Luke 24 - If Jesus Didn't Rise From the Dead, Don't Even Bother Going to Church Tomorrow!

Luke 24 - NIV

Luke 24 - Enduring Word Commentary

Key Verses for Today

Jesus Has Risen

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. 

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Commentary

The last chapter of Luke ends with the most important event in human history. What is so amazing about Luke's version is that the women are the first to discover the empty tomb. In Jesus' day, women were not even allowed to testify in court. Their witness was considered unreliable or of little legal weight. Put it this way. If someone were making up this story, they wouldn't have used this strategy. 

The first day of the week in the Jewish calendar is Sunday, which is why most churches hold worship services on Sunday. It has open been called, "The day of the resurrection". Of course, in three weeks from tomorrow we will celebrate Easter, which the cornerstone of our Christian faith. Since Luke was a historian, he is obvious writing about a story that "really happened". No other story is metaphorical in nature, so why would the most important story he is writing about be? 

The literal and historical resurrection is at the heart of our Christian faith. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, "If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, we are among all people most to be pitied." Lee Strobel, author the best selling books "The Case for Christ" and the "The Case for Faith" wrote, "The resurrection is the linchpin of the Christian faith. On it, Christianity either stands or falls". 

If Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, then Jesus was a liar, delusional or insane. He told several of the disciples at different times over his last three weeks on earth that he would be handed over to the Jewish leaders, be crucified and killed, and after three days rise from the dead. Christianity is the only faith which claims its founder is God and rose from the dead. If Jesus didn't raise from the dead, He surely isn't God. God doesn't lie. 

As the famous Christian writer and theololgian C.S. Lewis wrote this famous quote, 

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. 

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." - Mere Christianity

Not only will non-believers and agnostics say that Jesus was a good moral teacher, but liberal Christian over the past century as well. Today 25% of those who would call themselves a Christian, do not believe in the literal, bodily resurecction. Most of these people come from mainline denominations. I.e. Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal. Those who were the founders of these denominations (i.e. Luther, Calvin, and Wesley) would turn over in their graves at such teaching. This is one of the essential doctrines of what we call "Orthodox Christianity". 

Paul boils down the essence of the Christian faith in one verse. 

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Application

1. Do you believe Jesus' life, death, and resurrection really happened in history? If yes, what does this mean about everything else he taught? 

2. How does what we believe about Jesus'resurrection affect what we believe will happen to us when we die? 

We know what happens. Jesus says in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me will live even though they die."

3. How does the bodily, literal resurrection affect they way you follow all what Jesus has commanded us to do? See Matthew 28:19-20

Let's remember C.S. Lewis' classic line, 

"Let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you that you are the resurrection and the life and that everyone who believes in you will live even though they die. Thank you that when we come to our last breath, we can have not only the hope but the assurance that we will live will you eternally with all of the saints. Help us to live the rest of our lives in gratitude for what you have done for us!  Amen.