Easter 2010

Luke 24: 4b-8

"...suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' "Then they remembered his words."

When I was growing up, my grandpa used to have a sign hanging up near his workshop. It read, "When all is said and done, usually more is said than done." Isn't that the truth? In contrast and in the case of our risen Savior Jesus: 'When all is said and done: 'what is said is done,' and 'all is done.'

And in some cases even, 'more was done than said.' Mark 15:29-32, "Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!" In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him." There were plenty of things Jesus could have said in reply that wouldn't have caused Him to breach any of the Ten Commandments. But actions speak louder than words, and as Jesus showed us, quiet actions speak the loudest of all, as He quietly, humbly and deliberately carried out His part in the plan of our Salvation. This was also Jesus doing what the prophet Isaiah had said He would: Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." In some cases with Jesus, 'more was done than said.'

This isn't to say that Jesus said nothing. In the Gospel of Luke there are a number of times when Jesus said to His disciples what He would be doing. Luke 18:31-33, "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." Because we, as Paul Harvey would put it, 'know the rest of the story;' the empty tomb that those women found is the beautiful evidence for us that Jesus did what He said to His disciples He was going to do, which is also what the prophets said that He was going to do. And after the angels, who were decked out in 'lightning gleam wear,' suddenly appeared and reminded them, the women at the empty tomb remembered these same words and realized in the case of Jesus, what is said is done.

When my sister was in college she papered one of her apartment walls and used it as a larger than life size canvass to create a fun list of things that she wanted to accomplish that summer. There were probably a hundred different things written on that wall. As she completed something on the list she would check it off. I don't remember if she was ever able to check everything off the list. We probably all have lists that contain items that remain unchecked. Not so with Jesus. His checklist that God the Father drew up, detailing what needed to be done to redeem the lost and condemned creatures, was fully checked off.

Live a perfect life as a substitute for those who lived everything but a perfect life (33 years) - check. In the process fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies - check. Be delivered into the hands of sinful men (Maundy Thursday) - check. Die on the cross to pay for the sins of ____________ (insert your name here), and for the sins of all the other people who ever were given a soul (Good Friday) - check. And now to the one that we will be remembering and celebrating this upcoming Sunday - to the one that the women at the tomb realized after remembering His words: On the third day be raised again (Easter Sunday) - check. When all was said and done, all was done!

Well, almost all. There's no question about it that the empty tomb tells us that all was completely done when it comes to Jesus Christ's work of redemption. But Jesus still has one more checklist to work on. Jesus revealed the items on this checklist to his disciples on Thursday of Holy Week. John 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." Prepare a place for those who believe in Him - check. Come back and take these believers to be with Him so that they also may be where He is - check. These items obviously aren't checked off yet. But because of the work of the Holy Spirit and through faith, we can be absolutely certain that if we were to check off these items with a permanent marker, that we won't be needing any white-out. Because when all is said and done with Jesus, what is said is done and all is done.

He is Risen! He is Risen and has done all that He said He would -His work of saving us is done -His work of preparing a place for us and taking us to that place will most certainly be done! He is Risen, indeed. Alleluia!