Matthew
28:1-20
After
the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to look at the tomb. There was
a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going
to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his
clothes were white as snow. The guards
were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be
afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he
said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and
is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told
you." So the women hurried away
from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them.
"Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and
worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them,
"Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they
will see me." While the women were
on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief
priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the
elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling
them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him
away while we were asleep.' If this
report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of
trouble." So the soldiers took the
money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely
circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus
had told them to go. When they saw him,
they worshiped him; but some doubted.
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.""(NIV)
I
came across an interesting book a year or so ago. “Eyewitness to History.”
What
makes this book so fascinating is that it contains pieces of diaries, letters
and all sorts of other writings in which people describe some historic event.
Some
of the writers are famous, but most are not.
They are just regular people who happened to be at the right place and
the right time and saw some very important historic event take place.
There
is an eyewitness account of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scotts; the battle
of Gettysburg; the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906; and so forth – wonderful
descriptions of history from the point of view of eyewitnesses.
The
Christian religion is built on eyewitness evidence.
When
Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians he made out a list of some of
the eyewitnesses. (1 Cor 15:1-8)
“Now,
brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you
received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold
firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of
first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that,
he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of
whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to
one abnormally born.”
To
witness the Resurrection of Christ must have been an awesome experience for
these people. It changed their lives.
Paul
was a witness to the Resurrection.
It
changed him from being a person who persecuted Christians and tried to erase
the Christian religion from the face of the earth, to become the leading
theologian of the faith who helped firmly establish Christianity as a world
religion for all people.
But
Paul was not the first eyewitness. In
fact, he says he was so late that he describes himself as “abnormally born.”
Before
Paul, the resurrected Jesus appeared to all of the original apostles, except of
course for Judas who committed suicide after betraying his master.
And
for each of them, the Resurrection changed them forever.
Peter
was once weak. On the night of the trial
of Jesus, Peter was asked three times if
he was one of the disciples, but he denied it every time. After becoming a witness to the resurrection
of Christ, Peter becomes a strong, dynamic preacher.
Other
disciples took the Gospel into far countries and distant places. Many of them – most of them suffered death
for their faith in Christ.
But
these men were not the first to see the Resurrection.
Paul
doesn’t mention them in his list on his letter to the Corinthians, but Matthew
mentions them in our New Testament lesson for today. Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary
were the first disciples to visit the tomb.
They were among the earliest witnesses of the Risen Lord.
And
we often think of the women as the first witnesses.
But
they were not the first.
There
were other witnesses we tend to completely forget about – the first people to
witness the Resurrection of Christ were, according to our New Testament Lesson,
the guards.
And
that amazes me!
Because
these first people who were witnesses to the resurrection did not find their
lives changed, or inspired, or motivated by the fact that Jesus rose from the
dead.
These
first witnesses, these guards left confused and bewildered. They were bribed by the chief priests and
scribes to tell others they had been asleep on their posts and the body had
been stolen by the disciples while they had been asleep. They were willing to destroy their careers
for the sake of the bribe. In fact, they
were willing to risk death for the bribe, because sleeping on duty was
punishable by death.
These
guards had been the first to witness the resurrection.
They
had the best evidence.
They
knew beyond doubt.
They
had been there all night long.
They
knew no one had stolen the body.
They
knew Jesus had risen from the dead. They
had to have known. They had to
believe.
But
it wasn't enough to believe.
It could have changed
their lives. But it didn't. Because believing is never enough.
If believing is not enough, what then is enough?
Most of us believe in the resurrection. Most of us here today believe that Jesus
lived and died and rose again.
That is why we are here.
We are here because we believe.
But believing is never enough.
You must do more than just believe.
James said in his New Testament letter (James 2:17-20),
"faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead... You
believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and
shudder."
In Matthew's Gospel, shortly after the resurrection, Jesus
did not say, "Go out into all the world and make believers." He said, "Go out and make
disciples."
There is a difference between being a believer and being a
disciple. It is not enough to just
believe. The guards believed. They knew.
They had the best evidence. They
were the only ones there at the moment of the resurrection. Everyone else came after and saw the empty
tomb. But they were there when the body
of Christ came back to life. They
believed. But it made no difference.
It is never enough to just believe. You must become a disciple.
What does that mean?
If believing is not enough, what is?
How should our lives be different?
First, if the resurrection is to make a difference in our
lives, then we should become a people of a community.
It is not enough to just believe. One must join a community of believers. It is impossible for a person to be a
Christian alone.
When God created Adam, God looked at Adam and said, "It
is not good for the man to be alone." (Genesis 2:18). We need others around us. We are meant to be part of a community of
faith.
We need the nurture we receive from one another. In Proverbs (27:17) we are told, "As
iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
When Jesus sent out his disciples, we are told in Mark 6:7
that he sent them out in groups of two. He never sent anyone out alone.
Paul said in Romans (14:7)
"For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to
himself alone."
So often Christians are described in the New Testament as
being part of a body. A body is composed
of arms and hands and fingers. In his
letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, (1 Cor 12:18-21), "As it is, there
are many parts, but one body. The eye
cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say
to the feet, "I don't need you!"
You need the rest of the members of this church. You cannot be a Christian in issolation. You cannot be the Lone Ranger of
Christians.
Granted, there are times when you want to be alone. Jesus himself prayed in the hours before his
death in solitude. He went to the Garden
to be alone with God. But even in that
solitude, he was constantly going back to be with the disciples.
As a pastor, I often see the church respond to people in a
crisis.
A man's wife dies. The
church responds. People call on the
telephone to see what they can do. Food
is brought to the house. There are hugs
and hands to hold. In the days and
months that follow, the church members keep in contact. Comfort is given.
On the other hand, another church member experiences the
death of a husband. The pastor is there,
but the church is largely invisible.
There may be one or two people who call, but there is not the outpouring
of support found in the first crisis.
There is no comfort. There is
bitterness.
What makes the difference?
The difference is not that one person is more loved than the
other.
The difference is not that one person gave more money to the
church than the other person.
The difference is not that one person had more power or
respect.
I have seen this happen time and again. The difference is that one family is part of
the church and the other is not.
Both believe.
But only one is a disciple.
It is not enough to believe.
You have to become part of the body of Christ. You have to become part of the church.
Solomon in his wisdom said in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, "Two
are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him
up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"
In the New Testament Lesson, the first to believe in the
resurrection are the guards, but they do nothing. They are afraid. The resurrection doesn't change their lives
for the better. On the other hand, those
who are changed were always drawn toward one another. They were part of a community, so when they
believed in the resurrection, the first thing they did was to go and look for
one another.
It is not enough to believe.
You have to become a disciple.
Becoming a disciple means joining a church community and
being part of that community. Being a
disciple also means that we become a people who worship.
In the Psalms, there is a man who almost loses faith in
God. He says (Ps 73), "As for me,
my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked. They have no
struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by
human ills. Therefore pride is their
necklace; they clothe themselves with violence...This is what the wicked are
like-- always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in
vain have I washed my hands in innocence."
This man believes, but in this world of violence, injustice,
and discouragement, belief is not enough.
This man found faith strengthened through worship. He continues in his Psalm, "When I tried
to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of
God; then I understood."
In Matthew's Gospel, as soon as the disciples learn about the
resurrection, they worship. (Matt 28:16-17)
It is not enough to believe. One
must also worship.
To be a disciple also means that we need to become a people
who grow in our faith.
Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians, "So if
you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ
is, seated at the right hand of God. Set
your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,
(Colossians 3:1-2).
Many people believe, but they do not have the mind of the
disciple. They do not focus their minds on Christ. They do not set their minds on spiritual
things. They do not grow.
In the Old Testament, Moses leads the people out of Egypt and
toward the promised land. That is not a
trip made in an instant. That is a long
journey. It takes 40 years. At the first sign of trouble, the Hebrews
complain. "We should have stayed in
Egypt." But God wants his people to
move forward. God wants his people to
grow. He does not want us to stay where
we are. He doesn't want us to remain
children.
One of the first things that happens after the resurrection
is the disciples begin to grow. Their
faith grows by listening to God's Word.
The Psalmist memorized Scripture so that he could always be
nurtured by God's Word. "I have
hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Ps
119:11).
After the resurrection, disciples begin to turn toward
Scripture.
In Luke, some of the disciples meet the risen Lord on the
road to Emmaus. Jesus begins to explain
all of Scripture to them, beginning with the words of Moses. When they realized it is Jesus who has been
raised from the dead, the disciples say to each other, "Were not our
hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the
Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:27-32).
Many of us here today will neglect God's Word. We believe.
But it is not enough to believe.
We must join a church fellowship. We must worship. We must grow in faith through reading and
studying God's Word.
We must also get up, go out of this sanctuary, and make a
difference in the world out there.
In Matthew's Gospel, the disciples listened to Jesus after
the resurrection. He said, "Go into
all the world and make disciples."
We need to share the faith with others.
In Matthew's Gospel, when the women come to the grave and
realize that Jesus has been raised from the dead, the angel says, "Go
quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead
of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
(Matthew 28:7)
The news of the resurrection is not news that we keep
silent. We tell others. We share it with others.
It is not enough to believe.
We all believe.
But are we all disciples?
James said in his New Testament letter, (James 2:19-20) "You believe that there is one God.
Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that
faith without deeds is useless?"
We all believe in the resurrection.
So did the guards at the tomb.
It made no difference in their lives.
It can make a difference in ours.
Let's do more than believe.
Let's become disciples.
And now unto
God the Father,
God the Son,
And God the
Holy Spirit be ascribed all might, power, dominion and glory, today and
forever, Amen.
Copyright 2018.
Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved
Ministers may feel free to use some or all of this sermon in
their own ministries as long as they do not publish in print or on the Internet
without ascribing credit to the author.