The Risen Jesus

Today we celebrate the greatest day in history.  For today we celebrate the one event that changes everything.  For on this day, after dying for the sins of the world and being buried in a tomb for three days, Jesus Christ rose from that grave, victorious over sin and death. As the angel said to Mary, “He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said.”  Jesus is alive.  He is living today.  But have you encountered the risen Jesus?  Have you experienced His peace?  Are you rejoicing in His resurrection? Have you embraced His calling? Have you received His Spirit?  Do you know His forgiveness?

The reason I ask these questions, is that when Jesus rose from the grave, most of his followers could not say “yes” to any of these questions.  Only Mary, Peter and two disciples who were traveling on the road to Emmaus could say they actually encountered the risen Jesus. The rest of his followers were in a dark place, locked away in an upper room. For after abandoning Jesus on the night of his arrest and hearing the reports that Jesus had indeed been crucified and buried, they were consumed with grief, confusion and fear. For not only had they just heard from Mary and the two disciples that they had met the risen Jesus; they were also keenly aware that a story had been circulating that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus.  They were the prime suspects and could be arrested at any moment.  But something was about to take place that would wash all their fears away.  They were about to encounter the risen Jesus.

And as we are about to see, when you encounter the risen Jesus, Jesus changes everything for you.  So, if you brought your Bible with you today, let me encourage you to open it to John 20:19-23, where we will see what can happen when you meet the risen Jesus.  So, if you’ve found John 20:19-23, lets read this passage together:

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20:19-23

So what’s the first change that you expect to experience upon meeting the risen Jesus?

Meeting the risen Jesus can give you peace  Let’s read that first verse again:   On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  John 20:19

Now we’ve already noted that the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of being arrested.   But we also know they were consumed with grief.  For three and a half years they had been with Jesus.  They’d witnessed his miracles, seen him raise the dead, give sight to the blind, pour out his compassion on the broken, and embrace the despised and outcasts of Israel.  They had believed He was the promised Messiah, the King who had come to deliver them.  And with his death, they were heartbroken and hopeless.  They were full of fear and close to despair. And what Mary and the two disciples had shared left them confused but with a glimmer of hope.  And into this darkness, Jesus appears.  And he says to them, “Peace be with you.”

“Shalom!” The traditional Hebrew greeting.  But hearing it this time, coming from the mouth of Jesus, this blessing is loaded with meaning.  For this term basically means “May you experience well-being to the full.” “May you experience the blessing of life under the gracious hand of God.” So now for the first time, on this Easter evening, Jesus announces the first truly authentic blessing of peace in the history of the world.  In the upper room a few nights before Jesus had promised to give them His peace. And now in coming to them behind these locked doors, He gives them His peace.  For since he had completed his work on the cross, saying, “It is finished” he can now impart reconciliation and life with God that was made possible by His death on the cross!  “Shalom” Peace with God, life to the full, life with God is the first gift of the risen Jesus.

I love this encounter with Jesus, because he reveals that His peace is now available to anyone struggling with fear, grief, confusion or doubt.  And His gift of peace confirms what Isaiah tells us about who God says He is:  For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Isaiah 57:15  And that’s what Jesus does here.  He comes to the disciples in their darkness and fear and He gives them His peace. And as Jesus came to the disciples in their darkness and fear, he comes to us.  Meeting the risen Jesus can give you peace.

Now, I don’t know about you, but this is the first gift I received from Jesus upon meeting him by faith some 40 years ago.  On the day I trusted in Christ, Jesus removed fear from my life.  I had masked my anxiety for years with a mask of being a fun loving guy.  But on the day I met Jesus, His peace flooded my soul.  His peace changed me forever.  For on that day I experienced a well-being in my soul I never thought possible.  Jesus had made me right with God and now I knew the love of God.  That’s why meeting the risen Jesus changes everything.  For the first thing He does is give you His peace.  So let me ask you:  Have you experienced His peace?  Meeting the risen Jesus can give you peace.  But that’s not all:

Meeting the risen Jesus can give you joy Look now at the next verse with me: When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. John 20:20  Now, at this moment of encountering the risen Jesus, the disciples were undoubtedly shocked at seeing Jesus alive in their midst.  Perhaps some even thought they were seeing a vision.  So Jesus takes a moment to reveal to them who He really is.  He shows them his hands and his side.

Now what makes this so significant, is that the risen Jesus is always recognized by His scars.  You see, there are many who try to tell us that Jesus was just a good teacher, or a good moral example, or a religious leader among many of the world’s religious leaders.  But at this moment, by revealing His scars, Jesus proves He is the risen Savior.  He was no fake, no apparition. Here standing before them was the Jesus they knew who had been betrayed, beaten, and crucified. His scars were the evidence of his death.  Especially the scar in his side.  For in order to hasten the death of those hanging on the cross on before the Sabbath came, the Roman soldiers were ordered to break their legs.  This would ensure death would come quickly.  But John tells us, So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. John 19:32-34

And now that Jesus had shown them the nail marks in his hands and the side that had been pierced, this meant only one thing:  The one who had died was dead no longer.  It was true.  Jesus had risen from the dead.  He was standing right here in front of them.  And what was their response?  When they realized Jesus was alive, they rejoiced, just as Jesus said they would.  For Jesus had said to them in the upper room: “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me… You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy!”  Their time of grief was over – joy had replaced their grief.  Jesus who had died, had risen from the grave, just as he said he would. And seeing Him filled them with joy.  They no longer doubted Mary’s story.  They believed Jesus had risen from the dead, and they rejoiced.

Every religion in the history of mankind has had a great leader.  All of them died and were buried.  But only one claims to have risen from the dead.  Jesus, the one who is known by his scars.  How great is this for our needy, broken and hurting world, that Jesus is recognized by his scars.

So let me ask you.  Do you recognize him?  Do you realize that those scars in his flesh are the evidence of his love for you?  Do you recognize that Jesus took this punishment in his flesh to save you – to rescue you from your sin, so you can have life with Him?  If you can recognize Jesus by His scars, and believe God raised him from the grave, then God’s Word says, you will be saved.  For we don’t rejoice in a dead Savior, but one who defeated sin and death, when he rose from the grave.  And that gives us a joy that will never end.  Meeting Jesus can give you joy, if you believe He is living today!

So far we’ve seen that encountering the risen Jesus can give you peace with God and a joy that never ends.  Now both of those things are life changing in their own way, but now Jesus reveals something that’s about to change how we live our lives:

Meeting the risen Jesus can reveal your calling Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20:21

With the reality that they are standing in the presence of the risen Savior, Jesus again says, “Shalom!”  This time, “Shalom” takes on deeper meaning.  If Jesus has defeated death, He is the Lord of life.  That means know Him means experiencing this life to the full.  But this life is not to be kept to ourselves.  This is why Jesus came.  He wants everyone to know the Shalom of God. He wants everyone to know peace with God and life with God.

And so now he says,  “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  What is Jesus doing here?  I’ll tell you.  The Father gave Jesus a mission: to bring the peace of God to the world. And the only way Jesus could bring this peace to us was to take away our sins.  It’s our sins that alienate us from life with God.  It’s our sins that keep us from knowing the goodness and love of God. So the Father sent the Son into the world to make the Father known.  He revealed His compassion for the hurting.  He taught the good news of the kingdom.  He called disciples to learn from Him this new life in the kingdom.  And He revealed the Father’s mercy: He took our place on the cross to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

And now, the risen Jesus calls you to continue His mission.  He doesn’t invite you; He doesn’t suggest this would be a good idea.  If you belong to Him, If He lives in you, then He commissions you: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  You see, the good news is that once you meet the risen Jesus and put your faith in Him, Jesus mission isn’t finished.  It’s just different.  The risen Christ now lives in His followers so that together we can continue His work. That’s why the very next thing that happens is this: And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Here’s the good news of the risen Jesus:  Because Jesus lives today, He can live in you. And when He lives in you, He will continue the Father’s mission through you.  And the way the risen Jesus can take up residence in you and live though you, is through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Prior to Jesus death, burial and resurrection, only Jesus could fulfill the Father’s mission.  But now, since Jesus has risen from the grave and is alive in us – Jesus sends us, just as He was sent.

So today, like Jesus made the Father known by His acts of mercy and love, we can make the Father known by our acts of mercy and love.  So today, like Jesus taught the good news of the kingdom, we can teach the good news of the kingdom.  And what’s even better, we can tell the good news of Jesus’ life.  How he lived a sinless life, how He gave His life for our sins, and now when anyone believes in Jesus, they can be forgiven of their sin.

Jesus calls us to be mercy giving, grace peddling ambassadors of the Father’s love.  Now that Jesus has risen from the dead, He gives His Spirit to live in anyone who trusts in Him. How great is that.  Jesus rose from the grave so He could fill us with His life, so we can do the Father’s work as His people.  What an amazing blessing of the resurrection!  We are now His sent ones, filled with the peace of Jesus, emboldened by the joy of Jesus, empowered by the presence of Jesus, so that together we can fulfill the mission of Jesus to bring the forgiveness of Jesus to anyone who would believe in Jesus.

So yes, today is the greatest day in history.  For on this day, Jesus rose from the grave, defeating sin and death, so He might change everything.  So he might change you.

So let me ask you: Have you met the risen Jesus?

If you have, you know He has changed you:

For He’s given you His peace,

He’s given you His Joy

He’s given you His Mission

He’s given you His Spirit

He’s given you His forgiveness

He’s changed you so He can help you change the world

But perhaps you are here today, and you never understood the significance of the risen Jesus.  If that’s you, do you want to know peace with God? Do you see that his scars are the evidence of His love for you?Do you want the forgiveness He gives to anyone who believes? If that’s you, then listen to these Words God has for you: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  Romans 10:9-10

If that’s you, if after hearing God’s Word today, you want to put your faith in Jesus.  If you believe God raised Him from the dead.  Then confess your faith in Jesus with me, in prayer.  If that’s you, please pray with me now: Dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I am a sinner who has lived my life apart from your will.  And I want to thank you for sending Jesus to give His life for me on the cross.  I believe Jesus is Lord and You raised Him from the grave on the third day so I can receive forgiveness of sin and experience new life with you.  So thank you for saving me and giving me the peace, joy and forgiveness found in Jesus.  Fill me now with your Spirit so that Jesus will live in me and continue to change me so that I can share his peace and joy with others.  I ask this in the name of the risen Jesus, who has saved me.  Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer, God’s Word says that you have not only been forgiven,  but you are no longer condemned, and you have passed from death to life.  You’ve received the gift of eternal life, you have peace with God, you are now a child of God, and Jesus, the risen Savior has entered your life by His Spirit and He will be with you and live in you always!

That’s why we celebrate with you the greatest day in history.  For the risen Jesus didn’t just come to those locked in darkness in that upper room.  He comes to us and changes us.  And for that we rejoice this day, and every day with Jesus!