Matthew 28:6 *
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
What do Joe Namath, George Bush the elder and I have in common? Besides the fact that we are all males, besides the fact that we have all played sports, each one of us has made bold predictions about the future.
Three days before the 1969 Super Bowl, New York
Jets quarterback Joe Namath appeared before the Miami Touchdown Club. He tossed a few footballs into the audience, made
a few jokes and then announced: “The Jets will win on Sunday, I guarantee it.”
Such a pronouncement was almost without precedent
in American sports, especially because the Jets were twenty-three point
underdogs. But that’s why they play the
game, and in one of the greatest upsets in football history Joe Namath’s Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 to win
Super Bowl III.
During the 1988 presidential campaign, George Bush promised that, if elected, he would not support a tax increase. You may remember his now infamous pledge: “Read My Lips. No New Taxes.”
Bush won the election, but he later accepted tax increases to push a deficit-cutting budget deal through Congress, at the time controlled by the Democrats. This change in policy was used against him in his re-election bid, and some believe it was the reason he lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.
Some of you may have seen our Easter ad in the
local paper this week. Some of you were
on the giving or receiving end of an invitation like this one. If you saw the ad, or if you read invitation,
you can see that I have made a bold prediction of my own: “Come to
Like Joe Namath, I guarantee that my prediction
will come true. Unlike George Bush, I promise
that I will not go back on my word. It’s
not because I’ve been working on this sermon for weeks and weeks. It’s not because I’m arrogant either. I stand behind this statement because the sermon
I’m talking about didn’t come from me.
When the women approached the tomb on Easter
morning and saw that it had already been opened, they were confused. “What
happened to Jesus? Where did he go? Who took him?” And so God sent an angel to explain what had happened:
“He is not here; he has risen, just as
he said” (Matthew 28:6).
That declaration, spoken by the angel and recorded
by Matthew, was the first ever public proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection from
the dead. As such it rightfully deserves
to be called…
“THE GREATEST SERMON EVER WRITTEN”
A good preacher is able to get his message across
before he even says a word. This is
called non-verbal communication.
Communication experts say that 90% of communication is non-verbal. It’s not that the spoken word is unimportant,
but people tend to remember more of what they see than what they hear.
The listeners ask themselves: “Is this preacher
dynamic or does he look as stiff as board?
Does he scowl when he preaches the law?
Does he yawn when he shares the gospel?”
All of these things communicate.
All of these signals send a message.
Therefore, non-verbal communication is very important.
The greatest sermon ever written was accompanied
by some powerful non-verbal messages.
This is the first: “There was a
violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going
to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it” (Matthew 28:2).
I don’t know how common earthquakes were in
Before the angel spoke a word, his appearance sent
a powerful message to everyone who saw him: “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow”
(Matthew 28:3). This angel was one
of God’s holy messengers. He didn’t
blend into the crowd. He was impossible
to miss. And that was by God’s
design. When he appeared, people took notice. When he spoke, people listened.
But before the angel opened his mouth, we come
across yet another powerful non-verbal message: “The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead
men” (Matthew 28:4).
I wonder what the guards stationed at Jesus’ tomb
were expecting to see as they stood at their post. Maybe a few followers stopping to pay their
respects. Maybe a few troublemakers trying
to steal the body. But they could have
never anticipated anything like this. When
they came into contact with the angel, when these well-trained, well-equipped
warriors stood face-to-face with the holiness of God, they were literally
shaking in their boots.
Before we get to the sermon itself, there is one
more piece of non-verbal communication that needs to be mentioned: the opened,
empty tomb. There was a burial platform
in the tomb, but there was no body. There
were strips of burial linen folded neatly in the tomb, but there was no body. Jesus had been laid to rest in the tomb on
Friday, but he was nowhere to be found on Sunday.
Can you think of a more powerful illustration? Can you imagine a more effective visual aid? With non-verbal communication like that, it’s
a wonder that the angel had to speak at all.
But he did. He needed to help the
women because they were confused. He needed
to explain to them what had happened. And
his brief explanation, I believe, is the greatest sermon ever written: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he
said” (Matthew 28:6).
Let’s take a look at those three short statements
one at a time. When the angel told the
women, “He is not here,” he was
confirming what their eyes could not believe.
Remember what the women were expecting to do on Easter morning. All they wanted to do was give Jesus a proper
burial. Their biggest concern up to this
point was the stone the blocked access to his body.
But when the women got the tomb, the boulder had
been moved and the body was gone. They
didn’t know what to think. They didn’t
know who to believe. They had all sorts
of questions. And so very clearly and
very calmly, the angel provided them with answers.
When the angel told the women, “he has risen,” he was explaining to
them what their minds could not conceive.
There had to be some logical explanation. Dead bodies don’t just disappear. Dead bodies don’t just get up and walk
away.
But then again, water just doesn’t turn into
wine. Then again, storms just don’t
stop. Then again, five loaves of bread and
two fish don’t normally feed five thousand.
Then again, blind people aren’t supposed to see. Maybe it took a while for the angel’s words
to sink in, maybe the women didn’t want to get their hopes up too soon, but
maybe the angel was right. Maybe he had
risen. Maybe Jesus was alive.
When the angel told the women, “just as he said,” he was reminding
them why they had no real reason to grieve.
Jesus had predicted everything that had happened before it
happened. He laid it out in advance for
his disciples:
“We are
going up to
When he was arrested in the
The women came to the tomb early on Easter morning
to anoint Jesus’ body, but instead they heard the first Easter sermon. Even though thousands and thousands of
wonderful, powerful meaningful Easter sermons have been preached since then, a
better sermon has never been written.
In just a few words, the angel confirms what our
eyes cannot believe, he explains what our minds cannot conceive, and he reminds
us why we have no reason to grieve. “He is not here; he has risen, just as he
said” (Matthew 28:6).
What makes a good sermon even better is when it
connects with the listener, when the person in the pew is able to apply the
Word to his/her life. What makes “The
Greatest Sermon Ever Written” even greater is that it has so many applications
for our lives today.
First, Jesus’ resurrection proves that he is
nothing less than 100% true God. “He was declared with power to be the Son
of God by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). It is no great accomplishment to die.
Unless the Lord comes first, everyone here expects to die. Only God can rise from the dead. Only God has power over death itself. Isn’t comforting to know that a God this
powerful is on your side? Isn’t it
wonderful to know that a God this powerful loves you with all his heart?
Jesus’ resurrection also puts the exclamation
point on Jesus’ words from the cross: “It
is finished.” Paul puts it this way:
“He was delivered over to death for our
sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans
Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins,
but all that work, all that pain, all that suffering would have been
meaningless without the resurrection. If
Christ has not been raised our faith is futile.
If Christ has not been raised, we are wasting our time. If Christ has not been raised, we have no
hope. But Jesus did rise from the
dead. And Jesus’ unsealed tomb is the
seal of our salvation.
Finally, Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope for a
resurrection of our own. Just before he
raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though
he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John
The empty tomb of Easter is not the end of the Easter
story. It’s only the beginning. There will be many more empty graves, your
grave, my grave. And don’t forget your
loved ones who have died in the Lord. On
the Last Day, Jesus will come back. He
will raise our dead bodies. And our Lord
will take us to the places he has prepared for us in heaven.
Even if you have been taking notes this morning,
even if you have been hanging on every word, chances are that you will forget
this sermon. And that’s OK. The “Greatest Sermon Ever Written” has
nothing to do with my weak attempts to share the wonders of God.
What I do not want you to forget, what I want you
to carry with you today, what I want you to remember every day is the angel’s
message, spoken to the women, recorded for us. This is the message of Easter. This is the heart and soul of
Christianity. This is the foundation of
our faith. “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”
Alleluia!
Christ is risen! He is risen
indeed! Alleluia! Amen.