Happy Easter! I want to talk to you this morning about the transforming power of the Resurrection because once you understand its significance, if you believe what the Bible says, you will agree with me that the Resurrection changes everything! I want us to look at three Bible characters and investigate how their lives were changed because of the Resurrection. The first is a woman whose name is Mary Magdalene.
The Bible doesn’t give us a lot of details about her. There are only a few things we know for sure about her, but what we know is compelling. She is one of the central figures of the Resurrection story. The first thing we learn about Mary Magdalene is that she is someone from whom Jesus drove seven demons. That’s not something you just drive by and forget about. That is no small thing! No one who knew Mary would forget the way she was when seven demons had a hold of her. 7 is the number of perfection or completion in the Bible, so when we read in Luke 8:2 that Mary had been, pre-Jesus, possessed by 7 demons, we understand that Satan possessed Mary completely.
Her life was in turmoil before Jesus delivered her. We don’t know the ways that Satan tormented her. We don’t know how the demons in her harassed or abused her, but needless to say, being controlled by demons would not have been a quality or a peaceful way to live. When Mary encountered Jesus, she found freedom from everything that bound her. Anyone here know what I’m talking about? Jesus set her free, and because of that transformation, she faithfully followed Jesus and helped fund His mission.
She was present at the mock trial of Jesus. She heard Pilate pronounce His death sentence. She saw Jesus be beaten and humiliated. She was one of a group of women who stood near the cross during Jesus’ crucifixion. She stayed there until His body was taken down. She watched Joseph of Arimathea wrap His body with burial clothes. When I say she faithfully followed Him, I’m saying she didn’t let Jesus out of her sight until she had no choice but to be separated from Him by the stone that was placed in front of His tomb. Early, the next morning, she traveled back in the dark to anoint Jesus’ body. It had been a hurried and incomplete job by Joseph of Arimathea. She wanted Jesus to have a proper burial. She didn’t even know how she would gain access to His body since it was heavily guarded and was sealed with a stone that was hundreds of pounds, but she was determined to get to Him.
But when she got there, His body was gone. This grief-stricken woman panicked, and despair set in. Who had stolen His body? How could she stay connected to Jesus if she didn’t even know where He was? How could she honor Him? The thought of Resurrection never occurred to her. She was in a bad place emotionally, physically and spiritually. She was desperate to know what had become of Jesus, and she was crying pretty hard when someone she believed to be the Gardener spoke to her. It wasn’t the Gardener, but it was Jesus, Himself, who stood before her.
He asked her why she was crying to which she replied, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.” She was so desperate to find Jesus she thought she could somehow carry His body back to its resting place.
Only when He called her name did she see Him for who He really was. And when she did, she clung to Him, as if she was trying to hold on to Him. She thought, “I lost you once, and I never want you out of my sight again.” What devotion! Jesus explained that she couldn’t hold on to Him physically. He was soon going to ascend to His Father in Heaven and take His seat on His throne. And even though He would be leaving for Heaven, Mary would never be separated from Him again because the Holy Spirit was coming to indwell her, to lead her, to keep protect her, and to keep her free.
Jesus commissioned Mary Magdalene to go and tell the others that He had risen from the dead. She was the first preacher of the Gospel message. She went and exclaimed to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” Oh friends, The Resurrection changes everything! Mary went from desperation and without hope to declaring that Jesus was alive! Jesus turned Mary’s grief into a go-and-tell charge to witness to the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And Mary Magdalene learned that not even death could separate her from Jesus. Ever. He rose from the dead and He is alive forevermore! Though she could not cling to Him in a physical sense, she could possess Him fully on the inside of her heart.
The second person I want us to talk about is Thomas. He has been labeled, “Doubting Thomas.” I’m not sure that is an accurate nickname for the state of his faith post-Resurrection. Thomas was one of the twelve disciples. I don’t know where he happened to be when Jesus showed Himself to the rest of the disciples, but Thomas missed the big reveal in John 10:19-23. When the other disciples came to him and told him what he had missed, he said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
From his response you could easily make the case that Thomas didn’t doubt or wonder if their claims of Jesus’ resurrection could be true; he simply didn’t believe it was. In that moment, I’m not sure I could say Thomas was a doubter. It seems more appropriate to say he was an unbeliever, that he was in a state of disbelief. He said, “I will NOT believe.”
Thomas was disillusioned. None of this panned out the way he thought it would. Thomas’s faith was crushed by Jesus’ death. What had he just given the last three years of his life for? Why had he left everything to follow Jesus? Jesus was dead. His followship was over. It had all been for nothing. In his disillusionment, he had isolated himself from the other disciples. Somehow, after scattering during Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion, the rest of the disciples had found each other. Somehow the rest of them knew that they needed each other to get through what they had just gone through, and they banded together. Somehow, they knew just where to find each other. Did Thomas reject the invitation to join the group, or did he just not attempt to look for any of them? I’m of the opinion that they met up in a place that was familiar. They were somewhere with the doors locked. It had to be a home they had spent time in before. It’s not plausible that they broke into someone’s home and barricaded themselves inside. I believe if Thomas wanted to be there, he could have been.
I believe his isolation had done something detrimental to his faith. I believe he let the voice of defeat play over and over in his head. Why would he not believe ten other disciples who obviously had just had a transforming experience with Jesus? He could see a change in them. Their tears were gone. Their affect was overhauled. Hope was alive in their hearts. They were excited about what was next. It wasn’t over! They could not have faked this total new outlook. And yet, Thomas wouldn’t believe.
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.
I’m guessing someone convinced him to rejoin the group, at least in a physical sense. Or maybe in a few days he reasoned that ten of his closest friends wouldn’t lie to him about their personal experience with Jesus. Maybe he reasoned, “If Jesus really had appeared to the rest of them, He might show up again,” and Thomas at least positioned himself to have the encounter that could reignite his faith in Jesus.
Though 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; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Thomas’s “My Lord and my God!” statement was spoken with resolute conviction. Disbelief had been transformed into devotion. History tells us Thomas didn’t waiver from that moment on. He wound up traveling east and preached the Gospel through Persia. He eventually found his way to India where he had a very fruitful ministry. Many churches in India can trace their roots back to the ministry of Thomas. He was martyred for his faith in Christ. Jesus would ascend to the Father, making it impossible for others to see Him in the flesh at that point, but Thomas would make sure as many people as possible would see the risen Christ in his devotion to Christ.
The third character I want to highlight is the disciple named Peter. He was one of three in Jesus’ inner circle. Based on the confessions he made, more than once, Peter would have been voted least likely to abandon Jesus. He talked a good talk, and I believe when he did, he believed and meant what he was saying.
In Matthew 26:31-35, Jesus predicted that all the disciples would desert him, and that included Peter. Look at verse 31: 31 Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’[c] 32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” 33 Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” 34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” 35 But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.
Peter’s words were emphatic. He boldly asserted he would never disown Jesus. He vowed to die with Him. And yet, when Jesus was arrested, Matthew 26:58 tells us that Peter followed Jesus at a distance. It is an important detail. Peter didn’t speak up for Jesus. He didn’t defend Jesus. He distanced himself from Jesus, and that distance became the first of several steps by which he would distance himself even further.
While Peter was hanging outside of where Jesus was on trial with the religious leaders, he was challenged by someone who asked if he was a disciple of Jesus, and Peter caved. He didn’t even hesitate. He said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He followed that with some kind of an oath, perhaps something like, “I swear by Heaven” or “I swear to God. I don’t know the man!” The third time he was pressed to answer regarding his affiliation with Jesus, we read, 74 Then he began to call down curses, (on himself) and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Matthew 26:74
That means he proclaimed a curse would come on himself if he was lying. He thought by calling down a curse on himself he could convince them of his sincerity. What a pendulum swing in just a few hours. From, “I’ll die for you” to “I don’t know you, and may a curse fall on me if I am lying” is quite a change of allegiance.
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
The words had just tumbled out. How could he have so easily betrayed Jesus? In those moments, Peter had only been concerned for himself. The realization of what he had done hit him hard. Really hard. He wept bitterly. He regretted what he had just done. He had turned his back on Jesus out of fear of what would happen to him if he identified with Jesus. There was no time to tell Jesus he was sorry. Jesus would go to the cross, and Peter couldn’t make things right.
Fast-forward to John’s last chapter, chapter 21. It is the commentary on a post-Resurrection conversation between Peter and Jesus. Peter had returned to fishing. It’s what he knew. His hopes of carrying on his discipleship were dashed by his selfish choices. Even though he knew, by this point, that Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter felt unworthy of the title of disciple. He had failed. He would simply return to his old life as a fisherman.
But Jesus showed up while Peter and some of the others were fishing, and the first words out of Jesus’ mouth were, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” Friends. Not, “Deserters.” Not, “Back stabbers. Not, “Jerks.” “Traitors.” When they recognized that it was Jesus, Peter jumped out of the boat and into the water. He couldn’t get to Jesus fast enough.
Jesus had started a fire and asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught, and He invited them to a meal on the beach. The text says it was the third time Jesus appeared to them after His resurrection. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Jesus showed up three times to invite Peter to reengage as a disciple.
And in a grace-filled and loving conversation, Jesus invited Peter to a fresh start. The heading in that part of John 20 says, “Jesus reinstates Peter.” He didn’t have to work his way back into Jesus’ good graces. He simply was reinstated. He could just pick up where he left off before the failure, but with a much greater awareness of the love, grace and forgiveness of God, something he had desperately needed. Because of the Resurrection, Peter went from disconnected and even disavowing Jesus to being a dedicated disciple again.
Resurrection brings transformation to all who will engage with Jesus. Mary Magdalene went from desperation to declaration. She didn’t know how she could live a life without demons if Jesus wasn’t in the picture. She learned in her encounter with the Risen Christ that she never would have to live without Him. He was alive, and the Jesus who had freed her from Satan’s control, who had led her, although He would leave to ascend into Heaven, He would live in her through the Person of the Holy Spirit. She would never have to live apart from Him.
I don’t know what desperate circumstance you find yourself in this morning. I don’t know what your “demons” are, what has control of your life, but I am here to tell you that Jesus is alive, and He has all power and authority. If you will trust Him for salvation, not even death can defeat you. You can live every day with confidence. You can have victory over your circumstances if you will let Jesus take control of you on the inside.
Thomas went from disbelieving to devoted when he personally encountered the Resurrected Christ. Oh, I believe, he had every reason to take his friends’ word for it that Jesus had been resurrected, but here’s the good news…He didn’t have to. Jesus revealed Himself personally to Thomas, and He will personally reveal Himself to you. Come out of isolation and take steps to put yourself in an atmosphere of faith where Jesus can reveal Himself to you.
Peter went from disconnected from Jesus to being a dedicated disciple again. The Resurrection makes reconnection with Jesus possible. Have you distanced yourself from Jesus? No matter how long you’ve been away from Him or what you have done to distance yourself from Jesus, even if you have disavowed Him, He is here with an invitation for you to reconnect. Peter not only reconnected, but he was more passionate than ever. Because of the Resurrection, his biggest failure led to his biggest years of faith. Oh, how God used Peter!
For Mary, it was inconceivable that Resurrection was the answer for the empty tomb.
For Thomas, it was unbelievable that death hadn’t had the final word on Jesus.
For Peter, he thought his relationship with Christ was irretrievable after his failure.
But the Resurrection changed everything for each one of them, and today, it can change everything for you!
Recent Comments