He Couldn’t Stay Dead
This sermon was preached at Sherwood Community Friends Church on Sunday, April 5. You can watch the video in full by clicking below.
What would it take for a love to be so strong, so binding, so covenantal — that not even death could interrupt it?
That is what Easter is actually about.
Last Sunday we stood on the road outside Jerusalem and watched a crowd go out to meet Jesus, palm branches raised, garments laid down, voices lifted, escorting their King into the city. We talked about the ancient ceremony behind that victorious moment of the royal procession being the people going out to meet the One they had been waiting for, and escorting him home. We said Palm Sunday was the preview of what was to come.
Then on Good Friday night, we were taken somewhere harder and even more spiritually sacred, cascading us through the blood of the Lamb sacrifice. This was the cost, the meaning and purpose for Jesus’s death on the cross. In the ancient Israelite’s Levitical sacrificial system, every year, families brought an animal to the priest to sacrifice on their behalf. Every lamb brought to that altar was pointing forward — always — to someone greater. What Jesus accomplished on Good Friday was the final sacrifice, by the One who needed no one to die for him because he had no sin of his own.
He paid the price for our sins through his death.
Palm Sunday was the preview. Good Friday was the price. And now we are here. Easter Sunday. The proof.
But this morning I want to suggest to you that the resurrection isn't just proof of something. It's the guarantee of everything. And to understand what that means, we need to step into the world Jesus came from— into an intimate Galilean village, to a cup of wine, and to a promise a groom made before he left.
Galilean Wedding Summary
A quick word for those who may be joining us for the first time today. In the ancient Galilean world Jesus grew up in, a wedding was the defining covenant event of a person's life. The groom would pay a bride price to her family, offer his bride a cup of wine, and if she accepted it, the covenant was sealed. He was hers and she was his.
He would then leave to prepare a place for her at his father's house and promise to return when it was ready. She or he didn't know the day or the hour of his return. Only the father of the groom determined when the time was right.
So she waited— actively. She prepared. She kept the oil in her lamp full and stayed ready. She anticipated his return because she had his word, and his word was covenant.
That tradition is woven all through the way Jesus talked about himself, his return, and his relationship with us. Keep this picture, of the Galilean betrothal, in mind as we walk through this morning together.
Part One: The Bride Price
There’s something specific about the character of God. Sin costs a life. Life is in the blood. And God, rather than simply declaring us guilty and walking away from his creation, chose to provide the sacrifice himself. Because of sin, there was a punishment we deserved, but because of God’s faithful loving grace, he redeemed us from sin’s penalty.
That level of love is staggering, but there’s another layer to this that goes even further.
In a first-century Galilean betrothal, when a groom came to the bride's family, he didn't come empty-handed. He came with a price. This is known as the “mohar”, the bride price or a dowry. It was a covenantal declaration that said, before her family and all witnesses: she is worth everything I have, and I will prove it.
The bride price honored her. It demonstrated his seriousness. And it sealed the marriage covenant before the intended separation prior to the wedding even began.
Good Friday was the bride price.
1 Peter 1:18-19 CSB "For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold (bride price), but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb."
The cross of Christ was not a tragedy from which God needed to recover. It was a transaction of love God initiated and had planned from the beginning.
Jesus, our Groom looked at his Bride— lost, broken, belonging to sin and death— and he paid what it cost to bring her, bring us, home. Not silver. Not gold. Not the blood of any sacrificial animal that needed to be repeated year after year. He gave everything he had to give. His own life. His own blood. Once. For all. Sufficient. Final.
The religious leaders thought Good Friday was the end of the story. It was actually the sealing of the covenant. The price had been paid. Which meant the separation was beginning. Which meant his return was guaranteed.
Part Two: The Weight of the Waiting
No one talks much about Saturday before Easter.
The disciples didn't know it was anything other than the worst day of their lives. The One they had followed for three years was brutally killed and lying dead in a closed tomb. The One they had believed was the Messiah was gone. The One who had said I will come back for you was now silent. And they were afraid, confused, and doubting.
This is the part of the story we don't sit with long enough because, after 2000 years, we know how the story of Sunday ends. They didn't.
And yet this is also the part of the story that is most like our own lives right now.
We are in a Holy Saturday season. The Groom has paid the price. He has gone ahead to prepare a place. Scripture tells us, he has left us his Holy Spirit as the seal on the covenant, a down payment on everything that is coming. (2 Corinthians 1:22 CSB)
So he put this Holy Spirit seal on us when we believe and accept Jesus as Lord, but he has not yet returned. And the world still looks, most days, like a world that hasn't fully heard God’s Good News so they don’t know how to wait. People are evil, corrupt, living their own lives their own way, and lost.
The Galilean bride understood this season of waiting. She waited, actively. She prepared. She kept oil in her lamp. She didn't grieve as though the covenant had failed, as if he wasn't coming back, or as if he was off living his own life galavanting somewhere else. She confidently waited as one who had accepted the cup and knew with everything in her that her groom’s promise was real.
Saturday is the season of keeping oil in our lamp. That is where we are right now as we wait for Christ’s return.
Part Three: The Morning of the Empty Tomb
Now we get to Sunday.
John 20:1 CSB "On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb."
Still dark. That detail matters.
In a Galilean wedding, the groom came for his bride at night. There was a shout. There were torches. The whole community woke up. The bride who had been actively waiting, preparing, keeping oil in her lamp— yes she was ready for her groom.
Mary came while it was still dark, expecting to find a closed tomb containing the deceased body of her Lord and Savior. What she found was emptiness, absence, and a folded cloth. This was a mystery that didn't fit inside the world she thought she knew.
And then she heard her name.
John 20:15-16 CSB "'Woman,' Jesus said to her, 'why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for?' Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, 'Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him, and I will take him.' Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, 'Rabboni!' — which means 'Teacher.'"
He— said— her— name. She recognized his voice immediately. Everything in her world shifted instantaneously. And her mind was racing!
This was the universe’s most glorious and miraculous event, short on creation itself, and it confirmed in that moment this is a Groom who made a promise, paid the price, and refused to let death be the last word. Amen?!
The tomb could not hold him because he had somewhere to be. He had a place to finish preparing. He had a Bride, a great number people, waiting. He had a wedding feast to host. He had a marriage covenant to keep.
Christ’s empty tomb is not just evidence of his divinity. It is evidence that his promise holds. That the separation season is real but temporary. That the One who said I will come back, meant it.
Part Four: Preparing The Bride
After the resurrection, before his ascension, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples. The Gospel of Luke tells us he appeared to them by many convincing proofs and spoke about the Kingdom of God. He wasn't tying up loose ends. He was preparing his Bride for the separation season ahead.
Right before his ascension, two promises were made.
Acts 1:8 CSB [Jesus said to his disciples,]"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 1:11 CSB [moments after he ascended, angels appeared and said,]"'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven?' This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven."
First Promise: I am leaving you with everything you need. The Holy Spirit is coming. You won’t be alone in the waiting season.
Second Promise: I am coming back the same way I left. Get ready and watch for it.
In a Galilean betrothal, the groom left the bride with gifts. These were provisions for the separation and evidence of his love and intention while he was away. He left her with what she needed to be prepared and ready when he returned.
Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit as the seal of the covenant and to be the gift of what we need so we are ready when he returns.
Ephesians 1:13-14 CSB "In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory."
A down payment. That is marriage covenant language. That is a Groom who has gone ahead but has not forgotten. It’s a Groom who is preparing, but has not stopped thinking about his Bride.
Part Five: What We Do While We Wait
The Galilean bride didn't spend the separation season doing nothing. She was active. She was preparing. She was keeping oil in her lamp and living in a way that said: I believe he is coming back and I am going to be ready.
That is exactly what we are called to in this waiting season between Christ’s resurrection and his return.
So how do we, as the Church— as his Bride— keep oil in our lamps while we wait?
It starts at a table.
Every time we sit down to eat, whether it’s at the communion table together as a church, or around your kitchen table at home, or across a friend at a coffee shop, we have an opportunity to do what Jesus asked us to do. To remember. To pause in the middle of our ordinary life and recognize that the Groom who paid everything for us is still present, still preparing, still coming back for us.
Jesus didn't say to practice accepting the cup just once and only in a church building. He said do this in remembrance of me. The remembering practice is the point.
Paul wrote, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26 CSB
The act of stopping, receiving, and saying yes to the cup all over again, we remember the price he paid on Good Friday and proclaim his death together as his Bride and that is one way for us to fill the lamp now.
Luke 22:20 CSB"In the same way [Jesus] also took the cup after supper and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"
The cup Jesus offered at the Last Supper was the cup of the covenant— the exact cup a Galilean bridegroom placed in the hands of his bride at their betrothal. When she accepted it and drank, she was saying: yes. I am yours. I will wait. I will be ready.
But keeping oil in the lamp goes beyond the table. It’s also about how we live together as his Church in the meantime.
Think about a bride in that waiting season. She didn't just wait in silence in a closed dark room as a monk. She talked about her groom. She told everyone in her neighborhood community about him. She lived in a way that made everyone around her aware that something extraordinary was coming. She was excited that she belonged to someone, that he had made a promise, and that she was certain he would keep it.
That’s us as the Church!
We keep oil in our lamps by gathering together, by remembering together, by proclaiming together God’s Good News that the tomb is empty and the Groom is coming. Amen?!
We keep oil in our lamps by loving our neighbors in a way that makes them curious about who we belong to. We keep oil in our lamps by refusing to live like people with no hope and by inviting everyone we know to get ready for who is coming. Amen?!
A bride who is head over heels in love with her groom cannot stop talking about him. She doesn’t need to be convinced or guilted into it. She just can't help herself.
That’s the kind of Church we are called to be. Not one who keeps the good news quietly to ourselves, but one who is so undone by the love of our Groom Jesus that it spills out into everything we do and everyone we encounter knows about him.
So we keep saying “yes” to the cup. We keep telling anyone who will listen that our Groom is coming.
Because he is. And we want to be ready. And we want to bring as many people with us as we possibly can. Amen?!
Part Six: The Return Road
The Groom didn't stay in the tomb. Jesus didn't stay dead. The One the crowd escorted into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey, one week prior, walked alive out of a garden tomb three days later.
He is risen. He is preparing a place. The Holy Spirit is preparing the Church as his Bride. And one day— on a day only the Father knows— the shout will go out, and we will go to meet him on the road.
And we will escort him home.
Revelation 19:6-9 CSB "Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns! Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, 'Write: Blessed are those invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb!'"
That’s where everything is headed. That’s what Palm Sunday previewed, what Good Friday paid, and what Easter guarantees. Not just an empty tomb to believe in, but a wedding feast to prepare for. Not just a risen Savior to trust, but a returning Groom to actively wait for.
Let me just say, none of this is about religion. It’s all about relationship. Our Groom loves us so much he paid the cost for us to invite us to be with him.
The price has been paid. The tomb is empty. The place is being prepared. The Holy Spirit is making us ready. And the Groom is coming back.
And everything — everything — is moving toward a wedding.
Come, Lord Jesus.
The return road is waiting.
Conclusion
Before we go any further, I want to leave you with one question to carry with you this week:
What is one thing you will do differently this week to live like someone who has genuinely accepted the cup from the hand of Christ?
Maybe it's a conversation you've been avoiding. Maybe it's coming back here tomorrow evening for our Men’s or Women’s Bible studies or this Saturday afternoon for our Pizza and Game Day.
Maybe it's simply telling one person that the tomb is empty, Christ is risen, and our Groom is coming. Maybe it's reading the Easter passage in the Gospel of John chapters 20 and 21.
Whatever it is, I encourage you to take the next step to do that one thing.
And if you've never accepted the Groom’s cup at all — if you've never said “yes” to what Jesus is offering, today is the day for that.
Invitation
The first step in getting ready for Christ to return is to believe in who he is and accept what he has done for us on the cross and by his resurrection.
Apostle Paul wrote,
Romans 3:23-24 CSB “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:23 CSB “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
To be ready when Jesus returns for the Church as his bride, we must first accept God's free gift of salvation.
This is mere Christianity, the essentials of what it means to follow Jesus:
Believe there is a God. You and I are not him.
You’re fallen. I’m fallen.
We violated the standard of justice and we can’t save ourselves.
God came into this universe, added humanity to his DNA, took our punishment for our sins upon himself, and by trusting in him we’re not only forgiven, but given his righteousness.
And one day he will return to judge the living and the dead.
If this has resonated with you today and you want to surrender your heart and your life to follow Jesus, for him to transform you from the inside out into a new person who says “yes” to following Jesus, pray together with me to invite him to start walking with you today.
And, I must say, we’re not walking alone. The greatest path to destruction is through isolation. We’re called to walk together to be set free to live in Christ’s Kingdom together with one another as the Church— actively waiting together as his Bride.
If you want that, and you’re ready for a change, let’s take the next right step and pray together now.
It’s a simple prayer and it goes like this: I’m sorry. Thank you. Please.
Father God,
I’M SORRY for my sins. I recognize I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I’m sorry for trying to fill my soul with other things than you. Help me not do that anymore.
THANK YOU for dying for me on the cross and sacrificing yourself for me. I believe you resurrected from the dead. I choose today to make you Lord and Master of my life.
PLEASE rescue me, forgive me, transform me, save me, and bring me into your Kingdom family. Walk with me because starting today I choose to walk with you.
In Jesus Name. Amen
If you prayed that prayer, and truly meant it in your heart, whether it was for the very first time or a re-dedication to following Jesus, I would love to hear about it and help you in your next steps. Please send me a message to tell me. I want to celebrate your decision with you and pray with you.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus you victoriously walked out of that tomb because you had promises to keep and a Bride to return to. We, as your Church, are that Bride. We are not waiting without hope. Your Holy Spirit is in us and we are sealed for you. Your word holds the covenant true. Your return is certain and imminent. We accept your cup. We are yours. Until the day you return, we will keep the lamp full, we will gather at your table, and we will say together: Come, Lord Jesus. Come and bring us home. Amen.
Sources
Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (IVP, 2008)
N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne, 2008)
N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Fortress Press, 2003)
Joachim Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus (SCM Press, 1966)
N.T. Wright, 'Farewell to the Rapture,' Bible Review, August 2001 — ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/farewell-to-the-rapture/
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