Triumph in Tragedy

 That 1st Resurrection Sunday, John was on fire. He raced up to Peter. "I've got good news & bad news." Peter looked puzzled. "Easy, John. What's the good news?" "Jesus is risen!" Peter smiled. "That's really good news! The bad news?" John looked around, nervously. "He's really mad about Friday." If Jesus didn't forgive us, that'd be tragedy. No one could survive. But He's merciful & gracious. He forgives us. Let's look at the real story of that 1st Easter. Only a week ago, Jerusalem rolled out the red carpet for Jesus. Crowds waved palm branches, shouting "Hosanna!" But in just 6 days, praise turned to persecution. In 3 years, He'd become their leader, teacher, friend, & hero. In that time, they'd come to know Who Jesus is: God's Son. The long-awaited Messiah. When he headed to Jerusalem, 9 mo. ago, they hoped He'd finally reveal Himself. Start the KoG & throw off Rome's yoke. If so, they thought they'd rule with Him! His arrest, Thursday night wrecked their hopes. All fled. All but Peter. He still thinks Jesus is the Messiah he wants. Maybe he can rescue Him & get the KoG started. Secretly, he follows as soldiers take Jesus out of the Garden. Maybe God will bless him & rescue Jesus. He follows into the high priest's courtyard. But Peter's plan isn't God's plan. Far from it. Instead of rescuing Jesus, Peter ends up denying Him. 3 times. (Good thing Jesus forgives!) Inside, the high priest convenes a kangaroo court. The Truth stands before them. They don't want truth. Just an excuse to execute Jesus. Blasphemy it is. They condemn Him & send Him to Pilot for sentencing. Pilot sees through the plot. He wants nothing to do with it & sends Jesus to Herod. Herod finds Him innocent & sends Him back. Pilot then offers to scourge & release Jesus. Priests, scribes & Pharisees don't buy it. "Crucify Him!" By then, the crowds buy in & start screaming, too. "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Pilot tries once more to free Jesus. It's custom to free a prisoner. He has Barabbas & Jesus. How about freeing Jesus? No deal. Jews keep crying, "Give us Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!" Finally, they change tactics. If Pilot refuses, they'll tell Caesar he isn't a "friend of Caesar." Pilot needs Caesar's support, gives up, & washes his hands of it. By about 9am, Friday morning, he sends Jesus to be crucified. A little later, soldiers nail Jesus' wrists & ankles to the cross, between 2 criminals. There, he hangs. To breathe, He has to push up on His ankles. Each gasping breath costs excruciating pain. Creation silently watches the Creator suffer. 3 long, painful hours go by. Lk 23:44-46 then says 44from about noon till 3pm, darkness came over the land. This darkness isn't natural. No eclipse. No natural explanation. It's as if Creation closes its eyes in shame, even if Jesus' persecutors won't. Battle-hardened soldiers grow fearful as they watch. Back in Jerusalem, 45the curtain of the temple is torn in two. Top (60' up) to bottom. 3 hours later, ~ 3pm, 46aJesus cries out. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." He's still in charge. Nothing has happened unless Jesus permitted it. Even now, He doesn't just die. He chooses 46b& breathes his last. He gives up His Spirit. Mt 27:51-54 adds that 51bthe earth shakes. Rocks split. 52Tombs break open. Many holy people's bodies are raised to life. (53They come out of the tombs. After Jesus' resurrection, they go into Jerusalem & appear to many.) 54The centurion & those guarding Jesus see all that happens. They're terrified! "Surely he was the Son of God!" Gentile unbelievers see what Jewish leaders can't. Jesus' disciples now enter the most tragic, heart-breaking, time of their lives. All their hopes & dreams? Shattered. Joseph & Nicodemus do what the others are too devastated to do. They put Jesus' body in Joseph's tomb. Hurriedly, they pack & wrap it with 75lb of spices. But sunset & the sabbath force them to stop before they finish. The disciples mourn & start a long, sad, sabbath weekend. Some stay together for comfort. Many are too torn up & mourn alone. Luke 24:1-12 picks up the story 1aon the 1st day of the week. Very early in the a.m., 1bfaithful women take spices they'd prepared & go to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus' body. They worry as they walk. The tomb is sealed. Guards are there to keep people out. Can they persuade guards to let them in? When they arrive, they're surprised. 2The stone is rolled away from the tomb! Those guards? On the ground. Senseless! 3They enter, but can't find the Lord Jesus' body. 4aThey start wondering. 'What happened? Did someone steal His body?' 4bSuddenly 2 men in clothes gleaming like lightning stand beside them. Blinding brightness! Angels! 5aIn their fright the women bow down, faces to the ground. Fear. Maybe reverence. 5bThe men say, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" It may be gentle, but it's a rebuke. 'You should've known!' 6a"He isn't here. He's risen!" They're too stunned to speak. 6b"Remember how he told you, in Galilee?" Jesus told them at least three times. 7" 'The Son of Man must be delivered into sinful men's hands, be crucified & on the 3rd day be raised again.' " Before, they didn't get it. This time? 8They remember. Instantly, grief turns to joy! He's not dead! He's alive! He's risen! Jesus is risen! 9-10aMary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, & the others with them run back from the tomb. No longer mournful, they're joyous! 9-10bThey tell the Eleven & the others. But 11athe disciples don't believe them. Women's testimony wasn't even legal. To the disciples, 11btheir words seemed like foolish nonsense. Women's chatter. They dismiss it. Risen? Nonsense. No one comes back from the grave. No one in all history. Rubbish! Still, what happened? 12aPeter got up & ran to the tomb. He'll check it out. John says he raced Peter to the tomb (& won). 12bBending over, Peter entered the tomb. There, he 12csaw the strips of linen lying by themselves. Neatly. They weren't left in a pile. No, the body evaporated. Linen strips around His body had collapsed, still wound. Just as Nicodemus & Joseph left them, minus the body. The cloth around Jesus' head? Wound up & placed neatly beside the rest. It's as if Jesus body passed through the cocoon, then unwound the cloth around his head. He could've passed through the stone in front of the tomb, too. It was opened for the women. Not for Him. Peter looked a long time. But 12bhe went away, wondering. Not yet faith, but he's mulling it over. 12cWhat happened? John, too went in. Jn 20:8 tells us in his words. 8Finally the other disciple, who'd reached the tomb 1st, also went in. He saw & believed. He didn't understand Scripture yet. Soon, they all would. It'd take careful study of the Scriptures. Only Scripture can help us understand Jesus' resurrection. All fell in Adam when he fell. Creation was cursed. God wants to forgive, but how? How remain holy, just, & forgive? Sin's penalty is death. Even at the fall, God knew & planned. For an interim, perfect animal sacrifices for sin gave a hint. A perfect sacrifice can atone for sin. But only God can be perfect, but He's sinless. Humanity sinned, so the sacrifice must be human. God so loved us, He came Himself to free us from death's grip. In the person of His Son, God lived the perfect life that we couldn't. God the Son offered His perfect life to pay our sin debt. That Passover, He was the Lamb slain to pay for sin. All sins. His life bought our lives at the price of His. He died for us on that mountain, as foretold so centuries before. Death's shroud? Dead. Gone. Because He died, we can live. All He asks? Accept His sacrifice. Trust Him alone to save us, & we're His. Adopted into His family. Co-heirs of heaven's glory with Christ Jesus. That's how much he loves us. Paul says Jesus' love is so deep, so wide, so high, & so long that nothing can separate us from it. Not ever. The proof it's all true? His resurrection. He's the 1st fruits of a large harvest. That harvest has been under way through all human history. Before Christ, in anticipation of what He'd do. And since Christ, because of what He did. Death is no more. We're alive in Christ. Why? He is risen!! Just one thing remains. How will we respond to so great a salvation? If you knew you had just hours to live, what would you do? Jesus, knowing He had just hours to live, washed His disciples' feet. He then died our death. Because He did, we no longer face death. We now know we'll live forever with Him. Facing death, Jesus washed feet. Facing life, what will we do? Triumph in Tragedy - Luke 24:1-12 Page 1 of 1