Matthew 28:1-6
Jesus Has Risen
1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
God created the World...And the world He created was Good...But after some time, the world became evil and sinful...But God had a Plan for us sinful people...
God knew a blameless man named Noah...Noah believed in God and built an Ark and was saved by God in the Ark after the Great Flood...Only Noah, his wife, and children survived in the world in this flood...A new world had begun in sense again...Noah's family, would now be a descendant of Noah's family...
Then came our Three Patriarchs...Abraham spoke out in his belief of God...And Abraham, also called Abram, believed in God...God gave him credit for his righteousness and faith...Then came Abraham's son Isaac, and he too, was a believer and follower of God...Then came the son of Jacob, who also, was a follower of God and trusted Him...These three men are called the Three Patriarchs of God...God's people believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...
Moses was a messenger for God...He first met God on the Sacred Mountain...Moses on the mountain talked to God and was to bring God's people out of Egypt...Moses was close to God...Moses learned God's name was I AM WHAT I AM...Moses would help guide God's people out of Egypt and help them get to the Promised Land...Moses helped show God's people that God was Sacred and Holy...Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible...Moses showed the people of Israel, that God is full of Grace and Truth...Moses showed the Hebrew people the Ten Commandments from God, which showed the people morality...God is a Moral God...
Moses in the first five Bible Books gave them the Mosaic Law which was a set of laws, if they were not followed, would be a sin to the one breaking the Law...These Laws, these rules, were the Laws for the nation of Israel...And in all these things that Moses wrote and taught, the Jewish people learned that they were made in God's Image...They learned that there was and is Only One True God, and He is One is Essence and Eternal...He has never changed...Idols were not permitted in Israel or to be worshipped...The God of Israel has Complete Understanding, and Complete Understanding is LOVE...Morality and the rule of loving God and loving neighbor summed up the Law...Everyone should be treated kindly, lovingly, and with respect...
Then one day, a different type of Man shows up, if it is fair to call Him a Man...And He just shows up, seemingly out of nowhere...He is somehow of a Special Kind of Man...He chooses Twelve Students to teach, which He calls Disciples...He is always teaching about the Kingdom of God, like He has been there...
This is a Man you want to listen to...He goes around teaching about this God of Israel and His Kingdom...He says He came from above...Does this Man have charisma, or wisdom, or a special knowledge with this God of Israel, what is this something - that He possesses that makes Him Different and Special?...He even goes around forgiving people on a regular basis...Isn't the One God of Israel, the Only One who can forgive people?...He says He has been given Authority from God...He says that He is in God and God is in Him...He says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life...He can even do miracles...He doesn't always go around doing miracles, but when He wants to do a miracle He can...He can heal people, walk on water, turn water into wine, and even raise people from the dead, a resurrection of sorts...He can tell you anything you want to know about God...He even says that He is the Only Way to God...
In fact, as you listen to Him, you think He is God...This makes the current Jewish religious leaders very upset...Over time they plan to kill Him...And after He raises Lazarus from his death, these leaders plot to kill Him...He told Lazarus's sisters before raising him that He is the Resurrection and the Life...
The religious leaders convince one of His Disciples to arrange for Roman Soldiers to arrest Him on night after His Last Passover Meal, and His Last Supper...The betrayer, named Judas, the night of His betrayal, kisses Him signaling to the Soldiers, He is the One...They arrest Him with a large crowd following Judas...The crowd was armed with clubs and swords...But Jesus would show absolutely no resistance...
Jesus was sent to Pilate, a Roman leader, and was tried...He was accused of blasphemy and that He intended to destroy the Temple of God...Pilate cannot get much information from Jesus and allows the crowd to influence his decisions and he has Jesus crucified by Roman soldiers...Jesus dies on the cross...He is buried by Joseph of Arimathea and a Pharisee named Nicodemus...
After three days He rises from His death...He is first seen by Mary Magdalene and women who have helped Him in His Ministry...It was early Sunday morning, the women came to the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid...They brought the sweet-smelling spices they had prepared for His deceased body...They saw that the heavy stone that covered the entrance had been rolled away...They went in, but they did not find the body of the LORD Jesus...They did not understand this...While they were wondering about it, two men in shining clothes stood beside them...The women were very afraid...They bowed down with their faces to the ground...The men said to them, “Why are you looking for a living person here?...This is a place for dead people...Jesus is not here...He has risen from death... Do you remember what He said in Galilee?...He said the Son of Man must be handed over to the control of sinful men, be killed on a cross, and rise from death on the third day.”...Then the women remembered what Jesus had said...The women left the tomb and went to the eleven apostles and the other followers...They told them everything that happened at the tomb...These women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and some others...They told the apostles everything that happened...But the apostles did not believe what they said...It sounded like nonsense...But Peter got up and ran to the tomb to see...He looked in, but he saw only the cloth that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in...It was just lying there...Peter went away to be alone, wondering what had happened...
Later Jesus appeared to His Disciples...They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost...He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?...Look at My hands and My feet...It is I Myself!...Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”...When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet...And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”...They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it in their presence...He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”...Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures...He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem...You are witnesses of these things...I AM going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”...
After this, Jesus presented Himself to them and gave His Disciples many convincing proofs that He was still alive or alive again...He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God...On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about...For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”...
After the forty days, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight...They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them...“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?...This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”...
He has Risen...He is the Resurrection and the Life...Anyone who believes this will have Eternal Life with Him and His Father...As Pope John Paul II said "We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song!"...