Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

I mentioned at our Good Friday service that we don’t mourn the death of Jesus as those who have no hope. We knew what would happen three days later. But there’s also a flip side to this same idea. We also do not celebrate the resurrection without at least mourning on some level that Jesus had to die at all. He is the God of the universe, yet He suffered for our sin. How tragic and unnatural of a thing that was!

But could it all have been avoided? Did Jesus have to go to the cross?

Read Luke 24:13-35

Several elements of this story are somewhat comical in how they play out. First, we find these disciples talking to Jesus, about Jesus, sad about the death of Jesus, without knowing they were talking with the risen Jesus.

There was an old movie starring Robin Williams called Mrs. Doubtfire. A man had made a lot of mistakes as a husband and his marriage had fallen apart. In an effort to serve his ex-wife and spend more time with his children, he came up with an elaborate plot to dress up as an old lady who would be her housekeeper and nanny. He was pulling it off really well. He had figured out the things his wife needed from him and the things his kids needed from him. He was being a great husband and father- only his wife and children didn’t know it was him. They thought he was an old lady. At one point his wife says to him, “Who needs a husband when I have you!?!” The same kind of situation as going on with Jesus and his disciples in this passage.

Second, Jesus is just playing dumb this whole time. Jesus not only knows everything, being God, but He experienced everything that the disciples were talking about. Yet He’s acting like He doesn’t know what’s going on. And the disciples are falling for it every step of the way!

Third, they correctly articulated the events that took place over the last few days, yet were sad about them. We’re not sad about good news! It’s good news! That’s like being sad that you won something! We might forgive the disciples, though, because they seemed really confused about it all.

When it seems like they couldn’t be any more confused, Jesus asked one of His famous confusing questions (v. 26). But suffering wasn’t necessary for the sake of Jesus. Jesus had done nothing wrong! It was necessary for our sake (Isaiah 53). Other religions sacrifice to please or appease a god, and the sacrifices result only in death. But God’s sacrifice results in our life.

And yet, it was necessary for Himself as well. This was God’s plan all along. “Necessary” just means that it could be no other way. It would be like saying that it’s necessary that blue and yellow paint combined make green. Or that it’s necessary that we breathe in order to live. God saw it necessary to create us, He saw it necessary to send Jesus into the world, and He saw it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die for our sin.

But suffering wasn’t the end of the story of Jesus (v. 26). After Jesus suffered, He would enter into His eternal glory! Not only was it necessary for Christ to suffer, it was necessary that He be glorified! It was necessary that He be raised from the dead! The Jews had sacrificed hundreds of thousands if not millions of animals, and not a single one of them came back to life. But God’s sacrifice overcame death! It was necessary that He ascend to be with the Father! And it’s necessary that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead and destroy all evil and sin and death, so that everything will be placed under His feet.

The resurrection of Christ is a reminder that God is sovereign and wise. He knows what He’s doing, and He is powerful to accomplish it. The empty tomb reminds us that even though it was necessary for Christ to die, it was impossible that Christ stay in the grave. We serve a risen Savior. He’s powerful and full of life! And since He rose, we also will rise, for the Spirit of God is in you. We might even say that it’s necessary. It can be no other way.

If Christ is in you, the grave cannot hold you. You must raise to go to be with the Father. And so of ourselves, we may say, “We wil rise, we will rise indeed.”