For us the story of Easter is 2nd nature. We have heard it so many times it just kind of rolls off of the tongue.
But to those closest to Jesus and to many in our culture today as it is explained it becomes a light bulb moment.
Thomas Edison filed a patent for the light bulb in 1879. With that invention, we are able to flip a switch and viola, light
Side note: As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”
Side note #2 His teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.”
What you just saw in the video were the disciples having a light bulb moment…a moment in time when they actually got what God was doing and they came from the dark into the light
Have you ever had a light bulb moment?
Luke 24: 1-12
But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. 5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. 12 However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.
Have you ever thought about how in the dark and confused Peter was on the morning?
“However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.”
That word “wondering” means to kind scratch your head and say, “I don’t know what this means” or “I don’t get it?”
The same Greek word is used in many other places
Luke 2:33 Simeon had just prophesied over and about Jesus and Mary and Joseph’s response was…
“Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him.”
When Jesus calmed the sea Luke 8:25 the disciples
Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”
What are you wondering about right now?
Do you have a big life altering decision you are facing? Have you made one and everything is still a bit foggy?
Are you trying to think about taking a new job, where to go to school?
Are you thinking about the next step in your career, your family, your job?
Thinking about putting the house on the market or adding on?
Thinking about what future investments you should make?
Let’s take a look at John’s account 20:3-10
Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.
“they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead”
Some of the scriptures alluded to here are these ones
Isaiah 53: 3-5
He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
Isaiah 53: 11,12
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Psalm 22:14-18
I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
Add to this the prophesies Jesus spoke about his own resurrection
John 2:18-21 destroy this temple and in three days
Matthew 12:39,40 Jonah in the well so will the son of man be
Matthew 16:21 Jesus says plainly I have to die and then I will rise again on the third day
The Pharisees had better memories than the disciples Matthew 27: 62-64 They told Pilate to guard the tomb because Jesus said after three days he would rise again
You may be in the dark about who Jesus really is for you or for your situation today
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1
All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Matthew 28:18
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17
Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. John 8:7
If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. Matthew 19:21
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8
I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
That’s a light-bulb moment! He is risen. He is risen, indeed!