For Easter Sunday 

 

Sermon Notes: I Know My Redeemer Lives

Intro:  Millions of Christians gather today to celebrate this joyous day of Easter. But that wasn’t what it was like on that first Easter. The triumph of Palm Sunday had left many with confident faith that Jesus was the Messiah. Yet, His crucifixion five days later left many doubting that faith, questioning His teachings, uncertain of the future. His body had been hastily laid in a borrowed tomb, not even properly prepared for burial in accordance with Jewish belief and practices, until after the Sabbath. Now a small group of sad mourners were going to finish those preparations, expecting to find His lifeless body sealed in the tomb, guarded by a squad of soldiers. At least, that’s what they expected. Others stayed behind, dealing with their grief and dashed hopes. Even His closest disciples, Peter and John, were staying behind locked doors, with the other disciples. Being seen at the tomb where Jesus’ body lay could lead to their arrest and worse. No one had expected their hope for the Messiah to end this way, even though Jesus had been trying to tell them He would rise, even as recently as at their last supper together in the upper room, three nights ago. But that was about to change.

 

I. My Redeemer

A. Our Hymn of Preparation is also the title of the sermon today, I know, I know that my Redeemer lives!  But why is He being called our Redeemer?  In fact, what is a Redeemer? We’re probably most familiar with that term with coupons, that allow us to redeem a product on sale with a certain coupon. But we can find a more applicable illustration in the OT Book of Ruth. When Joshua had finished his conquests in the Promised Land, he allocated the land to specific tribes. The tribe of Levi, from whom Moses’ brother Aaron descended from, was designated by Moses as the priests, without a land allocation, their domain being the temporary Tabernacle, and later the Temple. But Jacob (Joseph's father) adopted Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, in Egypt, so the boys would have an equal inheritance with Jacob's other sons, still leaving twelve tribes to receive the land allocations. Each tribal leader then subdivided that tribal land among the tribal families as their permanent inheritance. Even if the land were to be sold after then, the legal right to that land was retained by the seller. It could be redeemed by the permanent owner, or a legal kinsman heir. Tribal ancestral records, like we see recorded for Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, were carefully kept to insure claims to land ownership, even many years later. B, The Book of Ruth begins as Naomi, her husband, and two sons move to Moab during a severe famine in Israel, inferring they sold their land in Israel. When Naomi’s husband and two married sons die, the two daughters-in-law stay with Naomi. When the famine ends in Israel, Naomi decides to return to Israel, with one daughter-in-law, Ruth, insisting on remaining with Naomi.

C. There, Naomi and Ruth find refuge with her late husband’s kinsman, Boaz. Naomi wants to get her land back, but as a widow, has no legal rights. So, Boaz, as a near kinsman, intercedes as a kinsman redeemer to purchase her husband’s land for the original selling price. Reclaiming her rightful property for the legal price. That’s what a redeemer did.

D. Ruth had no legal rights of her own, and needed a living Redeemer to intercede for her. Her property would have remained in the hands of the one possessing it. Applying this to our situation, God has the permanent legal claim to us as His Creation. By sin, mankind was purchased by Satan. But Jesus, as our kinsman Redeemer, interceded for us by His death on the Cross, with His blood satisfying the legal price, to redeem us. As long as we, personally, claim His blood as our purchase price, Satan must relinquish his claim on our souls.

E. Interestingly enough, the statement, “I know my Redeemer lives” comes from Job in the OT. He rightly uses ‘lives’ in the present tense, because Jesus, God’s Son, lives in the past, present, and the future. He IS our Redeemer, even though He had not yet paid the redemption price by His blood at that time. But, His presence in Job previews Jesus physically coming as our Redeemer, the Christ, the Anointed One.

 

II. My Redeemer Lives

A. Now the question becomes how do we know for certain that our Redeemer lives? Here’s where I believe the Easter story in the Gospels is so valuable. In the NT, Paul writes a great deal about Jesus and our salvation, from the perspective of it being a proven fact. Paul testifies he had heard Jesus speak to him, blinding him with His Presence, and taught him by the Holy Spirit for an extended period. Paul speaks with authority, certain of Jesus’ Resurrection, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and our resurrection to be with the Lord. Paul leaves no doubt that He knows His redeemer lives, by his willingness to suffer for His convictions and his love for Jesus. Quite unlike Jesus’ doubting followers on that first Easter. At least, until they, like Paul, encounter Jesus personally.

B. No one hurried to the tomb in that predawn Easter morning. No one expected to see Jesus alive, despite His promises. They had brought spices to prepare His body for proper burial. As humans, we are those doubting disciples. It’s human logic - the dead do not come to life again. C. But Matthew writes that when the group arrived, an angel, with an appearance like lightning, had rolled back the several ton stone and sitting on it, tells them he knew they were looking for Jesus, but He had risen, just as He said He would. He invites them to look inside the tomb to assure themselves He was not there. The angel then tells them to go and tell his disciples He had risen, even telling them He would meet them in Galilee. Adding an exclamation point, as the women hurried away, their once despairing hearts now filled with joy, suddenly Jesus Himself meets them. They clasp His feet and worship Him. He reiterates the angel’s instruction to tell the disciples to meet Him at Galilee. They had seen Him, heard Him speak to them, even touched Him. These women no longer doubted He is alive. But women in those times had little voice or credibility. Who would believe they were not just hysterically grieving? 

D. Luke relates that the women told the Eleven what they saw, but it all sounded like nonsense. John continues in his gospel that he and the older Peter run to the tomb to see for themselves. John gets there first, and looks in without entering the tomb. But, as we might have expected, Peter arrives and goes right in. He sees strips of linen lying where the body had been laid on a slightly elevated stone slab, and the cloth placed over the head, still lying in its place. In the KJV, it says the cloth was folded and put where the head had been. That would be significant when seen from the customs of that day. When a master set His napkin aside, it meant He was not finished with His meal. But a folded napkin meant he had finished and would not be returning. So, the folded napkin would have meant that Jesus had finished his time in the tomb and had permanently left. It would also indicate that if someone had stolen the body, they wouldn’t have stopped to put the linen cloths back, and fold the napkin that had been over the face. John says the two still did not understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead, as they return home, uncertain of what they had seen.

E. Mary Magdalene, after telling the disciples about the missing body, had returned to the tomb. After determining that the tomb was empty, she remained outside, sobbing that His body had been stolen, and she didn’t know where ‘they’ had taken it. In the tomb, though she sees two angels in white, one at the foot of the stone slab and the other at the head. “Why are you crying?” they ask. Through her tears, Mary shares her belief that  “they’ had stolen His body and she didn’t know where they had put Him.

F. She turns and through her sobbing tears, sees a man she believes is the gardener, who also asks her why she was crying, and who she was looking for. She pleads with him that if he had taken the body, to tell her where it was and she would take it. Her grief, and her tears instantly vanish as she hears perhaps the sweetest sound she had ever heard, Mary”,  because it was spoken by the voice she knew and loved so dearly. It was Jesus!  She cries out to him in the familiar Aramaic term for “Teacher!”  Now, she too has heard Him, seen Him, and would then touch Him. In a fraction of a second, she has gone from disbelief to total belief!  Jesus was alive!

G. These now believers couldn’t keep such wonderful news to themselves. They were probably like the shepherds who had seen the baby Jesus, and coming back from the stable, excitedly tell everyone who would listen to them what they had seen.

H. But I think those claiming to have seen Jesus alive, no longer cared about putting themselves at strong risk from the religious leaders and the Romans, who had ensured the tomb was sealed and guarded to prevent such talk. Not that they too would have now believed, but rather believing it was a conspiracy to undermine their power and control. They had plotted to kill Lazarus to destroy evidence of his resurrection. What would they do to keep these followers from inciting others that Jesus was alive?

I. Later that evening, two followers of Jesus were returning to their village of Emmaus, 7 miles from Jerusalem, trying to understand all they’d been hearing. They wanted to believe, but were still uncertain about what they were hearing. As they are discussing their uncertain beliefs, a stranger comes behind them, asking what they were discussing. They’re amazed this stranger has to ask, wondering if he was the only one who hadn’t heard of the day’s events. Then, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, the stranger explains the Scriptures that related to the Messiah, who the two still hadn’t recognized as the one speaking to them.

J. Jesus accepts their invitation to come to their house to eat with them, and when He blesses and breaks the bread, they recognize Him, before He vanishes. As they rush back to Jerusalem to tell the others, they realize how their hearts had burned within them as He explained Scripture to them. They had heard Him and seen Him before they recognized Jesus, and in their hearts knew He was the Messiah, the Son of God. When they tell the disciples what they experienced, the still doubting disciples struggle to understand what was happening. It had been a full day of trying to take it all in.  

K. Suddenly Jesus appears in their midst. Luke, in 24:9,  says they were startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost. Jesus says to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?: Then He says “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”  Even more, Jesus then asks for something to eat, and they watch as He eats a piece of broiled fish, proving He wasn’t just a spirit. As they begin to believe, Jesus opens their minds to finally understand all He had been teaching them.

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Conclusion:  Easter, in the Gospel accounts, was a time that even those closest to Jesus, those chosen by Him to be His disciples, struggled with their doubts, failing to know the realities of His teachings. To develop their faith in Him, overcoming their doubts by faith. But we are like those disciples in our struggle to overcome our doubts, to resolve our uncertainties. Jesus doesn’t tell us to accept Him without proof. Gospel accounts show us how the disciples His followers struggled with their doubts, but were given evidence of His powers, and proof of His resurrection, helping us to form our beliefs as well.

   We are like the Emmaus disciples, whose hearts burned within them as they heard Jesus explain Scripture to them. We have each other to testify what we have seen and heard so that we know our Redeemer lives. And because He lives, we can face tomorrow, overcoming our doubts and our uncertainties. Amen