The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 24th chapter:
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He in risen, indeed! Alleluia! Today is the first day. Yesterday, the seventh day, the Sabbath day, God rested. He rested from all the work he had done. He had accomplished all that He had set out to do. So, He rested. In the tomb.
But today, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Jesus Christ does not rest any more, for today is the first day, as it was the first day for those women who had gone to the tomb to put spices upon Jesus’ body. It was the first day for them. It was the first day they were in public since their rabbi was killed, executed, murdered. It was the first day they had to face other people. It was the first day of abject terror. They had never felt more unsafe, more unprotected, more lost.
And they were going out, out in the streets, out where people who wanted to kill would do them harm, out to a garden, a garden protected by soldiers, out to touch a dead body. There was no safety. There was no security. There was no comfort for them. The world was turned upside down and it was likely that they would lose their lives soon, too.
But, when they arrived, their world would turn again. You know that feeling you get right before the teacher calls on you when you don’t know the answer? You know that feeling you had when your first girlfriend broke up with you? You know that feeling when you’re about to be sick and the entire room seems to zoom up at you like a close-up on the TV? They saw the stone from the entrance of the tomb rolled away.
This was no ordinary stone. It would’ve taken a bit of effort to move this stone, and it certainly wouldn’t have been done with two guards there. But, there were no guards. The stone had moved. And all of the sudden, all of those awful feelings flooded over those women and they were taken away into even more fear because they didn’t see the body of Jesus.
Dead bodies don’t move. Dead bodies can’t move. Dead bodies, and certainly Jesus was dead, having been whipped, flogged, beaten, nailed through, pierced through the heart and lungs, dead bodies don’t get up again. But there was no body. The world began to race in on them, and the weight of everything that happened over the last three days must have come crashing down on them.
Luke says they were perplexed. That’s probably the word these women gave Luke after the fact, looking back on it all. Panic. Terror. Horror. Doubt. Uncertainty. That’s much more likely.
And to be honest, that’s what sinners feel. It’s what we have to feel. On Good Friday, we meditated upon the final words of Jesus, and as we spoke about the Passion of Christ, we realized that we must meditate upon the Passion and see how much God hates sin. Jesus was crucified in your place, for your sins. And more than that, He took upon Himself all the sins of the entire world in every time and place. But, even one sin, one sin, like one little lie, one piece of gossip, one word spoken in anger, one selfish thought, would be enough to put you right where Jesus was.
But, this was God’s own Son, was it not? This was the only-begotten Son from all eternity, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God. God the Father loved His Son, and you would imagine the love that was between them is greater than anything in the entire world. But, God saw His Son as sin itself. And for that, He poured out all of His wrath upon Him, damning Him to hell upon that cross.
And if that’s what the only-begotten Son of God gets, as we meditate on the Passion, we should expect more. We aren’t God, as much as we’d like to think we are. We aren’t the Son of God. We commit sins all the time. And these women remind us that, as sinners, we should expect the world to fall in on us at any time under the wrath of God. When we examine ourselves, when we look at our hearts, we should not see pure intentions. We should not see pure motives. We should not see anything of value. Instead, we should see sin. And for that, we should feel panic. Terror. Horror. Doubt. Uncertainty. In ourselves.
But, we are not left there. No, we’re not. For, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And if Christ, the Son of God, is risen from the dead, then we, who have been adopted by God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ in our Baptisms, we have every confidence that we, too, shall rise from the dead.
The two men in dazzling white told this to the women. They were angels, messengers of God. And today, I, a man who brings to you the message of God in not so dazzling white, and every pastor who stands before you, tell you the same. Jesus is not in the tomb. He is not behind the stone. He is not laying on a table. He is not rubbed down with spices. He is not bound up with linens. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
We who were dead in trespasses and sins have been raised to the newness of life in Jesus Christ, the firstfruits of the dead. He is alive, risen from the dead, and He is reigning in the power and authority of God. He is the Son of God, the Prince of the Universe, the Lord of All Creation, and He rules over all things with justice and grace and mercy and peace. And we, today, give Him all glory and honor and blessing, for by His death and His resurrection, He has shown Himself to us to be the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, that whosoever believes in Him should have eternal life… and life to the full.
Today is the first day. Remember back to Genesis. The first day, God said let there be light. Today, there is light. Then in Creation, came the expanse of the waters, then dry ground, then vegetation, then lights in the sky, then fish and birds, then animals of the ground, and finally was made man. One, two, three, four, five, six days. And God called it very good. And upon the seventh day, He rested.
Not long after that came the fall into sin. And from that moment, when Adam and Eve decided to be their own gods instead of trusting the One True God, our world has been in the cycle of, shall we call it, a six day week. Incomplete. Unfinished. And now, ungood. Until Christ. Christ died on the sixth day. And it was very Good. And upon the seventh day, He rested.
But on the first day of the week, the first day of the new creation, He rose from dead and commands His creation to begin its restoring work, to look to Him, and Him alone, for the forgiveness of sins. And He does this because He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
As the women began to wonder at these things, what did they do? They went and told. On Good Friday, their world was turned upside down, like a ship capsizing in the ocean. Easter morning, the ship was righted. But, they did not simply rejoice, they went and told the Apostles. The Apostles came to find it out. Soon, they would all believe as they would all see the Lord who was crucified, nail and spear marks still in His body, and they would tell all who would listen, all they encountered, all they were sent to. And that same message, it was passed down through the ages, and it has come to you.
And that message is this: He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And if He is risen, then we have all hope in the world, my friends. You, too, as you believe in Christ, shall be raised to the newness of life. You already have been. You soon will be.
The new creation has begun, my friends. It begins in Christ, the firstfruits of the dead, and continues in you, you who have been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, you who believe Christ’s words of Absolution, you who have examined yourselves and desire to eat and drink the Lord’s crucified and now risen body and blood this day. You are at the beginning of the new creation. And it will soon be fulfilled.
Christ will come again from the right hand of God and He will come to make all things new, to give you the very same life that He has. He is coming to raise your body from the ground. He is coming to give you this body, perfected, incorruptible, glorified as He is glorified. He began this work in you by the faith He gave to you through His Word, through His Baptism, and continues it as you are strengthened in His Supper.
He will finish this work in you, this work of new creation. And He will finish it when He comes to judge the living and the dead, the good and the evil, those who believe in Him and those who do not. And He does this because He has the authority. He is the only judge. He is the only safe place. In Him there is no panic, terror, horror, doubt, or uncertainty. That is only had without Him. He gives grace, mercy, and peace. He can do it. He is the firstfruits from the dead and He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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