This is an Announcement

 

This is an Announcement

This is an Announcement - Audio/Visual 

Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He’s risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. (Matt. 28:1-6)

What's the wildest announcement you've ever heard? I was just wondering because a few years ago I was about to hear one. Any second an airline agent was going to pick up his microphone and make an announcement. I could see him. He looked sane. He appeared normal. The guy probably golfs and loves his kids. But what he was about to say would qualify him for a free night in a padded cell. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is the pre-boarding announcement for Southwest flight 2068 to San Diego. We are now inviting those passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass ready. Regular boarding will begin in approximately ten minutes time. Thank you."

Now, think about what he just said for a moment. He was inviting me, small kids and people requiring special assistance to ascend almost six miles into the air in a plane the size of a modern-day ranch house and be hurled through the sky at three times the speed of the fastest NASCAR racer in history. Can you believe what he was asking us to do? Of course you can because you’ve probably flown before. But what if you'd never heard such an announcement? Wouldn't you be just a little stunned?

Wouldn't you feel like the women who heard this announcement three days after Christ had died on the cross? "He isn’t here! He’s risen from the dead, just as he said would happen." (Matt. 28:6) “Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.” (Matt. 28:1-4)

My, how conditions had changed since Friday. The crucifixion was marked by sudden darkness, silent angels, and mocking soldiers. Now, at the empty tomb the soldiers are silent, an angel speaks, and light erupts like Mt. Vesuvius. The one who was dead is said to be alive, and the soldiers, who are alive, look like they’re dead.

The women can tell something’s up. What they don't know is that Someone is up. So, the angel informs them: “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He’s risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying." (vv. 5-6)

Those words can mess with you. Like the words of the gate attendant, they cause you to either leave the airport or get on the plane. And here, if the angel’s words are false, the body of Jesus is like Ol’ John Brown's – “a-moldering in a borrowed grave.” If they’re false, then we have no good news. An occupied tomb on Sunday takes the good out of Good Friday. But if they’re true, if the rock is rolled and the Lord is living, then pull out Ol’ John Brown’s fiddle and put on your dancing shoes.

Heaven unplugged the grave's power cord, and you and I have nothing to fear. Death is disabled. So, get on board and let a pilot you've never seen and a power you can't understand take you home. But can we trust the announcement? The invitation of the angel was, "Come and see . . . ." That’s because the empty tomb never resists an honest investigation. A lobotomy is not a prerequisite for discipleship. Following Christ demands faith, but not blind faith. So, "Come and see," the angel invites.

Look at the vacated tomb, for instance. Did you know the opponents of Christ never challenged its vacancy? No Pharisee or Roman soldier ever led a Congressional committee back to the burial site and declared, "The angel was wrong. The body’s here. It was all just a scandalous rumor." They would have if they could have, because within weeks disciples occupied every Jerusalem street corner announcing a risen Christ. What quicker way for the enemies of the church to shut them up than to produce a cold and lifeless body? Display the cadaver, and Christianity is just as dead. But they had no cadaver to display. That helps explain the Jerusalem revival. Because when the apostles argued for the empty tomb, the people looked to the Pharisees for a rebuttal. But they had none to give. As A. M. Fairbairn said long ago about these events, "The silence of the Jews is as eloquent as the speech of the Christians!"

Speaking of the Christians, remember the followers' fear at the crucifixion? They ran. Scared as cats in a dog pound. Peter cursed Christ at the fire. Emmaus-bound disciples bemoaned the death of Christ on the trail. After the crucifixion, "the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders." (John 20:19) These guys were so chicken you could call the Upper Room a henhouse. But fast-forward forty days. Bankrupt traitors have become a force of life-changing fury. Peter is preaching in the very precinct where Christ was arrested. Followers of Christ defy the enemies of Christ. Whip them and they'll worship. Lock them up and they'll launch a jailhouse ministry – as bold after the resurrection as they were cowardly before it.

Why? Was it greed? No, they made no money. Power? They gave all the credit to Christ. Popularity? Most were killed for their beliefs. Only one explanation remains – a resurrected Christ and his Holy Spirit. The courage of these men and women was forged in the fire of the empty tomb. The disciples did not dream up a resurrection. The resurrection fired up the disciples.

Have doubts about the empty tomb? Come and see the disciples. And while you're searching, come and see the alternatives. If Christ is not raised, if his body is decayed into dust, what are you left with? Well, how about Eastern mysticism? Let's travel back in time and around the globe to India. It's 490 B.C., and Buddha is willing to see us. Here’s our question: "Can you defeat death?" He never opens his eyes, just shakes his head. "You are disillusioned, dear child. Seek enlightenment." So, we do.

 By virtue of a vigorous imagination, we travel to Greece to meet with the father of logic, Socrates. He offers a sip of hemlock, but we take a pass explaining that we have only one question. "Do you have power over the grave? Are you the son of Zeus?” He scratches his bald head, and then calls us raca, which is Greek for turkey brains. Undeterred, we advance a thousand years and locate the ancient village of Mecca. A bearded Muhammad sits in the midst of followers. From the back of the crowd, we cry out, "We are looking for Allah incarnate. Are you he?" He stands and rips his robe and demands that we be silenced as infidels. But we escape.

We escape back in time to Jerusalem. We ascend the stairs of a simple house where the King of the Jews is holding court. The room is crowded with earnest disciples. As we find a seat, we look into the radiant face of the resurrected Christ. The love in his eyes is as real as the wounds on his body. If we ask the question of him – “Are you raised from the dead? Are you the Son of God?" – we know his answer. Jesus might well personalize the words he gave to the angel. "I am raised from the dead as I said I would be. Come and see the place where my body was."

Quite a claim, and quite an announcement. And just like passengers in the airport about to board a plane, we get to choose how we respond. Either get on board and trust the pilot – or try to get home on our own. I know which choice I prefer.

Grace,

Randy