Alex spoke on the resurrection of Jesus at our retreat.
(FYI...Alex Foster's blog's title is A sinner's blog. He is a sinner and Jesus is his savior.
http://alex.buckhart.com/ )
Luke 23:50-24:12
Before we begin, allow me briefly to let you know who I am. My name is Alex Foster. I am a sinner that grew up a non-Christian, but by the providential hand of God, I was led into Bible study in college. Through Bible study and church, Jesus came to me in my last year of college and changed my heart. He inspired me to live for him and follow him, leading me into part-time ministry in Springfield along with a couple other sinners such as I.
Now, the focus of this message: Jesus.
We have been studying and will continue throughout this conference to study about what the resurrection of Jesus means in our lives. The conference theme is “Re-Life…” The goal is that we may be able to restart our lives in Christ Jesus. It is never too late to refresh your life and live it newly again in Jesus. For those of you that call yourselves Christians, this is a time for you to remind yourself what it means to call yourself that, what it means that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, and why it is important to understand what his resurrection means in your life. If you’re not a Christian, then this is the perfect time for you to come to understand who Jesus is and what he has done for you and continues to do for you. The false notion is that we celebrate some dead guy from the past. The truth is that we are celebrating what our Lord did in the past, how that continues to affect our lives today, and how he is still alive and well.
As we come to verse fifty, Jesus is now dead, but his body is unclaimed. We meet a man named Joseph who comes to claim Jesus’ body and give him a proper burial. Joseph is a very godly man, but in a very curious position. Let’s look at verses 50 and 51.
He is a member of the Jewish ruling council that sent Jesus to his death. However, he was on the losing side of the murder trial. While many were shouting for Jesus’ crucifixion, Joseph called for his exoneration. This took courage and strength to stand up to the warlike cries that came from those yelling, “Crucify him!”
Not only did Joseph stand up to the Jewish ruling council, but he also came to a Roman governor and requested Jesus’ body from him. Though Pontius Pilate tried to dissuade the Jewish ruling council from killing Jesus, he did not have the courage of Joseph, and he consented to Jesus’ crucifixion. Therefore, even though he seemed to be on Jesus’ side, he still was submissive to the enemies of Jesus, and so it would seem likely that asking the guy responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus for the body of Jesus would be difficult to say the least. Yet Joseph stood fast and persevered.
The question arises as to why Joseph would go through all of this. Looking back at verse 51, we see that Joseph was “waiting for the kingdom of God.” Joseph had in him a desire for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was waiting for Jesus this whole time, and now he gets to take part in God’s plan. He, no doubt, did not know to what extent his role was in God’s plan. Despite this, he played an interesting role.
If we go on to verse 53, we see that Joseph takes special care of Jesus’ body. The Sabbath is approaching, which means no work may be done and certainly no one is supposed to hang out with the dead, so Joseph has a time constraint. Because of his love for Jesus and his desire for the kingdom of God, he gives up his own tomb for Jesus. If you look at Isaiah 53:9, we see that Joseph plays the part of “the rich in [Jesus’] death.” In the time that he has, he gives Jesus his personal tomb and prepares Jesus’ body for death.
Meanwhile, there are many women that have been following Jesus throughout his ministry that love him and want to make sure he is well-taken care of. Because of the Sabbath approaching, they too have a time constraint but aren’t able to do what they’d like to do. They’d like to prepare Jesus for his final burial with spices and perfumes to anoint his body, but they have to wait until after the Sabbath. As soon as the Sabbath ends, they go out to the tomb, but they find nothing. Jesus is not there.
This is precisely where many of us are today. We are filled with joy from the Scriptures and believe that what happened happened, yet we stop there. We try to find Jesus in a tomb or in the history books (or even solely in the Bible), but we treat him as we treat the Bible -- as dead, someone that like the Bible is a couple thousand years old. Like the women, we mourn for our situation, because we cannot seem to find Jesus wherever we look. The problem is not that Jesus is dead -- it is that we are not looking for him where he is -- precisely because he is not dead!
Looking at verses 5-7, we see that Jesus is not where we think he is. The women are astounded at not finding Jesus, but the angels rebuke them, because they are looking in the wrong spot. Jesus has risen. He is alive and among us today. What is more is that Jesus even told us where he would be. We just failed to listen.
The problems that we face occur because we don’t try to seek Jesus out. It’s not like you need some super-secret decoder ring to read the Bible. It’s not like you need the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes to track down and find Jesus. He is where he said he would be. He is living among us and ready to help if we ask.
One thing that is particularly important to notice is how Luke records the witnesses of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. In this passage, we see Luke’s record of Joseph coming to Pilate for Jesus’ body and taking his body to his tomb in which Jesus is laid to rest. Then, the women take over the watch before Jesus is sealed in the tomb, and they return back home to begin preparations for him. When they come back to the tomb, the stone that sealed the tomb has been rolled away and Jesus is nowhere to be found. Instead, there are two men (whom we interpret to be angels) that appear at the tomb to let them know where Jesus went. The women hear the information and bring it to the Eleven disciples until finally Jesus reveals himself to them. So each step of the way, there is someone to see what is going on.
Out of his love for us, God provided proof for us that the story of Jesus is non-fictional. He gives us witnesses that can account for the story as he wrote it -- as it happened. The gospel writer Luke pays particular attention to the seemingly non-essential details (such as who was emperor and who was where and when) in order to establish a frame of reference for us. In verse one of chapter two, Luke records that Caesar Augustus was emperor of Rome. This allows those of us that struggle with the facts to see how the story of Jesus lines up with the historical records in the history books. As far as the Biblical record is concerned, we also see that Joseph of Arimathea fulfills Old Testament Scripture, as we read in Isaiah 53:9. Moreover, we see Jesus fulfilling his own prophecies in the New Testament, as the angel points out in verse seven. As such, it is the goal that we can start seeing the Bible as the historical record.
Now, there are essentially two ways that you can be a part of God’s plan. One is to do evil, such as the Jewish ruling council did: persecuting Jesus and killing him. The other is to allow God to do good through you, such as how Joseph of Arimathea gave his tomb away to Jesus, helping seal the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection, so that there could be no debate about its occurrence. Either way, God will reign supremely and his will will be done.
It is reassuring, though, to know that no matter if good or evil is performed in the world, Jesus will always make good out of it. You can take heart in knowing that God always has the final say in any matter. Know, too, that Jesus has risen and is able to provide healing and comfort to any that ask him in his name.
Question: What part in God’s plan do you want to follow? Do you want to be like the evil that God used for good? Or do you want to be like the good that came out of the evil?
I pray that you and I may be the good that God uses. May Jesus always have the last say. Amen.
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