Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt April 20th, 2025
Set Your Hope On Things Above
Text: Luke 24:1–12
I recently read an article on stories of people winning absurd amounts of money in the lottery and how it ruined their lives. They had dreamed about how wonderful it would be to suddenly become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.
The problem was that once they had that kind of wealth some claimed it didn’t bring joy but misery. Some claimed they had to move to get away from a sudden barrage of friends and family asking for money. Some bought things they always wanted but could never afford. But once those things were purchased there was still something missing. Oddly enough it often brought depression because they had everything they thought they wanted and still there an emptiness a feeling of hollowness.
The problem wasn’t that they now had plenty of money, it was believing that it was the path to happiness and freedom.
Actually, the disciples of Jesus Christ had a similar problem in their expectations of what it would mean to be disciples of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. They were looking forward to the day when Jesus was the ruling King of Israel, the Messiah. Rome would be vanquished. It would be like in the days of King David, and they would be the king’s entourage. Life would be so sweet. But it didn’t happen that way. In truth what happened was so much better, and nothing could compare to life lived in the saving power and indwelling glory of Jesus the Messiah.
But for a few days everything they had hoped for over the previous three years had been crushed as they watched in numbness the lifeless body of Jesus placed in the tomb. The disciples were dealing with the guilt and shame of their betrayal one of the horrible effects of their sin, but also how could such evil have been poured out on Jesus the one they believed to be the Son of God. Jesus, the one who had been their teacher and Rabbi for three years. They saw all the miraculous signs that testified to who He was. Even the demons submitted to His authority and fled before the power of His command. They had witnessed amazing miracles, even raising the dead. How could it be that He allowed himself to be arrested, brutally beaten and crucified. What were they to do? Where could they go?
In our texts for this morning we find them holed up and hiding from the religious leaders fearing what would happen to them because of their relationship with Jesus, their Lord, who was now dead.
Boy were they in for a surprise.
From Friday night until Sunday morning I assure you that these were the questions that they discussed among themselves and still could not make any sense of. Perhaps they remembered when Jesus had sent them out in his name, and they had been able to heal the sick and the demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name? What was that all about and how could it have happened if he were not the Messiah? How could they go back to their previous lives? What would their family and friends say to them? Would they be welcomed back to their synagogue? Would they be outcasts?
Let’s set the scene for our gospel story. Listen to Luke 23:50–56.
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Jewish law required that each Jewish individual or family not perform their normal work on the Sabbath. I suspect that they were not able to actually rest or
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sleep. The women could hardly wait to go to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus’ body both out of love for him as well as the need to be busy, to do something.
First thing on Sunday morning the women come to the tomb with their spices, fully expecting to find Jesus’ remains. It needs to be understood that these women did not go to Jesus’ tomb believing in the resurrection. They did not go to check and see if the tomb was empty. The fact that they took spices along to anoint the decaying body shows what they expected to find, and this despite the fact that Luke records Jesus speaking of his death and resurrection six times before the actual event.
So the first people who had to be convinced of the resurrection were the disciples themselves. In a real sense they were the first skeptics to become convinced that Jesus was raised!
The first hint that something had happened was the rolled-away stone. This stone, as was typical of ancient tombs, had covered the entrance. It was laid in a channel that had been carved out for it. While Mark 16:3 shows that the women had debated how they would get the heavy stone moved, Luke simply presents what confronts them on their arrival.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Imagine if you will what must have been going through their minds. Remember that they are grieving and essentially numb, unable to think clearly and now they find the tomb empty. Luke writes “While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.”
This description suggests Luke means angels and the presence of two men may invoke the “two witnesses” theme of the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 19:15 “A matter must be established by the testimony of 2–3 witnesses.” God was making sure that all things were done according to his plan and there would be no room for skepticism.
Luke 24:5–8,
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful
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men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words…
As I said earlier, Luke recorded six different times that Jesus revealed that he would be arrested, crucified, and then rise again from the dead but these women were just now remembering that. To be fair the men don’t seem to be tracking with Jesus either.
Doesn’t that seem like something that you would have remembered while it was actually happening?
Let’s look back to one of the occasions where Jesus had forewarned them about what was to come. Luke wrote in Luke 9:44–45,
“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
It has often been my experience that God doesn’t give me a complete understanding of what he is going to do because I’m not ready to hear it. The situation that I may be in at the time is not the situation that I will be in when God moves suddenly. In looking back on things that God has done in our lives I realize that if I had seen the path that he was going to take me that I would have attempted to sabotage it, and I would have missed all that God was doing to prepare me for his plan.
I believe that is what had been happening to the disciples. They constantly seemed to misunderstand the obvious but still faithfully followed Jesus anyway. The gospel writer is pointing us to the fact that we can trust God to accomplish all that he has determined even though the ones that he uses don’t necessarily understand all that is going on with the grand design.
However, there is another point to be made here about the disciples. This one hit home with me. There are numerous verses where the disciples act arrogantly with the “common folk” who are not a part of their little group, the “Jesus Entourage.” They didn’t realize it, but they were about to be humbled and reminded that the fact that Jesus called them to be His disciples had nothing to do with their being spiritual superstars. Actually, it was quite the opposite. Jesus likely called them because they weren’t. That way you and I don’t have to worry
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that we don’t measure up to God’s standard either, so when He calls it isn’t because He doesn’t really understand who we are—deep down. He understands us more fully than we understand ourselves and yet He invites us into an intimate relationship with our God and Creator.
In the gospel reading this morning the angels begin the process of unfolding the drama being played out at the tomb with what seems to be a mild rebuke that is also an explanation: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”
I love the way Eugene Peterson translated this statement in The Message, Why do you look for the living in a cemetery?
Put simply, Jesus is alive, so don’t expect to find him in a tomb. Then the angels ask them to recall the promise he made to them in Galilee.
“Remember how he told you, . . . `The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again’ “
God was not surprised at Jesus’ resurrection, and neither should they be. Jesus’ authority is summarized in the crucial Son of Man title that he had revealed to them. All these things were now suddenly coming to pass as far as they were concerned but in truth had always been the plan of God. Jesus is the Son of man who bears the authority of deity, through judgment given over to him by the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13–14), a prophecy given to Daniel 500–600 years earlier that the disciples as well as every Jew would have been very familiar with:
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
In Luke 22:66–70 the chief priests and the elders asked if Jesus considered himself to be the Messiah and His answer infuriated them because they recognized what Jesus was saying about Himself.
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them.
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“If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He replied, “You say that I am.”
God, the great cosmic director, had orchestrated what took place there. From the arrest through the death to the resurrection, Jesus walked in God’s will. The women need not have wasted their money on the spices to preserve Jesus’ body; God had taken care of it and had been in control all along. The angels’ words bring Jesus’ words back to mind. The women cannot keep to themselves what has just happened—they return to tell the eleven and those with them. The entourage had included a large group of women, but Luke only names Mary Magdalene (8:2), Joanna (8:3) and Mary the mother of James.
Just recounting that the women couldn’t keep to themselves what had just happened to them doesn’t begin to reveal the depth of joy and emotion ensconced in the revelation that Jesus was alive—not dead after all. I can only imagine the relief that would have been theirs in that moment accept to remember the words foretelling the event such as our Psalm this morning.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
I love the imagery here in Luke’s account of the women going to the tomb at early dawn on the first day of the week. The women came to the tomb as the darkness was still lingering as was the despair deep in their spirit’s but then the dawn begins to shed light and dispel the darkness. In the “suddenly” of the
angel’s words everything changed; darkness to light, despair to absolute joy and celebration, confusion and blindness to revelation and clarification, before having no idea what to do next, to rushing to tell the disciples, “HE’S ALIVE!!!”
In the moments and days afterwards when the disciples realized that Jesus had in fact resurrected from the dead, everything changed.
Suddenly, they knew with certainty what they had only a limited awareness of before, Jesus was indeed the Messiah and in a way that they had never imagined. He was not just the Lord and King of Israel but over all of creation and now he
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was the conqueror of sin and death. Glory to God! Alleluia!
This morning we come to celebrate and remember that Jesus Christ our Lord rose from the dead over 2,000 years ago and as we recite in the Nicene Creed every time we come together for worship:
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
The question before you this morning is this: Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead?
This is an important question and must never be taken lightly because everything in life and in death is bound up in the answer to that question. If Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father until he comes again then the first major implication is that He is indeed Alive. Think about the impact of the angels word to the women at the empty tomb, “He is not here, but has risen.”
That fact changed everything for the women and Jesus’ disciples and has been transforming lives around the world for over 2,000 years. Everything we believe about life and death changes when we come to the realization that Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, is Lord of all things. You may be here this morning doubting the truth of the resurrection or possibly believing that it is a myth and that there is no credible basis to claim that it is true.
Consider the evidence for the resurrection. Of course there’s the empty tomb and the fact that the writers of the gospel recount the testimony of the women. During that time it was primarily the women who prepared bodies for burial and would likely be the first ones there to carry out this task. But during this time in history the testimonies of women were often not seen as credible. So why did the gospel writers present their testimony?
To answer that question consider the Apostle Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8,
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then
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he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
The evidence of over 500 people testifying to the same thing is very credible in any inquiry and the testimony of the first eyewitnesses being the women who came to prepare the body would not likely be invented.
New Testament scholar Michael Kruger wrote in this,
It is an often-overlooked fact that provides the necessary context for the discussion. That fact is simply this: the earliest Christians came to believe, against all odds and against all expectations, that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead. Notice the distinctive nature of this claim. The claim is not that Jesus rose from the dead (though, I think he did). The claim is that the earliest followers of Jesus came to believe— and very strongly believe—that he did. And that is a wholly other matter.
The question as to what the earliest Christians believed is not called into question even by those today who don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They cannot deny what history, even secular history is forced to recognize.
Why did they believe that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father? I believe it’s because they encountered the resurrected Lord, and it changed everything. Everything that Jesus had told them and all the prophetic words concerning the coming Messiah came into clear focus and it was wonderful, it was amazing, it was life giving.
When Jesus is seen for who He really is then nothing else has the same importance as that one fact. They would never have given their lives, being willing to suffer and die for a lie. Today there are hundreds of millions of people around the world whose lives have been irrevocably changed because Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead and is their Lord and Savior. I stand before you today as one of them.
N.T. Wright in his book The Resurrection of the Son of God writes:
We are forced to postulate something which will account for the fact that a group of first-century Jews, who had cherished messianic hopes and centered
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them on Jesus of Nazareth, claimed after his death that he really was the Messiah despite the crushing evidence to the contrary” (Resurrection, 562).
Wright points out that there must be an explanation for why the disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah. It must be an explanation that has the weight and merit to change what they witnessed when Jesus died on the cross and was placed in the tomb. What was persuasive enough to accomplish this and completely turn their lives around in such a way that they would stake everything in their lives on the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Michael Kruger concludes,
At the end of the day we are faced with a remarkable confluence of events. We have an early Christian movement that radically reverses it’s view of Jesus—from defeated would-be Messiah to the true and only Messiah—and also believes that the tomb was empty, and that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at once.
This is the best news ever. This is the story of Easter. HE IS RISEN! ALLELUIA! Let’s pray.
©2025 The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt
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