We speak and we sing of the resurrection every Lord's Day, don't we? But there is something really special about celebrating it together today, isn't there? I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28. If you didn't bring a Bible with you and you'd like to follow along on one of the pew Bibles in front of you, our passage is printed on page 835. It's also printed in the order of worship there on page eight. We'll be looking at Matthew 28, verses one through 10. One of the things that I love about Easter Sunday in our part of the world is how it corresponds with springtime coming. Even though our winters here are far less stark and gloomy than other places in the country and other places that I've lived, you still can't help but notice how green and bright everything is right now, can you? especially after all the rain that we've had. Things are just springing to life. And that celebration is built into this holiday in the broader culture, isn't it? Things like bunnies and eggs and flowers and signs of fertility and life are all around. And we bust out clothes that are bright and pastelly. And I see many of you did that today as well. There's just something bright and refreshing about this day, about this time of year often. But even though there's a seasonality to this celebration, we come out of winter and darkness and we come into light and life each year, it's important to remember that what happened that first Resurrection Sunday wasn't just an end to winter. It wasn't just some sort of seasonal renewal or a time to change your wardrobe. It was a radical transformation. Something took place that day that had never occurred before. And even though there's such a naturalness for us to spring, and for many of us there's a normalness to Easter Sunday, many of us have done this for many years, that first Resurrection Sunday really marked the end of the world as it had been known before. And what happened to Jesus also has profound implications for each of us. whether we realize that today or not. And so we'll consider a few of those implications this morning as we look at our passage. So our passage is Matthew 28, verses 1 through 10. I will read this, and then we'll pray, and then we'll consider it together. This is God's Word. Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you.' So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings. and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. And then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me. So far the reading of God's word. Let's pray and ask that he'll help us as we consider it this morning. Our Father in heaven, we come. And we come with all different cares and needs and weights and burdens upon us. We come with all differing levels of faith and belief, some strong and filled with joy, others weak and doubting, some not sure why they're here at all or what any of this means. But we thank you that we can come in confidence knowing that as your word goes forth, it does not return void. And so we pray for your help, that by your Spirit you would help us to all hear and believe and be filled with the wonder of Jesus' resurrection, and that we would follow Him in worship and in trust. Would you do that work among us this morning? By your Spirit. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Well, we'll consider our text this morning in three points. First is Jesus' resurrection life, then we'll consider Jesus' resurrection love, and finally Jesus' resurrection call. So Jesus' resurrection life, love, and call. First let's consider together his resurrection life. Now it's important to remember the context of this passage. We come on the heels of where we left off Good Friday. And for those of you who weren't able to join us as we heard Matthew's reading, I can bring us all up to speed a bit. But Matthew's gospel has shown that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. He was the king of his people. But on Good Friday, we clearly saw that he was also the suffering servant. He, the king of his people, was nailed to a cross. He cried out as one forsaken by God, not because of his own sin or his own disobedience, but because he bore the sins of his people. He died a substitutionary death so that by his wounds we could be healed. But the cross is not where the story ends. It doesn't end on Good Friday. It continues through Saturday on into Sunday morning. And that's where we find our passage. Our passage brings us to the announcement of Jesus' resurrection. And Matthew has us accompany these two women to the tomb on Sunday morning to hear and to see what they saw. And this is an attention-grabbing scene. Matthew wants us to get caught up in just how stunning this whole situation really was. Verse 2 begins by telling us that an angel of the Lord descended from heaven. And as he descends, there's this great earthquake. The earth shakes as heaven's messenger arrives. Now, I'm not sure how you envision angels. Our culture hasn't done us great favors in the depictions of angels, but this was no chubby little cherub that came down from the sky, okay? His appearance was dazzling, like lightning, clothing as white as snow, wording that marked every time a human encounters a heavenly being in their glory. And he was powerful. he by himself rolled away this great stone, and he sat on it." And then, in contrast to this power, you have the soldiers. These soldiers, men who were trained to stare fear and death in the face and not flinch. What happens to them when they see this? They were so terrified, they became like the corpse they were supposed to be guarding. They became like dead men, passed out on the scene, it seems. But you know who wasn't passed out? These women. They're watching the whole thing. I'll just leave it at that. Okay. And so, The angel told the women what had happened. He narrates them on what had taken place. Jesus had died. He says, you seek this Jesus who was crucified. There's no doubt about his death, but that's no longer the case that he is dead. He has risen, risen from the dead, just as he said. And then this angel invites them to come and to see for themselves where Jesus had laid. Isn't it amazing that this angel came from heaven to roll away the stone so these women could see and hear what had taken place with our Lord Jesus. And as they were dashing out of there with this great news, Jesus greets them. They saw him, they recognized him, and they worshiped him. Now, Jesus' simple everyday greeting here, which our Bibles capture accurately, greetings or good day, hi, it can make it sound like nothing has changed, but that's not the case at all. And in fact, Matthew gives us several details here that help us see not just the announcement of Jesus' resurrection, but these details help us see the nature of his resurrection. You see, Matthew makes it clear what the other Gospels hint at. Jesus had already left the tomb before the angel rolled the stone away. The angel came and rolled away the stone so that they could see what had already taken place. You see, Matthew doesn't want us to miss here that this is not just a resuscitation. This is not merely, and I say merely lightly, this is not merely someone coming back to life, as amazing as that is. That had happened in the scriptures several times. Jesus himself had raised people from the dead, and that is all still amazing. But this was not another Lazarus, who needed the stone rolled away and needed to be unbound from his grave clothes. This was the risen Lord Jesus in a glorified body who had already somehow left a sealed tomb. You see, he was no longer bound by the same limitations that our bodies know. But he also wasn't some sort of ghost or a spirit. You know, in Jesus' day, many people, as in our day, believe in some sort of an afterlife. And many have conceived of it as some sort of shadowy existence. And in their day, as in ours, their conception of ghosts was that ghosts didn't have feet. Think about the ghost scenes that you've seen or as you played one as a kid and put a bed sheet over your head. Casper doesn't always have feet. Sometimes he does. That may throw us off a little bit. But ghosts weren't conceived of as having feet. My little Lego ghosts, they don't have legs. You put a white block where the legs go. And so it must be how it is, right? But here, Notice, as Jesus greets these women, what happens? They recognize him. While there's radical discontinuity that he's able to go through a sealed tomb, it's still Jesus in his human flesh, but yet glorified flesh. They recognize him, and as they bow to worship him, they reach out their hands, and what do they touch? They touch his feet. You see, Matthew wants us to see that Jesus' resurrection life was unlike any form of human existence before. As Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus had been raised imperishable and in glory and in power. And that's what we find taking place that day. But what's even more amazing, as the wonder continues, is this resurrection life was not just for Jesus. Matthew gives another detail that we heard about on Friday night. It's a detail that goes back to chapter 27, verse 52. It tells us this, that when Jesus breathed his last and died, there was another earthquake. The ground shook when Jesus died. And when it did, tombs of saints, those who had died in faith looking for a Messiah, Tombs were opened when Jesus died. And then it says, back there in Matthew 27, what's taking place here in our passage. It says that after Jesus' resurrection, many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And it says in verse 53, and they came out of their tombs and went into the holy city and appeared to many. You think Easter is just talking about normal stuff? This is just mind-boggling. I read these verses so many times that, well, don't know what to do with that. Keep going. Get to resurrection, I guess. Those verses leave us with so many questions, don't they? I mean, who were these people? And how long had these Old Testament believers been dead already? Are they from the time of David when he conquered Jerusalem a thousand years ago? And then, so they come back to life, they go into the city. How was that for the people seeing them? Oh, I haven't noticed you here before. Yes, I haven't been here in about a thousand years. And then what happened to them after they were raised? Were they then taken up like Enoch and Elijah? Matthew doesn't satisfy our curiosity. And I don't think the rest of scripture does either, tell us all the details of these things. But what Matthew wants us to see is that Jesus' resurrection brought about what had already been foretold in shadowy form in the Old Testament. If you think back, one of the most notable passages about this is Ezekiel 37, with that famous prophecy of these dry bones, as God takes Ezekiel to see these bones of corpses of the people of God, and he helps him envision God bringing those corpses back to life. And what God says to Ezekiel is this, Behold, in 37.12, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves. You see, what's happening here, notice it's in two stages even in that prophecy, the graves being opened and then people being raised from the graves. On Good Friday, the ground shook as God's judgment was rendered. The curse was borne by the Lord Jesus. The penalty for sin was paid. The ground shook and the graves were opened. But then on Easter Sunday, the ground shook again to show that Jesus' resurrection was nothing less than the fulfillment of God's promise of resurrection life, not just for Jesus, but for all who are in him. You see, as these people came forth from their graves, it was a foretaste of what will be true at the end of the age. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20, But Christ, in fact, has been raised from the dead, and he's the first fruits of all who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." You see, Jesus' resurrection, brought life that the world has never known before. It initiated resurrection life for all who trust in Him. Why does this matter? Why is this so important? We don't gather today to celebrate a renewal. We don't gather today to celebrate just another springtime or the world blossoming to life just for winter to come again. We don't gather to celebrate just another chance. Jesus back from the grave, starting over, humanity back in the garden somehow, hoping for a better result this time. Jesus was raised never to die again. The grave could not hold him, and it will not hold us either. In John 5, 24, Jesus says, He goes on to say this, that an hour is coming and an hour is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." You see, Jesus is not just speaking about his final coming one day, when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. He's saying the hour is now here. If you have heard the voice of Christ and you have believed in faith, then resurrection life has begun in you now. You were dead spiritually, but you have been raised to life and you are now alive in Christ and no longer in Adam. And though the grave may hold your body for a time, just as it did our Lord Jesus, It has no claim on you. As surely as he lives, you will be raised with him in glory. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, our father Adam, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven, our Lord Jesus. Jesus brings about resurrection life like never before. Well, we've considered Jesus' resurrection life, but that's not all that took place in our passage. We can also consider together our second point, Jesus' resurrection love. Jesus' resurrection love. Resurrection Sunday has some of the grandest themes of all of scripture, right? If we love theology, we could get so caught up in all of these things, and they're beautiful. Jesus paying for sin, Jesus conquering death, new creation life, breaking in upon a fallen world. But in the midst of all of that, it can be easy to miss what happens relationally, and to fail to remember that Jesus' reason for going to the cross, his reason for bearing our sins and being raised for our justification, his reason for all of that was love. Greater love, Jesus said, has no one than this, that one would lay down his life for his friends. And we see the depth of Jesus' love reaffirmed on that first resurrection day. You may have noticed a repeated theme in this account is that Jesus sends a message to his disciples. The angel tells the women to go and tell them that he's risen to meet him in Galilee. Jesus himself then tells the women to do this. It is a resurrection priority for Jesus that his disciples hear that he has been raised and that he sets up a meeting with them so that they can see him. Well, where did we leave off with these men? It's amazing to think of what they are presently doing while this is taking place. Do you remember that just hours before, essentially, they had all pledged their devotion to him? Peter had said, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And it wasn't just Peter who said that, and all the disciples said the same. And then in Gethsemane, before Jesus was even nailed to a cross, as he's betrayed, the disciples left him and fled. And in his hour of greatest need, they were nowhere to be found. And Peter was busy denying him three times. And now, having been raised from the dead, what is Jesus' message to them? We see it there in verse 10. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. They had abandoned Jesus out of fear. They had failed him in his greatest need. They were nowhere to be found in the midst of his suffering and death, and yet he was not done with them. The risen Lord Jesus calls them his brothers. His love for them has not waned in the least. And he will meet them in Galilee, not to chastise them, but what? To commission them. These disciples, who if we think about it, had failed in the most basic task of discipleship. What is the most basic thing a disciple can do? Don't leave your teacher. And they blew it! And yet these disciples who had failed in this way were then commissioned by Jesus' authority to now go and make disciples. What amazing forgiving and reconciling love that we see from our Lord Jesus as he was raised from the dead. And while this message to the disciples is front and center in our text, We also notice that these disciples are not the first to see Jesus, are they? Isn't it amazing that in God's sovereign plan, where nothing's happening by accident on any of the time, but especially we think of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, none of this is by accident, the women are the first witnesses of Jesus' resurrection. All of the Gospels go out of their way to show us this detail. And the reason they do so is because it is completely shocking. Women were not viewed as credible witnesses in a court of law. Their testimony didn't matter. In fact, it would often make a testimony more suspect because it came from a woman. In fact, religious men, rabbis like Jesus, often didn't really have women followers. Things like that were not for them. But Jesus had been radically counter-cultural in his treatment of women throughout his ministry. All throughout the Gospels, women are a part of his team, and they're part of his broader circle of disciples. These women had followed him from Galilee, where they were providing for him and, it says, ministering to him. And when all the disciples fled before a nail even pierces Jesus' flesh, these women were there watching. And they were there when he was laid in Joseph's tomb. And yet, in spite of all of that faithfulness, these women still had a stigma about them, didn't they? They still weren't to be believed, no matter how much they'd followed Jesus. And it wasn't just a stigma on women in general, but we could think of the stigma of Mary Magdalene in particular as one of the Marys who was there. What do we know about her from the scriptures? That she was the woman from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. Imagine the stigma and the shame that she bore What kind of a woman would be a hospitable place for seven demons? What must she have done? What's wrong with her that that would have happened to her? But the Bible constantly corrects our attempts to rob someone of their image-bearing status. It does it with women, it does it with slaves, it does it with unborn in the womb, people with disabilities. The Bible clearly proclaims the dignity of all being created in the image of God. And this first interaction that Jesus initiates is to go to these women who were not to be believed and to entrust them with the greatest truth the world has ever heard." These women are often called the first evangelists, because they're the first to hear of the good news of Jesus, and they're the first to go tell others that good news. What a stigma-reversing action. What a shame-conquering love in Jesus' interaction with these women that day. And what it shows us as we consider both the disciples and as we consider these women is this, that the resurrection isn't just about dealing with sin. And it's not just about conquering death. It is about those things, and those are so important. But it is also about a heavenly greeting It is about the Son of God drawing near in welcome and in love, no matter what we have done, no matter what stigma we have or shame we bear. As Hebrews 2 tells us, the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us These disciples who had failed, these women who were stigmatized, you and I, regardless of what we have done, He's not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. That love for us to make us His family sent Him to the cross, and it's reaffirmed in His resurrection. Jesus brings us boldly into triune love. And if you are in Christ today, That love is for you. Do you believe in the warmth of Jesus' welcome today? What makes you think that today the risen Lord Jesus would have nothing to do with you? What makes you think that you wouldn't be a priority for Him? Is it something you've done? Is it the doubts you've had? the fears that have kept you away? Is it some failure on your part to do the very thing that it seems like every follower of Jesus should do? Is it the bold claims you've made that you haven't followed through on? Or is it a struggle that you have that you believe no follower of Jesus should ever have? Or is there some stigma or shame about who you are? where you come from, what has happened to you, deep down what kind of a man or woman you are. On that first Resurrection Day, we see Jesus moving toward his confused and dejected followers in love, in welcome, in reconciliation, and his heart toward you is no different today. just as he extended this invitation, come and see me in Galilee. So also we're reminded that Jesus has not only brought us heavenly resurrection life, but an invitation to come and to know afresh today the heavenly love of the triune God through faith in him. It's an amazing resurrection life, amazing resurrection love, And that brings us to our final point, Jesus' resurrection call. One of the things that amazes me about the Gospel accounts is how people who saw the same events responded in such different ways. The soldiers discarded the truth. We didn't read the rest of their account, but the soldiers discarded the truth because it would cost them too much and they willingly followed and spread the lie that they were taught to say, that someone had stolen Jesus' body from the tomb. But on the other hand, the other witnesses there, the women, they believed the truth, they worshipped the risen Lord, and they followed him, even though it would cost them greatly. And you know, we may think sometimes, well, if I had seen those things, then maybe I'd believe. Here it kind of shows us you can see all of this, but what will your response be? You know, we haven't witnessed these things ourselves, but if you're here today, which you are, you have heard these things truthfully proclaimed. And when Jesus addressed Thomas's doubts in John 20, and Thomas saw and touched Jesus' wounds, Jesus says, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. What is your response to these truths today? Hebrews 12 tells us that God will again shake the earth. The earthquakes are not done, and a great earthquake at the end of time is coming. And he's not only going to shake the earth, but the heavens as well, and only what is unshakable will remain. But he goes on to say that through faith in Christ, we are made part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and that will remain forever. Jesus invites you to be part of that kingdom today. by trusting in his sin-paying death and his life-giving resurrection. And if you have never trusted in him before, right now you can pray, cry out to him in repentance, and you can trust in his saving grace and receive a life and a love that the world has never known. But for those of us who have heard this message before and who believe, There's a call for us as well. And that call is to respond as those women did that first Easter, in fear and wonder that something so amazing has taken place, and joy and worship over what God has done in Christ through the resurrection, how he has brought us this life and love that the world has never known. But he also calls us to take part in his disciple-making mission, doesn't he? Following him and telling of our crucified, risen Lord, regardless of what it may cost us, until the end of the age, when he comes again and he greets us in a day like never before. when we experience the fullness of resurrection life in him. May the Lord fill us with joy over what is ours and strengthen our faith as we await his return. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we are truly humbled by the wonder of your plan, that you have not left us in our sin, but you have sent your Son out of love so that we could be forgiven raised with him. We thank you that through belief in him life has begun now and that eternal life will continue forever. And we pray that you would help us to believe the wonder of these things and to follow our Lord Jesus until he comes again. It's in his name we pray. Amen.