How can People be Convinced of the Resurrection? (Luke 24:1-12)
As a pastor, part of my bible tells me it is my responsibility is to, “Equip the Saints for their ministry” (Ephesians 4), I wonder if you are aware that you are in ministry? Scripture confirms this, and it is the duty the duty of any pastor priest or minister to prepare you for it.
Perhaps you're listening to this wondering, "What is my ministry?"
Well, sharing the gospel is a significant aspect of it.
Most people out there today lack understanding of what Christianity is and what salvation through Christ really means.
People who have no idea are generally easier to engage, particularly if they have no religious background or pre-conceived ideas to work around, or through.
But, there are also the sceptics, those who doubt everything. And there's another large of group in between, uncertain but just preoccupied with other matters.
Let's focus on the sceptics for a moment, because that is the my main area of ministry in the real world away from the BPDP.
These are the ones who outright disbelieve. Engaging with them can be intimidating at time for me.
Often, these individuals are well-educated, certainly better educated than I am and it is natural to fear they might ask questions I can't answer.
So, what do we do when confronted with scepticism? I want to equip you with something I found helpful with this aspect of your ministry. It's found in Luke chapter 24. So, join me today as we ask the question, how can people be convinced of the resurrection on the BPDP.
I read from verse one.
Jesus Has Risen
1: On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2: They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3: but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4: While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5: In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6: He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8: Then they remembered his words.
9: When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10: It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11: But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12: Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
(Luke 24: 1-12)
Now, obviously, this passage recounts the story of Jesus Christ's resurrection. Typically, we often found it read on Easter Sunday, but there's profound insight in this passage that extends even beyond the Easter season.
The narrative is quite straightforward. There are essentially three,well, I hesitate to call them groups, because the third one isn't precisely a group. First, we have the women, described in verses 1 to 8. Then, the women who inform the eleven apostles, recounted in verses 9 through 11. Finally, we encounter Peter, in verse 12.
Today we'll examine these three different individuals who came to the empty tomb.
Let's backtrack to verse one and start with the women. It tells us that on the first day of the week, which is Sunday, very early in the morning, just after sunrise, “they”... Who are "they"?
Well, as I've mentioned many times before, and as others have also noted, there were no chapter breaks in the original manuscripts of the New Testament. These were added later. Thus, if you were reading this without the chapter, you'd know who "they" are because in the latter part of chapter 23, we're told who they are. They're the women. Although they're named later in this passage, at this point, it simply refers to them as "they."
It's evident that it's referring to the women mentioned at the end of chapter 23. Additionally, they were joined by certain other women, and they came to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared.
You may recall that back in chapter 23, we were informed that the women watched as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea buried the body and then went home to prepare spices to anoint the body. So, this verse is merely telling us that they've now come with the spices to anoint Jesus's body.
What's intriguing is that Mark informs us they didn't anticipate finding Jesus risen. That wasn't on their minds. Verse 2 states, "But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and they went in and did not find the body of Jesus."
It's evident they hadn't expected this turn of events at all. On their way to the tomb, they were focused on anointing the body, the absence of Jesus's body and the rolled-away stone left them puzzled.
Now, most of you are likely aware of this, but it's beneficial to revisit the scene. As we learned in chapter 23, the tomb was carved out of solid rock and had never been used before. It was intended for Joseph of Arimathea, who had provided it for the burial of the Lord.
Now, in front of the tomb, there was a rock. When I say "rock," that might not quite convey the image accurately. It was an especially honed circular rock, resembling a pancake, about 2 meter tall and placed in a cut trough, set on a slight incline making it easy to close but hard to open, and placed in front of the entrance to the tomb.
This rock functioned like a heavy cartwheel. If they rolled it away it exposed the opening to the tomb, allowing passage in and out. After placing the body in the tomb, they would take this extremely heavy stone cartwheel and let it roll down the incline, locking it in place in front of the door.
It would have required several men to close it but maybe 10 or more to open it. So, imagine their astonishment when these women came expecting to find the body.
Nevertheless, they found the stone rolled away, the tomb empty, and they were utterly confused.
Then, the text tells us in verse 4, "that, two men stood by them in shining garments." Now, these two men appear as men, but they are angels, as later clarified in the passage. It's explicitly stated in Matthew and Mark that they were angels.
Verse 5 reveals that the women are afraid, and perplexed by the rolled-away stone, and on top of that now startled by the sudden appearance of these two beings.
Falling to the ground, they hear the angels' rebuke, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen."
The angels here are remind them of Jesus's own words spoken in Galilee, about his imminent crucifixion and resurrection on the third day. A message repeated by Jesus several times throughout the Gospel of Luke and since Chapter 9 through to Chapter 18.
In verse 8, we see the impact: "And they remembered his words." Suddenly, it all clicked. Perhaps the trauma and drama of the crucifixion had clouded their thinking for a time, causing them to forget.
Nevertheless, at this moment, they recalled and remembered, and they believed.
This is evident by their next action—they rush to inform the eleven. However, the text specifically notes that the eleven didn't believe the women.
Now, before I continue, I'd like to pause for a moment and address two points.
Firstly, when discussing women, many scholars who've studied the Gospel of Luke have noted their prominent place in this gospel, more so than in any of the other three gospels. Luke particularly emphasizes the participation of women in the ministry of Christ.
The news of his birth was given to a Jewish maiden; women are seen to be among his followers; his death was witnessed by grieving women; and the news of his resurrection was first announced to a woman who had previously been described as demon possessed.
It's noteworthy that, as far as the gospel record goes, no woman was ever an enemy of Jesus, nor was Jesus ever an enemy of any women. His example and teaching elevated them.
Dorothy L Sayers, a British writer and a friend of C.S. Lewis said, and I quote, "Women were the first at the cradle and the last at the cross”.
They had never known a man like Jesus; there had never been such a one as he. He never nagged women, never flattered them either, he never patronized them. He never made jokes about them. He never was condescending towards them.
He also took their questions and arguments seriously. He never argued with them, or jeered at them because they were woman. He never said they had an axe to grind. He took them as he found them, and completely unselfconsciously.
There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole gospel that borrows its force at the cost of a woman or played out at their expense.
Nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything funny or weak or pandering about women's nature., and that was revolutionary in the writings and thinking of that time. May would say it is still revolutionary today.
There are none of the stereotypes attributed to women even today to found in the gospel records. And the Gospel of Luke, more than any other book in the Bible, elevates women as a class.
That's one of the points I wanted to make.
The other point is this: They're the ones who believed first.
It's noted here in this passage that the women believed, while the 11 disciples at first did not.
Now, this is the crucial point I want to emphasize: what caused them to believe in the resurrection? They heard the word. They had heard Jesus that Jesus had previously spoken and it the moment when it needed to be applied they believed and acted on it.
These women accepted it solely because they heard the word, and that's significant.
But what happens next?
Well, next, we need to shift our focus to the 11 disciples. The text tells us in verse 9, "The women returned from the tomb and told these things to the eleven and to all the rest."
The 11 are clearly the disciples, and "all the rest" refers to other people who had followed the Lord.
Verse 10 clarifies who these women were because Luke wants to ensure we understand that they told it to the apostles. Now, here's the kicker: Verse 11 states, " But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense."
That's a potent phrase. It means they thought it was silly talk, nonsense, dare I say it they thought it was hysterical nonsense.
Now for us today, man or woman, sometimes we will meet someone who thinks your beliefs are just nuts, that you were spouting silly nonsense, or worse, that you’re insane.
That's what we're dealing with here.
It's crucial to note that they did not believe. So, we have two groups of people so far: women and men. The women believed, and the men didn't. That summarizes everything we have read and hear thus far.
Now, Jesus frequently rebuked the apostles for not believing in Mark 16, on one of his post resurrection appearances to them he chastised them for their hardness of heart.
So, they didn't believe.
Now comes the third party in this passage: Peter. Verse 12 tells us that Peter ran to the tomb, and he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he left, “wondering to himself at what had happened."
By the way, Luke simply tells us that Peter went to the tomb. Other account tells us that there was another disciple, probably John himself, who out of humility never mentions himself in his account, even though it is sometimes mentioned by others.
So, anyway they get there, they look at the tomb, and they see the clothes lying by themselves.
The presence of the grave cloths which remember are just a long , long bandage would repeatedly around the body serve as evidence of the resurrection.
So, Peter and, in this case, likely John also marvelled at what had happened. And what happened? Jesus had risen.
And, if they marvelled at what happened, what does this imply? At this point, they believed.
To summarize: the women believed at first.
None of the apostles believed initially.
And then Peter and John believed after witnessing the empty tomb.
Commenting on this, one author says, "The apostles initially utterly sceptical. Even when women they knew well told them of their experiences, they refused to believe.
Clearly, irrefutable evidence was needed to convince these sceptics."
And that's the point:
What did it take for the women to believe? Answer: They remembered the word.
Some believe when they hear the word. Others only believe when they are presented with irrefutable evidence and some will never believe at all.
Now, let's get back to equipping you for service.
Here's what you need to learn:
Some believe in Jesus Christ because they hear the word of God, and all you have to do is give them the scripture.
However, there are others who need to be convinced by examining the evidence for themselves. I want to focus on that because those are the people who are most likely to intimidate us—the educated, well-read individuals who seem to have all the arguments.
Most Christians feel inadequate to engage with them, thinking, "I'm not as educated as they are; I can't answer them." So, they get intimidated and struggle to proceed.
But here's my suggestion: those are simply the the people who need to investigate.
Some are never going to be interested in investigating, and if they're not, don't push any further.
However, there are people who are interested, and what you need to do is challenge them to investigate. People who were highly sceptical did investigate and became committed believers in Jesus Christ.
Let me share an example. A few years ago in England, there was a trial lawyer named Frank Morrison. He was an unbeliever for years, promising himself that one day he would actually write a book to disprove Christianity once and for all.
Eventually, he took the time out after his retirement to do just that.
Starting with the most critical possible approach to the New Testament, he worked his way through the data until he reached a conclusion:
Christianity is true and convincing.
He began by investigated the resurrection and wrote a well-known book, called "Who Moved the Stone”. In that book, Frank Morrison provides all the reasons why the resurrection was true. He became a Christian and wrote a book that has been used to win many people to Christ.
There was a man named Phillip Vander Elst. He was an atheist, an Englishman. Here's a quote from him when asked the question: "Do you find it difficult to believe in God or accept the claims of Christianity”?
His reply as to what he changed his mind from atheist, to believer may be of help to us all not only on our own personal journey and attempts to make sense of life, but in expressing it to other people."
Vander Elst was a freelance writer and lecturer, graduating from Oxford in 1973 with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics. He have spent most of his professional life in politics and journalism, editing the monthly magazine journal, Freedom Today”
Now I am quoting and summarising from a long 4000-word article here, but he wrote:
“Two questions, in particular, have always interested me: Is there a God? And if there is, what is the connection between God and freedom?" Growing up in a non-Christian family with intelligently gifted but unbelieving parents, I used to think that belief in God and the supernatural had been discredited by the advancement of science and that they were incompatible with liberty. Religious faith seemed to me to involve the blind worship of a cosmic dictator and the abandonment of reason in favour of revelation. Why, in any case, should I take religion seriously, I thought, when the existence of evil and suffering clearly discredited the Christian claim that our world owed its existence to a benevolent creator? “My scepticism and hostility toward Christianity, which developed in my teens under the influence of thinkers such as Ayn Rand and Bertrand Russell, grew even stronger when I was at Oxford. Then, at age 24, I met my future wife."
And here we go, again we meet a woman who believed first.
“My future wife, who turned out to be a Christian. Shocked by the discovery that this highly intelligent and beautiful woman was one of them, I had determined to find out whether there was any good evidence for the existence of God and the truthfulness of Christianity, making it quite clear from the outset, however, that I was not prepared to become a believer just to submit our relationship."
He goes on to explain that he read C.S. Lewis, and concerning C.S. Lewis, he says,
"I respected his intelligence. Here was a man who had graduated from Oxford with triple first-class honours in classics, philosophy, and English and had become one of the greatest British academics of his generation. If he could have made the journey from atheism to Christianity, perhaps I was mistaken in thinking that they had to bury your brain in order to believe in God."
He writes,
"Persuaded by Lewis of the reasonableness of the Christian message, I then examined the evidence for the historical truthfulness of the gospel record in the New Testament. And then, once again, closer scrutiny of the facts forced me to abandon the old prejudice against Christianity."
At one point, he says,
"Even more significantly, all the disciples were taken by surprise by the resurrection, despite having been told in advance by Jesus before he was arrested that he would come back from the dead”.
Which is exactly what happened in this passage we looked at.
He goes on,
"Indeed, this very fact, mirrored in their slowness to accept the testimony of their women and the evidence of their own eyes, offered powerful support both for their truthfulness and the reliability of the Gospels as a whole and for the reality of the resurrection."
"And this brings me finally to the two most compelling and convincing reasons for believing in the truth of the Christian message and the story on which it is based:
1) the undeniable fact of the empty tomb, and
2) the subsequent careers and martyrdom of Jesus' closest followers."
Here's what he says quitting the afore mention Frank Morrison and his book, who rolled away the stone?
"As Frank Morrison, originally a sceptic, argued long ago in his illuminating book 'Who Moved the Stone,' none of Jesus' enemies or opponents of the newborn Christian Church could deny the disappearance of Jesus' body from the tomb in which he had been buried by Joseph of Arimathea, despite having every religious and political incentive to do so. Neither the Jewish religious authorities who condemned him nor the Romans who crucified him were able to produce Jesus' body and in doing so give lie to the preaching of his resurrection by the disciples. If they had done so, Christianity would have been snuffed out instantly. But they didn't because they couldn't. The more I thought about these points, the more convinced I became that the internal evidence for the reliability of the Gospels and the New Testament as a whole was overwhelming. Apart from any consideration, the picture of Jesus they presented was so vivid and so compelling. In its pages, you see him challenging the powerful, comforting the poor, exposing the hypocrites, healing the sick and the broken-hearted. He treats women as equals, shows tenderness to children. Even more strikingly, when Jesus speaks of his divine status and he quotes, 'You have seen me, you have seen the Father,' he doesn't convey any impression of madness. Instead, his words seem to carry authority, and his enemies are never able to argue or outwit him. In fact, they do not even deny the reality of his miracles, merely attributing them to sorcery."
He concludes.
"If God ever did come down into this world and live and walk among us as a human being, I thought, then surely Jesus was that man. So, confronted by all these facts and arguments—philosophical, scientific, and historical—I surrendered my sword of unbelief to God, asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins, and come into my life during that hot dry summer of 1976."
Therefore, my journey from atheism to faith may help persuade you of the truthfulness of Christianity. I can only hope and pray that you will experience the joy of reconnecting with your Creator by asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life. He longs for you and is only waiting for you to make the first move.
(C.S. Lewis: A Short Introduction” Continuum, 2005)
That was I think my longest ever quote in a message.
But my point is simply this: your job is simply to tell people about Jesus Christ. In some cases, all you need to do is give them the Word. In other cases, what you need to do is challenge them to investigate the evidence for themselves, and part of the way you do that is by giving them a testimony of how you or someone else was where they are now. Or maybe even a book written by somebody who is where they are and is now but tells them where they need to be , and leave the rest to God.