He Is Risen
Pastor Rod Thompson
Midland SDA Church
April 20, 2019
Have you ever asked yourself why there are four gospels? Is it really necessary to get four different authors telling us about the life and ministry of Jesus? I am going to suggest to you this morning that it is not only necessary, but without all four you have only a partial gospel.
If you look at the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) you see, essentially, the same story. Many times, the stories are identical. But there are also times where one author gives an eye witness account that the other writers don’t. For example; Matthew tells the parable of the unforgiving servant and the parable of the workers in the vineyard, but the other writers don’t. And then there are stories that John tells that the others don’t.
And then there are times when the writers tell different aspects of the same story. They give different information and it is only when you put all of them together that you get the whole story.
I find it very interesting that Matthew, who was also called Levi, was a tax collector. As a tax collector, Matthew was a government official. And from his vantage point he viewed things from a governmental or political position. So it shouldn’t surprise us when we look deeply into his gospel that he gives us the picture of Jesus as the expected, coming, King of Israel. When you look at his genealogy of Jesus you see him pointing back through the Davidic line. The line that the expected Messiah King would come through.
It’s also very interesting that Mark is the only gospel writer that doesn’t have a genealogy. Why do you suppose that is? Why does Mark completely bypass the story of Mary and joseph and the virgin birth? I’ll tell you why, because Mark gives us the view of Jesus as the suffering servant, and no one cares about the pedigree of a servant.
And then you have the gospel according to Luke. Luke was a medical doctor. So, it should not surprise us that God would inspire him to write the gospel of Jesus Christ from the perspective of His humanity. He is fully human, and Luke’s genealogy goes through Jesus’ fully human mother.
And then you have the gospel according to John. John was the theologian of the bunch and that’s why his genealogy begins with, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and He was God.” Here we see that John gives us the picture of Jesus in His divinity. He has and always will be God.
So I suggest to you this morning that all four views of Jesus are necessary to fully comprehend and understand who Jesus is. He is the King of kings, He was the suffering servant for all of humanity, He is fully God and fully man.
So it should not surprise anyone that if we want to truly understand what happened on that resurrection morning after the cross we will need to examine the story in all four gospels.
I want you to imagine in your mind’s eye the events leading up to the resurrection.
On Thursday night Jesus meets with His disciples in the upper room and they celebrate the Passover meal together. Jesus humbles Himself and washes their feet. He shows them that the leaders in His kingdom are the servants of all. Just like he is a servant. And He institutes the communion service and the New Covenant promise – I will write my law in your mind and in your heart.
After supper He and His disciples go out to the Mount of Olives and at Sun down the Biblical day of Friday begins. In our imagination we can see Him going deeper into the garden with Peter, James and John and telling them to watch and pray. We can see Him bowing in prayer and pleading with the Father to let this cup pass from Him. We can also see Him surrender His will to the Father.
Can you feel the immense pressure as the thought of being separated from the Father for the first time in eternity past enters His mind? Can you imagine the pressure as He starts to take the sins of the world upon Himself? Can you imagine the pressure as He tries to look beyond the portals of the tomb and He can’t see through? Can you imagine the pressure as He doesn’t know if sin is so offensive to the Father that His sacrifice will be accepted or He will be eternally banished from the presence of the Father. Can you see the perspiration on His brow as the capillaries burst and blood comes from His pores?
Can you see Him coming to those three disciples who were fast asleep when he needed their prayers the most? Can you sense His anguish when He comes back the third time and they are still sleeping? Can you sense the thrill of the moment when He tells them to get up that the time has come, and He is being betrayed into the hands of men?
We can see Him standing there as Judas betrays Him with a kiss. We can see all the soldiers fall on the ground as He says I AM He who you are looking for. We can picture the mock trial as He is paraded before the Sanhedrin, Pilot and Herod. His being beaten, scourged, a crown of thorns pushed down into His brow, the blood running down His body.
We can see Him treading the wine press alone as He is marched to Golgotha and the way of suffering. You can imagine as He falls under the weight of the cross and Simon the Cyrene-an being ordered to carry the cross.
Can you feel the pain as the nails pierce His hands and feet and the cross is lifted up and dropped into the hole? We can hear the crowd yelling and the Pharisees saying, If He is the Christ let Him come down and save Himself and us. We can hear Him ask God why He has forsaken Him. We can hear Him breath His last breath.
We can imagine Him being laid in a stone cold grave and resting on Sabbath in the tomb. But now it is resurrection morning. Sunday began, as we know, at Sundown on Saturday evening. And now as the sun begins to rise early that morning we pick up the story.
Matthew 28:1 Tells us that as the day began to dawn that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb. There was a great earth quake, an angel of the Lord came and rolled back the stone and then spoke to them telling them that He was risen.
Mark 16:1 Tells us that when the Sabbath was past that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. When they got there the stone was already rolled away, when they went inside they saw an angel inside and he told them that Jesus had risen.
Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away, went inside, saw nothing and when they came out they stood there perplexed and then suddenly there were two angels beside them telling them that He had risen.
John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. She ran and told Peter and John. They ran to the tomb, they went inside, saw nothing and then left. While Mary was standing there Jesus Himself appeared to her and told her to go and tell the brethren that He would meet them in Galilee.
Now we have to admit that there certainly appears to be a contradiction in the stories. And it should produce in us many questions.
When did the women go to the tomb and how many went?
Was the tomb already open, and how many angels appeared?
When and where did each woman see Jesus?
Where there any other appearances of Jesus that day?
First of all Mathew, Mark and Luke all say that the women went to the tomb early in the morning at dawn. But then John says that Mary Magdalene went when it was still dark. One plausible solution is that the phrases used in the gospels all refer to the same general time. Much of the sky is still dark when the day begins to dawn very early in the morning.
Perhaps a better solution is that John may have been describing when the women initially left (their houses) for the tomb, while the other gospel writers describe when the women arrived at the tomb. It is quite possible that they left before light so that they could arrive just as the sun was coming up.
Resolving the issue of how many women went to the tomb is relatively straight forward. There were at least five women that went to the tomb. Luke names three of them and then says “other women” went also (meaning at least two others). If you look at it closely you will discover that Matthew does not say that only two women were there and Mark does not say only three women where there. And although John names only Mary Magdalene, he is clearly aware that she was not alone.
Read John 20:2
Mary herself indicates there were others that had been with her. (We do not know where they have laid Him)
Then there is the question of – was the tomb already empty when they arrived?
Mark, Luke and John state outright that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb prior to the women’s arrival. Matthew’s wording has caused much debate
Read Matthew 28:2
I want you to notice that although this description follows his mention of the women heading to the tomb, Matthew does not claim that this event occurred as the women arrived. I am going to suggest to you that Matthew is simply providing helpful details that have already happened prior to their arrival.
The angelic appearances have also drawn some criticism. Was there one angel at the time, as described in Matthew and Mark? Or where there two angels as stated in Luke and John? I’m going to suggest to you that there were two angels. Neither Matthew nor Mark claims that only one angels was at the tomb even though they describe only one.
So let’s see if we can attempt to put the events of that resurrection morning into the proper order.
Imagine in your mind’s eye those women (at least 5) leaving their homes before sunup, (probably from Bethany). They arrive at the tomb just as the dawn is breaking. It may be that they felt the earth quake as they were traveling there. As they near the tomb they realize the stone is already rolled away and all the guards are gone.
Mary Magdelene leaves the other women and runs to alert Peter and John who had stayed the night in Jerusalem. Based on her comment about not knowing the location of the Lord’s body, it seems that she was not among the women who encountered the angels in the tomb.
Meanwhile, the other women entered the tomb and encountered the angels. One of the angels proclaimed that the Lord was risen, and then the women went quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring word to the disciples (not Peter and John) but those who were staying (possibly) in Bethany.
It may have been that these women stopped along the way to tell Cleopas and an unnamed disciple about the morning’s events. They may have split up in order to go and tell others. It may be that Cleopas’ wife was one of the women.
Meanwhile Peter, John and Mary Magdalene race to the tomb, the two men enter and see the grave clothes lying there and then leave. Mary Magdalene stays behind, as she is weeping she stoops down and looks into the tomb and she sees two angels. After explaining her grief to them she turns around and sees Jesus standing there. At first, she supposed it was the gardener, but then she realized it was Jesus. He tells her to go tell the disciples, so she leaves to find Peter and John and tell them.
Read Matthew 28:9
Here we see the other women who had left the tomb and were going to tell the disciples that the angels had said that the Lord was risen now they also have an encounter with Jesus. And He also tells them to go and tell the disciples that He is going before them into Galilee.
A little bit later that morning, Luke tells us that two of His disciples were traveling the road to Emmaus. They were talking about all of the things that had happened when Jesus also appeared to them. Though it says that their eyes were constrained so that they did not recognize Him.
Read Luke 24: 17-20
Then notice what it says
Read verse 21
We were hoping that He was going to redeem Israel. They didn’t realize that He had. They were looking for a redeemer who would deliver them from Roman occupation and they didn’t realize that He had redeemed them so that he could deliver them from their sin.
They go on to say,
Read Luke 24: 22-27
What a wonderful question that Jesus asked them. He essentially says, isn’t that exactly what the scriptures say was supposed to happen?
And He takes them through the scriptures that showed that He had to die in order to pay our penalty for us. As they reach their destination they invite Him in to stay with them for the night. Then He reveals Himself to them, and I love what they say as He disappears out of their sight.
Read Luke 24: 32-34
As we read these four gospel accounts it would be so easy to say that there are contradictions in the resurrection reports and therefore the scriptures cannot be trusted. But we need to realize that when you have several eye witness accounts do the stories ever line up exactly the same? No!, Because different people see different details. But when we put it all together we should see a beautiful story that unfolds.
And I have to say to you that even if we could not put it all together and we believed that there was contradiction, apparent errors in the time line of the morning events in the four gospels would not prove anything against the one event that is clearly portrayed in all four gospels
All four of them agree on this one thing. He is risen!
He is risen! And because He is we have a living hope
Read 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20
Romans 10: 9 If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved