Unexpected Faith
Luke 24:1-12
Introduction
Our text today is completely saturated with disciples who were not expecting Jesus to rise from the grave. Even though the Lord told them over and over again that He would, they didn’t get it. Whether their minds were so made up that Jesus was on His way to political fame and they were along for the ride or whether they could not comprehend the Son of God in all His miracle working abilities being captured and crucified, we don’t know.
Notice with me the fact that the women were expecting to find the body of Jesus exactly as it had been placed there three days before. So to, when the disciples heard the news it was as if the thought of the resurrection of the Lord had never even crossed their minds before. The idea of Jesus rising from the dead was foreign to them even though, again, Jesus had told them numerous times.
Primary Claim of the Text
Jesus rose from the dead like He said He would and yet the disciples struggled to believe.
Human Condition Met By the Text
We have need of pure and absolute belief in what the Word of God tells us regardless what our insights tell us. Jesus told everyone He would rise again and no one believed Him. His Words fell on deaf ears. Their eyes and ears and experiences with Jesus trumped His Words. They looked at Jesus and disregarded His Words. Their senses were their authority over and above the Words of Jesus. They all saw Jesus dead and placed in the tomb and that was their reality. Nothing would convince them that what their eyes and ears were telling them was not the final reality. It took the women seeing that Jesus was not their, dead and in the tomb and an angel declaring that He was raised for them to believe. It would also be evident that none of the apostles believed because they saw Jesus dead. They would even call the women, mad when they shared the news.
Beloved, we must view God’s Word as the ultimate reality, authority and truth no matter what we may think to be true.
Luke 24:1-12 (ESV)
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
8 And they remembered his words,
9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,
11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
1. The Stone Rolled Away
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
Jesus had been in the tomb of Joseph for three days and three nights. Now it is Sunday, the first day of the week. This passage connects Chapter 24 to Chapter 23 in that the women saw the tomb and the body of Jesus placed inside…
At the end of Luke 23, he writes that the women saw the tomb and how His body was laid. In other words, they knew what to expect. They come to the tomb expecting to find the body of our Lord in exactly the same position that it was laid. They expect to find everything as they had left it. They expected the spices and ointment and all the things as they had left it. They also expected to find the linen cloth wrapped around Jesus as Joseph and Nicodemus had done.
They were bringing additional spices they had prepared to further embalm Jesus’ body. That was their mission. They loved their Lord and their hearts were broken. I’m sure their joy at the Passover and the beginning of the Feast of First Fruits had turned to sadness and mourning. I’m sure they also felt as if there was nothing they could do except to honor His body and ready it for the grave. But, oh what they would find when they arrived!
When they arrived, Luke writes, the stone had already been rolled away. We’re not told how it was rolled away.
Mark 16:1-4 (ESV)
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
The way these ancient tombs worked was that there was a large wheel-shaped stone that sat in a groove so that it would serve as a locking device against grave robbers etc. Luke reports that the stone had been rolled away not just out of the way but rolled completely off the track and away from the tomb. The stone as well as the tomb was now obsolete.
The text doesn’t tell us who did it, but it had to be supernatural very similar to the veil in the Temple being torn from top to bottom. In other words, a handful of people could not roll the stone out of the way, off the track, and away from the tomb.
Jesus did not need the stone rolled away. We have accounts in the Gospels that Jesus with His glorified body passing through solid walls and vanishing instantly. The stone was not in our Lord’s way…it was in their way. If they were to look inside and see with their own eyes and believe the Words of Jesus, the stone had to be moved.
Jesus rose from the dead like He said He would and yet the disciples struggle to believe.
2. When God’s Words Trump Human Experience
3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
Now the women come up against something that does not compute. Jesus died and was placed in the tomb. Dead bodies remain where you put them. They do not get up, walk around or in any way move…dead is dead.
Yet, as they peer into the tomb there is no death. Nothing dead is there.
Matthew and Mark both report that one of the angels invite the women to come in and inspect the place where they had place Jesus’ dead body. When they do, all they see are the linen cloths still with the smell of spices.
Immediately, their senses are giving them different information. Jesus is not here, the linen cloths are hear and there are standing before us two men in dazzling beauty. Something amazingly supernatural is taking place. Their perplexity now is turned into amazement and fear.
When people come in contact with Angels there is always the same result…fear and usually falling to the ground. I’m always slightly surprised when I speak with people and they say things like…Yeah, me and God had a talk and I’m ok. Or Yeah, me and the man upstairs have an agreement or something worked out.
In the Bible when humans come in contact with angels they usually are very fearful and even faint at times. That’s just with angels. No one has a deal worked out with God, He doesn’t make deals. No one speaks to God and no one especially speaks to Him as if He is a mere man.
Why do you seek the living among the dead?
A grave is where dead people are. They came to the tomb for the purpose of preparing a dead body for the grave. Jesus’ body is not there because He has risen. His body is changed into a glorified eternal body.
Jesus rose from the dead like He said He would and yet the disciples struggle to believe.
3. Christ’s Words are Finally Understood
6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
8 And they remembered his words,
9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles,
The angel delivers the message God had dispatched them to deliver…
He is not here, but has risen.
Then, the angels asks them if they don’t remember that Jesus told them all this before. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Luke 9:21-22 (ESV)
21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Luke 18:31-33 (ESV)
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
Luke writes this as if the angels were listening to every word Jesus spoke. It’s as if throughout the entire ministry of our Lord, the angels were watching and listening to every Word He spoke.
1 Peter 1:12 (ESV)
12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
The angel remembered the Words of Jesus and even quoted them back to the women. Once the angel quotes Scripture back to the women and shows them so that their senses and the Word agree, they believe. There is no dead body where we left the dead body. We see the linen that we wrapped Him in and now we are reminded of the Words Jesus spoke…we believe!
Jesus rose from the dead like He said He would and yet the disciples struggle to believe.
4. Peter Sees and Believes
11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
The women go back and report what happened to the disciples. It’s very clear that at this point no one believed them.
Idle tale comes from the Greek word Leros…
Doctor Luke uses medical language of the day.
According to William Barclay in his work on Luke the medical term was used to describe the babbling of a fevered and insane mind.[1]
Basically, the disciples thought they had been out in the sun too long and refused to believe. Again for them, the last thing they knew was what they had seen…Jesus dead and buried. No idle tale was going to change their minds.
Peter and John were different. They were not ready to believe but they did have some suspicions. Could it be true?
John tells us that Peter and John ran to the tomb. Luke only tells Peter’s side of the story…
John 20:3-9 (ESV)
3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
Luke tells us that after Peter heard the story from the women and saw that the body was gone and saw the linen just like the women said there was a spark of faith within him…
he went home marveling at what had happened.
PC Refocused
Jesus rose from the dead like He said He would and yet the disciples struggle to believe.
Where I think this text challenges us is in the area of faith. The women and Peter and John were challenged to believe the Words of Jesus… on the third day be raised. Everything they saw and heard told them Jesus was still dead. Because once someone dies they stay dead. It took an angel to explain things to the women and Jesus would later explain things to the apostles…they all would eventually see Jesus and believe. Their eyes were opened and they had faith.
Exhortation to Godliness
For us it’s a little different. We have the Holy Spirit in a way they didn’t at the time of the resurrection. He gives us the ability to believe without seeing.
John 20:26-29 (ESV)
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas not only needed to see Jesus but to also hear Him and even touch His scars or wounds in order to believe. Then he shouts… My Lord and my God!
Beloved we’ve never seen Jesus but we can still believe. We have the Holy Spirit who convicts and convinces us. He resides within us as Christians explaining the very Book He wrote, the Bible. We can and must believe.
1 Peter 1:3-9 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
For the disciples, seeing was believing. For us, not seeing is believing… we must see through the eyes of faith. We see Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and with spiritual eyes, not physical eyes.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
I believe the Lord has challenges for all of us. Challenges to trust Him in whom we’ve never laid eyes on and rely on His Word regardless what things look like in the physical world. My challenge is to take God at His Word, obey it because it’s the right thing to do and don’t concern yourself with all the possible outcomes. As an example, we could look at tithing: We live in a day when money is tight and many people say they would love to tithe but just cannot. In the physical realm, it doesn’t add up. Yet, God commands us to worship Him by being good stewards over what He’s given us to manage.
Malachi 3:8-11 (ESV)
8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.
It’s time that the church begins taking the Word of God and standing on it no matter what happens…
Test Him and see
[1] Luke by William Barclay From the Daily Study Bible, 293
