Jesus is Risen!
Luke 24:1-12

The gospel is not good news without the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  It was a horrifying weekend for followers of Jesus.  Their hopes and dreams were shattered by a cross on Friday afternoon. Jesus was the one they thought would restore the kingdom to Israel, their expected messiah; whom they did not expect would die; neither they expected him to rise from the dead.  They thought everything ended with the death of Jesus.  Fear and insecurity had gripped them.  They did not know what to think or make of the events on Friday.  Any news about resurrection was also be shocking to Jesus’s followers.  If they had expected it, they had not been so sad and fearful.  They would have been ready for it. They had forgotten Jesus’s words to them about the resurrection.
The four gospels tell us the story of the resurrection, and they all have women as the first witnesses of the Empty tomb.  These women had gone to the tomb also expecting to find a dead body. They went to anoint the body with spices they had prepared.  However, the unexpected happened!  They didn’t find the body there.
Luke 24:1-12
The women became the first witnessed of the empty tomb; If the writers of the gospel were to invent the resurrection as some people tend to believe; then they had not placed women as the first witnesses of the empty tomb because in the first century, women’s testimony was regarded untrustworthy, unreliable.  The writers of the gospels have women as the first witnesses because this is truly what happened.
(v.4) the women were confused by the empty tomb.
-The women were thinking who was going to remove the large stone at the entrance of the tomb.  When they got there, the stone had been rolled away, which would make their job easier, now let’s go in to find the body, but the body wasn’t there. (v.4)  they wondered why the body wasn’t there.
Angels’ announcement (v.5)
Two angels appeared and told them the reason the tomb was empty.
“Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”
He is not here, he has risen. (v.6)

The resurrection verifies Jesus’ identity. (7-8)

Jesus openly spoke of the resurrection to his disciples.  He told them he would rise from the dead.  Remember what he told you when he was in Galilee? (v7) Matt.16:21 “The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again”
Even though Jesus spoke openly about the resurrection to his disciples, they didn’t understand it.  They did not expect Jesus to rise from the grave.

The women remembered what Jesus had talked about.(v.8)
Then they went back to share the greatest news with the apostles.  The news that Jesus is alive.The apostles didn’t believe the women’s testimony, (v.11) their words seemed like nonsense, it didn’t make sense.
Peter went to the tomb and saw the strips of linen lying by themselves.  He didn’t know what to make of what he saw.  He didn’t expect the resurrection!
The apostles could not have made up the resurrection since they didn’t expect or believed when the women told them.  The apostles could have not invented the resurrection since they were hiding from the authority for fear.  Why would you want to fabricate a story that would cost you your very life?

What changed for the apostles? What transformed these coward apostles?
The risen Jesus.  They saw Jesus alive.
Jesus began to appear to his followers, he let his followers see him.
Two disciples were traveling on the road. Luke 24:13-33
The things about Jesus, a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God.
Jesus appeared to the eleven apostles (Luke 24:36-48)
The resurrection of Jesus turned coward disciples into brave witnesses.
We can’t stop telling you what we have seen and heard. (Acts 2:22-24; 31-32; Acts 4:10-12)  The religious people could not disprove the testimonies of the witnesses that saw Jesus alive.
Christianity exists today because of the resurrection of Jesus.
The resurrection of Jesus the foundation for the Christian faith; without it there is no Christianity.  (I Cor.15:13-20) The church was founded on this; if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead our preaching is useless, our faith is worthless and we have no hope and still guilty of our sin and under the curse of God.
Our Lord conquered death and promises that those who are his will also conquer death.  We too will rise when he calls our names. “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even if he dies. (John 11:25). This is the hope we have because of Christ.  Our Lord, Messiah is alive.  Our belief is not based on a dead Messiah, but one who is alive.  Our God has conquered the grave and promises eternal life to those who believe in him.