Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why The Resurrection Matters | New Testament | Mark 16

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

What makes Christianity different from all other religions? What sets Jesus apart from other people claiming to be the Messiah? Here's what made all the difference: what happened after Jesus died. In today's episode, Keith uses Mark 16 to share the importance that Jesus's resurrection holds in your faith and in your life. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mark 16

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. In the decades before and after Jesus, there were dozens of would-be messiahs who claimed to be leading messianic movements in Israel. In every case, the messianic leader was killed, most of the time by execution. And after the leader's death, each of these movements invariably collapsed. I mean, everybody just went home, and that was it, except for one.

There was one movement whose leader was crucified that didn't collapse. Not only did it not collapse, it exploded with growth. In the course of about 300 years, it spread throughout the whole Roman Empire. What is it that made Christianity different? What happened after Jesus died? Jesus died in mid-afternoon on Friday, and the Sabbath began at sunset. The Jewish law permitted no work on the Sabbath, which means they couldn't bury the body of Jesus that night or the next day.

So Joseph goes to Pilate, hoping to be able to be able to be able to do. to bury the body before the Sabbath begins. Pilot checks with the soldiers to make sure that Jesus is dead and then releases the body to Joseph who buries Jesus in his own tomb while women looked on. Here's how it goes down in Mark chapter 16, verse 1. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, brought spices so they may go anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb? But when they looked up, they saw the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young

man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him? But go tell his disciples, and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. there you will see him just as he told you. Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. See, what separated Jesus from every other person claiming to be the Messiah? What separates Christianity from every other religion is the resurrection.

Other world religions are rooted in teaching or ideas or philosophies, but Christianity is rooted in a historical event, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you aren't sure whether the resurrection really happened or not, don't worry, you're in good company. I mean, even the disciples didn't really believe that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. He had repeatedly told them that he would be crucified and rise on the third day. But on the Saturday after Jesus died, no one was expecting a resurrection. I mean, the women are taking spices to anoint a dead body. Men are hiding.

The women are fleeing and confused. Now, some people might doubt the historical reliability of the resurrection. while others might not understand the centrality of the resurrection. If so, then you are in a sense like a woman named Marilyn Sewell, who I'm sure you've never heard of. She's a Unitarian minister living in Portland, and she interviewed the late Christopher Hitchens about his book, God is not great, why religion poisons everything. And the following exchange took place near the start of the interview. Sewell, this Unitarian minister, says, the religion you cite in your book is generally,

the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian. I don't take the stories from the scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement, which just is that Jesus died for our sins. Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion? You can see what she's saying, right? She's saying to Hitchens, do you have kinder words for me, because I'm not one of those crazy Christians that actually believe what the Bible teaches? I don't actually believe in the cross and the resurrection and all that, here's how Hitchens responds to her. It's priceless. He says, I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice, our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningful sense

a Christian. Well, that says it pretty accurately, doesn't it? Sue wanted no part of that discussion, so she says to him, well, let's go someplace else. Hitchens is essentially saying you can call yourself anything you like, but if you don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, then you're not, as he says, in any meaningful sense, a Christian. It's one of the delicious ironies of our time that an outspoken atheists grasps the central tenet of Christianity better than some who call themselves Christians. What you believe about Jesus Christ really does make a difference in how you live. Even though he didn't believe Jesus was who he claimed to be, even though he doesn't believe

the resurrection truly happened. Hitchens understands that the resurrection of Jesus is of massive importance. He gets that if the resurrection truly happened, it's extremely relevant to how we think and live. Today I just want to look at one way that this passage says that the resurrection applies to us. And it is this. Because Jesus rose from the dead, he offers hope to sinners. In the passage I read earlier, the angels said to the women, don't be alarmed. you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who is crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they

laid him? But go tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. Now, what seems out to me in these verses is that Peter is mentioned twice, once because he is one of the disciples, and the second time he was referred to by name. My wife and I have four kids, and the youngest is named Luke. So imagine if my wife said to me, go call the kids, and Luke for dinner. It sounds kind of odd, but that's exactly what is happening in this story. When the angel says, go tell the disciples and Peter, the angel is obviously trying to make some point about Peter. But what's the point? Well, Peter was one of the very first disciples, and in a lot of ways, he was the leader of the 12. Because he was a part of Jesus' inner circle, he'd seen lots of

miracles. He even witnessed a few miracles that some of the other disciples hadn't seen. For example, Peter was there on the mountain when Jesus was transatlose. figured and revealed in all his glory. Peter was there when Jesus brought a young girl back to life. He, along with others, saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. And because of all he'd heard Jesus teach, and because of all he'd seen Jesus do, Peter was the first disciple to declare that Jesus was the Messiah. The trajectory of his spiritual life was just going through the roof until the day Jesus was crucified. That day may have been the worst day of Peter's life. Because after Jesus had been arrested and drug away by the Roman soldiers, Peter showed up at a place where he was being interrogated.

Outside the doorway, a servant girl asked Peter if he was one of the disciples who had followed Jesus, and he denied it. In fact, three different times that night, Peter denied that he even knew who Jesus was. So Peter had a chance to stand up for Jesus, but he lied and he bailed on him. Peter felt like such a loser, like such a failure, like such a sinner, and he ran off to be by himself and just cried over his own sin and weakness. When Jesus had needed him the most, he'd failed. That was the last time Peter would see Jesus before he was crucified. And I'm sure in some ways he felt like he'd betrayed Jesus.

In some ways, I'm sure he felt just like Judas. What's so amazing about the verses in Mark 16 is that when Peter was at his lowest, Jesus reached out to him by name. Speaking of Jesus, the angel said, He is risen. He is not here. Go tell his disciples, and Peter. Isn't that great? Go tell the disciples, especially the guy who thinks he's really blown it.

Go tell the disciples, and especially the one who committed the great sin, go tell Peter that Jesus is alive and wants to restore his relationship with him. And with those words, he infused a new hope into Peter's life. Hearing that Jesus was alive, that Jesus had defeated death, that he really was the resurrection and the life, gave Peter hope beyond his sin and failures. There is a message for us in this. No matter what you've done, no matter how badly you've sinned, Jesus Christ offers hope. His grace is greater than your sin. He says to go tell you, the one who feels like a loser, that he is alive. Now, a lot of people don't have that impression of Jesus.

They've gotten a different picture of Christianity, one that is more self-righteous and condemning. But there is a sharp contrast between how Jesus treated moral failures and how we his followers often do. We tend to reject people, but Jesus never rejects those who come to him in faith. Not only did Jesus reach out to Peter at his lowest moment, but Jesus appointed the Samaritan woman with five failed marriages as his first missionary. He offered forgiveness to tax collectors and prostitutes. Mary Magdalene, the woman who was seven demons, was one of the very first witnesses of the resurrection. And Jesus announced to the religious authorities, I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

After puzzling over that statement, C.S. Lewis concluded this. Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God. The proud, the greedy, the self-righteous are in that danger. Sometimes it's the failures. Sometimes it's the losers. Sometimes as those who know they've really blown it, they're the quickest to trust in Jesus. people outside the faith think that Christianity is for good people, for moral people, for conservative people, for people who have lived well enough that Jesus will accept them.

Deep down, you might be saying, I'm beyond hope, I've blown it. I'm sure God could never accept me. But the resurrection means that no one is beyond hope. Jesus rose from the dead and say, go tell the person who blew it, go tell the biggest sinner that I'm alive, and I want to have a relationship with him. The resurrection means that there is. is the hope of grace and the hope of forgiveness for your sin.