Sermon Tone Analysis

I. Reading of Scripture

This is God’s Word, Amen.

Pray

II.

Introduction

A. Introduction to Theme

We are gathered around God’s Word on this Easter Sunday because of an event called the “Resurrection.”

Jesus who was crucified, is now raised from the dead, and is alive!

It is a very well known event to us - but is it?

How did this resurrection happen!?

When did it happen?

What was it like?....

When the body of the Lord was filled with breath again?

When the eyes of the Lord were opened again?

When His heart started beating again?

Was He raised in the tomb, like Lazarus?

Or was He raptured out of the darkness in the twinkling of an eye?

What was the first thing Jesus did after he was raised?

Did He pray?

Did He sing?

Did He give thanks?

Did He praise?

The events of Jesus’ Last Supper, betrayal, trial and crucifixion are given to us in great detail.

We are even told words Jesus spoke on the cross!

But what were the first words Jesus spoke after the resurrection?

We can only imagine.

I like to imagine that he answered the centurion.

Matthew tells us there was a Roman centurion keeping watch over Jesus as he died.

A man a part of Jesus’ crucifixion.

And when Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook and rocks were split.

And the centurion, even as Jesus breathed His last, was filled with awe and said:

“Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mt 27:54)

I like to imagine that when Jesus was raised, he answered the centurion’s claim and said as his first words, a resounding and authoritative:

I AM!

But we don’t know what Jesus may have said when He was first raised.

In fact, there are many details that we are simply not told about the resurrection event itself.

If we came to church with an expectation that we would hear how this event happened, I’m afraid we will leave disappointed.

Because,

We are not told HOW Jesus was raised from the dead.

None of the Bible’s resurrection accounts tell us the details of how it happened.

We are just told THAT it happened!

For our good, God keeps before us what is most important so that we might receive in faith what is most important.

I wonder if this is why church services on Easter are so well attended?

Because people want to hear, and hear again — if this event really did happen?

Was Jesus really raised?

Is this Jesus really alive?

To which we proclaim —

HE IS!

You checked in last year — Is He alive?

He is.

You check in this year — Is He alive?

He is.

You check in tomorrow — Is He alive?

He is.

The invitation of Easter Sunday, in view of the Resurrection event, is not that we would continue to imagine and inquire year after year, what may have been or what could have been concerning the details that are not given, but that all who hear would receive and believe what is given for the obedience of the faith with our lives.

B. Introduction to Text

May God give us eyes to see what He has revealed for us to see.

In this text, there are four moments that we are told to “Behold.”

These are the important revelations about the Resurrection event.

Four moments draw our minds away from speculations and imaginations about Easter and invite us to experience Easter as it was first experienced by those who were present that morning.

III.

Exposition

The text begins in

A. 28:1

It is the dawn of the first day of the week.

The Sabbath was Saturday.

The first day of the week is Sunday.

This is why we call Sunday “The Lord’s Day.”

Two women go to see the tomb.

Mary Magdalene is named, and the other Mary is identified in Matthew 27:56 as the mother of James and Joseph.

Matthew does not tell us much more about these women.

In his Gospel account, Matthew does not tell us the testimony of Mary Magdalene, but Oh does she has a testimony!

Jesus had cast out of her seven demons (Luke 8:2).

Jesus had healed her, and she was a follower of Jesus.

While Matthew doesn’t tell us her story, he does tell us something very important about Mary Magdalene and following Jesus.

She was present in the end.

After all the disciples had left Jesus and fled (Matthew 26:56), Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were present, looking on from a distance when Jesus died on the cross (Mt 27:55-56).

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were present, when Jesus’ body was laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s own tomb, and the entrance of the tomb was closed with a great stone.

Thank God, for women who follow Jesus!

Thank God for patient women who wait on Jesus!

Thank God for enduring women, who follow Jesus, even from a distance.

Thank God for ministering women, who serve Jesus.

Even today, when they have husbands who do not believe or lead in the family.

Even today, when they have churches that don’t publically value their worth.

Even when they are told by some that they need to be silent.

Yet there they are there, present when it matters most.

There is a fierce debate about whether or not women can or should preach.

What is often overlooked in that debate and shouldn’t be, women, is the preaching of your presence.

Your presence speaks volumes.

Your presence is noticed.

It was because these women were present, they were the first to proclaim the resurrection to the disciples.

Why?

Because the men who had followed Jesus had fled.

But the women were there, watching, and waiting and very soon would be worshiping Him.

These women arrived with a purpose.

They had expectations for what they would find.

“They went to see the tomb.”

That word “SEE” is a very important and repeated word throughout this account.

“They came to see the tomb.”

But the tomb was not yet ready for its showing.