Death Defeater

Acts 2:22-41

Introduction

Have you ever had a recurring dream? It may not be exactly the same dream but it is the same sort of dream or it happens at the same place or it includes the same people. I have had a number of recurring dreams over my life, usually repeating frequently during a certain period of my life. Many of those dreams no longer appear but some of them still do.

One that I still have is about me walking or driving by my childhood home in Merritton. I actually do drive by that house from time to time, so that is not unusual. But what happens in this dream is that I will see my father in his usual spot looking out the front window. My father has been dead for over fifteen years. I will of course stop to see what is happening. And there is my mother. She has been dead for over ten years. In the dream I have this memory that they are supposed to be dead but there they are standing there, talking to me. I don’t challenge what I see because I don’t want to break the spell. I want to be able to enjoy their presence and imagine what it would be like if they were still with me. Then I wake up.

The disciples knew that Jesus had died. No one survives a Roman cross. There were witnesses to the actual death. Jesus was placed in a tomb and it was sealed. It was as final as anything gets.

But on the third day, people were claiming to have seen Jesus alive. This was not something like my dream about my parents. This want just one person having a dream about a good friend who died but hundreds of people claiming to have seen Jesus while they were awake. This message of the resurrection of Jesus was the core of early Christian preaching. And it should be for us as well.

Resurrection Then

Let’s position ourselves for this passage. We are still in the same sermon that Peter was preaching last week. God had poured out the Holy Spirit and Peter had explained it by quoting the prophecy of Joel. It is important to know that Joel’s prophecy always had an “end-times” element to it. Keep that in mind.

But Peter’s goal is not just to explain what had happened, Peter also need to tell the people how to respond. The last part of the Joel prophecy was “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It would be nice if Peter actually explained what that means and that is exactly what he does. It is interesting that the Lord in the Old Testament passage was YHWH, often called Jehovah, but here is identified with Jesus.

Who was this Jesus? Peter begins by reminding the crowd that Jesus performed miracles. This is important but by itself didn’t require people to follow Jesus. There were later Jews who believed Jesus performed wonders but that he did it by black magic. 

Peter then spoke of Jesus’ death. Peter puts some of the blame of the death of Jesus on the people in this crowd. We must be careful not to use this as support for condemning the Jewish people as “Christ-killers,” as has happened too often throughout history. There were some Jews in Jerusalem that had yelled, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” But not all did. In fact at this point, every single believer in Jesus was Jewish. This was not about blaming a specific race of people. But the death of Jesus was important. And yet the death of Jesus by itself was not enough. Certainly not enough to get people to follow Jesus. Can you imagine telling people, “We want you to follow our teacher. “Oh yeah, what did he do?” “He was executed. You really should follow him.”

Peter then goes on to explain that Jesus was raised from the dead. In fact, that is where Peter spends most of his time. Peter mentions the crucifixion in two verses and the resurrection in eleven verses.That’s how important the resurrection is. It is not just an add-on so that the crucifixion is not too sad. The resurrection is the core of the Christian message. Lots of people were crucified in the first century. Only one experienced the resurrection.

I love what Peter says: “it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Isn’t that amazing? This is saying that the work that God was doing in Jesus was leading to the inevitable resurrection. While from human perspective, it looked like Jesus was in real trouble, but the truth is that when it came to Jesus vs death, it never really was a fair fight.

Remember when I said that Joel’s prophecy has an “end-times” feel to it? The Jews saw the resurrection as an end-times event. The end-times had begun with the resurrection of Jesus and the pouring out of the Spirit.

We are told that around three thousand people believed and were baptized that day. They believed not because they felt guilty that Jesus had died but because they felt hope that Jesus had risen. It was this message of hope that spread Christianity across the known world.

Resurrection Now

That was two thousand years ago. What about now? How important is the resurrection of Jesus to us today? Well, we celebrate it once a year on Easter and so that’s something. But do we really give the resurrection its due?

Years ago when people would witness to me, their message was “Jesus died on the cross so you can go to heaven.” Many saw that as containing all of the sufficient information. That is not even close. If you search through Acts and Paul’s letters, you will find plenty of times where the cross is not mentioned but the resurrection is. I’m not trying to downplay the cross. I’m just saying that it is the resurrection that really makes Jesus unique.

How important is the resurrection to us? I can only speak for myself. The resurrection of Jesus is why I am a Christian.

Many people who claimed to be Christian in the past did unspeakable crimes in the name of the church.

But Jesus rose from the dead.

People today, pastors, Christian celebrities, church people in the spotlight, continue to do terrible things and smear the name of Jesus.

But Jesus rose from the dead.

There are many things in the Bible that I don’t understand and that even make me uncomfortable.

But Jesus rose from the dead.

I see the selfishness and greed in my own life, the multiple ways I miss the mark.

But Jesus rose from the dead.

It is the resurrection of Jesus that is my foundation and that gets me through all of the other stuff that threatens to discredit Christianity. We don’t have to know everything but we need to know that Jesus rose from the dead. Thankfully it is one of the best attested historical events that take place in the New Testament. The most important thing also has the most support. That is a good thing.

Conclusion

The resurrection of Jesus was the core of the Christian message at the birth of the Church. Much has changed in two thousand years in terms of context but the message is the same. The resurrection of Jesus is the message that gives us hope.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope as a church as we bounce back from some difficult times over the past number of months. We see that God is in the business of bringing life from death. It is true for the church and it is true for us. We have been given a message of hope. It is not just a recurring dream, a reflection of our deepest desires. It is truth that is based in history and that has the power to keep us going no matter what.