Scripture: Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12
Easter Sunday
Topic: Image Creation
This is a short sermon that looks at the images we create around the death and resurrection of Jesus. . It is meant to help us focus on those who bring comfort, peace, love, and joy.
ENTER:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
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I want to talk to you today about creating images.
We all create images in our minds of different things. When we hear certain words, we have certain images or images that come to our mind. For example, when I say a word, just focus on the picture or image that comes to mind:
+Mom +Sports
+Dad +Shopping
+Eating +Children
Now, don’t focus too much on all those images for the rest of our sermon this morning, but when we hear certain words, we have a tendency for certain images to come to us. minds.
But are they always the right images or the best ones? Are they images that speak clearly and honestly about that person or thing?
I know people who when they think of the word mom/mother is not a nice image that comes to mind first and the same can be true of the word father/dad. Other people’s experiences are just the opposite. When you think of the words mom or dad, the image that comes to you is of this angel in human garb or a person standing on top of some kind of human pedestal.
Most of the time, when we really think about things like mom or dad, we have multiple images in mind. Images that, hopefully, are more positive than negative.
Now, let’s think about some more words and images that first come to mind:
+ Easter
+Easter – or Resurrection Sunday
+Jesus
There are some images that over the years have crept into the ideas of Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday. Images that, if we are not careful, tend to downplay what really happened. Other images have crept in that tend to focus more on the negative aspects surrounding Holy Week and Easter. Images that tend to make us diminish our celebration of this incredible week of spiritual transformation.
Let’s look at three images that have risen in popularity over the last 20 years and then quickly look at four images that I think we need to focus on the most when we think about Easter and Easter.
1. Images that have recently taken center stage
A. Jesus suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane
There are a lot of churches that have the Gethsemane scene in their church; whether as a banner, a picture or even a stained glass window.
Now, that’s not a bad thing.
Let me reiterate that again; that’s not a bad thing.
However, we must be careful to always put what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane in its proper perspective. The hour or two that Jesus spends in the Garden was very important. Indeed, it shows us the depth of the cost of sin, the reality of Jesus’ humanity, and ultimately the depth of Jesus’ surrender, commitment, and obedience.
Those are great things to look at and study in detail.
Too often, however, people spend too much time looking at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and forget to focus on the totality of Jesus’ life here on earth. They focus more on the struggle that Jesus endured here instead of looking at his whole life. They forget to focus on the wonder of his conception, the victory he experienced over temptations in the wilderness, and the amazing adventures he shared with his disciples as they shared the Good News throughout the land of Israel.
B. The painful words of Jesus on the cross
Once again, there is nothing wrong with spending quality time with the words of Jesus on the cross. Especially when Jesus says the words:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
We have probably all heard a number of sermons that have focused on these words. . They are good words.
They are words that come from Psalm 22.
What people don’t do is look at the rest of Psalm 22. When Jesus quoted Psalm 22, it wasn’t out of context. The people who heard his words that day would have thought of the rest of the words of Psalm 22.
Psalm 22 is not a psalm of negativity or defeat. It is not a psalm to blame God for abandoning a person. It is a psalm of commitment, honesty, pain and ultimately praise. It is a psalm of David that reflects his struggles, his anguish and his pain, and yet, in the midst of these things, David understands the power and mercy of God. David understands that God has not abandoned him. Quite the opposite; God is and will always be with him.
Jesus was doing the same thing. He is not complaining. Jesus is sharing honest words of struggle and pain with those around him. Jesus knows that the Jews who were around will immediately think of the whole psalm. Jesus wants them to understand that he knows that God has not abandoned him, but is there with him at all times.
So when we read these words of Jesus on the cross, we should open our Bible and read the entire psalm – Psalm 22.
C. The lifeless body of Jesus in the tomb
In our world today there are more and more people concentrating on the body of Jesus in the tomb. They are focusing on the death of Jesus. They want to exaggerate that Jesus died and that his body was put in a tomb.
And again, there is nothing wrong with focusing on the death of Jesus as long as you don’t leave Jesus in the tomb. Good Friday is vital but without Easter Sunday then Good Friday is meaningless.
Jesus died. He gave his life. Let me say it again. Jesus gave his life. They didn’t take it off. The Romans did not kill Jesus. Neither do the Jews. Satan did not kill Jesus.
On the cross Jesus said these words:
– “It is finished” (John 19:30
– “Father, in your hands I entrust my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).
The evangelists wanted to make it very clear that Jesus gave his life. Yes, he died, but his death was the giving of an innocent sacrificial life and not the taking of life. Rome did not take the life of Jesus. Israel did not take the life of Jesus.
John 10:17-18
“This is why the Father loves me, because I give my life to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I give it of my own free will. I have authority to give it, and I have authority to take it back. I have received this charge from my Father.”
Jesus died for our sins. He gave his life for our sins. To say that he gave his life may seem like a small thing. but it really makes all the difference in the world.
Jesus did not die as a criminal, he did not die as a result of the thorns, the nails or even the blows he had received.
At any moment Jesus could have come down from the cross. He may have thrown down the cross like Samson had thrown down enemy soldiers and lions.
Instead, Jesus poured out his life on that cross for you and me. He embraced all the pain. He embraced all the suffering. He embraced all the sin that the world had known and would know. He took upon himself all the diseases and all the curses of mankind. He willingly allowed the power and penalty of sin to overtake him because Jesus knew that the Cross was not going to be the end.
And it is to that end that I want to share with you very quickly four images that I would like you to focus on when you think about Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday).
II. Images that should take center stage
Again, let me reiterate that there is nothing with those other images. I just think there are some more positive images that we should always focus on in our walk with Jesus.
A. Jesus emerging victorious from the tomb
The shame is that no human being saw this event. He was seen by God the Father, God the Holy Spirit together with all the angels and even the demons. And of course you could add the birds and other creatures of nature that lived around the garden.
There should have been thousands of human beings gathered around the grave that morning. After all, Jesus made it quite clear over and over again that after three days he would rise from the dead. (John 2:18-22; 11:25-26; John 14:9; Mark 8:31-33; 9:9; Matthew 16:21-28; Luke 9:22-27).
But no one believed Jesus. NO ONE. Not a single person living on earth at that time.
Think about that for a moment. No one believed that Jesus was going to rise from the dead.
Personally, for me the image that comes to mind when I think of the Resurrection is Jesus coming out of the tomb. This is what I see when I hear the Resurrection message – Jesus rising from the tomb – Victorious, Alive and Well!
Because this is what Easter is all about. This is what Jesus’ mission was all about. This is the reason why Jesus came in the first place.
It was not just to teach and perform miracles.
It wasn’t even to suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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And it wasn’t just about dying on the cross.
It was about coming out of that tomb as the Risen Savior and the LORD. It was about Jesus defeating the powers of evil, hell, death and the grave. It was about Jesus being the second Adam. It was about rescue and redemption. It was about Jesus fulfilling his Mission and now being the Risen Lord.
The best image of Easter Sunday is precisely that: Jesus has risen from the dead. Jesus is the Savior of the World. Jesus has broken the power of sin and has paid the penalty for every sin ever thought or committed.
This morning, we do not serve a dead Jesus. We do not serve a defeated Jesus. We do not serve a Jesus who doubts. We do not serve an abandoned Jesus.
We serve a Jesus who on the third day came out of that tomb safe and sound and walked around in His glorified risen body. We serve a Jesus who has the keys to Hell, the grave, salvation and New Life.
When I think of this day, the image that comes first and foremost is Jesus coming out of the Tomb, victorious and glorious.
B. Jesus giving a little love to Mary
Another image that I appreciate is the image of a loving Savior who approaches Mary Magdalene and allows her to understand that He is her risen Lord.
Here is this woman who loved Jesus with every fiber of her being. Here is a woman who had been filled with all kinds of wickedness. Here is a woman who knew what it meant to have demons control her life, and yet here is also a woman whom Jesus calls by her name to give her peace and security.
Jesus does not condemn her for her lack of faith to bring spices for a corpse. Jesus does not send her away in the midst of her pain. Instead, He calls her by her name. A name that only the Good Shepherd would know. His only wish is to bring you peace. Her only wish is to bring you joy. His only wish for her is to anoint her as the first missionary to tell the world that He is Alive!
What a great image!
C. Jesus walking with the couple on the Road to Emmaus.
This couple should never have walked away from…