April 26, 2009
The Third Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:36–48
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (ESV).

 The story is told about the late Dr. Harry Rimmer. When he was in Egypt, he traveled with a high government official. This Egyptian was educated, refined, and a Moslem. Turning to religious matters, Dr. Rimmer said, “We Christians believe that God has given three revelations of Himself.” “We too believe that,” said the Moslem. “We believe,” said the preacher, “that God has revealed himself in the works of creation.” “We, too, believe that,” said the other. “We believe that God has revealed himself in a book—the Bible.” “Moslems also believe that God has revealed himself in a book—the Koran.” “Christians believe that God has revealed himself in a man—that man is Jesus Christ.” “We also believe that God has revealed himself in a man—that man is the prophet Mohammed.” “Christians believe that Jesus died to save the world.” “We Moslems,” said the Egyptian, “also believe that Mohammed died for his people.” “We believe,” said the preacher, “that Jesus is able to substantiate his claims because he rose from the dead.” The Moslem man hesitated. Then his eyes fell. And finally he replied, “We have no information concerning our prophet after death.”1

   But that’s not true. We know exactly what happened to Mohammed after he died. He died on June 8th, A.D. 632. And upon his death great care was taken to preserve his remains. And to this very day multitudes of the faithful visit Medina to see his grave. No Muhammad, mere man that he was, couldn’t beat the grave. Neither could Buddha, or the holiest of Hinduism’s sadhus, or Zoroaster, or any other religious leader you care to name. But Jesus’ tomb is empty.

   My friends, as a former unbeliever, I must tell you that I am a Christian today because, among other things, I can’t explain away the resurrection as a myth. There have been those who have devoted their lives to disproving the resurrection, but in every case the skeptics have failed. To every skeptic I say, dig into all of the evidence of antiquity—either written or archaeological—and you will discover that the resurrection of Christ will stand up to any amount of critical scrutiny.

   Every other religious leader said, in effect, “Follow me and I will show you the way.” But Jesus Christ, true God and true man, made the most shocking claim ever. For he said, “Follow me. I am the way!” But he said more. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me.”2 And he submitted this claim, indeed, all of his teachings, to the ultimate test, namely, that he would rise triumphantly from the grave.

   And I stand before you today to say—with all the strength God gives me—that Jesus passed the test! His resurrection is the evidence that all of his teachings must, of necessity, be true. Indeed, Wilbur M. Smith has hit the proverbial nail on the head when he writes, “If our Lord said frequently, with great definiteness and detail, that after he went up to Jerusalem he would be put to death, but on the third day he would rise again from the grave, and this prediction came to pass, then it has always seemed to me that everything else that our Lord ever said must also be true.”3

   Now Jesus, in our text, says that the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied his death and resurrection on the third day. His death was, indeed, prophesied many times in the Old Testament,4 but nowhere as clearly as in Isaiah 53. There we read of him, “He was cut off from the land of the living ... and they made his grave with the wicked [i.e., with the two thieves crucified on his left and right] and with a rich man in his death [i.e., within the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea].”5 But the dead One will not stay dead, for Isaiah continues, saying, “He shall see his offspring; he [the LORD] shall prolong his days.”6

   How is it, we may ask, that he who is crucified, dead, and buried shall see his offspring? Ah, he shall rise from the dead, and the LORD will prolong his days forever! As to his resurrection — and specifically to his resurrection on the third day, Jesus appealed to book of Jonah. He said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”7

   Yes, all of this (and more!) was written in the Old Testament. Yet, his apostles and friends in the upper room were not expecting anything like a resurrection to happen to Jesus. After all, he was dead.

   But in our text, we learn of Jesus’ appearance in the upper room on that first Easter evening. When Christ suddenly appeared in their midst, they were startled and frightened. They thought they seeing a ghost, or a phantom, or a spirit. Put yourself in their place and I imagine we would be equally afraid. But Jesus immediately said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”8 And when he had said this, he showed them the wounds in his hands and feet in his glorified human body.9

   But Christ goes even further. He provides them with additional evidence that he was the same Jesus that they knew and loved. When he asked them for something to eat, they gave him a piece broiled fish. He ate it before their very eyes—again to demonstrate that he had a real body with the normal needs that a real human body has. As C.S. Lewis says, “Jesus’ resurrected body would cast a shadow in the sunlight and make a noise as it tramped across the floor.”10

   So how did they feel about things at this point? We read, “They still did not believe it for joy.”11 That’s an odd–sounding sentence, isn’t it? I mean, “not believing” and “joy” just don’t seem to go together. But it means much the same thing as we mean when we say, “It’s seems too good to be true!” But, in the case of the disciples, it was true. Their Master was alive! And they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy!

   So, because Christ’s resurrection is the evidence that he has procured our salvation by his sinless life and substitutionary death, the living Christ bids his pastors of every generation to preach two things . . . to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations.12

   “Preach two things,” says Jesus. “Repentance and forgiveness.” That pretty simple and straightforward, isn’t it? But what do we hear from modern pulpits today? From Houston’s mega, megachurch we don’t hear Joel, the Prophet, but Joel, Mr. self–esteem. From up North we hear about politics. From down South we hear about social change. From the East we hear about what’s politically correct. From the West we hear about gender inclusiveness and gay activism. And in Western Europe, where the Reformation began, we don’t hear about repentance and forgiveness because nobody goes to church anymore!13 Western Europe, we are told, is now in a post–Christian era.

   But Jesus says in our text, “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”14 Let’s consider repentance. Jesus is terribly insistent that we live lives of constant repentance.15 So the question for today is: How are you living now? How am I? Does the Lord see in us a heart that fears, loves, and trusts in him above all things, or does he see a heart that puts the kingdom of self before the kingdom of God? Does he see a heart that recites the Creed on Sunday but does its own thing on Monday? Does he see a heart that loves the Gospel or one that is growing calloused and cold, a heart that pursues pleasure before godliness, earthly riches before heavenly riches, outer beauty before inner beauty?

   O let us cast off the works of darkness and truly repent of our sins, lest presume upon the grace of God, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For the Lord says, “Why will you die, O man? Why will you die?”16

   But Jesus commanded that where there is repentance, then the penitent must hear of nothing except the forgiveness of sins. Do you remember what Jesus said just before he died? It was his second–last utterance. He cried out, “It is finished.”17 This is the translation of the Greek word tetelestai. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” he was using the language of first–century commerce. The word tetelestai was used to indicate that a debt had been paid–in–full.18 Here, Jesus was saying that he had paid the debt of human sin in full.

   So what’s your besetting sin? Are you a money–lover? Oh, yes, I see it in the big, black “Book of Sin” and it has your name on it. But wait a minute. Christ has written the word tetelestai across it in his own blood. Your sin has been paid–in–full!

   What about your other sins? Let’s see . . .

• Anger, rage, temper?               Tetelestai                     Paid in full!
• Laziness, sloth?                       Tetelestai                     Paid in full!
• Selfishness?                             Tetelestai                     Paid in full!
• Impatience?                             Tetelestai                     Paid in full!
• Lying?                                     Tetelestai                     Paid in full!
• Disobedience?                         Tetelestai                     Paid in full!

 

   Yes, write down your most troublesome sins; then write tetelestai over them and know that Christ has already paid for them on your behalf.

   And, beloved, all this is most certainly true. How do I know? I know because Christ’s resurrection proves that God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of his Son as full payment for all of your sins and mine.

   May God grant us this assurance for the sake of Jesus.

   Amen.

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

 

Endnotes

 

 

1        Adapted slightly from Walter B. Knight, Knight’s Master Book of 4000 Illustrations, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1956), p. 564. For a short biography see http://www.swordofthelord.com/biographies/RimmerHarry.htm.

2        See John 14:6.

3        Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, Rev. Ed.,Vol 1(San Bernadino: Here’s Life Publishers, 1979), pp. 180–181.

4        For example, see Psalm 22:1, 16-18 and Zechariah 12:10; compare also Numbers 21:8 and John 3:14.

5        See Isaiah 53:8-9, passim.

6        See Isaiah 53:10b.

7        See Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17.

8        See Luke 24:38-39, NASB.

9        See Luke 24:40.

10        See Francis C. Rossow, “Homiletical Helps on LW Series B—Gospels: Third Sunday of Easter, Concordia Journal, vol. 28:2, p. 177.

11        Luke 24:41, NASB (1977 ed.).

12        I have opted for the variant reading of kai in the phrase “repentance and forgiveness of sins.” So reads the KJV, NKJV, RSV, NIV, and ESV. The NASB reads eis and translates, “that repentance for the forgiveness of sins” are to be preached. Emphasis mine. In either case Law and Gospel, repentance (contrition) and forgives are to be proclaimed. For a fuller discussion of this difficulty, see Buls’ Notes at http://kuster-web.net/buls_notes/luke/luke_24_36_49.htm.

13        See, for example, http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-01-08-faith-edit_x.htm, http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/05/02/catholic_church_withers_in_europe/ and http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/040301a.aspx.

14        See Luke 24:47, ESV.

15        See, for example, Matthew 4:17 and Luke 13:1-5.

16        A similar question was asked by the LORD in Ezekiel 18:31. The LORD says, “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”

17        John 19:30.

18        In Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, p. 630, we read, “The word translated ‘It is finished’ (tetelestai) was used in Greek commercial life. The term signified the completion of a transaction by the full payment of a price or the discharge of a debt by a completed payment.”

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