Matthew 28:1-10
Surprise!
For the last few weeks, we have been on a journey to the tomb. Our
journey started with Jesus and the disciples going to Caesarea
Philippi where Jesus revealed to the disciples who He was, the
Christ. While there, Jesus began to teach the disciples that He was
going to go to Jerusalem to be betrayed, condemned, beaten, and
die—and then He would always add, "and on the third day, I will
arise." I say "He began to teach" for the Scriptures make it clear
that He emphasized this truth to the disciples repeatedly.
\\#Matthew 16:22\\ tells us that Peter did not like hearing Jesus
teach this event. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him saying, ‘Be
it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee." \\#Matt 16:22\\
That was the same as to say, "Lord, that is the last thing on earth
that is going to happen to You." But Jesus rebuked Peter, harshly,
calling Peter the devil Himself. "Get thee behind Me, Satan. For you
do not savor the things of God." Savor means to appreciate, to enjoy.
He was saying that God was going to appreciate what was to happen to
Jesus but Peter was being used by the devil.
From there, Jesus headed south into Galilee. How long He was in
Galilee, we do not know but it appears that He stayed until a new
determination came over Him. The Bible says of Him that He set His
face like a flint to go to Jerusalem; that is, Jesus was determined
and would not be stayed or stopped. He began to travel toward
Jerusalem with a determination that would not waver. So to Jerusalem
Jesus went. First by going into Samaria, where He was rejected, then
by traveling west over the Jordan River, traveling through Jericho
before crossing the Jordan eastward and coming up the backside of the
Mount of Olives.
Then on what we believe was a Sunday, Jesus entered into Jerusalem
with a spontaneous, triumphant welcome; but by Wednesday night, the
tone had changed. On that night, led by Judas, the religious leaders
came for Jesus. Through the night, Jesus was tried, condemned, and
beaten, just like He had said. Then, they lead Jesus like a Lamb to
the slaughter to the cross, where slowly, painfully, Jesus died—not
for His sins but for yours and mine.
That would have on Thursday maybe a few hours before dark. Jesus’
body was claimed by Joseph of Arimathea \\#Mark 15:45\\. He and
Nicodemus the Rabbi \\#John 19:39\\ took Jesus’ body, cleaned it as
best as they could, anointed it with spices and the wrapped it for
burial. Before the sun set, they laid Jesus into Joseph’s own tomb
\\#Matt 27:59-60\\, then because of a succession of holy days, they
walked away.
Jesus’ body laid in the tomb Thursday night and Friday, Friday night
and Saturday, Saturday night—but just before the sun rose on
Sunday—on that third day—something strange happened. For the second
time within three days the earth quaked \\#Matt 27:51, 28:2\\. This
time it was not because creation was groaning at the Savior’s death,
but because it was rejoicing at Jesus’ new life! During that
earthquake, the giant stone which blocked the entrance into Jesus’
tomb, rolled up hill away from the entrance—no doubt fallen over and
off to the side. For a few moments, one of the angels which had
descended from heaven sat upon it \\#Matt 28:2\\ while the Roman
guards trembled with fear and fainted. When they gain their
composure, they flee into the city to tell their commanders what had
happened.
And about that time, a band of ladies came to tomb. They had not
considered how they move the heavy rock that blocked their entrance
into the tomb and probably did not even know of the guards that had
been stationed there or the seal that forbade any from even
attempting to move the rock. They knew only that this was the first
day that they could properly anoint the body of Jesus due to the long
string of holy days. Their love for Jesus had awoke them early and
they made their way to tomb in the early twilight.
When they arrived, they were surprised that the huge stone had
already been rolled away. Somewhat fearful, they peered inside what
should have been the dark, man-made cave which was used for a grave,
but a bright light came from within. Somewhat fearful, they stooped
over and looked inside. There they saw a man, which glowed with God’s
glory. They probably felt like running but their feet would not move.
Perhaps they wanted to turn their eyes from his countenance but their
eyes seemed fastened on him. They heard as he spoke:
Matt 28:5 …Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek
Jesus, which was crucified.
6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that
he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth
before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him:
lo, I have told you.
And with that, the strange being was gone. When at last they could
move, they sensed both a joy and a fear. Could it be? Could Jesus
somehow be alive? Perhaps for a few moments, they spoke of what they
had seen. It would appear that they decided to split up. Mary
Magdalene ran to find Peter and John together \\#John 20:1-2\\ and
to persuade them to come see the empty tomb. And they did come. The
Bible says of John that he outran Peter \\#John 20:4\\ which would
indicate that they both ran to the tomb, but he stopped short of
entering until Peter arrived. Then they both looked inside, studied
the tomb, considered it, and left, leaving Mary alone—weeping.
While she wept, her eyes full of tears, a Man approached to enquire
of her. She thought the Man to be caretaker of Joseph’s lands,
perhaps the thief that had stolen Jesus’ body. Her thought reveals
what she and Peter must have discussed before the men left, but then
with a single word that foolish notion was washed from her mind for
the Man spoke her name, "Mary" and she immediately knew it was her
Lord—the risen Savior. She leapt to embrace Him but Jesus stopped
her saying He had not yet made the journey to the Father. Instead,
she must go find the disciples and tell them, convince that He was
alive, and off she went.
The other ladies seemed not to have moved as quickly as Mary. Perhaps
as they walked out of the garden, the reality of what they were going
to do set in. They were going to tell the men that Jesus had called
His disciples, His apostles, His friends, that He was not dead; but
they had seen—mostly from afar, but with their own eyes—what had been
done to Jesus. Those men would not believe them. In fact, they began
to discuss, they were not certain that they believed. Their run had
slowed to a walk and then a stop as they began to wonder out loud if
they had been deceived somehow. Perhaps one of them suggested they
should think on this more. Time had passed and they had made little
progress on their journey toward the city. Finally, one of them said,
"At least we must go tell them the tomb is empty. We can let them
decide what it means."
And so they were walking toward the city when suddenly they came
across Him, Jesus. There He stood and while they stared—unable to
speak. They were surprised. As the surprised women stared at Jesus,
He spoke to them, "All hail"; that is to say, "Hello, everyone." And
as they looked, there could be no doubt. It was He. It was Jesus.
They bowed and held Jesus’ feet, but only for a moment as He gathered
them up and commanded them, "Do not be afraid. Go find the disciples.
Tell them what you have seen. Tell them to meet Me in Galilee." And as
suddenly as He appeared, Jesus was gone. Himself appeared to them
\\#Matt 28:9-10\\.
As that morning some 2000 years ago progressed into the afternoon and
the afternoon into the evening. Jesus, appeared to disciples for all
too brief a time and then disappeared. Let’s take a moment to
consider the response of people to the news of Jesus’ resurrection
and to Jesus Himself.
I. The first response I want to mention was surprise.
A. I am thinking of the surprise of the group of ladies but let’s
face it, everyone who came into contact with Jesus or heard
about His resurrection, was surprised.
1. That is somewhat logical.
2. People do not rise from the dead, but then again, Jesus
was not ordinary people and He, the miracle Worker, had
told them repeatedly what was going to happen!
B. Sadly, on that resurrection morning, no one stood outside the
tomb waiting for Jesus’ resurrection.
C. No one expected Jesus to rise from the dead and everyone was
surprised.
D. Why did the people not expect the resurrection?
1. Some were surprised because they were ignorant.
a. Some did not know who Jesus was, what Jesus had
promised, or what Jesus could do.
b. Ignorance is still a problem today, but I find it hard
to believe that anyone in America could be totally
ignorant of Jesus.
c. Why?
(1) There is Christmas. I know it is commercialized,
but anyone who has a mind ought to wonder why
Christmas is so celebrated in our country and
any amount of looking around would reveal why.
(2) Easter - Palm Sunday, Good Friday) although I
think it is Good Thursday), and Easter are all
widely celebrated throughout our country and
largely in our world.
(3) The church - Surely there are still some
witnessing, preaching, hosting television and
radio shows, building websites, creating
Youtubes and Facebook pages.
2. Some were surprised because of unbelief.
a. Sadly, this was true of Jesus’ closest friends and
followers.
b. That is a personal choice and I would not want to take
it away from any one any more than God would.
c. But to refuse to believe that Jesus is the Christ
seems to me to be a very uninformed and ill-
throughout act.
d. Just a few weeks ago, our church had Rabbi Ben Alpert
with us who was saved studying the Bible to prove
that Jesus WAS NOT the Christ!
II. The second response was guilt and shame.
A. Now I am thinking of Peter.
1. Peter, Jesus’ friend.
2. Peter, the disciples to whom Christ had given the keys to
the kingdom.
3. Peter, the one who just hours before promised he would die
with Jesus.
4. Peter the boaster and braggart who had been so scared that
he denied Jesus THREE times.
B. I think it is probably that Peter’s guilt would not let him
believe in a resurrected Jesus.
1. You know, the Bible indicates that Mary Magdalene was a
great believer in Christ.
2. She along with the other ladies, saw angels which told
them that Jesus had risen from the dead.
3. The other ladies seemed to have room for doubt, but Mary
ran like the wind to find Peter and John.
4. Then she followed them back to the tomb, probably arriving
before they left.
5. I imagine she and Peter talked before he left.
a. I wonder what Peter said to Mary.
b. Her faith, whatever it had been after seeing the
angel, was completely gone by the time Peter left.
c. When Jesus spoke to her….
John 20:15 …She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and
I will take him away.
d. Why did Mary now think Jesus’ body had been stolen?
e. She had been told by an angelic being that Jesus had
risen from the dead—just like He had said; but now
she believed she had been fooled and lied to.
f. Who could was close enough to her to have so shattered
her faith and left her with the thought that Jesus’
body had been stolen?
g. I don’t want to start any rumors but I wonder what
Peter, in his guilt and shame, said to Mary before
he left that empty tomb!
C. Perhaps you are one who has thought, "I would like to be saved
or to serve Jesus, but He would not have me. I have done too
many terrible things." Let me ask you a question.
1. Do you think you have any more to be ashamed of than
Peter? Coward, boaster, liar, failure? I doubt that
Peter would ever think so.
2. Do you think you have any more to be ashamed of than the
Apostle Paul? I do not know that Paul personally killed
anyone but I sure consented to it and helped by some to
be imprisoned, beaten, and perhaps killed by hunting them
down. Once Paul was saved, God could have let me move to
some other part of the world and never return, but God
did not. Paul returned to Jerusalem repeatedly and
joined himself to the church there, having to face the
families if not the very people that he had persecuted.
D. Guilt is a heavy load and it keeps many from Jesus, but Jesus
welcomed Peter back to the fold and worked to restore his
confidence and place in the kingdom of God.
E. Do not let guilt keep you from coming to Christ.
III. The last response was faith.
A. The Bible says of one of the disciples whom I believe to be
John….
John 20:8 Then went in also that other disciple,
which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw,
and believed.
B. John saw the empty tomb and with no more evidence than Peter
and less than Mary, he walked away believing that Jesus HAD
risen from the dead.
1. Did he have all the answers?
2. No. As we say, at that time, John did not even know all
the questions, but he believed anyway.
C. Might I encourage you that if you have any inclination toward
Jesus at all, that move toward Him?
1. You say, "I am not certain I believe all of that!"
2. Then just start with what you do believe. That’s what
John did.
3. In time, he came to believe it all but it probably came
in baby steps to start with.
4. I pray that you will come to that end as well!
Time after time, Jesus was greeted with the same responses, surprise,
guilt, and every once in awhile, faith. He had taught them what would
happen in great detail, but somehow the words did not find a home.
Somehow, the disciples did not understand and they did not believe. I
pray that will not happen to you for I tell you, Jesus is alive!
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