Luke 24:1-12 WHY SEEKING THE LIVING JESUS AMONG THE DEAD
Shalom,
May
the Holy Spirit always guide and lead us because we really need Him in our
daily life. We’re really grateful that the Holy Spirit has been poured on us
not only on the Day of Pentecost but also on our day-to-day life for He has
actually dwelled in us.
What
happened before the Holy Spirit was poured on Jesus’ disciples? Luke 24:1-12
write, “Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they,
and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which
they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And
it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two
men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and
bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you
seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He
spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be
crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered
His words…. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the
other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
And their words seemed to them like idle tales,
and they did not believe them…”
The
question, “Why do you seek the living [Jesus] among the dead?” was addressed to
the women who came to Jesus’ tomb and also to Jesus’ disciples who were
fearfully hiding.
However,
if we think the question is only for the disciples, it’s easy for us to blame
them for their disbelief in Jesus’ resurrection whereas Jesus had told them
about it before He died. What would be our answer if we were asked the same
question: “Why do we seek the living Jesus among our problems (= the dead)?”
Isn’t it true that when we are overwhelmed with unsolved problems, we are prone
to doubt Jesus’ existence? When we are still struggling with problems, we
shouldn’t question whether He is there with us; instead, we ought to involve
Him. In so doing, we will get a positive result which is in contrast to what
happened to the Israelites who grumbled to God, questioning whether God was
there. As if God were not with them to provide food for them during their
journey in the wilderness.
The
question “Why do you seek the living Jesus among the dead?” is still relevant
until today.
Because:
- We
haven’t really understood how to believe in the word of God.
The
angels said to the women, “Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in
Galilee”. Then they remembered Jesus’ words. They indeed forgot what Jesus
had told them and it wasn’t because they had a problem with their brain’s
memory system (hippocampus).
What
does believing or having faith mean? When we say we believe in something, it
must come out of our own confidence. We shouldn’t say it simply as a slogan or
because we follow others, worse yet, we are saying it as if we are reciting a
magic spell.
Believing
or having faith includes these aspects:
♦
The source of the message.
♦ Man’s
senses as the first receivers of the word of God. In this case, our ears are to
be used to listen to the word of God (Romans 10:17).
♦ Sound
mind supported by feelings that guides man to choose whether to accept, to
reject or to abstain. For example, Eve saw and felt that the fruit pointed out
by the serpent was nice, then she chose to disobey God’s command by accepting
the serpent’s deceitful persuasion (Genesis 3:6).
♦ The
word of God affirms that faith without works is dead (James 2:17,20,26).
♦ God’s
Spirit who grants faith to man (1 Corinthians 12:9).
If,
even, one of the above aspects is nowhere to be found, it’s not faith.
Once
again, the women forgot what Jesus had ever told them not because of a problem
in their hippocampus. Basically, they were just being careless and indifferent
to Jesus’ words, and it stemmed from their disbelief. Even worse, the apostles
who heard the message from them thought they were telling “idle tales”.
The
disciples and the women had all witnessed factual evidences of Jesus’
resurrection. Nevertheless, they still didn’t believe because it had never
crossed their mind that Jesus would really resurrect from the dead.
The
factual evidences of Jesus’ resurrection:
♦
“the stone rolled away from the tomb” (Luke 24:2).
Who
could roll away that big and heavy stone? Moreover, “they went and made the
tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard” (Matthew 27:62-66).
It was the two men in shining garments who did it. They were the angels.
♦
Jesus’ body was not in the tomb. Sadly, Mary Magdalene erroneously assumed that
someone had taken away Jesus’ Body (John 20:2). Although it commonly happens
that thieves dig up the rich’s graves to take away their valuables buried with
them; whereas Jesus was, in fact, not rich at all and had no worldly treasure.
He even didn’t have His own tomb as He was buried in the tomb of Joseph from
Arimathea (Matthew 27:57-60).
Apparently,
the disciples had never really kept in mind and hearts what Jesus had ever told
them about His suffering many terrible things (Matthew 16:21). They only heard
Jesus saying that but didn’t ponder on it further; that’s why it was hard for
them to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. While Adam and Eve decided
to transgress God’s command, the disciples decided to state that the message
about Jesus’ resurrection was “idle tales”, meaning nonsense.
Those
who don’t believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection will confidently state that
it’s only nonsense; therefore, they won’t keep it in their minds and hearts. Peter
even refused to believe when Jesus told him about His sacrificial death. He
considered it a taboo for Jesus on saying such thing.
Why
did the majority of Christians choose to dislike hearing any message about
Jesus’ cross?
♦
There’s a significant increase in the number of preachers who tend to pervert
the true word of God by preaching only messages that seem more palatable, in
order to gratify their own flesh desires—to gain popularity and
♦
They begin to insistently drive the word of God to follow their mindset. Here’s
the analogy: the older people’s way of thinking is different from children’s.
While the elderly consider running around and laughing loudly impolite, the
children do those things naturally. Most Christian preachers nowadays choose
not to say about the theology of the
♦
They claim that the true word of God is one that is compatible with man’s way
of thinking, culture, and convenience.
Then
what should the preachers and members of congregations do?
♦
Realizing that our mind is corrupt. Don’t easily accept motivators’ idea that
encourages us to always have “Positive Thinking” and to believe that men’s
brain is exceptional because it can understand about the universe and so
on.
♦
Submitting ourselves to the Lord’s will.
♦
Not trying to control and drive the Lord’s ways, let alone oppose Him. Jesus
once said to Saul (changed to Paul later), “…It is hard for you to kick
against the goads” (Acts 26:14). In Mark 5:36 Jesus asked the ruler of the
synagogue not to doubt what Jesus could do to his dead daughter, but to “only
believe.”
♦
What is a goad? It’s a pointed stick used for making cattle go wherever the
shepherd wants. If the cattle go according to their own will, they will
certainly be wounded from the goad. In John 21:18 Jesus reminded Peter, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked
where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and
another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
Application:
We will gain nothing if we have been attending church services, listening to
God’s word thousands of times and busy in some ministries, yet we don’t believe
in His entire word. In its aftermath our marriage gets deteriorated, we can’t
peacefully enjoy our old age, youngsters will live hard lives as the
consequence of the sins they couldn’t resist. Don’t blame God if those
calamities befall us!
- We
have humiliated and chosen not to believe in the women’s message about
Jesus’ resurrection (Luke 24:11).
We
need to learn from this verse. The message about Jesus’ resurrection was first
told to the women, not to the disciples. Just imagine: those women must have
enthusiastically gone to the disciples to tell them about it, but they
responded negatively by stating that they were telling nonsense. The disciples
chose not to trust the women. It’s not mentioned, however, whether their
disbelief was based on gender issue.
Is
the gospel for certain gender only? Certainly not! God graciously gives the
gospel to anybody. The fact is the Bible verses are often misused for our own
advantage. For example, husbands often demean their wives using the verse “Wives,
submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Many husbands and wives keep
their money separately that they spend it without their spouse knowing it. Why
do they keep their finances secret from each other whereas they’re open to one
another when they’re doing their private business on bed?
Application:
We shouldn’t demean others based on gender. Likewise, we should give respect to
a preacher whatever their gender is. Moreover, it isn’t right to question a
preacher’s quality based on their condition—gender, sinful or uneducated, etc.
because it was God who sent them. The world also needs women to share God’s
word about Jesus’ death and resurrection.
On
Pentecost Day the believers were gathering together in one place and they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4a). Then a drastic
transformation took place. What change happened to Peter? He became bold to
declare that Jesus whom they crucified had been raised by God (Acts 2:22-24).
His phenomenal action resulted in the salvation of three thousand souls.
However, we shouldn’t forget that it was all initiated by the women’s
testimony.
What
made Peter and Thomas change? The Holy Spirit is powerful to change a timid
servant of God to a bold one. They who were previously frightened to openly
speak about Jesus’ death and resurrection, now become bold to do so.
It’s
evident that miracle of life transformation is not merely a theory. Yet we
don’t need to go to any length to pursue miracles because the sophisticated
technology can now imitate miracles, so we must be wary of it. What the
technology can’t do is the miracle that God performs to save souls. Miracle is
only a means (an instrument) God uses to make our life transformed. Thus, the
life transformation is the true miracle done by the Holy Spirit. Examples of
life transformation: Paul who previously took pride in his credibility now
confessed that he was the chief sinner (Philippians 3:5-6; 1 Timothy 1:12).
Jesus said to Nicodemus that he ought to be born again (John 3:3-4), but he
didn’t understand. Then Jesus gave him an analogy, “The wind blows where it
wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and
where it goes.” Meaning, no one can take control of the Holy Spirit. The
important matter is that we need to have an encounter with the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s and Peter’s encounter with the Holy Spirit resulted in their substantial
life transformations. In other words, if we haven’t ever experienced an
encounter with the Holy Spirit, our following Him is pointless. Because only
He—not any great pastor, who can transform our life. Also, no worldly theory
can teach how we can be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let’s
all believe that Jesus has risen from the dead and always include Him in our
lives! Let’s not discriminate a preacher on the basis of gender considering
that God sends them according to His will. More importantly, we shouldn’t drive
the Holy Spirit to do whatever we want. Rather, let’s learn to completely
submit to the Lord’s will which can be found in His word and to obey the Holy
Spirit who leads us into all truth. Amen.