Case of the Missing Messiah
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Do you know that Jesus rose from the grave?
How many times have we heard that just today? Ever?
But Why do we believe it?
Just because that is what we have heard from many people.
We have experienced the risen Savior.
I think it is okay to question what we believe.
Not to cause doubt but to be able to answer the question of “Why?”
If we are to share our faith then we should know why.
Let us back up with what we have already heard and go to the tomb with Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary, and others and actually look at some evidence to back up our belief.
Pray and Read John 20:1-10
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who 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. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
There are many crime dramas on TV nowadays.
They start with the detectives on the scene, maybe also a forensic examiner, and they start picking through the evidence, or the things they can see at the crime scene.
What are the things we can see here at this scene:
The stone rolled away from the tomb
That is not how Mary Remembered it.
It took at least two Roman Soldiers to roll the stone in place.
Peter, and John saw them too, noted two things.
The Linen clothes bunched up
The handkerchief that covered the face removed and placed separate from the linen clothes.
The first statements that we can gather from Mary Magdalene and the other women is that they were at the scene because they were finishing the job of giving Jesus a proper burial since, from what we gather from cultural history, is they ran out of time due to evening coming, which was the holy day of Passover was starting.
What is the Rest of Mary’s testimony. Read John 20:11-18 “11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and …”
So what happened to the body?
The Jewish leaders could have taken it to give this “false messiah” the burial he deserved. Yet His body was not there.
The disciples could have taken the body so that they could claim a Resurrection.
They did not fully understand what a Resurrection was except what they saw happen to Lazarus.
The disciples were grieved by His death and fearful of the Romans and the Jewish leaders.
Mary did not recognize the angels at first. Even asked the “Gardener” where the body was.
Where could they have disposed of the body without anyone seeing it.
Why would they disgrace the body by removing the lines cloths and face covering?
What we haven’t heard yet is the testimony of the Roman guards.
In Mathew’s Gospel we hear that two guards were placed at the tomb.
They passed out when they saw a bright light and felt the earth quake with the moving of the stone closure.
So the evidence is there!
On the real-life crime show, “48 hours”, it takes time to pull all of the evidence together.
We have four Gospels that recount these experiences for us to review and study today.
We can tell from what we have hear is that the Messiah did in fact rise up from the grave and lives even now.
However, on this first day, not all the disciples believed.
When John saw the clothes, he believed because of the clues Christ left before His death.
“the Temple will be restored in three days.”
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
He told them, as John recorded, Jesus said that they will not see Him and then they would see Him in a little while. (that is in the 16th chapter of this Gospel, and I will let you find it.)
Peter wasn’t so sure, and didn’t say anything.
Mary was confronted by Jesus, who she thought was the gardener.
Jesus, later that night had appeared to almost all of His disciples.
Poor Doubting Thomas, Read John 20:24-25 “24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.””
It is hard to believe in miracles without seeing them with our own eyes.
This is the power of faith.
We are blessed because we believe without having seen it first hand.
Our faith is also evidence of our experience of the Risen Savior.
So let me ask you again, do you believe that Jesus is Alive?
How have you experienced the Risen Savior?
Do you fell the power of His Holy Spirit?
Do you understand why He is Risen?
To show that He has ultimate power over death.
To give us new life free from the death our fallen humanity is given.
We also can live forever, spiritually speaking.
Our souls will be with Him someday and for all of eternity.
What is your ressurection story?
In what way have you been given new life?
How would you share the good news with others of Eternal Life?
Pray to experience the Risen Savior today, being full of His Holy Spirit.
In the Name of God the Father, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. Amen