Easter Sunday 2023
Nathan Adams · Tidal Church Moncton · April 9, 2023 · Easter series
Nathan Adams walks through Matthew's account of Jesus' arrest, crucifixion and resurrection, ending with Mary Magdalene hearing her name at the tomb. Seeing Jesus' love for us personally brings the pieces of life into focus and gives a firm foundation of faith.
More from Nathan Adams · The Easter series
Transcript
[0:03] God is much more than we can imagine Him to be. His being is a flow of three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit, a ceaseless intertwining of life and love flowing from Father to Son to Spirit, and each to the other. These three persons in relationship are one God. God is not lonely. He's not incomplete. He's nothing but ceaselessly moving love, without beginning or end, from all eternity. This unimaginably beautiful God displayed His glory by creating this world so full of life, displaying His wisdom down to its tiniest details.
[0:50] The pinnacle of His artistry was when He said, "Let us create humankind in our image." Male and female He created them, and together in their love, they reflected God's own being of love. This God who is love created humans with the capacity to respond to His love freely, uncoerced. But the first humans' failure to respond in love to God broke the very pattern of love that our humanity was meant to reflect. This failure to respond to God's love is something that we all, each in our own ways, have repeated in our own lives.
[1:36] We easily cave in upon ourselves, become trapped in self-love. We lack something greater than ourselves to orient our lives around. And cut off, we stagnate, all but dead spiritually. And our lives become this mix of the ugliness of sin and the remaining beauty of God and His creation. But God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. God the Son, while remaining God, also became human. The eternal One entered time and history, being conceived into human existence by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
[2:32] While being God, He also became human. And He lived a human life and experienced it the way that we do, except His love never failed to flow back to the Father. Entered into the deepness of our own sin and our own brokenness. And where we were the greatest in our brokenness, His love was greater. He responded back where we have rebelled. He surrendered where we hate. He loved. And all the despising and shame and mocking and betraying, all the torture fell upon Him.
[3:17] But His love was greater, and He broke the power of spiritual and physical death. He rose again. He showed Himself to His disciples many times. Forty days later, He ascended into heaven. He poured out His Holy Spirit to be with us, and He is here from that day until today, speaking to us about this life of love in God. On this day, on Easter, we have an invitation from the Holy Spirit to allow ourselves to enter into the story of love and to hear the voice that says, "I love you. I did this for you."
[4:19] In Christ alone hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This Cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease. My Comforter, my all in all. Here in the love of Christ I stand.
[5:13] The story we'll now allow ourselves to enter into, it's from the conclusion of the biographies of Jesus' life: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are inspired, holy Scriptures, but they're written by disciples who were eyewitnesses. At certain points, I will pause in sharing the story, and just up on the screen will come ancient prophecies that were made about the Messiah hundreds, even thousands of years before the events of Jesus of Nazareth. I encourage you to reflect on those as we get into this story. And I pray that the Holy Spirit may reveal the reality of Jesus' love for you and speak to each one of us this morning. So on the night before His death, Jesus was with His closest group of 12 disciples.
[6:04] And He took bread, and He gave thanks, and He broke it, and He gave it to them, saying, "This is My body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after the supper, He took the cup and said, "This cup, it's the new covenant, the new agreement between God and man. It's in My blood. It's poured out for you. But the hand of him who was going to betray Me is with Me at the table." He then predicted that not only would one of His disciples betray Him, but the other 11 would also desert Him. Peter, the leader of the disciples, said, "Even if all others fall away on account of You, I never will."
[6:54] "Truly I tell you," Jesus answered him, "this very night, Peter, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times." But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You." And the other disciples said the same. And then Jesus went off with them into the darkness. He went to a place He would usually pray called Gethsemane. And on reaching that place, He said to them, "Disciples, pray that you won't fall into temptation." And then He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them. He knelt down and He prayed. "Father, if You're willing, would You take this cup from Me, this cup of suffering?
[7:40] But not My will, let Your will be done." And an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him, and being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When He rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow, and He said, "Why are you sleeping?" He asked them. "Get up and pray so that you won't fall into temptation." In Christ alone, who took on flesh fullness of God in helpless babe.
[8:32] This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save, till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ While He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve disciples, arrived with Him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
[9:21] Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. "The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him." Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi," and kissed Him. Jesus replied, "Do what you came for, friend." Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested Him. Those who had arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed Him at a distance right up to the courtyard outside of the high priest.
[10:06] Peter entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. The high priest said to Jesus, "I charge you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God." "You have said so," Jesus replied. "But I say to you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One, coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy." Claiming to be God. "Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard this blasphemy. What do you think?" And the whole Sanhedrin replied, "He is worthy of death." They spit in His face and they struck Him with their fists.
[10:54] They slapped Him and they said, "Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit You?" Peter, out in the courtyard, was peering inside as Jesus was being abused. And a servant girl came to him and said, "You also were with Jesus of Galilee." But he denied it and said, "I don't know what you're talking about." Another one said, "No, you were with Jesus." He denied it again. "I don't know the man." Then more said, "No, your accent's giving you away," and he began to call down curses. Can you imagine it? "I don't know this." Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times." And he went outside and he wept bitterly.
[11:47] Jesus was then taken to the Roman governor. The Jewish authorities now went to their Roman overlords, the occupiers, to get their authorization for an execution. And we pick up the events as Jesus now stands before the governor. The governor asked Him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" "You have said so," Jesus replied. When He was accused by the chief priests and the elders, He gave no answer. Then Pilate asked Him, "Do you hear the testimony that they are bringing against You?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor.
[12:37] Going outside of the governor's residence, Pilate now addresses a crowd that has gathered. He tries to give the people a choice. He will release a political revolutionary, a would-be political King of the Jews, who had been arrested, or he will release this Jesus, who claims to be the spiritual King. "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered, the political revolutionary, would-be king. "What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" Pilate asked. And they all answered, "Crucify Him."
[13:22] "Why? What crime has He committed?" asked Pilate, but they shouted all the louder, "Crucify Him!" And then Pilate did the expedient thing politically. He released Barabbas to them. But He had Jesus flogged and handed Him over to be crucified. Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of Roman soldiers around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And then they twisted together a crown of thorns and pressed it upon His head.
[14:09] They put a staff in His right hand. They knelt down in front of Him and mocked Him. "Hail, King of the Jews," they said. They spit on Him. They took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again. And after they had mocked Him, they took off the robe and they put His own clothes on Him, and then they led Him away to crucify Him. As the soldiers led Him through Jerusalem with His cross, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country. And they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind the weakened Jesus. A large number of people followed behind Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him. Two other men, both convicted criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed.
[14:56] When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. And raised up on that cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing." And the soldiers divided up His clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, "He saved others. Let's see if He can save Himself, if He is God's Messiah, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar and said, "If you're the King of the Jews, save yourself."
[15:48] There was a written notice above Him, which read, "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him as well: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us." But the other criminal came to his senses and rebuked him. "Don't you fear God?" he said. "Since you are under the same sentence, we're punished justly. We're getting what our deeds deserve, but this Man has done nothing wrong." And then he said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus looked at him and answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
[16:49] Three hours later, it was now noon. And darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, and the sun stopped shining, and the curtain of the great temple in Jerusalem was torn in two. And Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" And a second time Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, "Abba, Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit." And when He said this, He breathed His last. The Roman commander, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was the Son of God."
[17:38] The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus' body was then pierced by a spear by a soldier just to make sure He was dead, and blood and accumulated water on His lungs gushed out, showing that He had expired completely under the strain of the torture. A rich man who was a secret follower of Jesus came to Pilate and asked permission to have Jesus' body. And he took Jesus' body and wrapped Him in grave clothes and set Him in a brand new tomb that he had paid for himself. But he put Jesus in there. And then Jesus' enemies made sure a guard was posted, that a large stone was rolled in front of the tomb, and that it was sealed.
[18:26] And that was the end of Friday. The Sabbath came on Saturday, in which Jews don't do much. And the disciples cowered together, waiting, who was going to be next to die, now that their Master had been taken. Then very early on Sunday morning, before it was light, some of the female disciples decided to head out to the tomb and finish anointing the body of Jesus for burial in the Jewish custom. John 20 tells us Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. And she saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. She came running back to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, John, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him." So Peter and the other disciples start for the tomb. Both were running. Can you picture it, Peter and John?
[19:27] But John outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there. But he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came right in behind him, and he went straight into the tomb, and he saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, John, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw, and he believed. They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to where the others were staying.
[20:19] Now Mary still stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to see into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they put Him." At this, Mary Magdalene turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it that you're looking for?" Thinking that He was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him." Jesus said to her, "Mary."
[21:10] She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni," which means teacher. Faith is a recognition. What was right in front of you finally comes into focus and you see it. As we entered into this story together, we paused often to consider the prophecies made about the Messiah hundreds and even thousands of years before Christ, and how they all came together down to the smallest detail in the events of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Just as Jesus' life pulled together all those communications from God from hundreds of years before, so also when we hear the story of Jesus Christ with open hearts, God begins to pull together all the communications that He has been sending to us throughout our lives.
[22:08] All your life God has been giving you hints of His beauty and power as you look at nature. When we go through hard times, people say it will all work out. And we get hints that a very personal force is at work in our lives, guiding the events. We talk sometimes with people who say they know God, who point to events in their own lives that revealed God to them. But then we see Jesus dying for us, for me, for you, and all the pieces that were right there in front of us suddenly come into focus, and there we see Jesus dying on the cross, not for someone else, but for me personally, for you personally. We see the ugliness and the beauty all together, and suddenly we realize that this ugliness is something that's part of our human soul, yours and mine included, and that Jesus is right there, having all human evil falling upon Him.
[23:15] We begin to wonder that if we were put in the wrong circumstances, if our self-interests were put into play in a certain way, if we might not be like the disciple who deserted his friend, if we might not fall into temptation, if we might not get swept away with the crowd and society and be yelling, "Crucify Him." We too might have killed Jesus if He had gotten in the way of our life goals, in the way, He was getting in the way of the priests' and Pilate's goals. So we see that the worst part of ourselves is revealed when we see Jesus dying. But when we hear Jesus' words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing," it penetrates our souls, as Jesus offers us forgiveness no matter where we are in life.
[24:11] We're like the thief on the cross, who suddenly opens his eyes and sees what was right there beside him all along: It's Jesus offering him paradise. We're like the centurion who had laughed and tortured and nailed Jesus to that cross, but suddenly a realization comes over him and he says, "Oh, this was God's Son." We're like the crowd that jeered Jesus while He died, but then couldn't help themselves as they went away and they beat their chests in sorrow, because even their minds wouldn't let them admit it, their hearts told them that something had happened right in front of them. And like Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, He says to you right now, "Why are you crying?
[24:57] Who is it that you're looking for?" She couldn't see clearly, and neither can you and I in this world until we hear the voice of Jesus say our name. "Mary." Oh. Sandra, Jordan, hey, you, it's me. And His love and reality is opened up, and our eyes finally see Him. It is absolutely amazing. What a difference it makes when you have this faith, this awareness that you are so deeply loved. We Peter runs from the Council of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, afraid for his life, cowering, he ends up weeping bitterly at his own failure.
[25:53] But just two months after those events, Peter actually finds himself before the very council that he had peered into so cowardly. And he stands there encouraged before the people, the leaders of the people. He tells them about Jesus. You see, Peter and John had just been outside the temple and had found a man who had been paralyzed from birth. And these two simple men had said a simple prayer in the name of Jesus, and a crippled man had been healed. The whole city erupted over this miracle, and Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin. And it says in Acts 4, "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being now asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
[27:05] Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.'" Quoting Psalm 118. And he says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." which we must be saved. You see, the Sanhedrin had killed the Master, but they could do nothing now about His fearless followers. They had to let Peter and John go, saying, "Hey, don't preach anymore," and Peter and John said, "Not a chance that we'll listen to you." These disciples never stopped. They had experienced the Spirit of Christ forgiving and healing them. And they have not stopped preaching since. Their preaching has gone to every people group on this planet, bringing us together despite every barrier of culture in a common faith in Christ.
[28:00] And this message is here today being personally offered to every person here, to you. Could we all consider two extremely simple statements together this morning? They're up on the screen. It says, "Jesus loves me and faith is my foundation. This is my cornerstone. This is my foundation in life. I am drenched with the love of Jesus. I have nothing to fear because His powerful love is with me now and forever." Do you believe that? Would you like to believe that?
[28:50] Then say it together with me from your heart, for the first time or for the thousandth time. Jesus loves me. Faith is my foundation. Jesus Christ, would You renew our faith today? Would Your Spirit be poured out upon us and rise up within us with a reality of Your presence with us now? Would You fill us, Lord, with so much hope and faith and love right now that we couldn't think of a life that meant anything without You at the center? Would You lead us forward, Jesus, from this day forward? Would You stir up our families to be places of faith? Would You use our lives to do something that actually means something in this world, and maybe we live with joy, knowing that someday we will be with You in paradise? Praise the name of Jesus.