The Human Jesus, the Risen Jesus

Acts 10:34-43

This Easter morning, we share our joy by shouting, “Jesus is risen!”

Today celebrates the day of Jesus’ resurrection and, therefore, marks the day that hope wasdeclared on earth.

No one in history has had a greater or deeper impact on the life of man as Jesus Christ.

As I start today’s sermon, I want to share a poem by Dr. James Allan Francis (1864–1928)which wasused in his sermon to the youth on July 11, 1926, in Los Angeles.

“One Solitary Life”

He was born in an obscure village,
The child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in still another village,
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty.
Then for three years
He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn’t go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles
From the place where he was born.
He did none of the things
One usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty-three
When the tide of public opinion turned against him.
His friends ran away.
He was turned over to his enemies.
And went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross
Between two thieves.
While he was dying,
His executioners gambled for his clothing,
The only property he had on Earth.
When he was dead,
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone,
And today he is the central figure
Of the human race,
And the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliament that ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned,
Put together have not affected
The life of man on Earth
As much as that
One Solitary Life.
(James Allen Francis)

What kind of life did Jesus live as a man? Although He was the Son of God, He was born as a human, having a weak human body.

The Bible writes that Jesus was born in a small town called Bethlehem while His parents were traveling. The first place to ever greet Him was a manger in a stable adjacent to an inn. As soon as the baby was born, his parents hastily fled Bethlehem; and the boy spent his childhood in a small village in Judea called Nazareth.

The boy’s family was poor and he grew up learning his father’s trade, carpentry. Although Rome ruled the whole world, Jesus never visited the great city of Rome. Although Athens and Alexandria boasted grand civilizations and architecture, Jesus never saw any of their magnificent buildings or culture in His lifetime.

He grew up among Jews, but He was neither from a prestigious nor powerful family. His sole and greatest culturalexperience was His visits to the temple in Jerusalem once a year as a boy. He spent most of his life of thirty yearsamong the poor in Galilee.

Even after starting public ministry, He spent most of his time in Galilee. He healed the sick and cast out demons there. He visited and befriended outcasts; He was even scorned for being close to tax-collectors and prostitutes.

Although He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the religious leaders only questioned His teachings; finally they framed Him as a heretic and plotted to murderHim.

Eventually, He was crucified on the Cross; yet He remained silent during His trial. And even in the moment of death, he interceded for the people, praying, “Father, forgive them.”

His last words were “Love each other.” He taught forgiveness. His message was to believe in God. But the world murderedHim.

The human Jesus became flesh, a weak man, just like us. The human Jesus grew up in the same environment as us. The human Jesus, however, was without sin. The human Jesus cared for the poor and healed the sick and demon-possessed people. The human Jesus declared love, taught forgiveness, and proclaimed the truth of the Kingdom of God. And He experienced the worst sufferings of man, including injustice, slander, flogging, and torture. The human Jesus also had to endure death, man’s greatest fear.

This was the life of the human Jesus. The is what the Bible tells us about Jesus, the Man. AlthoughHe was without sin, Hewent through all that man experiences and fulfilled the will of God.

Then what happened to Jesus after he was raised from the dead? How does the risen Jesus appear to us?

Today’s text tells us about the amazing aspects of the risen Lord.

The passage is part of Peter’s sermon to Cornelius, a Gentile. As Peter starts his sermon, he confesses that he has had a true realization. In other words, this sermon contains deep truthsbased onhisauthentic realization.

Peter was Jesus’ disciple who saw the risen Lord. He met the risen Jesus at Lake Tiberius in a very dramatic and moving way. Jesus came to him lovingly, started a fire, did not question his wrongdoings, but instead comforted him with this question: “Do you love Me?” There Peter received a new calling: “Feed My lambs.” These words were the risen Lord’s first commandto Peter.

The risen Jesus called His disciples again and gave them a new calling. The dejected disciples traveling to Emmaus felt their heart burn within them and experiencedthat the Word of the Lord was alive and working. Jesus also came to the unbelieving Thomas and let him see and touch His resurrected body to give him faith.

Jesus appeared to Peter, who had denied Him thrice and ran away, and to the other disciples who had abandoned Him and ran away, reinstating them and restoringtheir calling.

Peter, who had experienced this, now talks about who the risen Lord is through his sermon.

Peter says that three things about the human Jesus changed after He was resurrected.

First, Jesus Christ now became the Lord of all: “[…] through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”(Acts 10:36b)

Until then Jesus was a Jew. He was a man. He may have been the Messiah or the national hero that the Jews were waiting for. But after His resurrection, Peter realizes that Jesus is no longer a saint for just the Israelites. Jesus had solved the most fundamental and onerous problem of man, the problem that plagued all mankind. The problem of sin and death… Therefore, Jesus Christ became the Lord of all.

“You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”(Acts 10:36)

Here “all” refers not just to the living. It includes even the dead, meaning that Jesus became the Lord of all human beings. Since He solvedtheproblem of death, He is our Savior and our Messiah too. He became the Hope and Savior of all peoples. Furthermore, Jesus is not geographically confined to Judea. Neither can He be confined to His era. He became the Lord of all mankind in all regions and eras.

As Jesus had said, the risen Lord shall conquer death. The resurrected Jesus solved the problem of death and provided a new hope for all mankind. Therefore, this news cannot be confined to the region of Judea. Neither can it be confined to that time and era. This news is a universal Gospel that applies to all mankind in all of history. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is the Good News given to all mankind and all peoples trembling before death. That is why Jesus is Lord of all.

Second, after His resurrection, Jesus became the Judge. Peter clearly testifies to this fact:

“He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.”(Acts 10:42)

This means that God commissioned Jesus who died for mankind to judge people in His stead. Accordingly, when we enter the Kingdom of God, we will be judged by the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Everyone will be subject to this judgement. All, including the dead and the living, will be judged. Even those who died long ago will be judged as well. Everyone will be judged by Jesus. This is what our Lord said. This is confirmed in our confession of faith:

“the third day he rose again from the dead;he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”(from the Apostles’ Creed)

The thirdchange in the risen Lord is described in the last verse of today’s passage:

“All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”(Acts 10:43)

Everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name. When the risen Lord comes to us at the Second Coming and judges us, the criteria for His judgement will be our faith in Him.

This is not easy to understand. But here faith refers to our trust and belief in all that He has done for us. It means that everyone who accepts all Jesus did as true and real will be given the grace of forgiveness of sins:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”(John 3:18)

This precisely is the joyful news that resurrection gives us.

Jesus’resurrection was an incident that happenedaccording to Jesus’ words, proving that all Jesus said is true. Therefore, through the risen Lord, we know that everything Jesus said is trustworthy and true. Hence, we can believe in the Lord.

Furthermore, Jesus’resurrection showed us that death can no longer rule us, that we have no reason to fear death. Death makes us fearful. But now we can live joyfullywithout that fear.

The risen Jesus is Lord of all, the Judge of all. The risen Lord grants forgiveness of sins and salvation to everyone who believes in Him. Everything He said becomes true.

Therefore, today, on Easter Sunday, we share this joy with all mankind. Jesus is risen! He is truly risen! May this joyful cry reverberate around the world. This cry will become the news of hope to the whole world.