Take a look at your hands. How well do you know them? I can recall how I earned every scar. I know every freckle. I can tell you how I obtained a spot of pencil lead in my left palm in the second grade. Barely visible now, it is still there.

I know how hard my hands have worked and I know how they have betrayed my staunchest values in spite of my protests. My hands have did things in their younger days of which they should be dreadfully ashamed. I know, too, that my hands do not have a mind of their own. They are but a metaphor of the sin that flowed from my heart (before Christ delivered me from sin).

In Matthew 15, some Pharisees confront Jesus because His disciples did not ceremoniously wash their hands before eating. You see, the Pharisees were not merely pious observers of the Law of Moses. They had, for generation after generation, implemented laws of tradition – hundreds of oral laws – that governed every aspect of life both public and private. It is said that the Pharisees built fences around the Law of Moses that must be jumped to even dare break the written law.

Those oral traditions were considered as binding as the written law. One such law was that Jews must ritually wash their hands before eating.

Makes sense, after all. Jesus, the Creator of all life surely knew about the microscopic life that can live on our hands and make us ill if ingested. Of course, He did.

The Pharisees, though, were not concerned with the health of of Jesus and the disciples. They were concerned with power. They were attempting to slap Jesus down by catching Him in a sin.

Jesus, however, reminded the self-righteous Pharisees that it is not that which we pick up with our hands that condemns us. It is not that which rests in our stomachs that makes us “unclean,” but what rests in our hearts. Our hands do not condemn us, our hearts do.

I sometimes which I could wash away sin in a basin of water, like Pontius Pilate tried to do. During the trial of Jesus, Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, found no reason to condemn the accused to death. He offered the mob an alternative, a rebel name Barabbas that he hoped would satisfy the agitated mob that cried for the death of Jesus. The mob, instead, asked for Barabbas to be freed and demanded Jesus be crucified. Pilate ordered Jesus flogged, hoping – perhaps – that beating Him within an inch of His life would quench the mob’s thirst for blood. It didn’t. Pilate conceded. He ceremoniously washed his hands of the conviction of Jesus, placed the blame on the mob, and turned over Jesus to be crucified.

The strongest soap and an over-abundance of water is unable to wash away the sins of our hands.

Only the pierced hands of Jesus can wash the stain of sins from our hands.

The Roman soldiers made Jesus lift and carry the patibulum, the thick horizontal part of the cross. The patibulum weighed over 75 pounds. It had a hole bored through it that allowed it to fit down over and secure it to the stipes (pronounced sty-peez). The beaten and exhausted Jesus would carry it as far as he could.

Moments later, they tied and then nailed the hands of Jesus to the patibulum. Two Roman soldiers lifted the cross bar with Jesus affixed to it, and sat the hollowed out part over the upright stipes. His feet were nailed to a small foot rest called the suppedaneum. There he would hang with His beaten back against a rough-hewn cross, His feet and hands pierced spikes. I weep when i think that His hands, bloodied and broken, are the same ones that freed me from the bondage to our sin.

Only the nail-pierced hands of our risen Savior can wash away the sins of our filthy hands and guilty hearts.

Source

There’s an old joke that is not near as funny to me now that my hair is thin and graying. The punchline is “I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandpa did, not screaming in terror like those in the car with him.”

What would you do if you knew the time and manner of your death? As Easter draws near I am reminded that the Son of Man knew exactly how, when, and where He would die. In Luke 18:31-33, He forewarns His closest disciples for the third time. Here are His words as translated in the NIV:

Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

Though the words are plain in hindsight, the next verse tells us that the disciples did not comprehend His meaning. Maybe they didn’t want to understand.

“How can the Christ be killed?”

“How would God let His Son perish?”

“If Jesus dies, what becomes of us?”

“If You die, your Kingdom dies too!”

In spite of his foreknowledge, the Son of Man did not run away.

Many times i have felt dread for my future and curled up in a ball hoping it would never arrive. On the night of His betrayal, the Son of Man knew what awaited Him. He asked His father for an alternative to the beating and crucifixion he faced, but in the end, He submitted to His Father’s will.

You have likely noticed that three times I have referred to Jesus as the Son of Man, which is the term He used most often when describing Himself. I do that to remind you that Jesus, the Son of God, was also fully man.

Part of Him undoubtedly wanted to curl in a ball and not face His destiny. Part of Him may have wanted to simply walk away, go back to Galilee and pick up his hammer and saw. He wanted, perhaps, to call down the angels to strike down Pilate, Annas, Herod, and their Roman guards. He was all man. He feared. He angered. He loved. He was tempted.

He died.

In Ezekiel 3 we see a picture of the Son of Man figuratively eating a scroll, bearing the sins of His people. In Daniel 7 the Son of Man ascends to Heaven on a cloud where He will sit next to the Ancient of Days. In the Gospels we see how the Son of Man transitions between the two, the Sin-bearer and the Exalted One. The transition from Sin-bearer to Exalted One is the Resurrection. Easter.

He lives.

The Son of Man Who is also the Son of God bore our sins, died, was resurrected, and ascended to Heaven, so that we too may overcome our sins and live with Him in eternity.

The Good News is He lives.

Source

In a world where the person who has the most outrageous content on social media is considered the most successful, and where our political leaders have no filters, and where the grossest of all violence equates with the highest video ratings, it is easy to assume that loud means strong, and quiet means weak. The Bible, though, tells us just the opposite.

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus quietly endured six trials. He faced three religious trials: He stood before Annas, the High Priest Emeritus; He faced Caiaphas, the High Priest; and, He was taken before the entire Sanhedrin.

Jesus also endured three civil trials: He was presented to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Once Pilate realized that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Him to be tried before Herod Antipas, the Governor of Galilee, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod could find no guilt in Jesus and returned Him to Pilate. Pilate had Jesus scourged, hoping to satisfy the Jews, but the people demanded His death.

During this entire time, Jesus – the Son of God – remained quiet. He did not raise His voice. He did not threaten. He did not smirk. He did not swear. He did not call 10,000 angels to rescue Him. He submitted to the will of His Father. To all who looked on, Jesus seemed weak.

They confused meekness with weakness. In His meekness rests redemption for the entire world. Because of His submission to the will of His Father, the nails that secured His hands and feet to the cross also secured our salvation. Our sins – all of them – died on the cross with Jesus. Our lives were resurrected with Him the following Sunday.

Jesus said few words at His trials, but it is what He said at His crucifixion that I most cherish. These 10 words:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

When the world looks at you, do they see Jesus? Do they see meekness, love, and forgiveness?

Father, I pray that when the world looks at me, they instead see the character of your Son.

Zechariah chapter 13:7 (NIV)

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the LORD Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered”

Source

The call to worship had just been pronounced starting Easter Sunday Morning service in an East Texas church. The choir started its processional, singing “Up from the Grave He Arose” as they marched in perfect step down the center aisle to the front of the church. The last lady was wearing shoes with very slender heels.
Without a thought for her fancy heels, she marched toward the grating that covered that hot air register in the middle of the aisle. Suddenly the heel of one shoe sank into the hole in the register grate. In a flash she realized her predicament. Not wishing to hold up the whole processional, without missing a step, she slipped her foot out of her shoe and continued marching down the aisle. There wasn’t a hitch. The processional moved with clock-like precision. The first man after her spotted the situation and without losing a step, reached down and pulled up her shoe, but the entire grate came with it! Surprised, but still singing, the man kept on going down the aisle, holding in his hand the grate with the shoe attached.

Everything still moved like clockwork. Still in tune and still in step, the next man in line stepped into the open register and disappeared from sight. The service took on a special meaning that Sunday, for just as the choir ended with “Allelujah! Christ arose!” a voice was heard under the church shouting…”I hope all of you are out of the way ‘cause I’m coming out now!” The little girl closest to the aisle shouted, “Come on, Jesus! We’ll stay out of the way.”​​​​​–Contributed by: Darren Ethier

Another Illustration:

A man was walking down a street when he noticed in a store window a beautiful painting of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He stood there gazing at the picture for the longest than realized that a little boy was standing beside him. He patted the little boy on the head and said, ”Son, what does that mean?” The little boy said, ”Doncha know? That there man is Jesus, an’ the woman that’s crying is His mother, an’ them others is Roman soldiers. They killed Him.” The man smiled and then started walking away. In a few moments he heard someone running, turned and saw that it was the little boy. He came running up to the man, out of breath, and said, ”Mister, mister, I forgot to tell you that he didn’t stay dead.”

And today we are here to celebrate the Living Lord—Resurrected, Crucified and buried in a borrowed tomb—but He didn’t stay dead. He arose! And today He is at the Right Hand of the Father Interceding for each of us, and someday soon He is Coming Again as King of kings and Lord of lords!

Over the years I have spent much time thinking about the events of Good Friday—how Jesus hung on the Cross, tortured to death for our sins. And, I have celebrated the fact of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, and. contemplated the meaning of the Resurrection from many different perspectives. But I don’t believe I have ever spent any time thinking about the Saturday Sabbath that occurred between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. But I read a sermon this week that caused me to consider the mood of that Saturday

I. The Somber Saturday

a. In our Sunrise Service we heard monologues of Peter, John, Thomas and Mary Magdalene as to the thoughts they must have had just before the dawn of Resurrection Sunday. The Scriptures do not tell us anything about what occurred on that Saturday. On Friday we read how the body of Jesus was taken down from the Cross and placed in a new tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea. Nicodemus supplied 70 pounds of spices for preparing his body and there were woman at the tomb who prepared those spices and perfumes. But they were not able to finish the preparation of His body because of the approaching Sabbath. Luke 23: 56 says, “”But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandments.”

b. The disciples were devastated. I’m sure Peter did not spend time on that Saturday thinking about what he was going to say to Jesus on Sunday—No, he believed Jesus was dead and it was all over. ​​​None of the disciples remembered how Jesus had told them on multiple occasions that he would be crucified and placed in a tomb but would rise again on the third day.​​​​I doubt that any of them thought to do the math—“Let’s see, He died on Friday, that’s one day. Today, Saturday, is the second day. Tomorrow will be the third day—that’s the day He said he would rise again.”​​​No, Saturday was a day of gloom and hopeless despair. Jesus was dead. They had watched him die. They had seen his body placed in the tomb. It was over. All the hopes they had of Jesus leading a revolution to over thrown Rome and establish himself as King were crushed. The words, “”It is Finished” to them meant that all hope was gone. ​​​​​ John the Beloved Disciple was heartbroken. ​​​ Peter was in the torment of guilt because he had denied even knowing Jesus in that crucial hour. ​​​​​Thomas remembered the words he had said as they had returned to Judea –that they would go and die with him. Now Jesus was dead. Which of the disciples would be next?​​Mary Magdalene from whom Jesus had cast out 7 demons was in shock. Jesus, the One to whom she had devoted her life, was now just a recent memory. Hope was gone.​​The women who left before dawn to go to the tomb that Sunday morning fully expected to find his body lying on a slab, rigid in death, cold and lifeless. Total despair.​​​​​No one was thinking of Jesus’ promise of rising from the death. No one was expecting a Resurrection.

c. I wonder this morning how many people are living their lives like it was that Saturday. Life has not been kind. Youthful dreams have long since been forgotten. Time has been cruel physically and emotionally as age and sickness has had its effects our bodies. Maybe tragedy has robbed them of a loved one. And now life is just an endurance marathon. No wonder Suicide ranks among the top killers in our world today. Why go on? All hope has been erased.

Such was the mood of that Saturday.

II. AND THEN CAME SUNDAY…

a. Early in the morning, just before Dawn, 3 women made their way to the tomb. They were coming to finish what they had started on Friday—the Anointing of His body so that it would be properly laid to rest. But when they arrived the Stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty. And as they starred at the empty tomb, 2 men, obviously Angels, told them that Jesus wasn’t there-that he was alive. And then the angels told them to go and tell Jesus’ disciples.

b. Peter and John, both who probably had not slept very well that night, heard the women’s report and raced to the tomb. They had to see for themselves. John arrived to the entrance first, but hesitated. Peter stepped right in and John followed. The grave clothes were lying discarded to one side. The napkin that had covered his face was lying by itself. At that moment, John remembered what Jesus had said, and He believed. And Peter finally recalled the instructions Jesus had given them to return to Galilee where He would meet with the disciples there.​​​​​​Mary Magdalene lingered at the tomb, uncertain as to what had happened. In her heart she feared that someone had stolen Jesus’ Body. But when Jesus called her by name, all fear fled away. The hopelessness of Saturday was replaced with the thrill of Sunday. Jesus was alive!

c. And, we no longer have to live in that gloom of that Saturday. No matter what has happened, The Resurrection of Jesus has restored our hope. Death no longer has the same grip on us as before. Someone has described death as the exit ramp from this life to the next. . The Grave cannot hold us. Because He lives, we know we too shall live!​​In 1 Corinthians 15: 26-26 we read…”But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as to Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits, then, when he come those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death”

d. Saturday was over. Sunday had arrived. And with Sunday there was the miracle of the Resurrection. And the Gloom of Saturday was replaced with the Ecstasy of Joy. Jesus is Alive! 

e. Illustration: There was once a small boy from a non-Christian home had been brought into the Sunday school. His mother was not only unsaved, but she had a morbid fear of death. After her little boy became interested in the Sunday school he begged her to come to church with him, but she persistently refused his entreaties because she was afraid that the preacher might say something about death or dying. On Easter Sunday the teacher noticed the lad’s rapt attention while she told the beautiful story of the risen Christ. The child hastened home with a shining face, and exclaimed, “Oh, Mother, you needn’t be afraid of dying any more, for Jesus went through the grave and left a light behind Him!” Gradually the fear in her heart melted under the influence of her son’s words about “the light behind Him.” Early one evening she had put to bed and heard him pray as he did nightly that Christian, “and do it right quick!” he added. ​​​Later that evening a neighbor persuaded the mother to go to church. The Heaven-sent message brought conviction, and that night her little boy’s prayer was answered!—Sunday School Time

Conclusion:

There is so much that can be said about the Resurrection of Jesus:

➢ It tells us Death has been defeated.

➢ There is eternal life

➢ Jesus is able to do “exceeding and abundantly above all we ask or think.

➢ Jesus is alive and has given us the Holy Spirit—His Spirit—to be with us and to live in us and to empower us and energize us as we strive to live for Him.

➢ All the Promises of God are validated—and are “Yes” and “Amen” in Him!

➢ We don’t have to live in the Gloom and doom mentality—we can claim His Promises and become “More than Conquerors through Him.”

➢ There is Help for today and Hope for Tomorrow.

➢ FEAR NOT, FOR  JESUS IS ALIVE AND COMING AGAIN TO CLAIM HIS OWN!

➢ PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!

Source