The Resurrection of Jesus
Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20
My most embarrassing moment as a Christian was probably my sophomore year when I shared the Gospel with my friend Gaurav from India and forgot to mention the resurrection. I got through brokenness in the world, our sin, Christ’s life and death on our behalf and then I stopped and asked what my friend thought about all that. It wasn’t until I hopped in my car and was driving home that I realized that I had totally spaced the resurrection. And, you know, that moment made me think: did my Gospel presentation really change all that much when I forgot the resurrection? Should it have? See, I think in our focus on Christ’s substitutionary death, we blow right past the resurrection. After all, why does the resurrection matter? I mean, having a savior who beat death is pretty great, but does it really make that big of a difference? Well, the rest of scripture seems to think so. Paul says that if the resurrection didn’t happen, then we are the most to be pitied, which seems intense from our perspective–after all, we were saved by Christ’s death, not his resurrection, so why should I even care about the resurrection? Today as we approach Easter and think about the resurrection, I think we need to remember three things that the resurrection means, and three ways we should respond to the resurrection.
The resurrection means that Jesus is alive. It means that we don’t serve a defeated revolutionary, or an inspiring martyr. So many others had come before Jesus and have come since Jesus claiming to bring with them a new way, a way to life, and a way to wholeness, but they all have one thing in common–they died and stayed dead. Jesus was not only an example for us to follow or a charismatic leader we think back on, he is still alive! He is still working, ruling and reigning in the world today.
The resurrection means that Jesus is interceding with the Father on our behalf. If you read the Old Testament, it becomes really clear that what humans need is someone who doesn’t fail to enter the space that God lives in and plead the case of sinful man on our behalf. That is what Abraham served as in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, what Moses served as when Israel failed at Sinai, and what the Levites were supposed to serve as in perpetuity for the people of Israel. But, all of those people failed, and humans were left once again with no one who could plead their case, who could ask God for mercy on their behalf. Enter Christ, who was made like us in every respect so that he could be our intermediary, and because he rose from the dead, he can ascend to the right hand of the Father, be where he is, and intercede on our behalf. The resurrection means that we have a perpetual intercessor in the presence of God who guarantees our righteousness for us.
The resurrection means that the new creation is here. When Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, he tells him that he needs to be born again, and Nicodemus gets really confused–after all, how can you be born again if you are already old? And of course, the story continues as we see how we are spiritually born again, born of the Spirit of God, who takes our dead hearts and makes them alive; the Spirit who buries the old us and raises us up to walk in a new way of life. But, we still have the tricky question of our sinful flesh–our physical bodies that we walk around with that stink of the brokenness of the world, that get old and sick, that lead us to stumble and sin. The resurrection declares to us a greater hope than just a spiritual rebirth, it points to a hope for the redemption of our bodies. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, but he won’t be the last, and the resurrection means we have hope for new bodies that are freed from sin and death for eternity.
So, if the resurrection guarantees those three things how should we respond?
We should worship. Notice, in Matthew, Luke and John it makes it clear that the disciples who saw the risen Jesus worshiped him. That should be our response too! Jesus is risen, reigning, and interceding for us and because of that he is worthy of all of our worship and praise! We should worship with grateful hearts and with amazement in our eyes as we celebrate that our God came to Earth, lived a life we never could have, died a death we deserved and resurrected to welcome us to new life!
We should rejoice! Notice that the disciples celebrate when they see the risen Jesus. We should be happy that Jesus is risen, like really, truly joyful! This is the best news we could have ever heard! It means Good Friday was a win and not a loss! It means that we aren’t stuck in our sin! It means we have hope! So, we should be completely, holistically, resiliently joyful because our God is alive!
We should tell people about it. Every single Gospel (except the shorter ending of Mark) tells us that after hearing the news that Jesus was risen, the disciples went and told people. It’s followed by a clear command by Jesus to go and tell more people, to be his witnesses, his representatives, spreading the good news of his resurrection to all people everywhere! We should join in that work, and as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, we should share the news of it with more and more people.
How are you going to acknowledge Jesus as worthy of worship today?
How are you going to rejoice in the resurrection today?
Who are you going to share the news of Jesus’ resurrection with this week?
