Title: Facing the Facts with Faith
Our title is a little different from what you might be used to hearing.
Typically, the thought is that faith and facts are contradictory.
Or people think that faith is what you need when you can’t trust the facts or what your eyes see.
This is a common thought among Christians even.
Maybe you might say this without thinking about it.
Maybe you’re like the child whose Sunday school teacher asks her class to write letters to God.
The little boy wrote, "Dear God, we had a great time at church today. Wish You could have been there."
Obviously, the boy’s faith needed a little more instruction.
Kind of like the kids that were at the church picnic.
There was a sign on the tray of cookies that read, "Take only one—God is watching."
At the other end of the table, two boys were at the sugar cream pie. One said to the other,
"Quick, take all you want—God’s watching the cookies."
But these are examples of innocent misunderstandings of God.
There’s plenty of those today that refuse to believe any and all evidence that they see of God
One of these is Richard Dawkins, who in his 2006 book The God Delusion, states:
"Faith is… the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence."
In other words, he sees faith as being contradictory to truth or what we fill in the gaps of truth with.
But I agree with J.P. Moreland who wrote, “In Scripture, faith involves placing trust in what you have reason to believe is true. Faith is not a blind, irrational leap into the dark.”
In other words, there’s plenty of evidence for God and the gospel truth of Jesus.
So, faith is simply the trust we place in the facts that we believe to be true.
This morning, we see two sets of people that are total contrast with each other.
You may recall that his whole section is contrasting people on the day of Jesus’ death.
Jesus and the Jewish Council
Peter and Judas
Jesus and Pilate
The mockers that surrounded Jesus and the Roman Centurion that proclaimed,
“Surely, this man is the Son of God.”
This morning, we see the contrast between a member of the Ruling Council and the other Jewish Leaders.
They all saw the same evidence in the darkness at Jesus’ death, the earthquake, the veil in the temple being torn.
Still, we see very different responses from the people involved in our passage.
So we turn to our last section of Matthe 27 with verses 57-66.
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
We can see a clear point that Matthew is making is that Jesus is definitely dead.
In verses 62-66 He’s making the point that Jesus’ body couldn’t have been stolen.
Matthew is the only gospel writer to mention the guards.
We can assume that this fact was useful to dispel the very rumor that His disciples staged His resurrection.
Justin Martyr wrote around 100 years later that people still believed that the disciples emptied the tomb.
Bible Exposition Commentary states,
“All of this was of God, for now it was impossible for anyone—friend or foe—to steal the body. Without realizing it, the Jewish leaders and the Roman government joined forces to help prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Last week, Josh mentioned Warner Wallace.
He’s a police detective that came to Christ after investigating the Bible and it’s claims about Christ.
I was loaned his book, Cold-Case Christianity by someone and started reading it.
A few statements that stood out to me have to do with faith and reason.
The opposite of faith isn’t reason.
The opposite of Faith is unbelief.
Faith is based on evidence:
The Christian faith should be grounded in tangible evidence He built his conviction of the truth of the Bible like he builds cases as a homicide detective.
Unbelief is a deliberate rejection:
Unbelief isn’t just a lack of belief but a conscious decision to reject the evidence supporting Christianity.
We see the contrast of faith and unbelief this morning in our passage.
WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST RESPOND WITH FAITH.
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
It was unusual for a person who had been crucified to receive a formal burial.
Typically, the Roman’s would simply cast the body of a crucified criminal on the ground and allow them to decompose, letting it stand as a warning to all who passed by
The Jews couldn’t allow this in their region.
Instead, they would typically bury the person in a public graveyard without any ceremony.
It was virtually illegal to stray from these final insults to the deceased.
This is especially true of a person like Jesus.
From Rome’s perspective, He’d been accused of being the leader of a rebellion against their rule.
From the Jewish Leader’s perspective, He’d been a nuisance for 3 years, claiming to be the Messiah
So, there were definitely some allowances made by the Roman officials for Jesus to be buried.
We can assume that these allowances were because of the status of Joseph of Arimathea.
Why was Joseph of Arimathea able to make his request and why was it granted?
Luke 23 tells us that Joseph was a member of the Jewish ruling council but didn’t agree with how they dealt with Jesus.
This means that Joseph had a lot of influence in Jerusalem.
But it also means that he had a lot to lose.
This request and his following reverent care of Jesus’ body would put a big target on Joseph’s back.
His fellow Jewish leaders would now know of his devotion to Jesus.
And now, it would’ve seemed even more ludicrous since the one Joseph put his faith in was now dead.
He would’ve seemed like a traitor and a member of the losing side and also a fool for still being devoted to his dead champion.
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.
Matthew expresses the extravagant care given to Jesus’ body as he’s prepared to be laid in a rich man’s tomb.
Joseph’s riches would be on display with the fact that he had a new tomb just outside the capital city.
And this fulfills what was foretold in –
* Isaiah 53:9 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
John 19 tells us that another member of the Sanhedrin was also involved in Jesus’ burial – Nicodemus.
This is the same man that came to him in John 3 and was told “no one can enter the Kingdom of heaven unless he is born again.”
John tells us Nicodemus brought 75 lbs. of spices and oils that were used to give a respectful burial for Jesus’ body.
The idea of the tomb being new would mean that it hadn’t been used yet.
This would seem like a no-brainer to us.
But tombs would’ve been used like a family plot in a cemetery. – image
The stone over the opening would’ve been designed to keep animals and such but could be opened again.
There would’ve been a slab within the tomb where a body would lay until it decomposed.
After a period of time, the bones would’ve been placed into a box and the body of the next family member to die would be laid on the slab.
It was a sign of deep respect and affection for Joseph to allow Jesus to be the first to be buried in his unused tomb instead of it being his own death that christened it.
Lastly, we should note that these men eliminated themselves from being able to celebrate Passover because of their handling of Jesus’ body.
61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The other Mary mentioned here is very likely the mother of James and John.
Public mourning for convicted criminals was outlawed.
These women were showing their devotion with their presence.
Of course, they would take notice of the tomb’s location so that, on the morning after the after the Sabbath, they could return and improve on the men’s dressing of Jesus’ body.
What I want to make clear here is that these men, and these women were standing strong on what they believed about Jesus – even amid their grief and confusion.
They were risking their reputations and wellbeing by showing their devotion to Him.
They were doing so when all of Jesus disciples had scattered.
I have to wonder if Joseph knew that Jesus didn’t take his tomb in only a physical way.
Did he know that Jesus died and was buried so that Joseph could be in God’s presence one day while someone would be burying his empty body.
A pastor was paid a visit by an angry parishioner.
The man shook his fist and railed about the statements that the pastor made about the congregation’s spiritual condition.
After the man said his peace, the pastor looked at him and referenced with a metaphor with a question.
“If you throw a stone into a pack of dogs, which one is gonna yelp?”
The answer is “the one that gets hit.”
A teacher said to her class, “Some students in this class haven’t been picking up their trash." Tommy: [grumbling] "How do you know it’s not the class before us!" Tommy’s classmate leaned over and said to him, "A hit dog will holler."
When someone defies the name of our Savior, we shouldn’t slink back or keep our head down.
We should be willing to “yelp” and let them know “That stone you threw hit me!”
Or “That’s my Savior you’re talking about!”
Are we willing to share as we’re told in –
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Remember, the opposite of Faith isn’t reason or facts. It’s unbelief.
Faith is belief of evidence.
Unbelief is a deliberate rejection despite evidence.
In verses62-66, we see deliberate rejection of Jesus as Messiah even with all the signs at His death.
Learn from the religious leaders and,
WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST, DON’T RESPOND WITH FEAR.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’
There are two things that are curious about v. 62.
Both of these curious facts have to do with the Sabbath.
First is the fact that Matthew seems to go out of his way to not call it the Sabbath when that’s clearly the day he’s talking about.
Instead, he awkwardly describes the next day as the after the day of Preparation
I think this may reflect Matthew’s total reorientation after Jesus’ death.
The Sabbath was made for the Son of Man as Jesus had said.
And by the time Matthew writes this gospel, His resurrected Lord has reorientated all of His followers to celebrate His resurrection on Sunday rather than the Sabbath on Saturday.
The 2nd curious tidbit about the Sabbath is that the Religious Leaders have no problem having a meeting on the day and with the Gentile, Pilate.
Not surprising, after lecturing Jesus for 3 years about how He needed to better observe the Sabbath,
these men toss out the rule book in order to get what they want.
It makes about as much sense as how people change their definition of what’s virtuous today.
Two years ago, Tesla drivers were thought to be “good” people who cared about the environment
Today, people think their “good” if they key the side of a Tesla.
Folks don’t look to human leaders for your definition of what’s good and virtuous.
The Religious Leader’s request leaves me scratching my head a little.
I know that they didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
But I also thought they weren’t really listening.
It turns out they were.
They tell Pilate that Jesus proclaimed that He would be resurrected after having been dead 3 days.
This is another great example of a person hearing the truth, it registers completely, but they’re not surrendering themselves to it.
Their pride kept their ears open only to criticize rather than to evaluate Jesus’ claims.
64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
They certainly don’t believe Jesus’ words because they’re fear is that the disciples might make it look like Jesus resurrected.
The statement that these men make is such a sad one.
After calling Jesus a fraudster/imposter they call His whole ministry a fraud.
And they top it off with anticipating a staged resurrection as a worse final fraud.
They got something right – Jesus’ resurrection has made a greater impact than His life.
His resurrection is His greatest miracle of all.
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
The Religious Leaders already had a number of Roman guards that were deployed to the temple.
Palate gives his permission to use them for this purpose as well.
Matthew is the only gospel writer to mention the guards.
We can assume that this fact was useful to dispel the very rumor that His disciples staged His resurrection.
Justin Martyr wrote around 100 years later that people still believed that the disciples emptied the tomb.
Bible Exposition Commentary states,
“All of this was of God, for now it was impossible for anyone—friend or foe—to steal the body. Without realizing it, the Jewish leaders and the Roman government joined forces to help prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
In the 1440s, the Printing Press was thought to threaten the livelihoods of scribes and challenged the Catholic Church's control over the dissemination of information.
The rapid spread of printed material was seen as a potential disruptor to religious and social orders.
The Telephone was invented in 1876.
At that time, Western Union, a dominant force in the telegraph industry.
The company initially dismissed the telephone's potential.
An internal memo from the company expressed skepticism about the device's ability to transmit recognizable speech over long distances.
Personal Computers became a thing in the 1970s
As they became more popular, they were thought to be a threat to the typewriter industry.
Companies and workers accustomed to typewriters thought computers were unnecessary for standard office tasks.
No matter what the industry, there’s always fear of the changes that new innovation brings.
What if the industry was intended to usher in the new lifesaving product.
What if the product was the Heimlich Maneuver?... “maneuver formally known as the Heimlich”
How crazy would it be for people to have protested the promotion of the Heimlich maneuver simply because they didn’t like anything from Germany?
Or worse, what if they discouraged teaching on the Heimlich because they somehow made money off of the pat-on-the-back method?
Similar to my very weird example, the Jewish religious leaders were intended usher in the Messiah.
But they weren’t willing to recognize Jesus as the Christ after 3 years of His teaching and miracles.
When He died, they saw the darkness and felt the earthquake and saw the veil in the temple tear.
Thomas Aquinas said something that was true of these men –
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
And rather than waiting and wondering “Will He rise from the dead like He said He would?”
They go and try to keep it from being staged because they refuse to imagine that He could.
What Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4 was true of these men –
* 2 Corinthians 4:4 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Today, people can still respond to Jesus out of fear instead of faith.
Like the religious leaders, they can miss the fact that they were made to be in relationship with God.
Our hearts are truly going to be restless until they find their rest in God, reconciled through Jesus.
What “box” do you tend to keep Jesus in?
Do you see Him as just a good teacher or example.
Do you see Him as only purchasing your redemption but without any right over you.
Do you see Him as being ready with grace for when you need it like a towel for when you’re done sinning?
Don’t keep Jesus in His place as just my sacrifice, just my substitution, just my advocate, just my redeemer
See Jesus as your resurrected, saving Commander and Chief.
Respond to His every teaching with faith, asking God to show you how you can apply it to your life.
This morning, we also have the opportunity to respond to Jesus in faith as we celebrate communion.
Why would we take this time to celebrate this ceremony as often as we do?
It’s because Jesus told us to remember His death with bread and drink.
How are doing so in faith?
We’re recognizing that Jesus was killed by human hands.
We’re acknowledging that the Son of God was put to death by people.
We’re not sweeping it under the rug.
We’re not hiding from the wrath of God that could’ve cleared the planet of all our ancestors in the snap of His finger.
We’re remembering it with somberness but not with fear but with faith.
Because we know that Jesus’ death had the purpose of bringing us into relationship with God.
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