Welcome to Day 2614 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Day 2614 – The Road To Jerusalem: Why Are You Looking Among The Dead For Someone Who Is Alive?

Putnam Church Message – 04/20/2025

Sermon Series: The Road to Jerusalem

Message 3: Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 

 

Last week, we explored The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. We answered the question, How do we respond to Jesus’ Triumphal Entry today? 1) Believe that Jesus is the Messiah. 2) Serve him as King. 3) Proclaim his praises.

This week is the third and final Easter message about The Road to Jerusalem. Today, ask the question, Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? The passage we will cover today is Luke 24:1-12, pages 1642-1643 of your Pew Bibles.

INTRODUCTION: Today is Easter, Resurrection Sunday. We have followed Jesus and his disciples on the road to Jerusalem in the last two weeks. Last week, we witnessed Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. But a lot happened in that one week between Palm Sunday and Easter, this week that we often call Holy Week.

Let me recap the events of Holy Week for you. On Monday and Tuesday, the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders escalated as he drove out the merchants in the Temple Court of Gentiles. On Wednesday, Judas met with the religious leaders and arranged for Jesus’ betrayal. On Thursday, Jesus met with his disciples in the Upper Room and shared the Last Supper with them. Later that night, Jesus was arrested while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Early Friday morning, Jesus was tried before Pilate and sentenced to death. By Friday evening, Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. Saturday was a Sabbath day of rest.

And so, at last, we come to Sunday morning. Only seven days had passed since the triumphal entry, but so much had happened in between.

Imagine how the disciples felt at this moment. They were in shock from the events of Thursday and Friday. They were in mourning over the death of their Lord and friend. And they were hiding in fear for their own lives. Jesus had warned them that the road to Jerusalem was the road to suffering and the cross, but somehow, they did not understand. But now Sunday morning had arrived, and everything was about to change. (Read Luke 24:5-8 and pray.)

5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man[a] must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

8 Then they remembered that he had said this.

OPENING PRAYER

“Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?  (Luke 24:5) That is a great question! We do not typically look for the dead among the living. Would you go to a cemetery to look for a person who is alive? That is the question the divine messengers posed to the women who came to Jesus’>tomb that first Easter morning. This is the question I would also like us to consider this morning.

Looking for Jesus among the dead(1-3) Bulletin Insert

The women on Easter morning

So, let’s get started. In verse 1: But very early on Sunday morning[a] the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. (Luke 24:1) On Good Friday, right after Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea received permission to bury Christ’s body in his own tomb. Nicodemus and the women joined him in the initial burial on Friday evening. Israelite women were primarily responsible for the preparation of dead bodies for burial. Backing up, let’s read Luke 23:55-56 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

It is Sunday morning, and the women have returned to the tomb. Luke tells us it was very early in the morning. I am sure some of you have gotten up early on Easter Sundays to attend an Easter Sunrise service. You can relate with these women! Sometimes, it’s still dark, and getting out of bed is not easy. But you obviously feel there is something of greater value than sleeping in on Easter morning. So, you get up early and go to the sunrise service.

Well, these women also felt there was something more important than sleeping in that first Easter morning. And so, they got up. They took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. Why did they bring the spices? Out of love and respect for their crucified Lord, they were going to anoint his body in the grave. In other words, they went fully expecting to find Jesus dead and buried in the tomb.

Instead, we read verses 2-3, which states that They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. I like that. They found the stone rolled away, but they did not find Jesus. They were looking for Jesus among the dead, and they did not find him.

Many people are still looking for Jesus among the dead. I think of biblical scholars who study the words of Jesus and the gospel manuscripts but do not believe in Christ’s resurrection. I think of the archaeologists who, two thousand years later, are still trying to find Jesus’ body and bones in the tomb but keep coming up empty. I think of people who finger the sculpted body of Christ on their crucifixes but do not know the reality of the living Christ. These people all have one thing in common. They are all looking for Jesus among the dead. But if you are looking for Jesus among the dead, you will not find him because he is not there.

Frank Morison (Who Moved the Stone?)

There was a British Journalist who lived in the early twentieth century named Frank Morison, a man who went looking for Jesus among the dead. He was not a Christian. Although he admired the person of Jesus, Morison was a skeptic who felt that these stories about Jesus were nothing more than a myth or legend, especially the story of the resurrection.

So, Morison had a brilliant idea. Why not prove that the resurrection never happened? Why not use his own research skills as a journalist to dig into history and prove that Jesus never rose from the dead? He would do his research and then write a book presenting the historical facts about Christ and the events surrounding his death. And so Frank Morison went looking for Jesus among the dead.

And you know what? He never found him. What he did find is exactly what Luke says in our passage this morning. He found the stone rolled away, but he did not find the body of Jesus. Instead, he found the risen Christ, and he put his faith in him as Lord and Savior.

Morison wrote up his research in a famous book called, Who Moved the Stone? I especially love the title of the first chapter. The first chapter is “The Book that Refused to Be Written.” Here is what Morison says in the preface:

This study is in some ways so unusual and provocative that the writer thinks it desirable to state here very briefly how the book came to take its present form. In one sense, it could have taken no other, for it is essentially a confession, the inner story of a man who originally set out to write one kind of book, and found himself compelled by the sheer force>of>circumstances to write quite another.

It is not that the facts themselves altered, for they are recorded imperishably in the monuments and in the pages of human history. But the interpretation to be put upon the facts underwent a change. Somehow the perspective shifted – not suddenly, as in a flash of insight or inspiration, but slowly, almost imperceptibly, by the very stubbornness of the facts themselves.

Frank Morison set out to write a book disproving the resurrection of Christ. Instead, he ended up writing what has become a Christian classic, presenting the evidence for the resurrection of Christ.

Morison went looking for Jesus among the dead. But he did not find him there. And you will not find him there either. If you want to find Jesus this morning, you can’t go looking among the dead. You must go looking among the living! For you and I, that brings us to the good news of Easter.

The good news of Easter(4-8)

Let’s read verses 4-5 with me now: 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 

These were clearly not ordinary men. They appeared out of nowhere. Their clothes are dazzling robes. The other gospels confirm to us that these were indeed divine messengers. These were messengers sent from God with their clothing still burning bright with the glory of heaven.

I have never met a divine messenger, which we call angels – at least not knowingly; but divine messengers have been known to travel in disguise. In the Bible, one thing always happens whenever a divine messenger appears in a glorified image. People fall on their faces in fear. It is an instinctive reaction. Divine messengers sometimes appear as majestic and glorious beings, and we fall down before them. Several times in the Old Testament, these divine messengers looked like regular humans. The women at the tomb were no different. In fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground.

The divine messengers asked the women in verses 5-8: Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man[b] must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 

We have reviewed this several times in our short study on “The Road to Jerusalem.” Jesus repeatedly told his followers what would happen to him when they got to Jerusalem. He told them that he would suffer. Jesus told them that he would be crucified. He told them that he would rise from the dead on the third day.

So, Jesus’ arrest should not have been a surprise to his followers. Jesus’ crucifixion and death should not have been a surprise either. And even Jesus’ resurrection should not have been a surprise. Jesus told them about all these things in advance. And yet, somehow, the meaning of these things escaped them. Humans have the innate ability to believe only what we choose to, regardless of the facts. Only after these things had happened did they remember his words and put all the puzzle pieces together.

And so it was that these women showed up with spices at Jesus’ grave on Easter morning looking for a dead man. The angels rightly asked them: “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!

That is the good news of Easter. Jesus Christ has conquered sin, death, and the grave. He rose from the dead on Easter morning. He is alive and well today. You will not find him among the dead, for he is among the living. And he offers new life to us. The Bible tells us that those who, through believing loyalty to God and trust in Christ, will share in his resurrection. The fear of death and judgment is taken away./ That’s good news when we’re amid political and global unrest. That’s good news anytime! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

What is Your Response?(9-12)

That is the good news of Easter. And so, only one question remains. How will you respond? We see several responses highlighted in our passage this morning.

The women’s response: Believe and share(9-10) 

First, there was the response of the women. We see the women’s response in verses 9-10:  9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. 

The women returned from the tomb and told all these things to the apostles and everyone there with them. Now, they must have been frightened. They must have been confused. They certainly did not understand all that had happened. But there was one thing they could do. They could share what they knew. They could share that Jesus’ body was no longer in the grave. They could share that the divine messengers said he had risen from the dead. The women believed, and they shared their faith with others.

Are you a believer in Jesus’ resurrection this morning? 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) If so, then we need to share our faith with others, just like the women at Jesus’ tomb did. Jesus died, but he rose again from the dead. He is alive forevermore. That is good news! And good news is for sharing.

Don’t keep the good news of Easter all to yourself. That would be selfish! Please share it with other people. There are so many great tools to share with today. The BibleProject.com, for instance, has hundreds of excellent animated videos you can share with everyone for free. Bible.com (YouVersion) has hundreds of Bible Plans that can be shared. BibleGateway.com has many tools. There are so many ways to share the Kingdom of God with others today. Share with everyone you know the astonishing good news that God sent his Son to die for sinners, and that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. What better way to respond to the good news of Easter than to share it with others! That’s our first response this morning. Believe and share.

The apostles’ initial response: Don’t believe, and do nothing(11)

Secondly, there was the response of the apostles, or at least their initial reaction. The women’s response was to believe and share. The apostles’ response was don’t believe, and do nothing! Look at verse 11: 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. The women believed the good news of Easter, and so they shared their faith with others. The apostles did not believe, and so they did nothing. Men can be pretty hard-headed at times.

Now, I am happy to report that the apostles later changed their minds about this, but their initial response mirrors the response of so many people today. They don’t believe in all this Jesus stuff. It all seems like so much nonsense to them, and so they do nothing. They dismiss the story of Jesus outright. They continue living as though nothing happened that first Easter morning.

Is that the reaction of your family, friends, co-workers, or acquaintances? Have they heard the Easter story before but never really done anything about it? Have they thought, “Well, that’s okay for those people at church, but it has nothing to do with me?” If so, then they are missing out on the most wonderful news in all the world. It is up to us to share the excellent news that Jesus is alive! And if Jesus rose from the dead, that means that if we put our faith in him, then one day we will rise from the dead, too.

This may all sound as if it is nonsense to some, but it is true. Anyone who has ever buried a loved one in the ground has that hope that it is true. Believing does not always come easy for some people. The apostles’ initial response to the report of Jesus’ resurrection was to reject it completely. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.  (Luke 24:11)

Peter and John’s response: Check it Out (12)   

So, are those your only two options? Either believe that Jesus rose from the dead or don’t believe? At first, it would seem so. But you know, there is one other option. We find this third option illustrated by Peter and John’s response. In verse 12, we read:  However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.

If someone is unsure what to make of Jesus’ resurrection, there is a third option>they can take rather than simply rejecting it as nonsense. They can do what Peter and John did. You can check it out for themselves, maybe with a bit of help from a friend like you.

Peter and John ran to the tomb. We are told in John’s Gospel that John outran Peter but stopped at the tomb’s entrance, but Peter chose to investigate further. Peter examined the evidence. He saw the stone that was rolled away. He entered the empty tomb and saw the cloth that once contained Jesus’s body, now lying alone. The cloth that covered his head and face was neatly folded and set off to the side. He went looking for Jesus, and you know what? He found him! Not lying dead in a tomb, but resurrected and alive. Peter was not yet ready to believe that Jesus was alive, but he no longer dismissed it as nonsense. He checked it out for himself, and he encountered the living Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus appeared to Peter first before he appeared to the remaining disciples. Sometime that Sunday, Christ appeared to Peter before He appeared to the disciples behind the locked doors. The 11 disciples were certainly a hard-headed group of people.

We might say, “Well, that’s all well and good for Peter and John. He could run to the empty tomb and check it out. We can’t do that today.” No, we can’t. But we can do what Frank Morison did. He didn’t believe, but at least he checked the facts himself.

We can read Morison’s book, Who Moved the Stone? Or Josh McDowell’s book, More Than a Carpenter, Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ, or more recently, Timothy Keller’s excellent book, The Reason for God. As mentioned before, there are a number of good resources out there that will present you with evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. We, as believers, need to be prepared to tell others of the resurrected Christ. Our lives are to be a beacon of hope to the world. We are Imagers of God, reflecting His Love and Goodness.

Let us always be prepared to share the evidence that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead. We need to live a life of believing in and loyal to God that shows our alignment with God, made possible by the risen Christ. As the hard-headed Peter later wrote to us in 1 Peter 3:15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

Bulletin Insert - CONCLUSION: The divine messengers asked the women that first Easter morning, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Let me say it to you again. If you are looking for Jesus among the dead, you will never find him, because he is not there. But if you look for Jesus among the living, if we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we will find him and be saved.

Jesus Christ is alive. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Closing Prayer

Next week, we will begin our twelve-week New Testament Orientation series. Our first lesson will be: What Is the New Testament? The core verse is: 2 Timothy 3:15-16