“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’ ‘Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.”
Mark 16:1-8 (NIV)
All of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the Bible, tell us the women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb early on Sunday morning. They found the tomb empty and heard a message from the angel.
In the Resurrection of Jesus, we have the life-changing message of Easter, a message of hope and new life.
THE RESURRECTION CHALLENGES YOU TO DECIDE.
“‘Don’t be alarmed,’” he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.’”Mark 16:6 (NIV) In New Testament times, there were dozens of people who claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, before Jesus and after Jesus. Typically, the leader was killed or executed, the movement of followers scattered and everyone went home. It was over. We can’t name any of those leaders who claimed to be the Messiah today. They have faded away into footnotes of history.
But Jesus’ movement didn’t collapse–it exploded in growth, took over the Roman Empire and spread across the world. What made it different? Easter.
What made Christianity and Jesus different than any other person claiming to be the Son of God, or even any other world religion is that those founders of that movement are all dead. Jesus came back from the dead, and appeared to His followers. And that changed everything.
Disciples who had denied Jesus, who had run away in fear when Jesus got arrested and put on trial and was crucified–now are willing to die for their faith. Why? Because of the Resurrection. “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.” Mark 16:1 (NIV). Mark lists names of the women who came to the tomb. Why list their names? Why in other Gospels, are several hundred people talked about who saw the resurrected Jesus? Mark is saying: Go talk to these women, these people–they were eyewitnesses.
Mark challenges you to decide. But don’t miss the fact that the women had brought spices to prepare the dead body. No one, not even these women, expected an empty tomb. “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” Mark 16:7 (NIV). The angel sort of nudged them–Jesus did tell you about this. They still don’t get it. What’s the point? The Resurrection was something that was difficult for them to believe as it is for many people today. But they did believe it–why? Because they saw Jesus alive and resurrected.
Mark challenges you to decide.
THE RESURRECTION GIVES YOU GRACE AND POWER TO CHANGE YOUR HEART.
“Now go and tell His disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died.”
MARK 16:7 (NLT)
Do you see the grace and power in that verse? The angel didn’t say: Go tell those faithless, back-stabbing cowards that they might see Jesus if they grovel. That would be fair actually. But Jesus doesn’t operate like you and I would operate. Jesus says: I love and forgive you to make it possible for you to repent and follow Me. Grace.
Why is Peter specifically mentioned in verse 7? There are lots of disciples. Why Peter? Peter had denied Jesus. He failed. He couldn’t face Jesus. And later Peter becomes what? The key leader of the early church.
Grace and the Gospel says: You’ve got God all wrong–salvation is not because of your strength, salvation is by grace and through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. If you follow Jesus, He will forgive you and set you free. Resurrection means your sins are forgiven. Because Jesus was raised from the dead–God can come to you with grace saying: I give you power that changes your heart.
DO YOU BELIEVE EASTER HAPPENED?
Consider this: If you believe that this world is all there is and when you die, then you just end up as dust and that’s that. Nobody is going to make everything right—wrongs will never be addressed, all that is just not going to happen and eventually the earth will burn up in the death of the sun. That’s one choice.
Let’s say you watch a movie, watch a show—exciting and wild stuff happens, how will they get out of this? Then there’s a resurrection, a rescue and you love it. That happy ending helps for a while, then you realize that is not how life is. Life is not like that.
But if you’re a Christian and you believe in the Resurrection and you’re trusting in Jesus—then you know that when a great happy ending comes—life is like that. Why? Because Jesus was raised from the dead, and He will be with you at the end.
Don’t you want to believe in that? When we look at the Resurrection–anybody would want it to be true, but that doesn’t make it true. But when you look at the evidence—it is true! And the Resurrection brings Life Change—hope of new life. It did happen! And that’s what it means—believe it!
