11 Dec Mark 40: The resurrection of the King

Mark 16:1-8

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Let me start with a question. Why do Christians worship on Sunday? For hundreds of years, the focus of worship for the Jews was on Saturday. And for most Jews, it still is. Saturday is their Sabbath day. According to the law of Moses, Sabbath is a day that must be honoured and kept sacred for the Lord. It begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. So, for them, the first day of the week is Sunday. But why do we worship on Sunday? What made the Christians in the first century move the focus of worship from Saturday to Sunday? Do you know the answer? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. The early Christians understand the importance of Jesus’ resurrection and moved the day of worship to Sunday. It is no exaggeration to say that Christianity stands or falls on the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus. If there is no resurrection, there is no Christianity. Listen to how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:17 – And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Did you hear that? If Jesus did not raise from the grave, then we are wasting our time today. We are better off spending our time soaking in sunlight on a beach. But if Jesus did rise from the grave, then it has huge ramifications for every single one of our lives. And this is the heart of Christianity. Get this. The heart of Christianity is not a new teaching. The heart of Christianity is a dead man who was raised back to life and how it changes everything. So here is the question: Did he? Did Jesus rise from the dead?

This is our last sermon on the book of Mark. We have finally arrived at the finishing line after a year. And for the past 39 sermons, we have learned a lot about who Jesus is and what he came to do. And last week, we talked about the death of Jesus. Tonight, we are going to talk about the resurrection of Jesus. And this is where everything we learned in the past 39 sermons hinges. If Jesus rose from the dead, then we must accept everything he said as truth. But if he didn’t rise from the dead, then we must ignore everything he said because it was a lie. And some of you might be wondering right now, “Wait. This is the last sermon for the book of Mark? But we are only doing verses 1 to 8. What happens to verses 9 to 20? Yos, you can’t just ignore part of it. You must teach the whole counsel of God.” But I am. If you look at your physical Bible, there should be a note somewhere that says, “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20.” If your Bible does not have that note, you need a new Bible. So, verses 9 to 20 are not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts. They are most likely added later. That’s why we don’t include it in our series.

I have three points for this last sermon on the book of Mark. The resurrection of Jesus gives conviction to our minds; grace to our hearts; purpose to our lives.

Conviction to our minds

Mark 16:1-6 – When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

If you remember where we left off last week, the women saw Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body from the cross and lay him in an unused tomb. They wanted to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, but they did not have enough time because of Sabbath. So, when Sabbath ended, they went to the store to buy spices to anoint Jesus’ body. It is very important to anoint Jesus’ body with precious spices to show respect and devotion to Jesus. And these women are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Note carefully. Mark writes down the names of these women three times in a very short space (15:40, 15:47, 16:1). Why the redundancy? Why would Mark write these names down three times instead of once? Why the repetition? Here is why. Mark is giving us eyewitness accounts. He is saying, “These women witness everything. If you do not believe me, you can ask them yourself. You can cross-examine what I write with them.” These women must have been alive at the time Mark was writing or he wouldn’t mention their names again and again. Mark is saying, “You can verify this information with them.”

Let me put it this way. I just came back from CTC Indonesia intensive. What if I told you that I met Tim Keller in Indonesia? He was present at the intensive, and he was very impressed with the way I articulated the gospel. So, Tim asked me for some tips on how to preach the gospel, and he asked me out to dinner to help him understand the gospel more. It was a very busy hectic time for me. But I thought, “I am super busy. But hey, it’s for Tim Keller. We are best buds. Why not?” And so, we did. We went out to dinner, and I spent the whole night teaching Tim Keller how to articulate the gospel better. He was so impressed, and he asked me to come to New York and teach every CTC leader from all around the world. The problem was that I had been away from RSI for too long and I wanted to be back with you. So, I had to say no to Tim Keller. Now if I told you that, you could easily go to Tim Keller and say, “Do you have any clue who Yosia Yusuf is?” And he would say, “I have never heard of that name before. Who is he?” You can verify what I told you because he is still alive. And this is Mark’s point. Richard Bauckham says when we see these women’s names put down over and over again, what we have is the earmarks not of legend but of history. These are footnotes. These are citations to show the credibility of the information. Let’s continue with the story.

So, on Sunday morning, these women come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body. But there is a problem. In those days, they do not place bodies in coffins and buried the coffins in the ground. Rather, they make caves in thick rocks, with pedestals on which to lay the bodies. And they cover the entrance to those caves with huge stones to protect the tombs from grave robbers. So, these women ask one another, “Who will roll away the stone in front of the tomb for us?” They are not strong enough to roll away the stone by themselves. And they have no one to help them because the male disciples are still in hiding. But when they get to the tomb, to their surprise the entrance to the tomb is open. The huge stone had been rolled back. Mark doesn’t tell us what happened, but Matthew tells us that there was a great earthquake. And God sent his angel to roll back the stone. So, God is the one who opened the tomb. But make no mistake. The stone was rolled back not so that Jesus could come out. The stone was rolled back so that others could go in and see the tomb is empty.

And when the women enter the tomb, they are utterly shocked. Rather than finding Jesus’ body, they meet a young man dressed in a white robe. And they are alarmed because of it. This word “alarmed” is only found in the book of Mark. It means profound fear and distress. Think about it. These women came to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body. They do not expect resurrection at all. All they know is that their Master had died. They are depressed, exhausted, and mourning with no hope. All they want to do is to show their devotion to Jesus. They are there to anoint a dead body, not to meet a risen Saviour. But when they get to the tomb, Jesus’ body is gone. And standing in front of them is an angelic being that looks like a young man dressed in a white robe. No wonder they are filled with fear and distress.

But listen to what the angel says. The angel gives the most fantastic announcement in human history. Mark 15:6 – And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. The angel tells them, “I know you came here seeking a dead body. But you won’t find one. Because Jesus has risen. He is no longer here. Check out the place where they laid him. Do you see it? He is no longer there. He has risen.” The word “risen” is not the correct translation. Risen could suggest that Jesus arose from death on his own. But in Greek, it is in passive form. What the angel says is not “He has risen” but “He has been raised.” It is God the Father who raised Jesus from death. Resurrection is God’s work through and through. And we will see why this is important later. But the fact is the tomb is empty. Jesus’ body is not there. The evidence is undeniable. And we need to deal with the fact that Jesus’ tomb is empty.

Here is why this is important. Whenever we talk about the resurrection of Jesus, people would often say, “How can you believe in a resurrection in this day and age? The ancient people might be tricked into it. But we are too smart for it. We know that it is impossible for resurrection to happen.” But is it? Let’s say that the resurrection of Jesus never happens. We still have to explain the empty tomb. It is undeniable that the tomb is empty. So even if we reject the resurrection of Jesus, we still have to give explanations for the empty tomb. And I will give you four main possible explanations that have been proposed throughout history. And I will show you why the most reasonable explanation for the empty tomb is the resurrection of Jesus.

First, you can’t trust the testimony of women. In those times, the testimony of women held no value in courts of law. It was like the testimony of slaves or criminals. And all accounts of the resurrection in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are heavily dependent on the testimony of women. Therefore, they say those testimonies are extremely unreliable. But it’s actually the opposite. Think about it. If Mark was making this up, if the Christians were making up stories to persuade people to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, they would never put women in as the main eyewitnesses to the empty tomb. They would put the disciples as the main eyewitnesses to the empty tomb. To list women as eyewitnesses did not help them get credibility in the public eye. The only possible explanation for why women were listed as eyewitnesses is if they were there at the empty tomb. The only reason Mark recorded it is that it is what happened.

Second, they went to the wrong tomb. This one is funny. The explanation is that the women were so caught up in their grief that they came to the wrong tomb by accident. And they made the wrong conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead. And everyone else started to believe because they also went to the wrong tomb. And since that time, everyone’s been going to the wrong tomb. If only they checked the tomb next door. But this does not make any sense. Granted, there are people like me who have a very bad sense of direction and can easily get lost. Maybe that’s true for these women as well. But if they just went to the wrong tomb and the rumour about Jesus’ resurrection began to spread, all the religious leaders had to do was to say, “Hey, have you checked out the tomb next door? Jesus’ body is there.” All they needed to do was to produce Jesus’ body and there would be no Christianity at all. But the fact is, they could not produce Jesus’ body because there was no body to be found.

Third, Jesus did not die but fainted. It is often known as the swoon theory. So, Jesus was tortured, he was beaten, he carried the cross to Golgotha, he was crucified, he was pierced with a spear, and everyone thought he died. Then they moved him into the tomb with guards guarding the tomb. But apparently, Jesus was not dead. So, two nights after being crucified, Jesus moved the heavy stone on his own and sneaked out of the tomb without the guards realising it. And then he met his disciples and convinced them that he was resurrected from the dead. Can we use logic for a bit? Does anyone ever get whipped badly in a fight? No guys would raise their hand. It does not matter how strong we are, if we are tortured the way Jesus was, we won’t be able to walk for a few months at least. So, how did Jesus manage to become Jason Bourne within two days? It does not make any sense. There is one hilarious variation of this theory. It is called the twin theory. They said that Jesus had an identical twin brother. They were separated at birth, and they did not see each other again until the crucifixion. So, after Jesus’ death, his twin brother stole his body, took the messianic mantle, and pretended to be the risen Jesus. Whoever came up with this theory must have watched too much Korean drama like “Penthouse”.

Fourth, the disciples stole the body of Jesus. This is probably the strongest argument against Jesus’ resurrection. Let me tell you why it is unlikely. Let’s say it’s true that Jesus’ disciples stole his body. Somehow, they became Ocean 11 and were able to sneak in past the Roman guards and stole the body without them knowing. It still did not explain the transformation that happened to the disciples. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples ran and hid in fear. They were a bunch of cowards. But a few weeks later, the same disciples showed up and publicly proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus at the cost of their own lives. Most, if not all the disciples died being tortured for the sake of Jesus. Peter died being crucified upside down because he refused to die in the same way as Jesus. John was boiled alive, and he did not die. So, they exiled him to Patmos. Now, here is my question. What do you think happened to them? They said that the disciples felt very guilty about leaving their master to die and they remembered his teaching about how he would be resurrected on the third day. So, to atone for their guilt, they stole Jesus’ body and began to tell people that he was resurrected. And they ended up dying miserably for the lie they created. Are we really going to believe that? It makes no sense. Who would die for a lie they created themselves? If I turned out to be a fraud and I was stealing the church’s money, and I hid in your house and the police pointed a gun at you to tell them where I was, would any of you die for me? No, you wouldn’t. You would give me up in a heartbeat. But if the resurrection of Jesus really happened, then the disciples’ transformation from cowards to martyrs makes sense. They saw the Master whom they abandoned at the cross, alive and well. And it changed their lives forever.

Here is my point. The most probable explanation for the empty tomb is that Jesus died on the cross and he rose from the grave. So, if you say to me, “I don’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection”, here is my question, “What are you going to do with the empty tomb? What happened to Jesus’ body?” I am not saying the empty tomb proves the resurrection is true once and for all. But the empty tomb is irrefutable evidence. The empty tomb by itself is not self-explanatory. But the empty tomb shows that the most likely explanation is that the resurrection of Jesus happened. You can’t just say, “It is impossible for resurrection to happen. Therefore, it did not happen.” No. That’s intellectual laziness. You must examine the evidence. You must let the evidence challenge your worldview. And if you reject the resurrection of Jesus, you must come up with an alternate explanation that explains the empty tomb and the changes in the lives of the disciples. Do you have one? The burden of proof lies with you, not me. And get this. Believing in the resurrection does not save anyone. But it is irrefutable evidence that Jesus is who he said he is. That he died for our sins and rose again in victory over sins. This is the gospel. And believing in the gospel is what saves us, not the empty tomb. But the resurrection gives conviction to our minds that the gospel is true.

Grace to our hearts

Mark 16:7 – But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.

Can you see how wonderful this verse is? This is a word of grace. And for us to understand how beautiful it is, we need to consider what the angel did not say. He did not say, “Tell those ungrateful faithless bunch of cowards, that if they feel really bad and beg Jesus for forgiveness, he might restore them back into their positions.” If I was Jesus, I would probably tell the angel to say something along that line. That’s what we would do. We would say, “You had your chance, and you blew it. Prove your loyalty to me again, and I might forgive you and welcome you back into my life.” But Jesus does not operate like us. Jesus tells them, “Meet me in Galilee. I’ll go there before you.” Do you see what Jesus does? Jesus gives them words of grace rather than condemnation. Jesus forgives them before they even repented. Despite the failures and the betrayals of the disciples, Jesus says, “Meet me in Galilee.” Jesus is loving the disciples.

But there is a bigger word of grace in this word of grace. Do you know what it is? It’s the word, “Peter.” Think about it. Why mention Peter’s name specifically? When the angel says, “Go and tell his disciples”, that includes Peter. So, why say, “Tell his disciples and Peter”? Let me tell you why. If the angel only says, “Go and tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee,” if that’s all the message Jesus sends through the angel, do you know how Peter would respond? He would say, “You guys go. Jesus wants to meet all of you in Galilee. But he can’t mean me. Especially, not me. Not after what I’ve done.” If you remember what Peter did, what he did was a lot worse than the other disciples. Peter blatantly denied knowing Jesus to a servant girl three times after he promised Jesus he would die for him. But Jesus sends the angel to specifically say, “Hey guys, I will be waiting for you at Galilee. Come and meet me there. And Peter, that means you too. I know you’ve been a jerk but come and meet me at Galilee.” And when we read the Bible, Peter ends up becoming the main leader of the Christian movement.

Church, do you know what this is? This is the gospel. Listen. It is because Peter is the biggest failure, he has the deepest repentance, and he has the greatest grasp on God’s grace. And this is what qualifies him to be used mightily by God. This is what separates Christianity from the world. The world understands salvation by strength. If we are good, we are saved. If we are spiritually strong and morally good, we are saved. If we live up to the standards, we are saved. In this view, failure disqualifies us from being used by God. But Christianity is different. Christianity says salvation is by grace, not works. Salvation comes through weakness, not strength. Salvation comes by admitting that we are weak and that we need a saviour. Salvation comes through admitting that we are failures. That’s the only way God can use us. But we hate it. We hate admitting that we are failures. We like to blame others for our failures. Why? Because it hurts. Admitting we are failures feel like death. But listen carefully. The gospel tells us that death is a necessary precondition for resurrection. If we let our failure drive us deeper into the gospel, it becomes a resurrection. Do you why it becomes a resurrection? Because if we believe the gospel, the more we see our failures, the more we see our sinfulness, the more we come to see the costliness of God’s love and the price of his grace. The more we see our flaws, the more we see how much we are loved by God. And the more we know how much we are loved by God, the more we can share that love with others. That is why the biggest repenters are the best lovers, the best leaders, the best pastors, the best parents, the best children, the best counsellors, and the best everything.

But here is a question. How do we know it is true? How do we know that God has forgiven us of our sins? Yes, Jesus died for our sins. But how do we know that God has accepted Jesus’ payment? Here is how. God raised Jesus from the dead. When God raised Jesus from the dead, God declared to the whole world that our right standing with God has been secured for God had accepted the payment Jesus made for his people. That is why we cannot separate the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ death means he is paying the penalty for our sins. Jesus’ resurrection means God has accepted the payment and our sins are forgiven. It’s like this. When a criminal is put in jail and fully completes his sentence, do you know what happens? He walks out free. And the law has no claim on him. He has fully satisfied the demands of the law. In the same way, Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sins. It was a huge sentence. Jesus died on the cross on Friday. But Jesus must have satisfied God’s demand fully. Because on Sunday morning, Jesus walked out free. This is God’s way of providing the receipt for the invoice of sins. The invoice of sins has been paid in full by Jesus’s death on the cross. And God’s receipt is extremely radical so that no one across history can miss it, the resurrection of Jesus. This is the gospel. The gospel is not that if we do our best and clean up our acts, maybe God will accept us. The gospel is Jesus has done what we cannot do for ourselves. He obeyed the law of God perfectly and he paid the penalty of sin completely. So, God can come to failures like you and me today with a word of grace. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that our sins have been forgiven. The resurrection gives grace to our hearts.

Purpose to our lives

Mark 16:6-8 – ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Think about the mixture of emotions that these women are feeling right now. They feel fear, joy, shock, hope, astonishment, etc. And amid all that, the angel tells them, “Do not be afraid. But go and tell others about Jesus’ resurrection.” The resurrection of Jesus not only gives conviction to our minds and grace to our hearts, but it also gives purpose to our lives. The women go out and flee from the tomb. And Mark tells us that they say nothing to anyone. It doesn’t mean they disobey the angel. It means they say nothing to anyone as they make their way to Peter and the disciples. Other gospel accounts tell us that once they meet the disciples, they tell them everything they have seen and heard. And I love the way the book of Mark ends. He says, “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” The word afraid doesn’t simply means incapacitated with fear. But afraid is the proper response to the breaking in of the glorious power of God. It is what the disciples felt when Jesus rebuked the great storm in front of them and the wind and the sea obeyed him. This fear is the proper response to Jesus as he shows his power and glory as the Son of God. And when we fear Jesus above all, we do not have to be afraid of anything else. We can go and tell others about the gospel, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

But do you know why we don’t go? Because we do not think about the implications of the resurrection. We don’t go and tell others because we know it is going to cost us. It is going to cost us money, time, reputations, energies, emotions, and maybe even our lives. And that’s why we are often afraid to go and tell others. We know we should go and tell others, but we are afraid of what it might cost us. Do you know why we feel that way? Because we think this world is the only world we are ever going to have. We think this life is all we are ever going to have. But the resurrection of Jesus tells us otherwise. Listen to how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:19 – If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. Let me put it in Yosi Standard Version. If all we have is our best life now, then please mourn for us. Because if all our hope is in this world, then all our sacrifices mean nothing. But the resurrection of Jesus tells us that this world is not all there is to it. One day God is going to renew this material world and we will have a resurrected body. It means that it doesn’t matter what we lost today, it doesn’t matter what it costs us, one day we are going to have everything we never had in this world.

Joni Eareckson Tada puts it best. If you don’t know who she is, she is a famous Christian author. She broke her neck as a teenager in a diving accident and she is paralysed from her neck below. She is now in her 70’s. She experienced pains and suffering that we can’t even begin to imagine. And in one of her books, she wrote how one day as she was about to burst into tears because of everything she lost, the doctrine of the resurrection suddenly hit her. And she wrote, “I suddenly realized that when I get to the wedding feast of the Lamb, the first thing I’ll be able to do on my resurrected legs is to drop down on grateful, glorified knees, and kneel quietly before the feet of Jesus, and then I’m going to get on my feet and I’m going to dance.” She then asked, “Can you imagine the hope that the resurrection gives to someone like me? No other religion, no other philosophy other than Christianity promises us new bodies. Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do people hurting like me find such enormous hope to live.” This is what the resurrection gives us. If we can’t walk, one day we will dance. If we are lonely, one day we will have the perfect love and companion. If we are empty, one day we will have the fullness of joy. If we know this world and this body is not all we are ever going to have, who cares what it is going to cost us? If people threaten to kill us when we share the gospel, we can smile and continue to share the gospel boldly. Why? Because of the resurrection. The resurrection enables us to be free, to be bold. We can take risks. We don’t have to worry about #YOLO or #FOMO. We can do the right things despite the cost. We can face the worst things with joy and hope.

The resurrection also tells us that God is going to renew this broken world. Listen. Christian salvation is not leaving this broken world and going to heaven. Christian salvation is heaven coming down to this world and restoring it. What does it mean? Martin Luther was once asked, “What would you do today if you know Jesus is coming tomorrow?” Do you know what he said? He said, “I would plant a tree.” Wait. If the world is going to end tomorrow, why would he plant a tree? This is what he meant. Luther was saying that the coming of Jesus is not the end of the world. Jesus will come again not to end the world but renew the world. Do you know what God is going to do with that tree that Luther planted? That tree is going to blossom. Psalm 96 tells us that when Jesus returns, the tree is going to dance. The tree is going to sing. It means that nothing that we do today is mundane. Every good work we do will have an eternal effect. When we try to solve the problem of injustice, when we try to restore our society, we do so with hope because one day God is going to complete and perfect what we started. So, we are not going to miss out on anything, but we also do not have an escapist mentality. We are engaged with the world as agents of renewal. We are playing our part in God’s renewal process. We do our best in our work. We do our best in our studies. We do our best in raising our kids. We use our talents and resources for the good of others and society. What we can do might be very limited. But on the new earth, God will complete our works. The resurrection gives purpose to our lives.

So, here is a question that all of us must answer as we conclude our series on the book of Mark. Did the resurrection of Jesus really happen? Because the claim of resurrection demands a response. We only have two options. We can reject him, or we can worship him. It’s one or the other. But what we cannot do with any integrity is ignore him. So, if you believe in Jesus but you have yet to fully surrender your life to Jesus, if you are in the church but refuse to submit every part of your life to Jesus’ authority, you are contradicting yourself. Either you are all in, or you are not in. One of the most miserable things you can do as a Christian is to put one foot in the kingdom of God, and the other foot in the kingdom of the world. You go to church on Sunday, but you live however you want from Monday to Saturday. You say with your mouth that you believe in Jesus, but your life shows otherwise. It is not going to work. So let me make a plea to you: Do not delay any longer. Make your decision. The wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. The gospel is the King of the universe has died for you so that you may put your faith in him and have eternal life. It is not by your works, but the gift of God. So, receive the gift. Believe in Jesus. Give your life wholly to Jesus. And tell everyone about Jesus. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from this sermon?
2. Explain why Christianity stands or falls on the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus.
3. Why the most probable explanation for the empty tomb is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead?
4. The gospel has the power to turn a failure into a resurrection. Explain.
5. How does the doctrine of the resurrection enable us to live with hope today?