Luke 24:1-12 Faithfulness or Forgetfulness
Good morning, happy New Year! I can’t think of a better way to begin 2025 than for the first sermon to focus on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ!
We are going back to the Gospel of Luke, to the beginning of chapter 24, on page 884 in the pew Bibles.
It is not my intention to invent new and novel ideas and paint them over Scripture. I am surprised, however, by how often the Lord shows me something I haven’t considered before and gives me the opportunity to share it with you.
For the last few weeks we have been dealing with the death of Jesus, the long, slow, torturous, but advantageous death of Jesus. Advantageous because of what it accomplished for us, that our sin might be done away with for good.
But now we get to turn the page because for Jesus death was not permanent and because His wasn’t permanent, for those who trust Him, theirs won’t be permanent either.
John Stott said that, “Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The concept of resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.”
Let’s look at our text together and then we’ll pray.
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.
Let’s pray.
The grace of the Lord Jesus is absolutely amazing to me. This account of His incredible victory over death and the grave is wrapped in the failure of His followers.
The previous verses at the end of chapter 23 described how the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee saw how Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had taken Jesus down from the cross and wrapped His body in linen and laid Him in the new tomb carved from the rock. It tells us that they went home and prepared the spices and ointments to embalm His body and rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
There in verse one of chapter 24, But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
Is what they were doing good or bad?
Mark records for us in his Gospel, in chapter 16, that these ladies wondered who would roll the stone away so that they could get in to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus. Interesting…
But when they got to the tomb they found that the stone had already been rolled away.
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.
Verse four says that they were perplexed. The Greek word means to be at a loss, with implications of great anxiety, to be in doubt, or uncertain.
Why is that? Simply because they expected the body of the Lord to be there. They were there to anoint the body of a dead person and there was no body to be found. That’s just not how anybody expects a funeral to go!
So what is the real problem here?
Let me read a few Scriptures for you here.
Matthew 16:21, From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Matthew 17:22-23, 22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Matthew 20:17-19, 17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Luke 9:22, “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 18:31-34, 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.”
Why would the women be perplexed that the body of Jesus was not there? Because they forgot.
They forgot what He said. They weren’t looking for the living among the dead, they were looking for the dead among the dead because they forgot that Jesus said that He would be alive on the third day.
He was crucified and placed in the tomb on Friday, rested Saturday, and now here it is Sunday at dawn, the third day, and Jesus was not there because He was alive just as He said.
Matthew 27 records for us that even the Pharisees remembered that Jesus said that He would rise from the dead on the third day and got Pilate to seal the tomb and posted guards to secure it.
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…
They remembered His words.
What’s amazing to me is that the angel, the messenger from the Father told them to remember Jesus’ words and they did, they remembered. How often do we forget what the Lord has done for us until He reminds us, sometimes in difficult and embarrassing, humbling ways.
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.
It was a great honor for these women to be the first evangelists. They got to be the first tellers of the Good News, that’s what an evangelist is, and they got to tell the Good News to the eleven disciples and to all the rest of Jesus followers.
And what a warm reception they received! Of course the eleven would believe them and be so happy!
Wrong. …these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
Crazy talk. That’s what an idle tale is, at least in Greek.
Why would they think that they were crazy? Because they forgot what Jesus said.
But not Peter though, right? The brash, bold, mouthpiece for the Apostles, he must have believed them, right? He may not have believed the part about the angels but he was certainly stirred up enough that he ran to the tomb to see for himself.
John recorded that in his Gospel too but was sure to mention that he outran Peter to the tomb which I think is hilarious.
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.
To marvel means to wonder or be amazed. Peter was amazed because he forgot what Jesus said.
It’s the most important part of the ministry of Jesus and they all forgot about it, they forgot what He said.
The men had lost hope, and the women went to anoint a dead body.
They loved Him but they clearly did not believe Him. A fault that is all too common today.
But there was more good news in store for them. Not only would they see the Risen Lord Jesus with their own eyes, they would also be given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
More words that they had forgotten that Jesus said in John 14:25-26, 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
And they did remember, with the help of the Holy Spirit they remembered, and they wrote it down, and now we get to read it, and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, understand it. May He continue to teach us.
If you would like to read more about the resurrection of Jesus and its implications, I would encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 15 on your own as home work.
But for now I’ll leave you with Romans 4:24-25, [Righteousness] will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Amen.
