The Empty Tomb

6 · The preacher reconstructs the historical and emotional context of the women at the tomb, emphasizing the depth of their loss—Jesus represented not just a friend but their restorer, their hope for Israel's redemption, their familial connection

And the first one is this. What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? I want you to think about what is the worst thing that's ever happened to you today? Because these women approaching the tomb had just had the worst thing in their lives happen. You have to think about this. Mary Magdalene was a woman who had been rejected by everyone else in her life. She had been used and had used others. She, she had no standing socially. People had rejected her, she had fallen to sin. And yet this man Jesus came to her and he restored her. And all the religious leaders wanted nothing to do with her. But Jesus moved toward her and was willing to draw her to himself and say, become a follower of me. And these other women, Mary, the mother of James and Salome, these were like the moms of the group of disciples that Jesus had sat at their table. They were, they were like, they would have treated Jesus like one of their sons. They followed him. If you want to know what relationship they would have had, this would have been. These women would have called Jesus mijo. Okay? Meaning that they had a familial relationship, that they were, they were tied together. And not only that familial relationship, they had hoped that Jesus was going to be the one to restore Israel, the one to kick the Romans out, the one to bring life again. They had seen him heal people, they'd seen him feed people, they'd seen him do miracles, and they thought, okay, this finally is the one we've been waiting for. And in an instant, he's arrested and by the end of the day is crucified. And it felt like not only their son, not only their brother, not only their friend, not only their teacher, but their hope and their life was gone and buried in the tomb.

7 · The preacher presses the congregational application of the women's experience, inviting each listener to identify their own worst experience and acknowledging the diversity of answers across the congregation

And so what is it for you? What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? Now, here's the challenge. We all have something different, right? Whatever. If I asked a hundred people or a thousand people, what's the worst thing that happened to you? Everybody would say something different.

8 · The preacher establishes the foundational theological claim that all human suffering and loss—however diverse in manifestation—shares a single root cause: sin entering the world in Genesis 3

But I want to argue something from the Bible that all of those big, unanswered questions in our lives, if we trace them down to the very bottom, they all have the same foundation. Now, a few years ago, my wife and I almost bought a beautiful house in the Mission Hills area of Utep, and it was like our dream house in many ways. It was like 100 plus years old. It was. I had these beautiful original hardwood floors. So, you know, if you're looking for a house, you're like, the original hardwood floors. That's where it's at. And so we get there, and the only thing was weird. It had this weird paint job that was all splotchy, kind of this weird abstract thing. But we thought, okay, we'll just repaint. It's fine. So we bring the inspector over because we want to buy this house. And the inspector starts looking at the walls and going, okay, that's. That's a little unusual. And then there was a crawl space. This was a house that was old enough that it had not a cement slab, but a. But a post and beam foundation. Okay? So if you have one of those homes, you know, those post and beam foundations, you can crawl under them. And the inspector came and brought us down into the basement and said, I need you to see something. And so we go into the crawl space, and in the crawl space there, you know, it looks unusual. Like, I don't know what a post and beam foundation's supposed to look like, but it doesn't look right. There's just something off about it. And he says, basically, I was like, well, so what's the issue here? And he said, the issue is the house is slowly collapsing. And I Thought, should we be under here? So we got out of there. We did not buy that house. And. And what we realized is all of those weird sort of abstract, you know, paint jobs, things on the walls, they were all covering the cracks that were coming up from the foundation. So essentially, whenever there was a new crack, they would just do some like, hey, you know. And they're thinking, we're really hoping nobody looks under the basement, right, and buys this house. And. And yet that is exactly what humanity has going on, right? All of us, we have different cracks in our lives. There's all kinds of cracks coming out, but all of it goes back down to the very foundation of life. And what is that foundation? Well, the foundation we see in the Bible is Genesis 1 through 3. God makes the world beautiful with no cracks, no problems. And yet in Genesis 3, here's what happens. Sin enters the world. Sin works its way into the foundation of humanity. Adam and Eve, they turn away from God. And friends, let me tell you, every crack in this world traces its source down to sin entering the world. Whatever you have going on, its source is sin. Because sin brings death. Sin brings brokenness. Sin destroys everything it touches.

9 · The preacher pivots from the diagnosis of sin as the foundation problem to announce that Mark 16 provides the solution, reiterating the first major question the sermon addresses

And, friends, that is why Mark 16 is such good news. Those huge unanswered questions of life. What do I do with the worst thing that's ever happened to me?

10 · The preacher quotes the angel's announcement from Mark 16:4-6, emphasizing the women's expectation that Jesus was just another dead hope in an endless cycle of death and loss

The answer is in verse four. And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe. And they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. Look, they thought, it's another one. Another one has died. Another hope is lost. Another crack has come out, and it's endless, and it'll never stop.

11 · The preacher declares the central claim of the resurrection: Jesus is the first person in history to rise by his own power, and his resurrection reverses the flow of death from the foundation

But it stops right here in Mark 16, when he says he has risen, he is not here. The first time in world history where someone who has died has risen in their own power, up again. And what it means is that he went down into the very foundation of the problem of humanity, that foundation of sin and death. And he began to make it work backwards. CS Lewis has this great phrase in his book the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where when the great lion, Aslan, who's a picture of Jesus, offers his life for a traitor and then rises again. And they ask Aslan, the great lion, how can this be possible? How can this happen? And he says, because of what I've done. Death itself starts working backwards down in the foundation. Instead of death, springing out. Life springs out out of an empty tomb, the very symbol of death. Instead, it becomes a symbol of life through the power of Jesus.

12 · The preacher connects the resurrection to Isaiah 25's prophecy about God swallowing up death forever, establishing Mark 16 as the fulfillment of that Old Testament hope—the day when the covering of death is torn off

This is. I wish we had time to turn there. But Isaiah 25 is written hundreds of years before Jesus ever walked the earth. And, and it speaks of a day, a day when God will, will take the covering of death and, and brokenness over the whole world and will tear that covering off where it says, Isaiah 25 says that he himself, God himself, will swallow up death forever. And on that day, God's people will say, he has saved us, friends. That day of Isaiah 25 is this day in Mark, chapter 16. That prophecy fulfilled, death itself begins working backwards.

13 · The preacher signals a move from theological exposition to concrete personal illustration, maintaining that the doctrine has life-changing power while acknowledging the need to make it tangible

Now, I want you to know that this isn't just an abstract idea, though this changes your life if you will grasp it.

14 · The preacher illustrates the doctrine of death-working-backwards through his wife's testimony—a woman who lost two sisters in childhood but found that the resurrection transformed her open wound into living hope that she would see them again

My wife Jen, who I've had the privilege to be married to for many years, years, is a living illustration of this. When she was growing up, she was born a twin. She was born with a twin sister. Maybe you've been to the church, you wouldn't even know that. But she lost her twin at a very young age and grew up with that loss in her life and in her family. And then a few years later, she had a younger sister and her younger sister became sick as well. And when Jen was in elementary school, her younger sister passed away as well. And maybe you can relate. Maybe that's one of the cracks of life. You have a loss in your life and you think, man, it'll never be put right. And I'm just going to live with this crack in my life forever. Well, she, she has this great story. One day she's going to church. She's a church kid. She grew up going to church. But one day God connected the reality of what was going on in church to the reality of what was what had happened in her life. And she doesn't even remember how the Lord did it, but she remembers this very real sense of understanding. Because of Jesus, heaven is a real hope for me. Because of Jesus, heaven is the real hope that I will see my sisters again. Because of Jesus, I have real hope in this life, not just an open wound that will never close forever. And she talks about how I've heard her share this a bunch of times, that changed something in her. Do you see it? Do you see how death itself starts working backwards from the empty tomb? The worst thing that's ever happened in your life, where only death has flown, is flowing out of it. Friends, because of Jesus, life can begin to flow into Your life.

15 · The preacher completes the first major movement of the sermon and introduces the second major question, pivoting from suffering inflicted upon us to sin committed by us

That's the first question. What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? But the second question is, what's the worst thing you've ever done? What's the worst thing you've ever done?

16 · The preacher makes the anthropological claim that sin is not merely an external problem (something that happened to us) but an internal one—sin resides in the human heart, making every person complicit in the world's brokenness

Because if you're paying attention, you realize, okay, well, then there's a problem with all of us, isn't there? If, if sin is what has brought death and brokenness into the world, right? The problem isn't just out there. The problem is in here as well, isn't it? Meaning sin isn't just something that happens to us, something sin. Sin is something that's in our own hearts as well.

17 · The preacher argues that the Gospels' honesty about the disciples' failures is evidence of their authenticity—a fabricated religion would hide the flaws of its founders, but Mark exposes them brutally, suggesting the text is truthful rather than propagandistic

And look, the Bible doesn't shy about that. The Bible doesn't try to paper over it. In many ways, Mark 15:14, 15:16 is the worst way to start a new religion ever. Because all of the founders of the religion, like Peter and the disciples and the apostles, it has all of their flaws in it. So if you're trying to start a religion, you're going to try to hide that stuff and go, hey, nobody look over here. Nobody look at that past. And yet this text is brutally honest.

18 · The preacher catalogs the disciples' failures in the passion narrative: falling asleep during Jesus's prayer, fleeing at his arrest, with Mark himself running away naked in shame

Remember, Mark 16 arrives. What the, Remember what the disciples are doing right before Mark 16. Right before Mark 16, these men who had spent three years with Jesus, who had seen him heal, who had seen him feed thousands of people, who had seen him do miracles, these disciples could not even stay awake to pour, pray with Jesus overnight. The night before this. And, and when the, the authorities come to arrest Jesus, what do they do? Did they stand in solidarity? No, they run, they flee from Jesus. In fact, the, the author of this gospel, Mark, inserts himself into the gospel in one place. In, in a. Here's what he does. In Mark 14, they come to arrest Jesus. They grab hold of Mark thinking, okay, you're coming with us too. We have some questions. He is so desperate to escape, they grab his robe. He leaves his robe and runs in his underwear down the street, screaming, trying to get away, utterly ashamed.

19 · The preacher focuses specifically on Peter's threefold denial, emphasizing the depth of betrayal by the boldest disciple who explicitly renounced any knowledge of Jesus at the moment when courage was most needed

And that's nothing to the apostle Peter. The apostle Peter does all of this. And then the loudest, brashest disciple is ever in that moment where it's like that's the moment to stand up for Jesus. He's asked, do you know Jesus? And he says, no, I, I don't know who he is. And then someone else asked him, do you know who Jesus is? And he says, I, I, I, I don't know. And then a third time, somebody asks him, do you know who Jesus is? Weren't you one of his disciples? And he says, I never knew him.

20 · The preacher uses a hypothetical illustration about letters threatening to expose hidden sins, resulting in confessions and flight

Right? And yet all those flaws and failures are right there. Right there. And look, here's the reality. If somebody wrote a biography of our lives and didn't leave out the bad parts, all of us would have parts of our story we'd want to hide, right? I remember reading about a prank years ago where somebody was. Was mailing letters to people in the mail. They looked official, and the letter basically said, I know what you did. I'm going to expose you, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. You get that letter in the mail, you know what happened? You know what the result was? People all of a sudden started confessing to stuff. They're like, hey, years ago, I had an affair, or I have a. I have an illegitimate child, or I have a second family. There were people that. That had embezzled money from their company for years, that just ran from the country, people that committed crimes and nobody had ever found out. And they're all sudden moving to Mexico, right? The reality is this. If we got that letter, some of us would be very worried, and we all should probably be very worried. And the reality is this. If somebody was honest about our lives, if we were honest about our lives, we all have parts of our lives that we would rather never see the light of day.

21 · The preacher establishes the doctrine that sin's severity is measured by both the authority and relationship of the offended party

Because, look, sin is not just a problem outside of us. Sin is a problem for us. And one of our comforts, though, in this. In the moment where we see, okay, well, the disciples, at least I didn't do that. That's often our comfort when it comes to our own problems, right? Where we go, hey, Walt, listen, I may have done something bad, but at least I didn't do that. We can always find somebody on social media or on the news and go, yeah, that person's. They're messed up. They're terrible. You see them. At least I'm not that bad. But here's the reality. When you commit an offense against someone, two things always make it worse. First, if you commit an offense against someone in a position of authority, well, the offense is greater, isn't it? Meaning that if this afternoon, as we're walking away or at your Easter celebration, if you punch somebody and take a swing at somebody, like, that's not great, right? Please don't do that. If you take a swing at somebody, that's not great. But if you hit one of the police officers on the way out of the meeting, we're going to have real issues, okay? Because of Their authority, their position. Or if, as you're driving, you happen to run into the commanding general of Fort Bliss and he's out there having lunch and you take a swing at him, we got real issues, okay? Especially if you're in the military. And imagine you run into a former president and they've got their Secret Service detail and you try to take a swing at them, man, you're probably not going to even make it through the swing, right? Because their position and authority makes the offense worse. But not only that, relationship makes the offense far worse too, doesn't it? Meaning if you take a swing at a stranger, that's one thing. But if you go to your office building and you take a swing at a co worker, that you know, that's worse, right? And look, how much worse would it be to take a swing at somebody close to you in your life, to take a swing at your spouse or your kids or your parents? That relationship makes it far worse. And if those two things are true, the offense is greater in proportion to their position. Their offense is greater in proportion to relationship. Friends, we all have a problem then when it comes to the Lord, because all of us have turned away from God the Creator and King of all, and God our Maker and sustainer. There is no greater position and there's no greater authority. And so we have the exact same problem these disciples do.

22 · The preacher poses the congregational question—given the infinite offense of sin against God, what hope remains?—and signals that the answer lies in Mark 16:7

And you may think, okay, well, what do I do with that? What is the hope for somebody like me? How can these apostles leave these details in the book and expect anybody to follow? You know? How do you know where we have hope? It is right there in verse seven.

23 · The preacher unpacks the stunning grace of Mark 16:7—Jesus's first post-resurrection word to his failed disciples is not condemnation but invitation to restored relationship

But go tell his disciples and Peter. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee, and there you will see them. Friends, this is such good news. Because after Jesus defeats death, after Jesus rises from the dead, his first word, his first word sent via messenger to his disciples, is not a word of condemnation. It's not a word of judgment. It is a word of invitation. A word of invitation saying, I am ready to restore relationship with you. You may have broken the relationship, but I have paid for your sin. I have risen to new life. And the first thing I'm going to do is give you a word of invitation. Come, join me. Come join me.

24 · The preacher emphasizes the theological significance of the two words "and Peter"—Peter's sin was so severe he was no longer counted among the disciples, yet Jesus specifically names him for inclusion in the invitation, demonstrating particular grace to the worst offender

Look, the. You know what gets me if you get nothing else this morning? Get this. You know what gets me is the two words right there and Peter. Did you notice that Peter had sinned so severely that he wasn't even considered one of the disciples anymore? It was. And he had denied him once, twice, three times. And Peter, and Peter.

25 · The preacher answers his own question about how Peter can be included by quoting Peter's own letter—ransomed not with perishable things but with the precious blood of Christ

And yet here's what I want you to. To hear one of Peter's letters. How can Peter be included? How can the Lord say, and Peter. Because Peter says that he was. And we were ransomed not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

26 · The preacher establishes the theological symmetry: infinite offense against God requires infinite payment, and that infinite payment was provided through the imperishable blood of Jesus Christ, making full satisfaction possible

Look, think about this. The. The offense is endless, right? Because of God's position and because of the relationship, the offense is endless. But, friends, the payment is endless as well, because the payment was made not. Not with something perishable, but with the imperishable, precious blood of Jesus Christ, man.

27 · The preacher applies the doctrine of atonement to the congregation—the same precious blood that included Peter includes them, making the theological claim immediately personal

Isn't that good news that because of that and Peter and you and me can be included?

28 · The preacher constructs an extended hypothetical illustration of Peter arriving at heaven's gates with a damning record being reviewed by angels, only to answer the question of his presence with a simple declaration: "I have an invitation

Look, I know there's a lot of jokes about Peter in the pearly gates, right? It's always like, the joke always starts and Peter goes up. You know, you go up to the pearly gates and St Peter's there, and Peter's asking you why you should be let in. Friends, I got a bigger question this morning, which is how did Peter get behind the pearly gates in the first place? I mean, don't you think he had a tough conversation when he showed up there? And the angel coming to review his record is going, look, I got some real red flags here, man. Like the last day you spent with Jesus before the cross. I've got some big questions. You. He asked you to just stay up and pray with him, and you kept falling asleep. Who does that? And then he specifically told you not to do this. But then you cut a guy's ear off, right? Which is a real thing that happened. You could look it up. And not only that, but after Jesus is taken away, you denied him. Not once, not twice, not. You denied him three times in a row. I'm going to have to get my supervisor now, right? So the supervisor comes out and they're looking at Peter's record, and they're looking at that. Look, just read the Gospel of Mark. And they're going to be going, this isn't great, man. I'm going to be honest with you. This doesn't look good. And they'd be asking him, why are you here? Do you know what I think Peter would reply based on Mark, chapter 16, I think Peter would simply say, I have an invitation. And Peter, it's right there. And Peter is my invitation.

29 · The preacher applies the invitation to the congregation directly, personalizing it by naming specific people and inviting every listener to insert their own name into the invitation that Jesus extends, offering the blood of Christ to cover whatever failure they've been carrying

Friends, here's the good news. You and I today have an invitation. You have an invitation from God himself, the risen and resurrected son of God and you insert your name and Ricky and Eddie and Lizette and Ingrid and, and insert your name. God himself is extending an invitation to you because you friends, you can have the precious blood of Christ cover that failure in your life that you've been carrying around because Jesus has died for it.

30 · The preacher shares his own testimony of serious sin during a church internship, expecting condemnation but receiving instead his pastor's reminder that he was forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ

Look, that is my story. My story is that I. Look, I grew up in church. I grew up thinking I was a good person. I grew up very self righteous. And yet there was a moment in my life in my late teens where I was, I was supposed to be following Jesus. I was supposed to be working for a church, doing an internship. I'd grown to respect the guys I was working with. I grew up thinking, man, I really, I want to, I want to be like these men that have invested so much into me. And yet I absolutely messed it up. I sinned. I had a hidden area of sin in my life and it came out and I thought, this is it. This is the worst thing I have ever done. And that's it. I'm not going to be used by God anymore. I'm not going to be used by anybody anymore. I'm just going to have to try to live my life and muddle through. And I called my pastor at the time and I said, here's what I've done, here's what's going on. And I expected him to say, pack up your stuff, you're done in the Christian life, or here's what you need to do to make things right. You know what he said to me instead? Ricky, it is my joy to remind you that you're forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.

31 · The preacher brings both major movements of the sermon to their culmination by reiterating the two answered questions (worst thing that happened, worst thing done) and then posing the empty tomb's question in return: who is Jesus to you? He frames this as the unresolved question Mark's Gospel deliberately leaves for each reader to answer

Look friend, I don't know where you are today, but the empty tomb will ask you a question as we close here. Those two big questions of life have been answered at the empty tomb. What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? Well, the good news is that the new life of Jesus can flow into that area of your life. And what's the worst thing you've ever done? Well, the good news is that the blood of Jesus can cover that and you can be included in and among Jesus people. So the empty tomb just asks us a question in return. And what about you? And what about you? The whole Gospel of Mark is set up asking the question, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? But it ends unresolved because God wants you to wrestle with this today. Maybe you've come out here today and you didn't even plan to wrestle with this question. But, but the gospel of Mark is pressing this question to you. Who is Jesus to you?

32 · The preacher makes a critical distinction between knowing about Jesus (intellectual assent) and knowing Jesus (personal relationship), then issues the invitation that Jesus extends to each person to enter that knowing relationship

And here's what I want to say in closing. It's not enough to say, I know about Jesus. You have to say, I know Jesus. And the good news is this. Jesus invites you to know him today.

33 · Closing prayer asking God to press the sermon's question to hearts, bring life to areas of brokenness and death, forgive areas of failure, and work the resurrection's power not just annually but daily in believers' lives

So I want to take a moment of prayer, and then we're going to end with. With singing today. Would you bow your heads with me now? Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray, Lord, that if you're working on someone's heart, God, that they would hear this question press to them, who is Jesus to them? Who is Jesus to them, Lord? May they hear your voice saying that area of brokenness, that area of death in their life. You want to bring life to it, and you're the only one who can, because you're the only one that's defeated death. You're the only one that's gone down into the basement and is bringing life out of death. And, Lord, whatever the area of failure that we bring in here today is, whatever the worst thing we've ever done is, God, the world doesn't have a solution for that. They say ignore it. They say, try to make up for it. But you say, I forgive it. And so, Lord, I pray if there's someone today that doesn't know you, that they would receive the new life and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. And for all of us, Lord, who've gathered to celebrate this, may this continue to work on us not just once a year, but every day of our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.