The Greatest Story Ever Told

 by Michele Cox

When I was 10 years old, I remember hearing of a movie called “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”  I don’t think I ever saw the movie.  But I think you guys have movies that you might think are great.   How about Lord of the Rings?  You probably think that’s a great movie, but The Greatest Story Ever Told is about another Lord….THE ULTIMATE LORD… The REAL Lord…It’s the story about God’s son, the Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ.

Today is a special day.  It is the Sunday after the Passover.  As I taught you in my lessons this time last year, Jesus was crucified at the time that the Jewish people were killing perfect lambs for their Passsover dinner. The Passover this year was yesterday, and so this is the first Sunday after the Passover, which means it is the anniversary of the Sunday when Jesus was raised from the dead.  We call this Resurrection Sunday. 

So I thought we should hear some what happened on this day over 2000 years ago. 

As you know, Jesus lived his whole life with out ever sinning. He was tempted to, but he was strong and resisted that temptation.

He taught the people a new way to obey God, and he showed the Jewish teachers and leaders of the day how they were not being good teachers of God’s law and his plan.    They were afraid Jesus would be too powerful with everyone wanting to follow him and not them.  And so they wanted to have him put to death.  There were other reasons, but basically, the church leaders convinced the “police” of the day, the Roman government, to crucify him like a criminal.   They beat him and nailed him to a cross. It was a horrible, painful way to die. 

Jesus’s friends and followers, the Apostles, didn’t want Jesus to die.  They didn’t really understand that this was a part of God’s plan for all mankind, which was for a sinless person, the son of God, to die to pay the penalty for the sins of all mankind.  But this is like what they had been doing for hundreds of years for Passover, when they killed a perfect lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts to remember when the Angel of Death passed over their houses in Egypt so their firstborn would be saved.  They didn’t understand,  that the perfect lamb symbolized Jesus.

His followers understood that Jesus came to teach them about the coming Kingdom of God.  But they did not yet understand the rest of why Jesus came.  He explains to them about his mission in

 Luke 9:22   “The son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” 

I won’t go into all the details of the trial and killing of Jesus.  But I do want you to understand that this was the plan of God for him.  So that the penalty for sin, which is death, would be paid by Jesus, so all mankind can repent and follow him, and when a person accepts that penalty for his or her own sins, and chooses to live a righteous life, and be baptized, they will be able to live forever in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus taught them that even if they die in this physical life, (and face it, we pretty much all die eventually) they will not remain dead forever but will be resurrected to eternal life. That’s found in John 11:25-27

So on Friday, Jesus was crucified, and after several hours of hanging on the cross in lots of pain, he finally died. Some of the gospel writers say there was a great earthquake right when he died, and some of the onlookers believed that he was the Messiah after all.

His followers took his body off the cross and laid him in a cave-like tomb that a good man let them have for Jesus. They wrapped his dead body in white cloth.

The Roman soldiers put a huge boulder over the entrance to the cave to keep anyone from going to remove Jesus’s body.  They also put Roman soldiers outside the cave to guard it.

The next day was Saturday and a holy day, so no one was allowed to do any work and no one came to the cave.  

Early in the morning on the following day, which was Sunday, some of the lady friends of Jesus came to his tomb to prepare his body with oils that would keep his dead body from smelling bad.  This was a custom of how they took care of a dead body.   

Very early on Sunday morning some women who were Jesus’ friends,  Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other 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. These men were actually angels.

The women were terrified.  Then the angel 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.  They told the apostles what had happened, But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look.

Jesus’ friend John ran there too.

They looked in and saw the empty linen wrappings that Jesus had been buried in; They were wondering what had happened, and decided just to go home.

That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to a little town of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. 

As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you guys talking about that is so serious?

They stopped short, and looked sad. Then one of them replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”

Jesus asked “What things?” 

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher who taught us about the plan of God.

But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. 

We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

“But then today some women from our group of his followers went to his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. 

They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! So Peter and John ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you guys get it?! It’s not so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” 

Then Jesus went through the writings of Moses and all the prophets in the Old Testament, explaining how many of these scriptures were about Jesus, the Messiah.

By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going to keep walking, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went with them to their house. 

As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. It was just like when he broke bread at the last supper! 

And at that moment he disappeared!

Then They said to each other, “When he talked with us along the road and explained the Scriptures to us, didn't our hearts burn inside us?” So they got up and returned to Jerusalem.

The two disciples found the eleven apostles and the others gathered together. The Apostles there told the 2 men that the Lord was really alive and had appeared to Peter. Then the guys who were walking to Emmaus told them how they met up with Jesus as they were walking and talking, but they didn’t know it was him until he broke the bread.

While Jesus' disciples were talking about all these things that  had happened, Jesus appeared and said “Hey guys, peace!” They were frightened and terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost.

But Jesus said, “Why are you so frightened? Why do you doubt? Look at my hands and my feet and see who I am! Touch me and find out for yourselves. Ghosts don't have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. The disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not believe it. Jesus then asked them, “You guys have anything to eat?”  They gave him a piece of broiled fish. He took it and ate it as they all stared in amazement.

Jesus said to them, “Look, While I was still with you, I told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Books of the Prophets, and in the Psalms had to happen.”

Then he explained the Scriptures to them to help them understand.  He told them the Scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer, then three days later he will rise from death. (Remember he had told them this before, but they just didn’t understand what he meant)

Jesus then tells them what we call the Great Commission…that they must proclaim the good news about him and the kingdom of God to every nation, so people can believe and obey Jesus and repent of their sinful ways, and be able to have life in God’s kingdom forever.

They all went outside and walked to Bethany. Jesus told them that once he was in heaven, he would send holy spirit from God to help them understand all these things.

He said a blessing for all of them and then raised his arms and went up through the clouds to heaven.

I hope you agree that this amazing story of the Lord Jesus, which is not a made-up story, but is TRUE, that tells us how every person who ever lived or ever will live can live in peace forever in God’s wonderful kingdom…this actually is the greatest story ever told!