Easter
Today we come to the high point of the Christian faith. Today we come to what makes Christianity distinctive from all the other religions of the world--Jesus’ resurrection from the dead! In fact, if it were not for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, there would be no holy Christian faith. St. Paul writes [ Cor 15. 14 ff]: If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain….And if Christ ios not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But then the holy apostle continues: But now Christ is risen from the dead. It is this--Jesus’ resurrection from the dead--that is the heart and core of the Christian faith. Take it away and there is no Christianity. But what? But now Christ is risen from the dead! There are no ifs ands or buts about it. That’s what we celebrate today and everyday. The thing is--Easter is not a once a year sort of thing that we pack up as quickly as the stores try to get rid of or pack away their Easter items to make room for Mother’s Day. Instead, Easter--Jesus’ literal, bodily resurrection from the dead influences our whole lives as Christians. It puts everything into a whole brand new perspective. After all, Jesus’ resurrection shows that what He said/ His claims are true: He really is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Now we come face to face with His claims. How do we respond? As Easter is a day of great joy, it is also a time for deep inward inspection of our own heart and life: Since Easter is true, that is, since Jesus is the Son of God and the only Savior of the world, how does that show in my life--every day, 24/7? Because being a Christian is not just showing up to church on occasion. Instead, Jesus claims our whole life. Because of Easter, because Jesus rose from the dead, He now calls us to fellowship/ into relationship with Him to give us His graces, gifts and blessings now and forever.
The centrality of Easter and that it changes everything is clearly seen in the Easter accounts like we read today from St. Mark. As we go through the account, we will see that something new has happened that changed everything--Jesus rose from the dead!
Our text begins rather bleakly: When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint Jesus. It begins with resignation to the fact that Jesus is dead. After all, right before our text, we have the conclusion of the Good Friday account: we read of Joseph of Arimathea getting Jesus’ body, quickly wrapping Him in some linen and he laid [Jesus] in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. The women were watching Jesus and what would happen to Him. We then read: And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid. And why? --So they could prepare the body properly for burial. By all usual human figuring--Jesus was dead and gone; all that remained to be done was a proper burial. That meant also that all His claims were buried and gone with Him. And now life must go on.
The women were not expecting anything like Easter! First, they were looking for Jesus, where His body would be laid. Then, after resting all day Saturday, on the Sabbath, as was the Law, and certainly all that time thinking of all these events, they went out on Saturday night when a few merchants were briefly opened when it was still light enough after sunset. And they bought the spices to have ready for the next morning. Again, they were going out looking for Jesus but only to prepare His body properly for burial.
Very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. These women were filled with love of Jesus and courage--even the 11 disciples were hiding behind locked doors-- but that love and courage dominated the women so much so, that they probably didn’t think through everything at first, as along the way they were saying to each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb for us?” And certainly along the way there must have been times of silence and reflection, but also times when they shared stories about Jesus and repeated HIs words. What an absolutely sad journey that must have been for the women! And then after they had prepared Jesus’ body properly for burial, they probably figured they would linger at the tomb to reflect and then leave, maybe coming back at other times--like we do at the graves of our loved ones.
When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. Notice, they looked up. Their heads were probably bowed down with heavy sorrow. They were not expecting anything other than things continuing on how they usually do--Jesus, who they thought was the Son of God and the long promised Messiah, was dead and would stay that way; maybe even some of that sorrow was that they thought they had been deceived.
This is the way that they went to the tomb that first Easter morning. But there is a little hint/ clue that maybe something was up. From a distance they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. Here is an indication that something was not right at the tomb; that something had happened; that maybe things weren’t all peaceful in the cemetery. But imagine the thoughts that must have gone through their minds of what happened--grave robbers, desecration, etc. But they were thinking with a “pre-Easter” mind-set. In no way were they thinking of resurrection, although Jesus had spoken of His suffering, death, and resurrection.
The scene that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away points us to what really happened that first Easter morning. St. Matthew records [28.2]: And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. Notice: that huge stone was not only rolled away from the door to the tomb but it must have been flipped down so that the angel could sit on it. Here is an image of some sort of ruckus that took place, a fight, if you will. Things were disrupted. The scene at Jesus’ tomb shows that it was not peaceful! What a fight it was in the tomb! Luther put it this way in the hymn: It was a strange and dreadful strife When life and death contended; The victory remained with life, The reign of death was ended. Holy Scripture plainly saith That death is swallowed up by death. Its sting lost forever. Alleluia!
The stone rolled away from the tomb, shows Easter, the empty tomb! Jesus isn’t there because He rose from the dead! The stone was rolled away--not so Jesus could get out but so the women and all the world could see His victory over death! When the women go into the tomb they see just that! As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. That young man is an angel and he announces to them Jesus’ victory; what had happened: You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. This is the simple Easter Gospel--He has risen! That’s what we celebrate today and it is precisely that that gives form and focus to our lives. Since Jesus won that victory that means that He is living and reigning. It means that He is who He said He is: the Son of God and the Savior of the world. It means that our sins lay dead and buried in Christ’s tomb. It means that we sinners are, in Christ, reconciled to the holy God--things are now right between us and God. Heaven and eternal life with Him now stand open to us. It means that Jesus is ruling all things for our spiritual good and the good of His Church.
But what so often happens? We so often live as if there never was an Easter. We live as if sin and death had won the victory--not Jesus. Because of Easter we know our sins are forgiven us--but what so often happens? We are bothered by our sins; our sins rise up and accuse us--and rightly so; we think our sins are so great that they can’t be forgiven. But there’s Easter! Our sins are all forgiven. That’s what Easter shows. Remember, Jesus went to the cross loaded down with the sins of the world--yours and mine; He was made the world’s sinner. And there on the cross He suffered all the wrath of God over all sins of all people. If there was one sin that Jesus did not pay for, He would have stayed dead and buried. But what happened? He rose from the dead. That’s God’s proclamation of the forgiveness of the whole world; Easter is God’s absolution on the whole world. St. Paul writes [Rm 4.24,25]: Jesus our Lord...was delivered up because of our offenses [that’s Good Friday when He took all our sins on Him to the cross] and was raised because of our justification [because Jesus offered up that perfect once for all sacrifice for sin and all our sins are paid for, none remaining, He was raised from the dead--Easter].
But also here, let’s not forget the comforting word of the angel to the women: But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” Did you catch that--and Peter? Peter was the one who had denied Jesus three times; he was certainly feeling the anguish and sorrow over his sin; how he must have doubted that he was even a disciple; what great torments Satan must have been stirring in his heart. And now Jesus singles out Peter--and Peter-- and by that promises that he is forgiven that specific sin! And the glorious thing? --Easter isn’t a generic forgiveness; it is forgiveness for each sin. To each of us and for each of our sins Jesus promises forgiveness like He does Peter here. He does that as you confess to your pastor a particular sin and he announces Jesus’ forgiveness to you for that particular sin. Jesus does that as He comes to you in Holy Communion giving you that forgiveness and uniting with you as you eat His body and drink His blood. As we receive forgiveness for our sins, we are living in the light of Easter.
How vital Easter is for us to remember and hold fast to every day. Although it seems to us at times that the words of the angel, He is not here, are true in a negative sense--like Jesus has abandoned us. Easter and its blessings stand! Very often, we are like the women at the tomb hearing, He has risen!, but leave the tomb in fear. They didn’t see Jesus yet. So often in our lives, when it seems that we don’t see Jesus, when we think He might still be buried in the tomb, let us remember Easter: He has risen! It is an established fact. And as our risen and ascended Lord, He is guiding, working, ruling all things for us and our good--even when it may not look like it. That’s a tremendous comfort! Because He is the true God. In fact, that’s what His resurrection also declares as St. Paul writes [Rm 1.4]: Jesus Christ our Lord...was...declared to be the Son of God with power...by the resurrection from the dead. In every trial, let us remember Easter and not fear! Jesus, the true God, is living and reigning and ruling all things.
Let us not forget that with Easter something new has happened. It is not surprising that the devil and his allies will try to take the comfort of Easter from us. That’s why it’s vital that we keep Easter central in our lives. We do this as we daily confess our sins and remember our baptism by grabbing ahold of the forgiveness that baptism--which unites us with Jesus’ death and resurrection gives; we do this as we are in church around our living Lord and His word and sacrament, being fed by Him; we do this as we are daily hearing our Lord’s voice as we read Scripture and then speak to Him in prayer. Christ is risen. Amen.