Easter Sunrise 2023
57 When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Then Pilate ordered that it be released. 59 So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, 60 and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He left after rolling a great stone against the entrance of the tomb. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were seated there, facing the tomb. 62 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 “Take guards,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” 66 They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.
Matt. 27:57-66
Joseph of Arimathea was a good and righteous Jew, looking forward to the kingdom of God. He was also a member of the ruling Sanhedrin but who had not consented with their decision to kill Jesus. That is because he was a disciple of Jesus, but under the radar, because he feared these other Jewish leaders. But now he puts aside his fear and does this very bold thing (along with one other Sanhedrin member, Nicodemus; John 19). Joseph was essentially saying at this point, “I no longer care what the high priests think, what my fellow members of the Sanhedrin think. I do not care that Pilate might refuse me. I have been and am still a disciple of Jesus.” Out of great respect for Jesus, and great reverence for Jesus’ sacred body, he rightly and boldly and loyally displays his discipleship. Several women also show a similar reverence.
The apostles, on the other hand, were hiding out in a house for fear of the Jews. They thought they were next. “If they killed our Lord, who we faithfully followed these last three years, they will come after us as well.”
Joseph, if you think about it, is similar to the three men in our Old Testament lesson for today: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were brave and bold, and willing to stand regardless of the consequences.
However, in one sense, on the other hand, Joseph of Arimathea appears to be like everyone else. He not only believes that Jesus is dead but seems to believe that Jesus will remain dead. In fact, everyone seems to be of that opinion, including Nicodemus, the women, all the apostles, and of course, the unbelieving Jews, the chief priests, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sanhedrin.
Now the chief priests and Pharisees wanted to make sure that the reality of Jesus’ deadness would remain a reality. So to prevent a “lie” from surfacing and spreading, they took certain precautions so no one would proclaim or believe the “lie” that Jesus had risen from the dead. They “gathered before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, “After three days I will rise again.” So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead,” and the last deception will be worse than the first.’ ‘Take guards,” Pilate told them. ‘Go and make it as secure as you know how.’ They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.”
Now the chief priests and Pharisees wanted to make sure that the reality of Jesus’ deadness would remain a reality. So to prevent a “lie” from surfacing and spreading, they took certain precautions so no one would proclaim or believe the “lie” that Jesus had risen from the dead. They “gathered before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, “After three days I will rise again.” So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead,” and the last deception will be worse than the first.’ ‘Take guards,” Pilate told them. ‘Go and make it as secure as you know how.’ They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.”
But then on Easter morning a number of things, strange things, amazing things, begin to happen, things that went beyond anyone’s wildest imagination or prediction (except for Jesus’ prediction of course). We continue reading in Matthew: “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.” Then skipping ahead a few verses: “… some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and told them, ‘Say this, “His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.” If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.’ They took the money and did as they were instructed.” (Matt. 28:1-4, 11-15)
I want you to note that the guards do not say anything about Jesus being raised from the dead. They have no direct evidence for that. They only know of this powerful and scary angel who rolled back the stone and sat on it. We should also note that while chief priests and Pharisees were trying to prevent a lie from surfacing and spreading, they end up establishing and spreading a lie of their own – the disciples stole the body – and they knew it. And then Matthew records, “this story [that the disciples stole the body of Jesus] has been spread among Jewish people to this day.”
This is one of the theories used to explain away the resurrection of Jesus. This one – the stolen body theory – has the longest history. Among the various theories that try to debunk the resurrection, this is the only one that has any historical basis to it, as mentioned here in Matthew. All the other theories that try to dismiss the resurrection have no historical evidence at all to back them up; they are mere philosophical speculations.
But let’s pretend that Jesus’ body was stolen by the disciples. If that were the case, what are some of the things that would have been necessary or likely to have occurred? Let’s have a little fun here:
On Saturday, the apostles would have been huddled in one their homes with the doors locked because they were scared for their physical well-being. They were not brave like Joseph of Arimathea; they were scared to death. But one of them, perhaps Peter, would have said something like: “Boys, let’s pull ourselves together and make the most of this tragic situation: let’s go with the story of a resurrection, even though we know he is dead and will remain dead. So here’s what we have to do:
“We have to get his body out of the tomb and then get rid of it. I know we have a soldier problem. If they are Roman soldiers, that’s going to be a huge problem. So under the cover of darkness, while the guards are hopefully all asleep, we have to sneak up to the tomb (without waking them), move the two-ton stone (without waking them), and take the body. If the guards wake up, we will have to take them on and fight them, or maybe just run at that point and scrap the whole thing.
“We will also have to make up a lot of false stories of Jesus appearing alive to us. I am sure we can come up with a dozen or so. We will say that you women went to the tomb, found it empty, and later saw him. Mary Magdelene, we will make up the story you were the first to see him resurrected. We will claim John and I ran to the tomb and saw evidence for Jesus’ resurrection (and also say I got a private appearance from Jesus!). Cleopas, you and one of these other disciples – we will invent a story that tomorrow Jesus appeared to you on the road to Emmaus. And then we will say he appears to all of us tomorrow, Sunday, the third day, except for you, Thomas. But you will be with us a week later when we say he appears to us again, and after this make-believe Jesus tells you to see and touch the place where the nails went through his hands and where his side was pierced, you will lie by calling him, “My Lord and my God.” And we can make up more false stories along the way, like seeing him at the Sea of Galilee and watching him as he ascends into the heavens.
“Now, we will also have to make sure these invented appearances are totally consistent somehow with one another; no contradictions. And we also have to swear to complete secrecy, as long as we live; no one can let the cat out of the bag that these are just made-up stories.“After that, we must make it our life’s ambition to spread this story as fact, even though we know it’s not. We will spread it to everyone everywhere, to the ends of the earth if we can.
“Now, we will have to live with certain things on our conscious: we will have to live with the fact that we are confessing and spreading a lie, for we know he is and will remain dead. We will also have to live with knowing that our message and faith are really useless. We will have to live with the reality that we are false witnesses about God, since we are doing this in God’s name. And we have to live with the fact that there really is no remedy for sins, and that we and others who believe in this resurrected Jesus – who never was or will be resurrected – remain lost.
“And here’s the hardest thing we have to commit to: we have to be willing to die for this story that we know really is a lie. We have to be willing to be martyred for what we know is false.
“So what do you say you my fellow brave apostles? Are you with me? Let’s go for it. Let’s go steal that body!”
But what really happened on that Sunday morning back in 33 A.D.? There are four accounts that either are or rely upon eyewitness testimony. As Christians we also believe these accounts, the Gospels, are the true word of God. They testify that this Jesus was truly raised to life, which means three days before he had truly died, by crucifixion. His resurrection means that this man who died and was raised, was and is the true eternal Son of God. And all this means that Jesus Christ “suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18). “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Rom. 4:25) “There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1)
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
And there is much more to say, but for some of that we invite you back to the next service at 10:15.
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