April 8, 2007 Easter Year C
Sermon Title: “But…”
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Text: Luke 24:1-12
Dr. Steve Jackson
Delivered on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007
“He is not here, but has risen.” Luke 24:5
But…
If someone were to ask me "What was the most boring class you had in school?" my immediate answer would be sixth grade English, (with ninth grade Algebra running a close second). The thing that made my sixth grade English class so boring to me was all the time we spent diagramming sentences. Do you remember doing that? I just hated diagramming sentences. You’d be given a sentence and then you had to draw this “thingie” where you diagrammed all the parts of speech in the sentence? It was easy enough to locate the subject and the verb, but to this day I am hard pressed to tell the difference between a dangling participle and a split infinitive.
But I guess through it all I did absorb some important skills—I learned how to write and how to express myself fairly well and I suppose that has helped me over the years since I ended up going to school for over thirty years and since I ended up becoming a preacher.
Anyway…for some reason when I was studying the Scripture for today, Luke 24:1-12, I began “seeing” the sentences in those infernal diagrams. Perhaps it was because the story is such a familiar one. I think most preachers spend at least part of their sermon preparation time at Easter studying the resurrection accounts found in the gospels, searching for a new “angle” on the story, some new observation no one has noticed yet in the 2000 years the story has been told.
I’m not about to claim that I’ve done that—but like I said, as I kept reading Luke’s version of the resurrection story, for some reason known only to God I began to diagram the sentences.
As I did, I began to notice Luke’s use of what’s called a conjunction (I had to look it up to know that). Conjunctions are words like “and,” “or,” “but,” or “so” and they’re used to connect other words or groups of words. For instance in the sentence “Bob and Dan are friends” the conjunction “and” connects the two nouns “Bob” and “Dan.” In the sentence “He will drive or fly,” the conjunction “or” connects two verbs drive or fly. In the sentence “It is early but we can go,” the conjunction “but” connects two groups of words.
At any rate, as I studied the text for today I noticed that Luke makes prolific use of a particular conjunction—the word “but.” When the conjunction “but” is used, it’s usually employed to connect opposite or conflicting ideas. For instance in the sentence “She is small but strong.” The word “but” is used to connects two ideas that don’t usually go together, “small” and “strong.” As I studied the passage I noticed Luke uses the connecting word “but” in interesting ways that I believe can help us enter the resurrection story from a different door than usual—and in so doing, perhaps the story will speak to us in a new and fresh way.
Luke, of course, wrote in Greek, and the Greek word for the conjunction “but” is δὲ which is pronounced “deh.” If you look closely at the text you’ll see that Luke uses this particular conjunction six times in the twelve verses he uses to recount Jesus’ resurrection. Each one is packed with meaning.
“But” One - COMMITMENT
The first
instance appears as the very first word in our text: “But early on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to
the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared” (v.1). This is perhaps
one of the most enduring images we have of that morning. A cluster of women
hurrying through the streets of
But what is Luke
“connecting” here with his use of the word “but?” For that we have to read the
last few sentences of chapter 23, where Luke talks about the women we now see
scurrying through the streets of
What is Luke telling us here? He’s telling us that even though they had seen Jesus’ lifeless body laid in the tomb, they went to him anyway. Nobody was watching them, they weren’t trying to win “brownie points” for attending to his body—they went out of love and out of loyalty to him. They went out of duty. They certainly didn’t go believing he was somehow alive. It takes the angel reminding them of Jesus’ words that he would rise before they would connect the dots. Look down at verse 8, “Then they remembered his words…”
I believe Luke wants us to make it clear that even though they knew Jesus was dead, they went anyways. I believe Luke is teaching the church that sometimes we perform our ministry in the name of Jesus whether we feel like it or not. We do our duty, hopefully motivated by the love of Christ as it was in this instance. And when we do, even when the task seems most dreadful—like anointing a dead body—we are presented with the greatest, most wonderful encounter with the Risen Christ we can imagine.
They thought he was dead….but they went anyway. The first “but” is about commitment.
“But” Two - COURAGE
The second instance of the conjunction “but” appears in verse 3, “But when they went in, they did not find the body.” The women had arrived at the tomb to find the stone rolled away but when they went in, Jesus’ body was not there.
I believe what Luke is teaching us with this second instance of the word “but” is about courage. Instead of running away to get the men folk to come and check things out, these brave women went on inside to check things out for themselves.
I’m a big fan of horror movies—I especially like the older movies like Frankenstein and the Wolfman and Dracula. I like them best because they leave something to the imagination; you don’t see the person get disemboweled or beheaded like the newer movies graphically show. There’s something even scarier than seeing violence and gore depicted on the screen and that’s when things are left to your imagination. At any rate—one of the things that has always gotten me is how in these movies whenever someone comes up to a scary cave, or a haunted mansion, or they open a basement door and hear horrible sounds coming from below THEY GO IN! I’m always like, ‘Don’t go in there!’ But they always do. I suppose they have to, or the movie would be over at that point, and so they go. Of course these people are simply acting and they’ve already read the script, so they obviously aren’t really frightened by the bumps and noises they hear. But picture in your mind if you will these women peering into the darkness of a cave, which is what Jesus’ tomb was—where they were certain a dead body was laying—and they went in.
That’s courage. Luke is reminding us that many times our faith calls for courage, even in the face of death. Most of us won’t face martyrdom for our faith, or even the possibility of physical danger, but courage is called for every day of our lives; courage to share our faith fearlessly, courage to take a stand on an issue that may make you appear to be “old fashioned” or “naïve.” Courage to take a stand with your children when they want to do something because all their friends are doing it. And some of you—especially those called to missions—actually will face physical danger and perhaps even death for your faith. Clearly courage is called for in our faith—Luke makes that clear even here on Easter morning.
“Buts” Three and Four – THE GOOD NEWS CALMS
OUR FEARS
The third and fourth instances of the conjunction but appear in verse 5, clearly the centerpiece of the resurrection story as Luke tells it, “The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men [angels] said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.’”
After fearlessly entering the dark tomb something more frightening occurred than the women could have possibly imagined. They found themselves face to face with two angels in the small confines of the cave. Talk about frightening. The women were terrified. But then the angels speak peace into their hearts by saying just seven words—seven words that have echoed down through history and changed the course of all humanity, “He is not here, but has risen.” These “buts” remind us of the Good News’ power to calm our deepest fears.
Luke is teaching us of the wonderful peace that these words can bring to every human heart. Every human heart that is filled with fear, terrified, hopeless, or lost can take to heart these seven words and know that no matter what…all is well. Why? Because our redeemer lives. He’s not dead and decaying in some cave somewhere—he’s alive!
There’s a wonderful scene in the C.S. Lewis movie Chronicles of Narnia where Aslan, the Christ figure who is a lion who has been slain, comes to life. Everyone else is far away engaged in a fierce battle, and the good guys are losing badly. Then, off in the distance, over the fierce sounds of the battle, the combatants hear a lion roaring in the distance…and they know. Aslan is on the move.
And that’s the way it is with you and me. No matter how afraid you are, no matter how stacked the odds seem against you, no matter what you’ve done—or haven’t done. Aslan is on the move…he is not here, but has risen.
“But Five” – THE CON OF THE CROWD
But the story doesn’t end there. The fifth instance of the conjunction “but” Luke uses occurs in verse 11 where Luke writes, “But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”
The words, of course, is the story the women told everyone when they returned from the empty tomb. They told the story to the apostles, no less, and they didn’t believe them, they considered it an “idle tale.” I’ve labeled this “but” the “Con of the Crowd” because I believe it reflects a crowd mentality. A crowd of men listens to a crowd of women tell a story and simply dismiss what they hear as an idle tale.
I read an interesting commentary on this incident that said isn’t it interesting that when the male, rough and ready shepherds returned from their fields at Jesus’ birth telling a wild tale about a host of angels appearing in the skies heralding the birth of the Messiah Luke tells us in Luke 2:18 that “all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.” But when the women come from the tomb telling about the angels’ announcement that Jesus was risen the apostles considered it an “idle tale” told by a bunch of hysterical women.
Stereotypes
about people, whether based on gender, race, language, or religion, can blind
us to what God is actually doing in our world. As in the case of the apostles
here, such stereotypes can prevent God from showing us what he’s anxious for us
to see. You’ll be happy to know that in the cathedral of
“But these words seemed to them an idle tale…” On the one hand this verse reminds all of us who celebrate Easter so easily how difficult it is to believe, even among those who were closest to Jesus. But at the same time we must remember that these same men—the apostles—who initially deserted him, soon became bold professors of his resurrection. All but John were martyred for their belief in this tale that, at the moment, they considered “idle.” It has been said that someone might be willing to die for a lie if they thought it was actually true. But no one willingly die for what he or she knows to be a lie. They who knew him best, those who spent three years with him and then watched him die, were in the best position to know whether in fact he had risen from the dead.
Sadly, today many still consider the story of Jesus’ resurrection an “idle tale” gullibly swallowed down by superstitious, ignorant people like you and me. And with that, they dismiss the entire episode. They adopt the “con of the crowd” without investigating the claims of Christ themselves, and that’s very sad. But the story doesn’t end there.
“But” Six – CHECK IT OUT YOURSELF
The sixth and final instance of the conjunction “but” is about checking it out yourself. This sixth instance is found in verse 12, “But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.”
Peter, you see, did what Luke insists we all must do. He checked it out for himself. He didn’t fall for the con of the crowd—he didn’t jump on the crowd bandwagon and dismiss what the women said. Instead he investigated the claims made about Jesus’ resurrection himself, and when he did, he was “amazed,” which, interestingly, is the same word Luke used in the account of the shepherds and the angels at Jesus’ birth to mean he, and they believed. Over the centuries others have checked things out for themselves.
Simon Greenleaf was the primary founder of the Harvard School of Law and is the man who developed the rules dealing with evidence in our courts of law that is still in use today. Greenleaf set out to disprove the resurrection, taking a sabbatical to gather the evidence. However, after careful study and submitting it to the rules of evidence, which he helped to develop along with Justice Joseph Story, Greenleaf reported to his law students that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was an incontrovertible fact. He wrote a book establishing the credibility of the four Gospel writers.
Sir William
Ramsey was a Professor at
Lew Wallace was
a famous Civil War general, governor or
What is Luke telling us with this sixth and last conjunction? He’s saying, check it out for yourself. Run to the tomb, stoop down and look in, see the empty grave clothes sitting there, and be amazed.
Conclusion
This morning I challenge you to take this little-bitty conjunction “but” and to hold it up to whatever it is in this world that is holding you back from God’s best for you. Believe me, it can stand the test and it will overcome.
You may have some besetting sin that’s holding you back, but Christ died for that sin and rose again so that it shall have no power over you!
You may have doubts about your worthiness before God, but did you know he loves you and knows every hair on your head? You are his precious child.
You may think you’re just too smart to believe such an idle tale, but don’t forget that those who witnessed it in person later died rather than recant the truth.
The Good News of Easter is that things aren’t always what they seem. What seemed to be tragedy but it turned out to be blessing. What seemed the greatest triumph of evil was really the defeat of evil. What seemed like the very moment that destroyed the disciples’ lives, was the very moment that made the transformation of their lives possible. Easter shows us that good comes from bad. It shows us that when God seems most silent He is often doing His greatest work.
As we arrive at the empty tomb on our journey on the path of discipleship today, what is the greatest need for your faith today?
Is it more commitment? Then remember the women who, even though he was dead, went to anoint his body and received the greatest gift they could imagine.
Is it for courage? Then remember those same women who stepped into the forbidding darkness of that tomb to face whatever they would find there.
Is it a lack of faith? Do you consider it all an idle tale? Then remember Peter going to the tomb – in John’s account of the incident he tells us he and Peter actually had a footrace to the tomb. Stand there with Peter, stoop down and look in—examine the evidence, and be amazed.
Are you full of fear this morning, or in bondage, or feeling lost and abandoned? Then remember the words of the angels to the women, “He is not here, but has risen.”
As I was reading in preparation for this message, I came across a reassuring thought I’d never considered before. The only place we will ever hear the words, “He is not here” is in the tomb. No other place. Frankly, the tomb is the only place we’d want to hear those words.
Think about it for a moment. “He is not here” will never be spoken in heaven.
Jesus will be there. There is no location on earth, but the empty tomb, where
“He is not here” will ever be heard. No matter where I am or where I go, Jesus
will be there. He has promised in his word that he would never leave us nor
forsake us. All across the world today, Christians will be celebrating the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter the name above the door or their style
of worship, or the color of skin, or the language, these words will not be heard
in their worship service “He is not here.” He is with us here this morning in
If you don’t know this Jesus this morning I have good news for you. If you will
seek him you will find him. He wants to be “found” even more than you want to
find him. As you seek him, you will not hear “He is not here.” It doesn’t
matter how far you’ve strayed from God or how wicked your deeds may be, or how
many times you’ve turned Him away; those disturbing words will not be heard by
you. The Bible promises us if we turn to him he will be there. We sing as much
in the song we’re going to close with today…
I believe that he’s here now…
Standing in our midst…
With the power to heal now…
And the grace to forgive….
Let’s pray.