Resurrection Sunday
Pastor Jim Thomas
“The entire Bible pivots on one weekend in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. Attempts to make sense of the Bible that do not give prolonged thought to integrating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are doomed to failure, at best exercises in irrelevance.”
D. A. Carson
Mark 16:1-8
Our living hope in the resurrected Christ is…
- Philosophically reasonable
- Historically credible
- Globally beautiful
- Personally transformative
1. Our living hope in the resurrected Christ is philosophically reasonable.
“The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits’, the ‘pioneer of life’. He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened.”
C. S. Lewis, Miracles
2. Our living hope in the resurrected Christ is historically credible.
“Easter confronts us with a historical event set in time. We are faced with a story of an empty tomb, of a small group of men and women who were at one stage hiding for their lives and at the next were brave enough to face the full judicial persecution of the Roman Empire and proclaim their belief in a risen Christ.”
A. N. Wilson
3. Our living hope in the resurrected Christ is globally beautiful.
“Christianity is the largest and the most diverse belief system in the world, with roughly equal numbers of Christians in Europe, North America, South America, and Africa, and with a rapidly growing church in China that is expected to outgrow the church in America by 2030, and could include half of China’s population by 2060.”
Rebecca McLaughlin, The Secular Creed
4. Our living hope in the resurrected Christ is personally transformative.
“As only God can create, only God can renew his whole creation. It started with the resurrection of Jesus—one new thing that changes everything. In lives transformed by the Spirit of Christ, we have a foretaste of the new future.”
Richard Bauckham
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
Discussion Questions
- Jospeh of Arimathea is described in Mark’s gospel as someone who was waiting for the Kingdom of God. As we live in the already-but-not-yet kingdom, can the same be said of us? How can we wait well?
- The Christian faith is one of come and see, then go and tell. We came to see today. Now, who can we tell about Jesus this week? How can we prepare our hearts to be ready to share the good news with our neighbors?
- Easter is a time to reflect on the cross and rejoice in the resurrection. However, this good news is something to continually celebrate, and is just a foretaste of when Jesus will come again to set all things right. In the weeks, months and the year ahead, how can we keep these incredible truths in the forefront of our minds and hearts?
“Resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing.”
Frederick Buechner
“The resurrection of Jesus is the only Christian guide to the question of where history is going.”
N. T. Wright