Jail sermon #5

Our Old Testament reading comes from the book of Exodus chapter 15 verses 1 thru 11:

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
“I will sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.?a?
5 The deep waters have covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.
6 “Your right hand, O LORD,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, O LORD,
shattered the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.
8 By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood firm like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 “The enemy boasted,
‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
and my hand will destroy them.’
10 But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.
11 “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD?
Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

Our New Testament reading comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 thru 11.

15 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance??: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter,? and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.


The text we will consider in our message today comes from the Gospel according to Luke chapter 24 verses 1 thru 12:

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.



It was Sunday, nearly two thousand years ago, a small group of Jewish women had set out to go to the grave of their friend and mentor, who had died on Friday, only a few hours before their traditional Sabbath, which took place on Saturday.

It was Jewish custom that absolutely no work be done on the Sabbath. This custom was so stringent that the mere cracking of a peanut shell would be considered work and grounds for severe punishment. Therefore they had no choice but to wait until Sunday.

The women were going to the grave, a tomb carved out of a rocky hillside, to finish embalming his body and to mourn his death because there was not enough time for them to do so two days prior.

Before we go any further, perhaps it would do us well if we were to recap the events that happened to this man, mentor, and friend prior to his death and burial.

This man was none other than Jesus Christ.

A week ago Sunday, about two thousand years ago, Jesus had entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey’s colt. His disciples and other followers had honored him singing and shouting “Hosanna, Hosanna” “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”? “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

They also placed their cloaks, tree branches, and palm leaves on the road in front of him, as he rode in to town. They did this because of the unsanitary conditions of the streets.

Any regular citizen would normally have to weave a path through stagnant water, raw sewage, and rotting food. This was normal.

Only when royalty entered town were these kinds of things done for them and to honor them.

Why is this significant you may ask.

The significance of what Jesus has done is immediately apparent to the people who are following. Jesus is consciously fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). Matthew and John quote this prophecy in telling the story of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The people spread cloaks on the road as a kind of royal carpet.

They were honoring Jesus as their King

The next few days, Monday thru Wednesday were filled with several events.

Jesus cleared the temple of merchants and peddlers who had desecrated the temple by making it a “den of robbers” as he had put it. They had set up tables and were selling animals for sacrifice and other wares. Something that was forbidden by God’s decree.

He taught his 12 disciples of many different things during these last few days. He preached to his followers.

He also was constantly being hounded by his enemies, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin and their followers. They wanted Jesus dead. They fought against Jesus’ teachings. They wanted nothing better for Jesus than to push him off of a very tall cliff.

Jesus was bringing the people a message of salvation through repentance and belief in him as their Savior while his enemies taught that salvation came through works and keeping the law.

The enemies of Christ could not get Jesus to fall in their traps, which angered them all the more. They HATED Jesus. They wanted him DEAD. He was causing them all kinds of problems by turning their followers against them.

Then, late on Tuesday night, one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas Iscariot, the corrupt keeper of the treasury, who helped himself to the ministry’s money as often as he wished, who was likely to be disgruntled and angry to the point of hate because Jesus had rebuked him and was not the King whom Judas had expected, came to the Pharisees and agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, which was a miserably small amount of money. Judas had become an instrument of Satan, and he began looking for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them while there were no crowds around.

Satan had taken such full possession of Judas’ soul that he was deaf to all the divine grace and truth he had heard from Jesus’ lips, and which could have made him shrink from the deed he contemplated.

Thursday evening came and it was time to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jesus had directed two of his disciples to prepare the upper room, where they would celebrate the hasty meal of whole roast lamb, bread made without yeast, and bitter herbs. This wasn’t any regular meal. This was the Last Supper Jesus would have with his disciples. Before the meal, the disciples were arguing with one another about who would be the greatest. In response, Jesus gave them an object lesson and washed his disciples feet, in order to teach them humility. By his example, he taught them that in order to be the greatest they must be the least, just as he was.

This lesson is meant as an example of love. Jesus washed his apostles’ feet, not merely to put them to shame, though he surely did that. He was giving a visual demonstration of the love that forgets to feel superior to others; love that stoops to the lowliest service for the physical and spiritual welfare of others—and is not even conscious that it is stooping; love that pays no attention to the cost of service to a fellow man, especially a fellow believer in Christ. It is self-effacing love that is not bent on recognition and reward, but seeks only the approval of Jesus.
Therefore, “?to wash one another’s feet?” means to practice genuine love toward our fellow men, especially our fellow Christians.

Such love “?does not boast, it is not proud?” (?1 Corinthians 13:4). In other words, it is a humble love that is alert to the needs of others and acts to meet those needs. Of course, we are not capable of such love by nature. We gain it and practice it in some measure only as we have learned it from our great Teacher and Lord.

Later that evening, Jesus predicted Peter’s denial, predicted his death and resurrection, instituted the Lord’s Supper, by which we celebrate communion today, and, while giving him every opportunity to repent, excused Judas from the meal. When Judas left, he became a full disciple of Satan.

After the meal, Jesus and the 11 remaining disciples went to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus could pray. Jesus agonized in prayer with his Father in heaven while his disciples could do no more than sleep. It is important to remember that Jesus’ prayers to his father were not those of begging his Father to keep him from experiencing what was about to happen but rather to give him the strength he would need to endure what he had accepted to be his ultimate reason for coming to earth as the Son of God. He was about to substitute for us and pay the ultimate price we owe to God for all of the sins we have committed in our lives. The price of death and complete separation from God.

Enter Judas and his small army. Again, Jesus gives him an opportunity to repent of what he is going to do, but Judas in his unbelief, betrays the Son of God into his enemies hands with a kiss.

Peter tries to fight them off, and cuts off the ear of a servant, which Jesus immediately healed. Jesus is bound, taken into custody, and led off to be tried for blasphemy and insurrection. The small army Judas had brought also tried to seize the disciples but they all fled, one who was caught by his clothing, pulled free from it and fled naked.

Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and Pharisees where he was tried. Many false witnesses came before the trial and testified but none of their stories matched. Finally, the Chief Priest, Caiaphas asked Jesus directly if he was the Son of God. Jesus of course answered yes. According to Caiaphas, this was enough proof for blasphemy. He asked all assembled what to do with Jesus, they beat him, mocked him, and decided he was worthy of the death sentence.

The country was under occupation by the Romans at the time, and through this occupation, the Jews were not allowed to carry out the death penalty, only the Romans could. So Jesus was brought before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate.

The Chief Priest and Sanhedrin presented their case to Pilate, but Pilate did not take only their word. He decided to question Jesus himself. Pilate took Jesus into the palace and questioned him and discovered there was no basis for the charge. Jesus was an innocent man, truly innocent without blame of any sin of any kind. Pilate also discovered that it was because of jealousy and many other reasons the Jews, who did not believe in the gospel message Jesus had brought to them, wanted him dead.

Pilate tried many times to release Jesus after that. He sent Jesus to the Jewish King Herod who didn’t want anything to do with Jesus except to have Jesus show him a great miracle of some sort, which never happened. Herod and his guards beat him, spat on him, and mocked him. They placed an elegant robe on Jesus and sent him back to Pilate.

When Jesus arrived, Pilate again appealed to the Jews, punishing Jesus by having him flogged, a terrible punishment where a whip with many leather straps interlaced with bits of sharp bone was used to beat and scourge Jesus. A crown of thorns was twisted together and placed on Jesus’ head and hit with sticks. Jesus got it worse than any one else ever would have. The flogging had definitely left the skin on his back and legs in shards, he looked like hamburger. His loss of blood had to be immense. Pilate ordered this punishment in an attempt to set Jesus free. He may have thought that once the Jews saw how badly beaten Jesus was, they would have pity on this innocent man and release him.

The Jews would have none of it. “Crucify!” was what they wanted.

Pilate tried one last time by offering the custom of releasing a prisoner for the Passover. Pilate tried to stack the deck by offering them the worst criminal he had on prison, Barrabus, a man who was a terrorist in his time, who had murdered many, He gave the Jews a choice, Jesus or Barrabus. The Jews chose Barrabus and accused Pilate of being no friend of Cesar, the Roman Emperor.

Pilate, being the politician he was, exercised his political power, and condemned Jesus to die by crucifixion. He tried to put a spin on it by “washing his hands” of what he had done, but by sentencing an innocent man to death, he had become just as guilty as the Jews.

The day was Friday, it was afternoon, and Jesus was nailed upon a cross. He hung there, abandoned by his friends, his disciples, and his God, to suffer our pain, our death and our total separation from God, for us, in our place. When Jesus had paid the price in full, he then gave up his spirit and died.

Jesus’ lifeless body was later taken from the cross and hastily placed in a tomb, because the Sabbath was only a few hours away………

So here we are, back to the women walking to the grave of their friend and mentor, Jesus. They get there ready to finish embalming Jesus, and what do they find? Two very bright and shining angels, and one very empty tomb.

The women are terrified, they were mournful, and extremely depressed and what do they find? The Glory of God. Bright like lightning! Two of God’s holy angels were there and asked the women,
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”

Just imagine their astonishment, Jesus? ALIVE? How could this be? We saw him die on Friday! Scripture then tells us in verse 8: 8 Then they remembered his words.

He’s ALIVE! He is RESURRECTED!

Why is this so important? Because if Jesus had not risen from the dead, he would not have overcome the power of sin, and death, and the devil for US! We would all be DOOMED to HELL!

But, by the Grace of God, he accepted Jesus’ pure and holy sacrifice of himself as payment in full for our sins, for all of us! For free!

It says later in scripture, that the women ran back to the disciples to tell them the most awesome news anyone could ever hear.

Just imagine their excitement, joyful screaming and laughter! At this point, the disciples didn’t quite get it yet, but shortly they will, and when they do, they will be shouting from the highest hill tops and lowest valleys of the Good News. Sin, Hell, and Death have been defeated, the grave could not hold the King!

Salvation has been bought for you and me. No longer do we have to wallow in the pity of our sin and condemnation. God has accepted Jesus sacrifice and credited it to US as Righteousness! With NO conditions and NO strings attached. We all have been SAVED through our faith in this promise!

Tomorrow is when Easter, the resurrection of the Son of God and Son of Man, is celebrated in the Christian Church. I would like to leave you with a little hymn verse that I enjoy using when greeting fellow Christians during Easter and the Sundays following. It is simple and reminds me of the gospel message of THE promise made, and THE promise kept it is “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!” Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN


The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you,
The Lord look on you with favor, and Give you peace. AMEN