Easter Sunday message from Luke 24

Why do you look for the living among the dead? Good question! The women who came to Jesus’ tomb had no expectation of anything other than anointing Jesus’ dead body. Strange that the stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away, but this would actually be helpful to them. But they were completely perplexed when Jesus’ body was not there. One could imagine them frantically asking each other about what had happened, where was Jesus and who moved the body! These women had not understood, and neither had all the disciples, what Jesus had told them would happen after his death. They had to be confronted by angelic beings and reminded of Jesus’ words (v.7) before being propelled into action.

Had these women not been listening when Jesus was talking to them about this! Was it just too ‘out there’ to contemplate? Weren’t they able to connect Jesus’ healing miracles to the power of God! Could not the Creator of the whole universe recreate life at will! In their defence, it is very possible that the notion and reality of Jesus’ death, and the loss of their beloved friend, had completely clouded their vision of anything beyond. Also, it would not be easy to understand how God could possibly have allowed events to take this course.  We might see the visit of the angel as reassuring and encouraging, but how else might we interpret this angelic appearance?

Might we also sense some measure of rebuke! Also do we detect some level of urgency here in the angel’s appearance! Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus was alive … it was already time to celebrate and share this magnificent news with everyone!! No point hanging around in yesterday’s place of death, when there is new life to be lived in other places! All Jesus’ followers would soon form themselves around a new kingdom vision and be empowered by the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel. But I guess they could have alternatively run for the hills. The conclusion of Mark’s Gospel states that there was an ongoing state of fear among the disciples for some period following the resurrection. Adjusting to new and different outcomes than we expected, or are used to, can be rather daunting.

Why do you look for the living among the dead? Still a good question!! Don't we still tend to do this … not that we visit too many old tombs, but that we too often visit dead places from the past.  This - even though we have received a completely new nature through Christ Jesus! Old habits die hard! Old attitudes feel very comfortable!! Certain trends seem too tough to halt! We just can’t let certain bitterness go!! We can still so easily look for the answers to life's questions down dead paths. A lot of the world's wisdom and a lot of its cultural norms are derived from now dead places. Jesus actually changed everything on the cross, and now with his resurrection leads us to think and to act in totally new ways. This is the dynamic of forgiveness leading to eternal life.

The repentant criminal on the nearby cross to Jesus embraced the forgiveness that he heard being offered to even those who put Jesus on the cross, with the result that he experienced salvation and even today enjoys eternal life. This is the new and living replacing the old and dead. Do we still though think more about sustaining the old life than advancing the new? Are we fearful about where Jesus will lead us? Do we miss the most important while still clinging to the safe? Is this why we down deep still feel unsatisfied? I say this primarily to myself, because I still lack the joy and peace that I should reveal in being God's child and Jesus' friend. I should have a natural love for others and a deep concern for their well-being.

Do we live like we believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Does Jesus’ resurrection still fire us up?? Do we still feel the energy of Spirit-filled new life??? Do our lives reflect to others the reality of Jesus’ resurrection?? The apostle Paul was completely turned around when he met the resurrected Jesus on the Damascus road. He went from persecuting Jesus-followers to being the greatest ever missionary for the Gospel. Paul was then able to write to the Corinthians these words: So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:17,21). To “become the righteousness of God” is to take on God’s character attributes and to act as God would act. And we can tell what God is like by getting to know Jesus.

To act according to God’s character is often very different to the way the world acts … which is often found living a perpetual death. Paul himself moved from dwelling down the proverbial dead-end street to a fulfilling life on the Jesus road. Part of this – I would say central to this – is Paul’s emphasis on our role as those who help to connect others to God. This is brought out in the in-between verses of those we just considered: ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

An ambassador is one who represents a nation or a cause to the outside world. We are then God’s representatives. We can only truly be this though, through the work of Jesus on the cross, the power of Jesus’ resurrection, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit … all having their proper impact on our daily lives – through thick and thin. Once the penny dropped for the women at the tomb, and for the disciples as they made their discovery, and as soon as they drew together their faith and courage and dedicated everything they had to the cause, then the Jesus-following movement didn’t look back.