He is Risen Indeed!

Resurrection Sunday: a day we celebrate the resurrected Lord. The Christian Resurrection Sunday greeting is: "He is Risen," with the response being "He is Risen Indeed!"

We celebrate Resurrection on Sunday because Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week.  The apostle John gives the best firsthand accounts of what took place that first Resurrection morning, and we will look at that in detail, but first we will look at what took place just after Jesus' body was taken down from the cross.

"At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.  Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." --John 19:41-42

They seem to have been in a hurry because the Jewish Sabbath was coming when they could do no work, so they skipped a lot of the normal process of preparing a body for burial including applying spices to anoint the body.  Instead they just wrapped His body in linen cloth.  Maybe they were thinking of returning after the Sabbath to finish the process properly.  The stone probably was not rolled into place to keep the disciples out, but to keep the Pharisees out.  The Pharisees took advantage of this and sealed the stone with their own seal so that no one could take the body and say that Jesus rose from the dead.  They probably remembered ho Jesus told them to roll the stone away before he raised Lazarus from the dead.  Indeed, the stone had to be rolled away because Lazarus was still wrapped in linen when Jesus called him to come forth.

So beginning that first day of the week after the Sabbath, we read John's account.

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in." --John 20:1-5

Remember John was the youngest of the apostles--probably just a teenager.  My children when they were teenagers had a lot more expendable energy than their father.  They still do.  So it was with John and he got to the tomb fist but he was afraid to go in.

"Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen." --John 20:6-7

Think about it.  If someone had come to steal a dead body they would not have taken the time to undress it, would they?

"Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)"--John 20:8-9

They did not have the Holy Spirit yet to reveal all these things to them.  John believed, but only that they had taken Jesus out of the tomb as Mary had said.

"Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.”--John 20:10-15

When a person's eyes are full of tears, their vision is blurred, so it makes sense that Mary did not recognize Jesus at first. But, when he called her name, she immediately recognized His voice.

"Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher)."--John 20:16

She must have grabbed hold of Him at that point, because of what Jesus said next:

"Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that He had said these things to her.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord."--John 20:17-20

The fact that He stood among them even though the door was locked dispels the idea that the stone had to be rolled away from the tomb for Jesus to leave.  He now had a glorified body and could pass through walls and stone.

Luke records this account of Jesus after His resurrection in the book of Acts:

"In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. After His suffering, He showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God." --Acts 1:1-3

Jesus still ate with the disciples--further proof that He was not just a spirit or a ghost.

"On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"--Acts 1:4-6

Amazingly enough, Christians are still asking this same question.

"He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them."--Acts 1:7-10 

This reminds me of the liftoff at Kennedy Space Station. The rocket blasts off and everyone just stares at it going up into the sky until it is totally out of sight, and the people still continue to stare up.

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”--Acts 1:11

The apostle Paul also gives us an account of that weekend and the resurrection morning.  Paul indicated that it was the most important part of his message.  We read of it in I Corinthians 15.

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."--I Corinthians 15:3-8

Paul was an apostle but not like the other twelve that were sent to the lost sheep of Israel.  Jesus appeared to Paul and personally appointed him as an apostle to the Gentiles.  We can thank and praise God for that since if it weren't for Paul and his missionary journeys, we may not have heard the Gospel.

Paul writes in chapter 14 of the book of Romans:

"One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." --Romans 14:5-6

We consider this Resurrection morning as sacred and special, and we honor it for the glory of Jesus.  Let's pray.