From 1952 to 1970, television host Art Linkletter hosted a portion of a show called Kids Say the Darndest Things. In one episode, a little boy was asked about his favorite Bible story. “That’s easy,” the boy answered, “I like the story about the resurrection of Jesus.” Linkletter asked the boy to tell the story as he remembered it.
The boy started, “Well, you see, there was a man named Jesus. He was God’s Son. But the people got really mad at Him. So, they arrested Jesus and crucified him on a cross. When he was dead, they took Him off the cross and put Him in a grave guarded by army men. He was dead there for three days when all of the sudden, He was resurrected…”
The story was a remarkably clear, theologically correct, and historically accurate account. His parents had to be smiling proudly—at least until he finished: “And then, when Jesus rose from the grave, He came out of the tomb, saw His shadow and had to go back in again.”
The message of Easter only makes sense if we’re looking in the right direction—forward into a new day rather than back into the shadow of the grave.
Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, you don’t have to languish with your past. You can live “after yesterday.”
Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon and buried that evening. Because the Jews didn’t work on Saturday, the sacred Sabbath, the women waited until Sunday to complete the burial preparations. Early in the morning, as Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and Salome made their way to the garden tomb, they wondered, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (Mark 16:3). A massive boulder had shut the grave closed to prevent robbery and so their question was reasonable.
But only if Jesus were still dead!
The women—and the rest of Jesus’ friends—were still living in the shadow of yesterday, before the resurrection. Their souls were still heavy, their future still sadly hopeless. John writes in His Gospel that it was “still dark,” no doubt an allusion to the disciples’ mourning hearts as well as the day’s morning hours.
Many people live in this darkness today. They are living forward, looking back to the difficulty and disappointment of yesterday. Yesterday, you experienced loss, you suffered abuse, you were trapped by addiction, your circumstances were financially bleak, or you made the biggest mistake of your life. Yesterday, you were lost in a cycle of conflict and chaos. You were in a cloud of fear and isolation. And it’s still dark.
And looking at yesterday makes it really hard to see today.
The basic automobile rearview mirror measures 4” x 11.” It’s just enough surface to let you see what’s behind you. But you can purchase a Fat System RM12 Extendable Clip-On Mirror online. It doubles your viewing width to almost 22 inches! It’s so large that it becomes difficult to see out the front window—which is how some people are living. Their past is so big that it’s getting in the way of what’s ahead.
This is the kind of life we should expect if the story of Jesus ends at the tomb. Everything is still dark and the best we have is the memory of a sad yesterday.
A NEW DAY
Fortunately, the story of Jesus doesn’t end that way for Him or us! It was after the Sabbath, on the first day of the week. It was a new day…not yesterday, but after yesterday! And though the women didn’t know it, they were about to discover the difference a day makes.
They arrived at the grave and the stone had already been rolled away. “As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed” (16:5). They were alarmed, not only by what they saw, but also by what they didn’t see. Jesus was gone.
The angel announced, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him” (16:6). You laid Him here yesterday, but that’s past tense. Yesterday is history and today is all that matters! In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to explain the desperate implications if Jesus didn’t rise from the grave. He also presents the glorious benefits because He did rise.
First, the resurrection makes Jesus believable. Anyone can claim to be the Son of God, a messiah. Mental hospitals and prisons are filled with lunatics and liars. But, if a man says, “Trust me,” and then dies and comes back to life, such a man is truthful, dependable, capable, faithful, and believable! The empty tomb is the greatest silent witness to the person of Jesus.
Second, the resurrection makes new life possible. Jesus suffered denial, betrayal, injustice, beatings, rejection, crucifixion, and death. But He rose above all those things to new life. And because Jesus rose, all those who believe in Jesus rise, too (Romans 6:4). This means that all your failure, sin, addiction, abuse, disappointment—the old life—can be left in the past and you can start looking forward into a new life with Jesus. Don’t let your rearview mirror be so large that you can’t see out the front window of life in Christ. Learn from the past but don’t live there. Jesus gives you a new start (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Third, the resurrection makes eternity hopeful. In John 14, Jesus promised His followers that He would “go to prepare a place” for them. If He remained wrapped in the Jerusalem tomb, it would have been nothing more than an empty promise. But, when Jesus walked out of the grave, He gave every believer hope of walking into life beyond the grave one day. Peter writes, “[We have] birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you…” (1 Peter 1:3-4).
So, don’t live in yesterday. A new day has dawned. Jesus raises you from your dead past and He offers you a brand new future. Trust Him today and start living after yesterday.
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See also the Easter sermon "After Yesterday."