While the Battle of Waterloo was being fought, the people of England were eagerly awaiting news of the outcome. England’s own Duke Wellington was a part of a coalition facing the mighty Napoleon. Finally, the news came. The result of the battle had been transmitted across the English Channel. Though foggy, the gloomy message was received: “Wellington defeated.” The devastating news spread rapidly across England, and its people were crushed.
So the women and the disciples, unprepared as they were, initially understood the message that Easter morning to be, “Jesus defeated.” Just the emotional drain associated with experiencing their Savior’s crucifixion would have been heavy enough on its own. They were still reeling, grappling with the reality that only a week ago their beloved Jesus had entered Jerusalem accompanied by cheering crowds and “Hosannas.” Now there they were, expecting to care for a dead body that was the aftermath of a corrupt trial that resulted in an innocent man condemned to crucifixion. That would have been heavy enough on its own.
As if to add more unbearable weight to an already crushing burden, his body wasn’t there! They couldn’t even carry out the simple act of tender care and compassion, an act of respect and honor for the Jesus who had touched their lives in ways that no one else ever would. And instead of clearly understanding what was going on, Luke tells us the women were “wondering about this” (v.4). There was confusion. The women felt defeated.
Is it safe to say that a good number of us can relate to that emotion in one way or another – feeling defeated? Over the course of your lifetime, has there ever been a span of time like the past couple of years where so many things have changed so much, whether we like it or not? Have you felt at times as if your own life is not yours to control? Has it felt like one thing after another happens just as soon as we thought we had adjusted, and now we are right back to adjusting yet again? It can – and has! – left many of us feeling helpless, feeling defeated.
That feeling of defeat can be caused by any number of other emotions. We see two of them in the Resurrection account: fear and skepticism. There are many experiences and emotions that can leave us feeling defeated, but fear and skepticism are perhaps two of the most notable.
We first see fear from the women. (As an aside, sometimes critics of Christianity or the Bible paint a pretty dismal picture of women and their role. The impression some have is yet another reason why I love the Easter morning account: it was not Jesus’ disciples, the ones we’d expect, the ones who were by his side for the three years of his ministry, who were the first arrivals; it was women. Women were the first to experience the most monumental event in history!)
Understandably, the women were frightened. They had arrived at the tomb to honor their Savior by properly caring for his deceased body. But to their surprise, the entryway to the tomb had already been opened, and when they stepped inside, there was no deceased body. Then, as they were trying to process everything and put all of the pieces together, two angels appeared! Luke describes their reaction: “In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground…” (v.5). Of course they did! What other reaction would one expect when in the midst of an emotional rollercoaster already, two supernatural beings beamed brightly before them? So the women did what any of us would do in the face of something similarly terrifying: they dropped facedown to the ground.
Now maybe you haven’t experienced that level of fear, the kind that left you on the ground, but you’ve experienced it recently. Fear of unrest and rioting in our own country. Fear of a virus or fear of a vaccine. Fear of political corruption. Economic fear. Fear for our children and the world into which they’re growing up and being influenced. International fear of war. Whatever our fears are, they end up feeding our feelings of defeat even more.
Or maybe you can relate to the other reaction described in this morning’s account that can also leave us feeling defeated: skepticism. Look at how everyone reacted to the resurrection message the women delivered: “When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (v.9-11). The women – now named by name, mind you! – rushed back to report what they had not only experienced but also what they had been reminded of by the angels.
On the one hand, we ought to find the reaction of the other believers to be shocking, because Jesus had on numerous occasions plainly said to them before all of this that he would die and then rise again. What Jesus had said would happen had happened, and it should have surprised no one.
Yet every one of us can relate to their reaction because dead people don’t rise from the dead! That’s the stuff of stories – fictional books and movies! So of course no one believed the women – who could blame them for being skeptical of what they determined was all “nonsense”???
Wherever you stand regarding politics or social justice or war or vaccinations or… the list goes on – we’re all in the same boat – skeptical of others. We’re skeptical of some of the information we’ve received. We’re skeptical of the source of that information, trying to determine who is following an agenda and who genuinely has my best interests in mind; we’re skeptical of other viewpoints on the topic. We’re all skeptical about everything, so a little skepticism on the part of some believers who had just been told that their crucified, dead Jesus was now very much alive, does not shock us at all!
So for those of us who can relate to the defeatism caused either by fear like the women experienced or by skepticism like the disciples, what is going to change? Are you happy to coexist with feeling defeated and allowing fear and skepticism to linger or is there another option? There are two, actually.
One, take note of what the angels encouraged the fearful women to do: remember. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words” (v. 5b-8).
Remember. Remember that Jesus said this would happen. Remember that the prophets said this would happen, just like Isaiah did when he prophesied 700 years beforehand this very event – Jesus’ resurrection: “he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth” (Isaiah 25:7-8).
Remember that God had repeatedly promised a solution for sin, and that solution was his Son – the same one nailed to the cross on Good Friday who forever turned the tables on death and overcame it for all. And Paul, the writer of 1 Corinthians, remembered the same picture, that by Jesus’ resurrection, “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (v.54c).
So in response to fear, remember; remember along with Isaiah, along with Paul, and along with the women, that Jesus was only doing everything that had been promised from the beginning – paying the price for our sin by his death, and promising us eternal life by his resurrection. He has risen, and fear and death have been defeated!
And what to do in the face of skepticism? Look at what Peter did. He investigated. He did not hunker down at home and hang on to his skepticism, reinforcing it further by gathering together with other skeptics who felt the same way. No, Peter challenged his skepticism. He didn’t just accept what others took as nonsense and rule it out; he looked into the matter more. He investigated it for himself. “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” (v.12).
Follow in Peter’s footsteps and do what the skeptic did: investigate. Peter may not have gotten a clear answer right away when he arrived at the tomb that morning, but he would eventually. If you aren’t as familiar with the Bible, the book of Luke is right near the beginning of the part of the Bible we call the New Testament. If you continue on past Luke, though, you’ll come across a very different Peter.
Check in on him in the book of Acts. Read his own perspective from his own two letters, the books of the Bible that bear his name. You will see a different Peter! You will not see the skeptic, but a fearless follower of Jesus. His doubt and skepticism are replaced with unwavering conviction and rock-solid determination that everything in life that matters for every single soul hinges entirely upon the Resurrection, which he resolutely commits to spreading for the rest of his life.
Investigate. Read the Bible for yourself. Study it with others. Ask questions. Explore. Look into these things to see if they’re true. It’s the absolute best next step to investigate and allow God the opportunity to convince you as he did Peter. Or, reach out to me and ask about upcoming opportunities to do so in person.
So if your feelings of defeat are the result of fear, remember; if they are the result of skepticism, investigate. When you do, you’ll find that God can turn feelings of defeat into victory.
That was what happened when the fog cleared. The message that had deflated a nation, the message, “Wellington defeated,” was incomplete. There was more, and it changed everything. As more of the signal became clear, the message brought hope to a crushed nation. That complete message was, “Wellington defeated the enemy!” Gloom had turned to glee. Sorrow turned into song, for what at first appeared to be defeat was in reality victory after all.
You know what? Defeat is a good thing. You just have to make sure you’re on the right side of it. And Jesus guarantees that we are because he was not the One defeated, but rather the One who brought about the defeat. He was the victor who defeated his enemy – check that – enemies! For it was not just Satan himself who was defeated, but his empty threats of death and sin as well. While we still experience those, we are not enslaved by them. Sin doesn’t master us. Death itself doesn’t need to terrify us if the One who himself defeated death promises the same outcome for all who are on the side of victory!