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Sermon Notes
I. An Idle Tale? Luke 24:1-12
A. The resurrection was dramatic, but not without precedent or historical context.
1. The angels say, “Remember how he told you” (vv. 6-7).
2. Jesus had raised the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow from Nain and Lazarus from the dead (there may have been others, but the incidents are not recorded).
3. Once reminded in this dramatic fashion, the women, despite their fear (v. 5), “remembered his words” (v. 8) and there is a beginning of hope and belief.
B. A matter of credibility.
1. The eleven (all men) and all the rest (v.9) failed to believe the women, not “remembering how Jesus told them” (v. 6). “Their words seemed to them an idle tale” (NIV – “like nonsense”). (v. 11).
2. The information did not fit with their messianic expectations.
3. Women were considered to be unreliable witnesses in their courts and culture.
4. But, Peter and John (see gospel of John) are the exceptions. They run to the tomb and Peter, upon entering, sees the undisturbed grave clothes.
a. He still does not remember and believe (John does), but he is no longer scoffing …. instead “he went away, wondering to himself what had happened” (v. 12).
C. So …. is it all an idle tale?
1. If it is all nonsense, then we should discard any pretense of a life of faith and focus on urgent, human-centric lives.
2. If it is not …. if Jesus has done what he told his followers he was going to do …. Then, those of us who believe should be living lives which have been radically reordered for the work of the kingdom of God.