Notes
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
Ephesians 3:20
Have you ever had a moment where you expected one thing and got something totally different? That's the heart of Easter. The resurrection of Jesus wasn't what anyone expected, but it changed everything. Don't lower your expectations of what God can do. He meets us where we are and deposits living hope into our hearts.
But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
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? He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 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."
Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples--and everyone else--what had happened. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened.
Luke 24:1-10
These verses tell the story of the women who went to Jesus' tomb, ready to prepare His body for permanent burial. But instead of tending a grave, they were met with an empty tomb and an angelic declaration: "He isn't here! He is risen!" They expected death and found life. They walked away changed--and God is still doing the same today, 2,000 years later.
Jesus was like family to these women. They had seen His miracles, followed Him, and now they were mourning His death. But God met them in their grief with a resurrection. And He meets us too--in our brokenness, sin, anxiety, and pain--with the same hope and power.
We live in a world marked by sin. Sin is missing the bullseye of God's glorious standard--and we've all missed that mark. But Jesus lived a perfect life and chose to take our sin upon Himself, dying in our place.
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved... For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Romans 10:9-10, 13
The enemy wants us to die in our sin. But Jesus speaks to our future, not our past. And by the power of God, He didn't stay in the grave. He rose, appeared to many people, and now intercedes for us from heaven, sitting at the right hand of God.
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Hebrews 11:1
Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me. "
John 20:29
The people Jesus is talking about? That's us. We believe not because we've seen His body, but because we trust His promise. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the grave now lives in us. That's what it means to be born again--given new life, a new heart, and a new way of living.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance--an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
1 Peter 1:3-4
Jesus rose so we could lay down what's in our hands--sin, shame, grief--and receive His promise in our hearts. Easter is about resurrection, but also about response. Will we place our trust in the risen Savior? Will we live with great expectations?
Group Questions
- What expectations do you think the women had when they went to the tomb? How did their expectations compare to the reality they encountered?
- Have you ever had a moment where God exceeded your expectations or met you in an unexpected way? What happened?
- What are some "things in your hands" (sin, shame, grief, anxiety, etc.) that might be keeping you from fully receiving God's promise?
- How can we live as people of "great expectation" as described in 1 Peter 1:3 - 4? What does that look like in everyday life?
Prayer
Thank you for the cross and for the empty tomb. Thank you for speaking to our future and calling us out of sin, shame, and fear. Help us to live with great expectation, to lay down what is holding us back, and to walk in the hope of your resurrection.