
The disciples were all cowards. All eleven disciples fled, scattered like sheep. They didn’t dare to stick around for any part of what Jesus would go through. These cowards certainly didn’t muster the courage to approach a guarded tomb to steal Jesus’ body.
Had the disciples dared to steal Jesus’ body, and had the soldiers fallen asleep on duty, the sealed stone couldn’t have been moved without a sound; the body couldn’t have been carried away undetected.
Remember, it was a full-moon that night. The sky was brightly lit—not a good stage for thievery.
The theory, the plan, the story concocted and made-up by the powerful is weak, really weak, beyond weak.
It’s a story of lies and failure. The story is sad, “Oops. Sorry. We fell asleep. Whoopsie-daisy.”
“So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.”
They took their sizable bribe and spread a message built on lies and human wisdom (if you can call it wisdom).
A message built on lies and human wisdom will fail, even if it gains some ground with a few, it will ultimately fail. That’s a guarantee.
The story “widely circulated among the Jews” is a losing proposition. That story had, has, and will have NO power to change lives, to convert, to inspire hope, to give life.
The powerful have a message, but it’s weak, sad, and false. It shows their desperation for an explanation and reveals their hardened hearts.
They would not believe and they would corrupt others into not believing along with them.
The Powerful Message of the Weak
The Powerful Message of the Weak
The two women—Mary and Mary—take the message of the Resurrection of Jesus to the disciples. They report what the angel of the Lord told them:
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
They report seeing Jesus, share about how they clasped His feet, recount how they worshipped Him. They told the disciples word-for-word what Jesus said to them that Resurrection Morning:
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
The two Marys went “on their way” and took the Message to the disciples with “great joy.”
Why? Why great joy? Because theirs is a message of hope, of victory; of resurrection. There’s is a message of Jesus doing what He said He was going to do; a message of Jesus being who He said He was.
Theirs is a message of truth; a message of power, spread by those who were weak.
This powerful message will spread in spite of the weakness of the messengers.
It won’t be spread as a cover-up, like the message of the chief priests/elders/soldiers.
This message won’t be spread due to the payment of a bribe.
This message won’t be spread out of fear, but in power and truth and joy.
This message will spread because it is from God and is accompanied by His Power.
Even though the false story made-up by the chief priests/elders/soldiers “gained currency among the Jews, this did not prevent the truth of the gospel from flying at liberty to the very ends of the earth, as it always rises victorious over all the obstacles in the world.” -John Calvin
Within 6 weeks of the Resurrection, that great event was the unshaken faith of every Christian; within a few years of the Resurrection, when the historic proofs and numerous testimonies were myriad, the Risen Jesus appeared to a man named Saul. And the Risen Jesus transformed Saul—in the power of His Saving Grace—from murderer to pastor.
And so it is. The Risen Jesus has made Himself known to all who believe—and He has transformed each one who trusts in Him from sinner to saint, from death to life.
The weak have spread, preached, proclaimed, shared, reported the powerful Gospel message to the very ends of the earth, even to Rich Hill, Missouri, because:
Romans 1:16 (NIV)
16 … the gospel … is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
There’s a passage in 2 Corinthians that has brought great encouragement to me over the years. This is Paul, writing to the church in Corinth. He’s also, by the Holy Spirit, writing to each one of us.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We have the gospel, the Good News about the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus—we have this treasure with us. This is our message.
But we, church, are jars of clay. Earthen vessels. Unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.
We are weak. Fragile. As breakable as a jar of clay.
We are weak, but the message is powerful. This is to show the world that the power is from God and not from us.
The powerful message of Jesus Christ is always spread through a weak, human messenger.
This is God’s grand design—the power of our message does not depend on human eloquence or persuasive speech, but upon God’s power.
Have you ever heard a sermon you thought was meant just for you?
That’s not because the pastor did a really good job. That’s not because the preacher was just extra perceptive that Sunday.
If a sermon has ever touched your heart, ever convicted you of sin, ever encouraged you, it’s because a weak messenger was proclaiming the powerful message of God and His Son.
This is the message we get to proclaim—the powerful message of God and His Son!
- As we proclaim, we acknowledge our weakness as messengers.
- As we proclaim, we acknowledge the power of our message.
It’s the power of the Gospel, the power of God, the power of Jesus and His presence.
“Lord, we are weak, but your message is not.”
Those of us, weak and insignificant as we are, have a message that is anything but weak and insignificant.
The Gospel is a powerful, unstoppable force. It was first proclaimed that Easter-Day by two women of no repute. The Gospel-reins were then handed over to 11 cowards who weakly ministered of God's Grace in Jesus Christ.
At Pentecost, the powerful, unstoppable Gospel message proceeded through weak and uneducated messengers.
And the Lord, THE LORD, added thousands and thousands and thousands of people to the Church of His One and Only Resurrected Son, Jesus Christ, the God-man; Jesus, the Savior-Messiah.
And thus the Gospel moves today—through the weak, in the power of God—unstoppable, unrestrained, unhindered.
Our passage today makes clear that outwardly and humanly speaking, it doesn’t look good for the Church: two women versus all the power of Jerusalem.
We have no end of obstacles to face, no end of people with more status and money and exposure than us, and they are telling a different story.
It’s our message against their message. In fact, it’s our message against a thousand other competing messages that bombard us every day.
But here’s the Good News: the message of the gospel is a message of power—God’s Power—and it’s given to us by the authority of Jesus, the Resurrected One. And as we proclaim this powerful message, Jesus is with us; Jesus Himself is with us. We are weak, but He is strong!
Our message—the Gospel of Jesus Christ—cannot and will not fail. That’s certain.
Friends, this means that God can use you and me to reach even those the world might deem unreachable, because it doesn’t rest on our power or wisdom or persuasion.
Friends, this means the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, can reach you—no matter who you are or what you’ve done. You are not out of bounds; you are not out of reach.
The Gospel will do and will accomplish everything it sets out to do
No one can squash the Gospel, prevent the Gospel, restrain the Gospel, because it is the very power of God.
It’s not the power of the MESSENGERS; it’s the power of the MESSAGE
It’s not the power of the MESSENGERS; it’s the power of the MESSAGE
“Lord, we are weak.
But the message You’ve given us to proclaim is powerful.
Lord, we are weak.
But You are not.”