Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Pat Boone in his book A Miracle A Day Keeps The Devil Away tells of some very spectacular examples of the hand of God in history.

His friend Tay Garnett, who is a film director, was showing the stunt driver in a mountain chase scene what he wanted.

He drove the car right up to the edge of the cliff, and then at the last second he cut the wheel to veer away from the disaster of a 700 foot drop to the rocks below.

The only problem was the car didn't veer, and while the crew stared in frozen horror he plunged over the edge.

He was a believer, and all he had time for was to pray, "God keep me in the circle of your love."

Four hundred feet below there was one tree growing out of the side of the cliff, and that was the only tree for hundreds of yards in any direction, and Tay's car fell right on to it.

The impact demolished the car and injured Tay's back seriously, but he was alive.

It took hours for a rescue team to get him on a stretcher and back to the top, and then to a hospital where a surgical team repaired his back.

But a few weeks later he was back to work where he was not bashful to share his faith in a God, who for all practical purposes, brought him back from the dead.

He was a dead man flying off that cliff, but God in his providence spared him.

He was not literally dead, of course, but neither was Jonah literally dead in the belly of the whale.

But he was as good as dead, and his only hope was a resurrection.

That is why Jesus used the experience of Jonah as a sign of His burial and resurrection.

As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus draws a parallel, but there was a major difference.

Jonah was only as good as dead, and Tay Garnett was only as good as dead, and many have been as good as dead, and yet restored to life.

But Jesus was totally, absolutely, and unequivocally dead.

He was not merely rescued from a near death experience.

He was resurrected from a clear death bondage.

It is important that we see this event for which we celebrate Easter as unique and distinct from all the other miracles and wonders of history.

It is in a category by itself.

There were other resurrections of the dead, but none of them was a cure of death.

Lazarus was raised after being clearly dead and decaying, but it was not a cure.

It was only a remission of the disease of death, for he had to die again, as did all the others who were raised.

The resurrection of Jesus was the only resurrection that could be called a cure, for it was a permanent victory over death, and, therefore, the resurrection of Jesus was the ultimate healing.

If death is the worst thing that can happen to the body, then conquering death is the best thing that can happen to the body.

Everything else Jesus did for the body was only temporary.

All the diseases He healed, and the miraculous recoveries He brought about did not cure any of those diseases permanently.

But when Jesus rose from the dead He performed the miracle of all miracles, the wonder of all wonders, the ultimate in healing, for He raised from that tomb on that first Easter a body that would never never die again; a body that would never suffer again; a body that would never be subject to sin or any of its consequences.

In other words, Jesus by the power of the Easter miracle healed a human body permanently; not just for time, but forever.

That is why Easter is the greatest Christian celebration, for it is the celebration of the only miracle that lasts forever.

Miracles just do not last.

The feeding of the multitude kept them satisfied for a few hours, but they had to supply food again for their next meal.

The stilling of the storm only lasted until the next wind came up, which could have been the very next day, or only hours later.

The miraculous catch of fish did not set up the disciples for life.

They had to fish again.

On and on you could go through the miracles and see that they just do not last.

You cannot count on the miracles for security.

But when you come to the resurrection of Jesus all is different.

Here is a miracle you can count on.

Here is a foundation that will never be shaken, and never be changed.

Here is the Rock of Gibraltar of the Christian faith.

Here is the miracle that is forever.

History is loaded with great men and women who have discovered medicines to cure diseases, but nobody has ever found a cure for death.

They can often delay it, but there is no antidote to this poison that sin brought into the world.

Shakespeare said, "By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death will seize the doctor too."

Easter is the celebration of the greatest physician in history, for He alone produced the antidote that heals from life's worst disease-death.

There is no higher level of health than eternal life.

It is health on a level where man can experience all God meant for him to experience.

I never linked Easter with healing before, because I never looked at Easter through the eyes of one looking at Jesus as the great physician, even in His resurrection.

Your perspective as you approach the Scripture has a great deal to do with what you see.

I want to point out just how clearly Easter is surrounded with the healing theme.

Not only was the resurrection of Christ the ultimate healing, it was the center from which all other healings were to come.

Look at how clearly Mark reveals-

THE EASTER-HEALING LINK.

First of all in verse 9 Mark reveals that the very first person Jesus appeared to in His resurrection body was Mary Magdalene, one of the great trophies of His healing power.

She was a woman out of whom He had cast seven demons.

She was a very sick woman, but Jesus healed her and set her free from her bondage.

She was saved physically, mentally, and spiritually.

She was one of the most healed people in the New Testament, and she is the first to see the ultimate in healing-the resurrected Christ.

It has been noted all through the centuries that women were the first at the tomb that first Easter morning, but few have ever pointed out the role of healing in why this was the case.

Doctor Luke in his Gospel tells us that Jesus had a strong following of women who supported Him financially.

The interesting characteristic about these women was that they were women that Jesus had healed.

Luke 8:1-3 says, "The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out, Joanna the wife of Cuza, the managers of Herod's household, Susanna, and many others."

This group of women had experienced the healing miracles of Jesus in their bodies and minds.

They had experiences that the 12 disciples did not have.

There is no record of any of the 12 having demons cast out, or of being healed by Jesus.

They saw all of His miracles, but these women had actually experienced the wonder working power of Jesus.

The result is, that when Jesus was crucified the two sexes traveled two different roads in how they dealt with their grief.

The males went the route of despair which paralyzed them.

They were frozen into inaction.

Whereas the female followers took the road of devotion.

They were just as convinced as the men that Jesus was dead, and that His ministry was over, but they were still so grateful for what He had been to them that they were determined to minister even to His dead body.

Let's focus on this theme:

I. THE DEVOTION DISPLAYED BY THE WOMEN.

It is not likely any of these women had a very restful Sabbath as their Lord lay in the tomb.

Everyone of the Gospel writers indicates they were up at the crack of dawn, or even earlier while it was yet dark.

They were on their way to the tomb by sunrise to anoint the body of Jesus.

They do not come harboring any hope of the resurrection.

They would not have spent money for spices if they had any hope He would be alive.

They acted in the belief that His body would lay in the tomb until the resurrection of the last day.

They were going to honor the body the best they knew how.

The despairing disciples probably would have considered this as a sentimental waste of resources.

I must confess as one stuck with a male mentality, I do not know if I would have voted to spend more money on devotion to a dead body.

Most men have this male mentality of practicality.

That is why all of the extravagant gifts of honor and love that Jesus received were from women.

Some unknown woman gave Him His seamless robe, Mary of Bethany anointed him with expensive perfume, and the men complained of the waste of it, and now these women are going to give His dead body expensive spices.

The women are being sentimental and wasteful in their devotion, but in doing so they are the first to encounter the reality of the risen Redeemer.

The men do not make a move until they are compelled to respond to the testimony of the women.

Even then it is a reluctant response of skepticism.

Not a single woman was ever rebuked by the risen Christ, but in verse 14 all eleven of the Apostles are severely rebuked for their lack of faith and stubborn refusal to believe the women.

It has always been hard for men to listen to women.

Remember ladies, you could have been married to an Apostle and still not have a husband who would listen to you.

So what we see that first Easter is that there is a reason why women were the first to be in on the Easter Gospel, and why Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ.

These things were not just incidental or accidental.

Jesus could have appeared at any time to anyone.

He could have come to the despairing disciples first had He chosen to do so.

But He chose to honor those who showed the greatest devotion.