The Other Side of the Cross

Text: Luke 24:1-12, 36-43, Acts 10:36-43

Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah

April 9, 2023  Resurrection Sunday

For years I was the pastor at Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City.  We had a large Child Development Center that cared for and nurtured about 70-80 children.  The families that bring their children there are from a range of religious backgrounds.  Being a Christian center at this time of year we would tell the kids the story of Christ, his cross and resurrection.

One year a teacher was telling about Jesus’ cross and how he was treated before being killed.  One of the little girls, who happened to be from a Jewish family, heard it and actually began to cry and said how sad that was.

Isn’t it amazing how children accept things and take them into their hearts so much better than we adults, who are much more sophisticated, and tend to put up mental and emotional barriers.

Here was this child deeply touched by the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.  When was the last time the cross penetrated you like that?  (I do think many of us who were here on Friday night for the Good Friday service were again taken by hearing the reading of Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.)

Anyway, the teacher told the story and the child told everyone how sad it made her feel.  Then one of the other kids, chimed up, “Oh, yeah.  But the story has a really cool ending.”

We have been talking about the cross for the past six Sundays but the cross is not the last word about Jesus.  The story has a really cool ending.  It is the other side of the cross where there is an empty tomb and a resurrected body.

Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his victory over death. The reason it is such a glorious thing is because death is such a serious and real thing.  The reason Christ’s rising from the dead is so powerful is because death is so powerful.

Death hurts.  It brings grief.  We know the pain it brings to lose loved ones. Death kills.  It kills physically, yes, but other ways as well.  Even before someone’s heart stops beating and they stop breathing death takes its toll, killing hope, killing the spirit, and causing fear.

Death is the great enemy.  Why do we spend billions on finding cures for cancer, malaria, and any other diseases?  Because, ultimately, we don’t want death. We try to beat death.  We try to stave off death.  No one wants death.

Sometimes we try to deny death.  Some try to downplay it by rationalizing that it is really nothing at all.  We merely slip into another room.

Then there are some who are like the comedian and film maker Woody Allen, who said, “I’m not terrified of death.  I just don’t want to be around when it happens.” It isn’t strange to be fearful of death.

The Bible doesn’t downplay death.  It portrays death as a real enemy, but a defeated enemy![1]

There’s a story of a Japanese soldier from World War II who spent twenty-eight years in hiding in fear on the island of Guam.  The soldier was hiding because it was toward the end of World War II, and knowing the Japanese were losing the war he feared being captured by the American forces.  So he went into the jungle and hid in a cave.

He only learned that the war was over by reading one of the thousands of leaflets that were dropped into the jungle by American planes.  But he still feared being taken as a prisoner so he remained in the cave.

For twenty-eight years he came out only at night, feeding himself with frogs, rats, roaches and mangoes.  It was only when some hunters discovered him that he was convinced that it was safe to leave the jungle.

Twenty-eight years!  What a waste.  To live in such fear for so long.  Would you really call that a life, imprisoned in a cave for so long?

But that Japanese soldier isn’t so rare.  Because hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, live just like him.  Not in a literal cave, perhaps, but certainly living in fear.  They live imprisoned by the fear of death.[2]

They cannot run away from it or ignore it.  They know that their loved ones will be claimed by it, and that they, too will die someday.

Death is so final.  I know something about death.  I bury dead people.  Sometimes I talk to dying people days, hours before they will be claimed by it. I have sat with them and held their hands as they have taken their last breath and their heart takes its last beat, and they have gone.  I’ve been with more than a couple of dead bodies.  I’ve stood at many a gravesite with people who wept hard, or didn’t know what to think.

And of course, Nancy, has years of experiences as a hospice and hospital chaplain.

Stuart Briscoe was a pastor from Britain and he wrote about the time he moved to the United States from Britain and was visited by an insurance salesmen.

The salesmen was talking about how we need to be prepared for all possibilities.  “If something should happen to you, Mr. Briscoe…” the insurance man began.  Briscoe interrupted him with, “Please don’t say that.  It upsets me.”

The insurance man was a little startled, but tried again, “But with all due respect, sir, we have to be ready if something should happen to us.”

“Don’t say that,” Stuart Briscoe insisted.  The man was absolutely bewildered and said, “I don’t understand what I said to upset you.”

“Then I’ll tell you,” Briscoe replied.  “It upsets me that you talk about (life’s) only certainty as if it’s a possibility.  Death isn’t a possibility, it’s a certainty.  You don’t say ‘if’, you say ‘when,’ whenever death is the subject.”[3]

The statistics are 100% that a person will die.  Even Jesus died.  But unlike anyone else, he came alive again. The cross is about death, but death is not the last word for the Christian.  The cross was not the end.  There is the other side of the cross.

Today we worship Jesus Christ because he went to the other side of the cross. Jesus went through death into life.  God came himself, experienced our great enemy, and drained it of its power.

The disciple Peter heard what the women said on that wild and confused morning. Peter is the one who wasn’t sure what to make of the women’s testimony the morning of Jesus’ resurrection.  No one expected this to happen.  No one had any categories to comprehend a man they saw nailed to a cross just days ago now alive and walking and speaking.

Peter is the one who went to the empty tomb to see it for himself. What is the evidence for this event?

For those who might wonder about evidence for the resurrection, the purpose of this morning’s message is not to argue for the resurrection or to give all the reasons one might believe in it, but here are just four to consider (and I treat them briefly):

1. The tomb was empty.  This was fact and no historical source ever argues this.  This certainly doesn't prove the resurrection, but it is an important piece to acknowledge.

2. The tomb never became a site of worship.  It was very common in biblical times for the tombs of prophets or other great religious figures to become a sacred place.  The tomb was never a place of religious worship.

3. The dead body was not found. If the authorities wanted to stop the rumor of Jesus' being resurrected they could have simply displayed the corpse.  But that never happened.

4. Jesus' name was exalted.  Why did the early Christians start talking about a dead rabbi as if he were God?  Why start talking about him as if he were alive, and then pray and worship him?[4]  And why did the movement grow despite such pressure and persecution?

Luke not only wrote his Gospel but he also wrote the book of Acts.  Several times in the book of Acts Peter gives testimony to the resurrection of Christ.

When God led Peter to the house of Cornelius, who was a Roman soldier, it was for the purpose of sharing the life of Jesus Christ with a group of Gentile who were maybe somewhat familiar with Jesus but not entirely. Peter gives a brief but precise proclamation and testimony of the life and significance of Jesus.  It is an excellent example of the essence of the very first preaching about Jesus from the apostles.

Peter presents the good news saying that Jesus Christ is Lord of all,

…that he was anointed by the Holy Spirit

…and that he was able to do the works he did because God was with him. Peter affirms that he and others are eyewitnesses to Jesus and his life.

But the heart of his message is about Jesus Christ’s death and the certainty of his resurrection from the dead.  Peter emphasizes five things:

1.     That Jesus died.  Make no mistake about it.  Jesus was really dead.  The Romans knew how to kill and they executed Jesus’ thoroughly.  There was no blood running through his veins, no beat in his heart, and no life in his body.

2.     God raised Jesus up on the third day.  Jesus did not raise himself up.  It was by his Father’s hand.  In fact, this is something that is clearly stated several times in the New Testament.

3.     God allowed and caused Jesus to be visibly seen.  In I Corinthians 15 Paul writes that the risen Lord was seen by more than five hundred people over a 50-day period.

4.     Jesus ate and drank with Peter and others showing that this was not just some spiritual phenomenon.  This was a physical resurrection.  When Jesus first appeared to the disciples he knew they thought he was a ghost.  So he ate some fish in their presence to show he was a real live physical being.  If you want to show people you have really come back from the dead eat some fish for them.  And why do we often eat ham on this Sunday?  Doesn’t this make fish the official food of the resurrection?

5.     Lastly, he proclaims Jesus as judge of all people, and that forgiveness of sins from God comes through Jesus’ name.  He who conquers death has all power and authority.  He holds the keys of life and death. Every person will stand before the Lord. Because Jesus brings forgiveness we don’t have to fear his judgment.  Paul writes in Romans 8, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

Peter’s words are a good example of the first Christian preaching. The message was not that Jesus gives us a better life, or that he helps us become a nicer person.  They didn’t preach the social or political issues of their day (and it wasn’t like they didn’t have any).  They don’t go on about Caesar’s new health care plan or Rome’s taxes.

The core of the message of the apostles was Jesus risen from the dead and that death has been conquered.  And because of that death does not need to be feared.  That is the good news.  That is the gospel.  That is the power of our faith.

God has entered real, physical death, and come out on the other side alive.  And now everything is changed.

One time a missionary in the jungles of Brazil discovered a tribe of people in a very remote area.  The tribe lived near a large river.  The people were friendly, but also in desperate need of medical attention. A contagious disease was running through the population, and people were dying everyday.  It was very serious.

There was an infirmary but it was located in another part of the jungle.  The missionary knew that the only hope for the tribe was to go to the hospital for treatment and to get the needed inoculations.  But to reach the hospital the indigenous people would have to cross the river which they were not willing to do. They didn’t want to cross the river because they believed it was full of evil spirits.  They were absolutely spooked by it. They believed if you went into the river you would die.

The missionary tried to tell them this was superstition.  He told them he had cross the river himself and nothing happened to him.  But it was no use.  They refused to go in.

He took the people to the river and placed his hand in the water.  They still did not believe him.  He walked into the river and splashed around.  They still would not follow.

Finally, the missionary dove into the water, swam beneath the surface and came out on the other side.  He got up on the bank and pumped his fist in the air and waved to the people on the other bank.  He had proven that the power of the river was not real at all and the people need no longer fear it.

When they saw this the people followed him into the river and went across.[5]

Our Lord came, experienced death, went through death, and came out on the other side. And by his life a way beyond death has been opened for us.

An old Bible commentator named F.B. Meyer said,

“Fear not the devil, O child of God; nor death!  These make much noise, but they have no power.  The Breaker has gone before [you], clearing [your] way.  Only keep close behind him.  Hark!  He gives [you] power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt [you].  No robber shall pluck [you] from [your] Shepherd's hand.[6]

Jesus Christ is risen.  And all who put their trust in him belong to him, safe in his hand no matter what may come.

And he will bring us over.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that we are safe in the Shepherd’s hand. Your Son came and took the sting of death.  We are praising you for that this morning.  When our bodies fail, our eyes close, and our breath stops, thank you that it only means we will enter the joy and everlasting life you have prepared for all who love you.  All praise, glory and honor be to you.  Amen.

[1] Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright, p.15

[2] Max Lucado, Six Hours One Friday, p. 154)

[3] Stuart Briscoe, Spirit Life

[4] See Alister McGrath, Doubting, pp. 98-99

[5] Max Lucado , Six Hours One Friday, p.157

[6] Hebrews, p.57